Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman received the best grades among 10 members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in a Dahaf Institute poll taken for Channel 2, that was broadcast Saturday night on the channel’s Meet the Press program.
The poll of 705 respondents, representing a statistical sample of the adult Jewish population of Israel, had a margin of error of +/-5.4 percent. It asked respondents how satisfied they were with the job performance of each minister.
The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied with Litzman (United Torah Judaism) was 56.1 percent, followed by Transportation Minister Israel Katz and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon (both Likud), who were tied for second with 50.5%. No other minister scored above 50 percent.
“Only those who make an effort succeed,” said an aide to Litzman, responding to the results of the survey, quoting an expression of the sage Rabbi Yitzhak in the Talmud’s tractate Megila.
Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich said Litzman deserved the support he received in the poll, calling him “a super intelligent man who knows how to get things done without bullshit” and praising him for being “universalist, not sectarian.”
Bayit Yehudi ministers Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett finished fourth and fifth in the poll, at 46.9% and 45.5%, respectively. Bennett responded to the poll by tweeting that “Ya’acov Litzman is indeed a terrific health minister” and that Israel was lucky to have him.
The bottom half of ministers was led by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan at 38%, followed by Culture Minister Miri Regev at 37.8% and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon with 37%. When Kahlon was communications minister, he always finished at the top of such polls.
Netanyahu trailed far behind with 32.1% satisfaction. Polls have found that the public is particularly upset about his handling of the current wave of Arab violence.
The minister who fared the poorest in the poll is Negev and Galilee Development Minister Arye Deri at 18.9%. Ironically, the Shas leader is set to be promoted Sunday when the cabinet is expected to approve his appointment as interior minister.
Other cabinet appointments are being held up by the Likud leadership race.
The deadline to enter the race is noon Sunday. As of press time, no one had submitted the required 500 signatures of Likud members who support them to challenge Netanyahu.
