Articles

IDI experts argue for a universal obligation to serve, as opposed to the model of the latest "conscription" bill, which would be harmful to Israel's security and social solidarity. However, if the present legislation does move forward, the points presented here would mitigate the harm in the proposed bill.

Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement would undermine Israeli companies’ ability to meet the environmental standards of their trade partners, which could impact the entire economy.

The following is an executive summary and key findings from a full study, which can be found in Hebrew here.

44% of the total sample supports direct military involvement in a potential US attack on Iran while 50% support participating only if Israel is attacked by Iran. The largest share (49%) think that Israel’s security will be harmed by reduced military aid from the US, down to zero, while 39.5% think it will not be harmed. Rise in optimism for the future of all four topics: democratic rule, national security, economy, and social cohesion.

A fabricated AI-generated image of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid posted on the Likud's social media accounts is a clear demonstration of a dangerous new form of election propaganda. Urgent steps must be taken to prohibit the use of such materials against one's political opponents.

Why is the Knesset automatically dissolved if the budget is not approved? When was this rule established, and when was the last time elections were brought forward due to the failure to pass the state budget? All the answers.

Israel is entering a pivotal election year—its first since the judicial overhaul and the war that began on October 7, 2023. Throughout the year, IDI is asking its experts which issues will shape the election campaign. IDI President Yohanan Plesner is watching three key areas: national security, including efforts to advance regional stability and examine the failures surrounding October 7; ultra-Orthodox conscription, given the IDF’s manpower needs and the post-war reality; and Israel’s democratic character, as questions surrounding the rule of law and checks and balances return to the center of the public agenda.

The Supreme Court is currently conducting a hearing that could signal a constitutional crisis—a contempt-of-court motion filed in the case of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel v. Minister of Defense (5819/24), which argues that the government has not complied with the Court’s ruling of November 19, 2025 requiring it to formulate an effective enforcement plan for ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) conscription.

This explainer reviews the background to the Court’s ruling, and considers whether Israel merely faces the risk of a constitutional crisis, or whether such a crisis is already here.

With unprecedented technological tools in the hands of foreign and domestic actors, the proliferation of chatbots in the information ecosystem, and outdated regulatory frameworks, the integrity of Israel's 2026 elections will be tested like never before.

The government’s refusal to formulate an enforcement plan for drafting ultra-Orthodox men, in defiance of a ruling by the High Court of Justice, places Israel before an unprecedented crisis. The Court faces only bad options—but it may have no choice other than to step into the shoes of the executive branch and move toward active enforcement.

A bill that would subordinate the professional work of IDF's highest legal authority to the IDF Chief of Staff, rather than the Attorney General, would have grave consequences for the rule of law, the IDF, and all who serve in it.

While the police shooting in Tarabin is still under investigation, the events leading up to the shooting reflect a systemic failure in the police's approach to combatting crime in Arab society, and raise concerns about politicization of the police.

Around three-quarters of Jews and one third of Arabs think it is safer to live in Israel than countries abroad. There has been a decline by about 10 percentage points in the share of Israelis who support a state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7. A small majority of Israelis (54%) think Prime Minister Netanyahu was aware of the link between his close advisors and Qatar.

The court’s ruling about who can oversee an obstruction of justice investigation into military officials has broad rule-of-law implications.

Eric Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, joined Yohanan Plesner, President of the Israel Democracy Institute, and Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, Director of IDI’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society, for an online conversation on “The Fifth Tribe,” the challenges facing American Jewry, and the relationship between Israel and the Jewish diaspora during the war and beyond.

Former President Reuven Rivlin, IDI's Honorary Chair and Joan and Irwin Jacobs Distinguished Fellow, joined IDI's Vice President for Research Prof. Suzie Navot at the annual Shared Society Conference for a conversation on political polarization, the urgent need for genuine constitutional reform, and what it truly means to uphold the principles of a democratic and Jewish state.

The proposal to advance a politically appointed commission of inquiry into the events of October 7 is a significant departure from the accepted model of an independent state commission of inquiry. This explainer compares the two models and lays out the key details of each one.

Following the release of the IDI's Israeli Democracy Index earlier this week, we're pleased to present the findings of a special chapter on Israeli public opinion ahead of 2026 national elections in Israel.

IDI's 2025 Israeli Democracy Index: More positive assessments of the country’s overall situation, but there are low grades for Israeli democracy; public trust in the majority of institutions remains low; and the friction between Right and Left is viewed as the most acute social tension in Israel. Despite this, most Israelis prefer to remain in Israel rather than moving abroad.

In the aftermath of the Bondi beach Chanukkah shooting, we saw, yet again, an online ecosystem primed to flood the system with antisemitic content and disinformation about the attack. Policymakers must set basic conditions for safeguarding democratic societies in a world where physical attacks and digital narratives are so deeply intertwined.

Diverting hundreds of millions of shekels from the five-year plan for Arab society toward enforcement and security will harm both the effort to reduce socioeconomic gaps and personal security.

The Israeli government’s decision to establish its own committee to investigate the failures on October 7 is not enough.

The opinion is correct that Israel violated international law by cutting ties with UNRWA, but some broader observations are questionable.

50% of Israelis do not think President Herzog should grant Prime Minister Netanyahu a pardon; 41% think he should. 45% of Israelis think Israel’s security forces and law enforcement agencies are too lenient in their treatment of settler groups involved in acts of violence against Palestinians; 22% think they are too harsh; 21% think their treatment is appropriate. 61% of Jews think the decision to sell F-35 war planes to Saudi Arabia harms Israel’s security.

The following is a summary of the key findings of IDI research on Israelis who express a desire to move abroad, including a sociodemographic profile, considerations and purpose of wanting to leave, and additional analysis. The research is based on a survey of a representative sample of Israeli adults, including 720 Jews and 187 Arabs. The data were collected April 6-17, 2025 by CI Marketing and Research.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a presidential pardon while his trial is ongoing. President Isaac Herzog has an unprecedented decision before him that throws him into the thick of Israel's political divides.

The findings of the annual survey of the Center for Security and Democracy and the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute were presented at the Annual Conference on Security and Democracy, held at the Israel Democracy Institute on Tuesday–Wednesday, November 25–26, 2025.