Haaretz: Poll shows 59 percent of Israelis believe ending the war now would not sufficiently serve the country’s national security interests.

It goes without  saying that the Israelis will put their usual devastatingly effective pressure on Trump to continue the war. Trump has been saying that the end is near for the entire war.

Poll shows most Israelis oppose ending war under current conditions as U.S. and Iran said to near deal

As President Trump said “great progress” had been made toward an agreement with Iran, a survey conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute found that 59 percent of Israelis believe ending the war now would not sufficiently serve the country’s national security interests.

In the survey, two-thirds of Jewish respondents said ending the war with Iran now is only slightly compatible – or not at all compatible – with Israel’s security interests, while among Arab respondents, nearly half said ending the war now serves Israel’s security interests “to a large extent.” Overall, 62 percent of respondents said they expect Israel to return to widescale conflict with Iran. The survey also found that 51 percent of Israelis believe the U.S. exerts more influence over Israel’s defense decisions than the Israeli government itself.

An Israeli source told Reuters on Wednesday that Israel was unaware that Trump was potentially close to a deal with Iran to end the war and was in fact preparing for a possible escalation in fighting. For his part, IDF chief Eyal Zamir said on Wednesday that the military maintains a list of targets ready for strikes in Iran in coordination with the U.S. military and vowed to “not step back until security is ensured.”

The White House, however, believes it is nearing an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and establish a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations, two U.S. officials and two other sources briefed on the matter told Axios on Wednesday. A Pakistani source involved in the peace efforts later told Reuters that Washington and Tehran were “getting close” to finalizing a one-page memorandum to end the war, confirming the Axios report.

While Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. proposal was under review, according to the ISNA news agency, an anonymous source told the semi-official IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency that parts of the proposal were “unacceptable.” Trump, for his part, said on Wednesday that “if they don’t agree, the bombing starts.” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf later said that Iran would “rather die than surrender,” the state-run Fars News reported.