ISRAEL
Barak Ravid at Axios posts on X: "A new survey by the Gallup Institute published this morning indicates a drop in the support of the American public for the IDF operation in Gaza and a change in the trend in public opinion in the US compared to the month of November. According to the survey, 55 percent of Americans oppose the IDF operation in Gaza compared to only 36 percent who support it."
- Ravid: "These are the results of the survey, broken down by political affiliation: 75% of those who define themselves as Democrats oppose the IDF operation in Gaza, 60% of those who define themselves as independent oppose the IDF operation in Gaza, 64% of those who define themselves as Republicans still support the IDF operation in Gaza (here too there was a 7 percent decrease from November)."
- The poll comes amid a notable deterioration in relations between the gov'ts of Israel and the US. Both the actionsand rhetoric of US officials indicate attempts to pressure the gov't of PM Benjamin Netanyahu to step back from a possible assault on the city of Rafah and work to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza.
- The Netanyahu gov't itself faces increasing internal schisms. One small party has already leftthe gov't, and Benny Gantz is alsothreatening to withdrawhis moderate National Unity alliance.
- Without Gantz's alliance in gov't Netanyahu's Likud would be reliant on the backing of ultranationalists in the coalition in order to preserve its majority. This could lead to demands from hardliners for even more aggressive military tactics in Gaza, thereby risking a greater international backlash.
Chart 1. Opinion Polling, 'Do you approve or disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza?', %
Source: Gallup
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