Home front: Situation needs improving
Photo: Reuters
73 % say government failed on home front
Dafah poll for Yedioth Ahronoth finds that only quarter of the public believes government is properly looking after northern residents
The Israeli
public backs the war in Lebanon, but is not satisfied with the treatment of the home front: According to a Dahaf Institute poll released Friday in Yedioth Ahronoth, the majority of the general public feels that the leadership has failed in its treatment of the home front, especially that of the northern residents.
Some 73 percent said the government's management of the issue was "not good," and only a quarter said the government's treatment of the home front was "good."
With that, the public has given high grades to the government for its management of the war and the functioning of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.
Some 66 percent of the public believes Olmert's role has been "good" (compared to 31 percent who say it was "not good) and 59 percent said Peretz's functioning has been "good" (compared to 38 percent who said the reverse).
Halutz won the widest support, with 67 percent saying he was performing well, and just 21 percent saying he was not performing satisfactorily.
The poll also found that 64 percent of the public believes that the IDF should enter Lebanon until the Litani river with large forces.
'A draw'
With that, 40 percent of the public thin the war will end "in a draw" – meaning that Hizbullah will be damaged, but not destroyed. Some 37 percent think Israel will win and that Hizbullah will be banished from the border, and 17 percent believe that the IDF will withdraw and that the Hizbullah will return.
After 30 days of difficult fighting in the north, Israelis still feel that "the nation is the army."
Ten percent of respondents said they did not trust the army. The carrying on of fighting did not harm faith of the people in the army – 57 percent said their trust in the IDF has not changed, 23 percent said their faith in the army has strengthened, and 19 percent said their faith in the military was shaken.
At the same time, the Israeli public is not completely sure about how the war is being run up to now. 45 percent of those asked said that until now, the fighting has not been handled well, while 48 percent said fighting was being managed in a good way.
Looking backwards, 75 percent of the public said they believed leaving Lebanon was the right thing to do, while 20 percent think it was a mistake.
Regarding the national mood, 13 percent said hey were in excellent mood, 32 percent said they feel good, 30 percent said their mood was "not good," and 25 percent described their mood as "bad."
The poll was based on the answers of 500 people, from a model representing the Israeli population, including northerners currently in the center of the country.
In an additional poll initiated by reserve soldiers who lost comrades to anti-tank missile attacks, 91 percent of the Israeli public thinks that the IDF must destroy Lebanese villages through aerial attacks, and only eight percent think that ground troops should be sent to the south of the country.
