The Majority of Israelis Favor Providing Syrian Victims of War with Humanitarian Aid
On the northern front: the majority of Israelis favor providing Syrian victims of war with medical aid and food. On the southern front: the majority of Israelis support a military operation if Hamas violates the ceasefire.
Illustration | Flash 90
The monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, published today (Tuesday), finds that 70% of Israelis think Hamas is trying to draw Israel into a war. 61% of Israeli Jews thinks that it should launch a wide-scale military operation against Hamas in Gaza if it violates the ceasefire; while on the northern front, 78% of Israeli Jews think that Israel should provide victims of the Syrian civil war with medical aid and food.
Main findings
Southern Front: 70% of Israeli Jews and 34% of Israeli Arabs agree with Minister of Defense, Avigdor Liberman’s recent diagnosis that the ongoing provocations along the Gaza border, encouraged by Hamas, are intended to draw Israel into a wide-scale military operation in Gaza.
Public support for a military operation if Hamas violates the ceasefire: 61% of Israeli Jews and 16% of Israeli Arabs think that Israel should launch a wide-scale military operation against Hamas in Gaza if it violates the ceasefire). This majority is, however, largely composed of right-wingers, of whom 75% responded that if the ceasefire is violated the Israeli interest requires launching a sizable military campaign. Among Israeli Arabs a large majority (69%) oppose launching a wide-scale military operation in Gaza even if the ceasefire is violated.
Assad’s victories in Syria: The Jewish public does not have a clear-cut position on whether President Assad’s imminent victory in the Syrian civil war and success in entrenching his rule there, is a positive or negative development with regard to Israel’s interests. 43.5% say it is not a positive development and 34% consider it positive The Arab public too is divided on this question: 38% regard Assad’s successes as a positive development from Israel’s standpoint, while 33.5% see it as a negative one.
Victims of the Syrian civil war: 78% and 75% of the Jewish and Arab public respectively favor providing victims of the Syrian civil war with humanitarian aid. Nevertheless, the majority (80%) of Israeli Jews oppose allowing victims of the war in Syria to enter Israel while the majority of Israeli Arabs (66%) think they should be allowed into Israel if their lives are put in danger by soldiers of the Syrian army.
The survey conducted on July 24-26, 2018, included 600 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of the adult population of Israel aged 18 and over. The maximum measurement error for the entire sample is ±4.1% at a confidence level of 95%.
To read the full Peace Index.