Poll: Israel didn’t win Gaza war, Netanyahu’s popularity plummets

Israeli masses voiced their dissatisfaction with the performance of premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his war minister Moshe Ya’alon during the Gaza offensive, a recent Israeli opinion poll found out.

More than half of the interviewed Israelis said Israel has not emerged victorious from the fighting in Gaza, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has secured a “great military and political achievement” and dealt Hamas a “heavy blow.”

The poll was conducted on 464 sample interviewees within a margin of error amounting to 4.64 percent.

A significant drop over Netanyahu’s performance was detected by the poll, with an approval rating of 50% compared to 77% before the launch Gaza offensive.

A full 41% said they were dissatisfied with Netanyahu’s performance. Moshe Ya’alon had a disapproval rating of 35%, bringing his approval rating to 55% only compared to 76% shortly before the start of the belligerent operation on besieged Gaza.

58% said they were upset with foreign minister Avigdor Liberman’s performance throughout the Gaza war.

54% aid there was no winner while about a quarter said Israel won and 16 percent said Hamas did, the poll further pointed out.

The seats won by the Likud party have gone as down as 26 seats compared to 31 in 2013 and right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu’s seats dropped from 14 to 11 only.

According to the poll, the Arab parties won 13 seats as opposed to 11 in the former elections.