Survey: 56% of Jews Think Most Arab Citizens Support Temple Mount Attack

Monthly Peace Index also finds that 65% of Israelis do not trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the crisis on Temple Mount. 

 

Israeli Jews are split: 56% believe that at least half of Israel's Arab citizens support the attack on the Temple Mount. According to this month’s Peace Index, published Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, 71% of Jewish Israelis believe that half of the Palestinian public supports the attack in Halamish. Also, 48% of Jewish Israelis surveyed believe that the Muslim religious authorities were aware of the terrorists' intention to carry out an attack near the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Regarding the government's reaction to the attack, 65% of Israelis do not trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the crisis on Temple Mount.

In addition, the Index found:

Corruption Scandals: 55% of the Israeli public believe that the prime minister knew about the involvement of his associates in the 'submarine affair.' Meanwhile, the public is divided on whether Netanyahu's decision to purchase submarines was influenced by personal motives. In addition, most of the Israeli public believes that the prime minister knew about the involvement of his associates in the 'submarines affair,' while 38% of the survey's respondents think that the decision to purchase new submarines was influenced by personal considerations.

Death Penalty: 70% of Jewish Israelis support the use of the death penalty for terrorists convicted of murdering Israeli citizens on nationalistic grounds. Moreover, 66% are in favor of the death penalty for those who murdered Israeli soldiers for this reason. Relatedly, seventy percent of Jewish Israelis believe that the penalties imposed by Israeli courts on Palestinians who had carried out attacks are too lenient.

This month's survey was conducted by Professor Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute and Professor Ephraim Yaar of Tel Aviv University via the Midgam Research Institute, between July 25 and July 27, 2017. The survey included 600 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of the adult population aged 18 and over.

Click here to view this month's complete Peace Index findings.