A poll conducted for Channel 10 News on Thursday found that 46 percent of Israelis believe that the Kadima party should quit the coalition if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu does not adopt the Plesner Committee’s report.
The poll, which was conducted by the Midgam Institute headed by Prof. Camille Fuchs, found that 25 percent of respondents said that Kadima should stay in the coalition, while 29 percent said that they do not know.
The Plesner Committee, headed by Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner, was tasked with coming up with a new law that would ensure equal sharing of the burden among hareidi-religious Jews and Arabs. The Supreme Court ruled that the Tal Law, which regulated the exemption of hareidi soldiers from enlisting in the IDF and attempted a gradual increase of hareidi army service, was unconstitutional.
The committee caused a crisis in the coalition after Plesner made it clear he wants to heavily fine hareidi religious youth who refuse to enlist in the IDF, while issuing only general guidelines for the Arab sector.
After several key members resigned from the committee, Netanyahu disbanded it. This angered Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz, who issued a clear ultimatum to Netanyahu to adopt new draft law proposals if he wants to keep Kadima in the coalition. Plesner presented his committee’s report despite the committee having been disbanded. Netanyahu said on Thursday he would be ready to impose personal sanctions on hareidim, despite his earlier objections.
The Channel 10/Midgam poll also asked respondents whether they support the Plesner Committee’s conclusions, and found that 64 percent of respondents answered that they are in favor of personal sanctions on hareidim who evade military service. 25 percent opposed the imposition of personal sanctions and 11 percent said that they do not know.
The third question posed to respondents related to the identity of the head of a new centrist party, if such a party is established. Eight percent said they would consider voting for such a party if former Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni heads it. 11 percent said they would consider voting for a centrist party headed by Yair Lapid and only seven percent said they would vote for a centrist party headed by Haim Ramon, who announced this week he will be forming a new party.