THE Israeli Government is paying the price of failing to secure anything like a victory over Hezbollah with a drastic fall in its opinion poll ratings.

Ehud Olmert’s approval rating as Prime Minister slumped to 43 per cent in one newspaper poll, while another found that 57 per cent wanted Amir Peretz to resign as Defence Minister.

Mr Peretz bowed to public pressure last night and appointed a committee of inquiry headed by a former army chief to examine the military’s state of readiness before and during the 34-day conflict, amid allegations that it was ill-prepared, had bad intelligence about Hezbollah’s capabilities and was too timid in launching a large-scale ground campaign.

The opinion polls reflect an ultra-hawkish mood among Israelis, with most believing that their forces should have inflicted more damage. Seventy per cent told the Yediot Ahronoth newspaper that Israel should have refused the terms of the ceasefire agreed earlier this week. A similar poll in Maariv said that 53 per cent opposed the terms of the ceasefire.

Just over two-thirds support assassinating Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, even if it means restarting the war, and 63 per cent want the Israeli Air Force to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, reflecting widespread acceptance of Mr Olmert’s campaign to portray Hezbollah as little more than a proxy of Tehran.

In a country accustomed to quick and crushing victories, a glum electorate concluding that no one won the war (66 per cent) rather than Israel (18 per cent) or Hezbollah (15 per cent). The clearest winner appears to be Binyamin Netanyahu, the rightwing opposition leader, who could win if a general election were held today.

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