By Stan Goodenough
Jun 11, 2007
If elections were held in Israel today, opposition leader and Likud Party chairman Binyamin Netanyahu would win 30 to 34 mandates, whereas the ruling Kadima Party of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would not get more than 10.
This is according to the latest poll results published Sunday evening in the Israeli press.
Netanyahu, who was prime minister between 1996 and 1999, is hated by a great number of Israelis on the left of the political spectrum, and lost the confidence of many on the right when he succumbed to massive US pressure to surrender most of Hebron to the Palestinian Authority.
He has nonetheless succeeded in capturing a wide swathe of centrist support as the land-for-peace approach of the last three prime ministers has proved to disastrous for Israel.
While it is not likely that elections will be held for a number of months yet, the popularity ratings of Kadima and its coalition Labor Party partner continue to drop.
If the trend continues, "Bibi" as Netanyahu is affectionately known, could sweep to power and put together a strong right-wing government more effectively able to deal with the growing threat of war with Syria and confrontation with a nuclear-hungry Iran.