Articles

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.

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.

The survey was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute's Center for Security and Democracy and Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.

Against the backdrop of the bills currently under consideration in the Knesset, which are intended to split the role of the Attorney General, IDI experts explain what is at stake.

The Israeli government recently announced its intention to establish its own commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, 2023, rather than forming a State Commission of Inquiry—the most authoritative, independent, and legally empowered investigative mechanism under Israeli law. As Dr. Dana Blander, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, explains, Israel’s legal framework provides for several types of investigative commissions, each differing in its degree of independence, statutory authority, and public legitimacy. Notably, the government’s recent decision does not establish a State Commission of Inquiry—the appropriate and legally grounded institution for investigating the events of October 7—nor does it create a governmental commission of inquiry. Instead, it proposes a vague, ad hoc body seemingly tailored to serve specific political interests rather than the public need for a credible and impartial investigation. This explainer outlines the existing commissions - as more information comes to light about the government's planned commission, additional analysis will be provided.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a pardon from President Isaac Herzog. Here's everything you need to know about the presidential pardon process in Israel.

The High Court handed down a decision allowing the Minister of Justice choose the civil servant to oversee the investigation into the Sde Teiman video leak affair in the Attorney General's stead. This sets a concerning precedent and ignores the current political reality in Israel.

Israel currently has six government ministries with no ministers leading them. This is not only a breach of the fundamental duty of government, it also means decisions and regulations requiring ministerial approval cannot move forward, and key public services cannot be delivered to the citizens.

The largest share of respondents think that the United States has the greater influence on security decisions relating to Israel—almost double the share of those who think that the reins of security are in the hands of the Israeli government. The majority of Israelis think that Israel’s security is one of US President Trump’s central considerations.

All participants in Israel’s public discourse would do well to use this astonishing affair to repair the legal system, not to score points against ideological rivals.

Behind the call to oppose the “persecution of Torah learners” lies a different struggle: an attempt by Haredi society to unite its ranks and strengthen a communal identity that has been eroded by the growing pressures to integrate into Israeli society, especially after two years of war.

Instead of debating electoral reforms that seek to preserve and protect the political interests of those in power, let us focus on electoral reform, such as a semi-open ballot system, that would improve governance, increase accountability, and strengthen democracy.