PM Netanyahu
PM NetanyahuEsti Dazyobov, TPS

The Israel Democracy Institute (IDI)'s Israeli Voice Index on Wednesday published the results of a survey examining the public's opinion on Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's upcoming hearing, as well as the Israeli public's satisfaction opinion on the results of the recent elections and their interest in a unity government versus a third round of elections.

Most of the public - 52% of both Jews and Arabs - oppose offering Netanyahu a plea bargain in which he admits guilt, retires from public life, and does not stand trial. Fifty-eight percent of the public do not believe Netanyahu would agree to such a bargain if it were offered, including 55% of rightists, 49% of centrists, and 42% of leftists.

Prof. Tamar Hermann, who heads IDI's Guttmann Center, explained: "The right opposes it because they believe Netanyahu is innocent and a plea bargain with an admission of guilt and retirement from political life is a perversion of justice. The left's opposition is rooted in the fact that they want to see Netanyahu stand trial and punished for his action if he is found guilty."

In addition, 56% of the public - both Jews and Arabs - opposes pardoning Netanyahu before indicting him, in exchange for Netanyahu's retirement from public life: Fifty-two percent of rightists oppose the idea, as do 62% of centrists and 66% of leftists. Among Arabs, 17% prefer new elections, but just 33% would like to see a unity government, while 24% prefer neither, and 26% are undecided.

Less than a third (31%) of Jewish Israelis are happy with the results of the elections, while 56.5% of Israeli Arabs are happy with the results.

A full 77% of Joint Arab List voters - the most of any party - are happy with the election results. Sixty-five percent of Democratic Union voters say they are happy with the election results, followed by 62% of Blue and White voters, 54.5% of Yisrael Beytenu voters, 48% of Labor-Gesher voters, 16% of Shas voters, 13% of Likud voters, 11% of UTJ voters, and 8% of Yamina voters.

The vast majority of Israeli Jews - 74% - oppose including the Joint Arab List in a government, including the appointment of Arab ministers. This percentage represents a dramatic increase since January, when just 49% of Jews opposed such moves. However, 66% of Arabs support both the inclusion of the Joint Arab List in the Knesset, and the appointment of Arab ministers - down from 76% in January.

The Israeli Voice Index is a project of IDI's Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research. The survey was conducted on the internet and via telephone, between September 22-24. It included 606 men and women who were interviewed in Hebrew, and an additional 151 who were interviewed in Arabic, who constitute a representative national sample of the entire adult population of Israel aged 18 and older.

The maximum sampling error for the entire sample was 3.7%± at a confidence level of 95%. The fieldwork was done by the Rafi Smith Institute under the direction of Rafi Smith.