Israelis take little heed of global anger. But their contempt forNetanyahu is growing | Dahlia Scheindlin
The population is fast losing patience with a leadership that they see as fanatical and corrupt, and willing to sacrifice democracy and hostages
After four horrible months, the Israel-Hamas war drags on, and Israel seems more isolated than ever. Mass protests against Israel on US college campuses and UK streets in the early weeks of the war gave way to South Africa's appeal to the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide. The US, Israel's best friend, moved from quietly pushing it to begin downscaling the war and allow more humanitarian aid to Gaza, to slapping sanctions on violent West Bank settlers and pushing a UN security council resolution for a ceasefire; even Prince William called for the fighting to stop.
But little of this global pressure has moved Israelis. In a mid-January survey from Tel Aviv University, more than half of Jewish Israeli respondents thought Israel was using the right amount of force, but another 43% said that it had not used enough. In a survey last week by the Israel Democracy Institute, a majority of Jewish Israelis opposed a detailed political agreement to end the war, and two-thirds opposed humanitarian aid to Gaza. This data is sobering, though mirrored by trends among the Palestinian public, during the war, where polls show high support for Hamas and for the 7Octoberattacks.
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