Following the leaked story of an alleged hack by Iran into the phone of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top rival, Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz, an i24NEWS-Israel Hayom election poll reveals that half of voters do not see it as harming his ability to serve as Israel's leader.
The poll found that 23% of respondents said the phone hack would harm Gantz's ability to lead the country, while 49% said it would not. Another 28% said they were uncertain.
The findings come following a tumultuous week of rockets sent fired at Tel Aviv from Gaza and hard-hitting accusations from candidates in the April 9 national elections, but most prominently from top two contenders who are jostling for a shot at forming a coalition and leading the government.
Gantz has accused the prime minister of orchestrating the leaked hack in order to hurt his chances in the elections.
Netanyahu has strongly denied the accusations while claiming that Iran supports Gantz for prime minister.
This week's election news was dominated by the two biggest parties' attempts to weaken each other, as Blue and White managed to revive the affair of Israel's submarine acquisitions, known as Case 3,000, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held up the alleged Iranian hack of Blue and White leader Benny Gantz's cellphone.
The latest Israel Hayom-i24NEWS poll projects 26 seats for the Likud, the same number as the previous week. Blue and White, however, lost three seats, dropping from 33 seats last week to 30.
