Majority of Israelis say Trump should not determine the nature of IDF operations - poll

A significant majority of Israelis, 62%, believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resist U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to dictate the nature of Israel's military operations, according to a poll published by Maariv.

The sentiment appears to be broadly shared across the political landscape. The survey found that 66% of coalition voters and 62% of opposition voters agree that Netanyahu should not concede to Trump's demands, specifically concerning the halting of planned IDF attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Despite this majority view, 25% of respondents felt Netanyahu had no choice but to comply with Trump's demands, while 13% remained undecided. This poll emerges in the wake of a reported "shouting call" between Trump and Netanyahu, during which Trump allegedly used profanity to demand Israel cease planned IDF airstrikes on Beirut.

Separately, the Maariv poll also indicated a shift in the Israeli political landscape, with the governing coalition bloc weakening by two seats to 50 mandates in a weekly Knesset mandates poll. The opposition bloc, conversely, strengthened to 60 seats. This political context includes the strengthening of parties led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, and Avigdor Liberman, while some smaller parties failed to pass the electoral threshold.