Majority Fear Netanyahu Will Mix Politics with Security Decisions, Poll Shows

A Channel 13 news poll released on Friday reveals that 68% of the Israeli public fears that security decisions will be influenced by political considerations. Among opposition voters, this concern rises to 80%, while even 38% of supporters of Netanyahu's coalition express apprehension that the Prime Minister might make security decisions based on non-substantive factors.

Regarding voting intentions, 45% of respondents are certain or leaning toward the opposition bloc, 33% toward Netanyahu's coalition, 9% plan to vote for parties not officially aligned with either bloc such as Gantz or Trooper and Hendel, and 13% remain undecided. Within the religious voter segment, 42% feel that Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party best represents them, followed by Ofer Winter's "Amcha Israel" party at 15%, Trooper and Hendel at 9%, Naftali Bennett's faction at 2%, and Likud at just 1%.

In issue-specific support, the Finance Minister leads among religious voters on matters of religion and state, Judea and Samaria policy, and the economy. However, newcomer Ofer Winter, whose party launched just this week, already surpasses him in security and relations with the ultra-Orthodox community.

On education, only 3% of the public rates the Israeli education system as very good, 21% see it as fairly good but needing improvement, 35% consider it fairly poor, and 37% believe it is very poor.

A previous Channel 13 poll from Wednesday showed Likud dropping to 19 seats from 23 the week before, while Gadi Eizenkot's "Yashar" party leads with 24 seats, down two from the prior poll. Religious Zionism and Mansour Abbas's Ra'am party both clear the electoral threshold with five seats each. However, Ofer Winter's "Amcha Israel," launched Tuesday, along with parties like "Zehut," Blue and White, and Gilad Erdan's Unity party, fail to pass the threshold.