Three of four Israelis do not trust US President Barack Obama to manage American policy in the Middle East, a new poll shows; in a Knesset Channel / Panels poll published Thursday, a full 74% of respondents said they do not trust Obama's policy.
Knesset Poll Analyst Jeremy Saltan said that the numbers are "a clear response of Israelis to Obama's overreaction and criticism of the Israeli government's continued building in Jerusalem."
The poll also asked about election preferences, finding that Likud would get 27 MKs and the traditional religious right wing bloc – Likud, Yisrael Beytenu, Jewish Home, Shas and UTJ – would have a total of 69 seats, compared with its current 61.
The poll results for each party are as follows, in number of Knesset seats (the current Knesset seats are in brackets):
27 [19] Likud
18 [12] Jewish Home
16 [15] Labor
10 [19] Yesh Atid
09 [12] Yisrael Beytenu
09 [06] Meretz
08 [07] United Torah Judaism
07 [11] Shas
05 [04] Hadash
04 [06] Hatnua
04 [04] Ra’am-Ta’al
03 [03] Balad
00 [02] Kadima
Asked if Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is a worthy partner for talks, 63% said No, while only 27% answered in the affirmative.
When asked if Muslims should be able to celebrate their holiday of Eid al-Adha in mixed cities this Saturday, as the Jewish populations there mark Yom Kippur, 49% voted Yes, and 38% No. Among Jewish voters alone, these numbers were 45% and 41% respectively.
The Muslim "Holiday of the Sacrifice" - namely Abraham's "sacrifice of Ishmael" in an appropriation of the original Torah story - coincides this year with Yom Kippur.