52% of public say PM should quit if indicted,

Some 52% of the Israeli public (49.5% of Jews and 66% of Arabs) believes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign if the attorney-general recommends that he be indicted, according to a new report by the Israel Democracy Institute.

However, there is a wide range of opinions when the data is analyzed by party affiliation. Only 10% of Likud and 22% of Shas members believe the prime minister should step down if indicted. In contrast, 89% of Labor voters, 87% of the Joint List, 86.5% of Israel Resilience, 83% of Yesh Atid and 78% of Kulanu voters think Netanyahu should resign if that happens.

On Friday, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit formally announced that he will decide Netanyahu’s legal fate regarding indictment before the upcoming April 9 election.

A poll held mid-January at the Likud’s Leumiada in Eilat found similar results to this survey: Nearly 70% of attendees said they think that Netanyahu should stay in office even if he is charged with corruption.

The IDI survey, which was conducted between January 22 and 24 via telephone and the Internet, likewise found that more than half (52%) of the Jewish public thinks it is important to ensure that women rank high on their party’s list.

There were 35 women in the 20th Knesset, which was a record number. In addition, 13 women were chosen to head cities and local councils across Israel – more than ever before – in the November municipal elections.

Finally, the survey found that some 52% of the Jewish public would be willing to have Israelis who are living abroad vote in the upcoming elections. There are some differences by political camp on this opinion, although not very large. The significant percentage of those defining themselves as Leftists who support this view is surprising, given the repeated claims that enabling Israelis abroad to vote would mainly serve the right-wing camp, according to the survey.

The survey included 600 respondents, representing a national sample of the adult population aged 18 and over. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample was ± 4.1% with a confidence level of 95%.

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.