ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — As Israelis voted on Tuesday in an election that will decide Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future, The Thursday Times asked residents of Islamabad two questions: should Netanyahu win again, and will he? None of those who answered said he should.
In the Thursday Times survey, filmed in Urdu on the streets of Islamabad and posted on X as a TT Exclusive, about a dozen passers-by gave their views one after another. Every respondent whose answer could be heard opposed another term for the Israeli prime minister, several of them with an emphatic “bilkul nahin”, absolutely not.
Gaza first
Gaza and Palestine came up more than any other reason. “He should absolutely not win, because of the cruelty he has inflicted on Muslims, especially in Palestine,” one respondent said. Another called him “a great oppressor” who was “deeply hostile to Muslims”.
Others widened the charge. “Not just for Muslims — he is a danger to all of humanity,” one man said. Another said that rather than winning an election, Netanyahu should face punishment. A third described leaders like him as “war criminals” whom voters should throw out, and said the world needed “a leader who works peacefully and runs the world in a peaceful way”. Israelis, he added, should consider that such a leader would bring harm on them too.
One respondent called Netanyahu “the biggest killer of the Muslim world”. “As a Muslim, as a Pakistani, my wish is that he is defeated,” he said.
‘A whole line behind him’
Not every answer was only about preference. Asked whether Netanyahu would actually win, one respondent said he did not think so “given the conditions”, blaming the recent war on Trump and Israel together. Another said the result depended on Israeli voters, but that Netanyahu’s conduct had “pushed the whole world into a fire” and spread chaos everywhere. One said people of conscience inside Israel should oppose him.
One man doubted that his defeat would change much. “Anyone would say he shouldn’t win,” he said. “But if you remove Netanyahu, there’s a whole line standing behind him. Israel’s thinking will never change. He is just a face. Remove one and a hundred more come.” The last person asked said simply that he should not win, and that “someone decent” should.
The election
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is seeking another term in the first election since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and the war in Gaza that followed. Polls before the vote showed a tight race between his Likud-led bloc and an alliance led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, with neither side holding a clear path to the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset. Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies.
