(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Many people in Israel think Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a better job than his predecessor Ehud Olmert, according to a poll by Dialog published in Haaretz. 43 per cent of respondents share this view, while 30 per cent say the incumbent prime minister is performing worse than Olmert.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Many people in Israel think Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a better job than his predecessor Ehud Olmert, according to a poll by Dialog published in Haaretz. 43 per cent of respondents share this view, while 30 per cent say the incumbent prime minister is performing worse than Olmert.
In February, Israeli voters renewed the Knesset. The Likud party, led by Netanyahu, secured 27 seats in the legislature. The far-right Israel Our Home, the Labour party, the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas), United Torah Judaism, and the Jewish Home joined Likud in a coalition. On Mar. 31, Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister.
Netanyahu served as prime minister from June 1996 to July 1999, and resigned from Ariel Sharon’s cabinet—where he held the finance portfolio—after opposing the "Disengagement Plan."
Olmert took over as prime minister in January 2006—after Sharon suffered a cerebral haemorrhage—and led Kadima to a victory in that year’s legislative election. In 2008, as he faced an investigation into illegal campaign contributions, Olmert stepped down as leader of the Kadima party.
Netanyahu recently said that his government will support the creation of a Palestinian state, surprising many who thought the hardliner would never agree with this notion. Last month, as he reviewed his first 100 days in office, the Israeli prime minister declared: "I can’t say that we had 100 days of grace, but we are not complaining, because we have many achievements [and] brought national consensus to the idea of two states for two peoples."
Polling Data
How does the Netanyahu government perform as compared to the Olmert government before it?
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Better
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43%
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Worse
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30%
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Not sure
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27%
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Source: Dialog / Haaretz
Methodology: Interviews with 500 Israeli adults, conducted in July 2009. Margin of error is 4.5 per cent.
