Is President Trump’s public declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel in Israel's best interest?
The monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University published today, found that the majority of Jewish Israelis (65%) think that Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem is good for Israel; furthermore, the majority (64%) of the Jewish public thinks that the recent UN resolution rejecting the US declaration, are not likely to harm Israel’s interests in actuality. Notwithstanding these views a clear majority, (over 60%) of the general Israeli public agree with the view that “Jerusalem is already divided into two cities: the eastern city and the western city.” This is up from 56% in 2008 and 49.5% in 1999.
Highlights:
Is Trump good for Israel? A large majority of the Jewish public (65%) think President Trump’s public declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel was in Israel's best interest. Among the Arab-Israeli respondents, about two-third consider that the declaration was not in Israel’s best interest.
The status of Jerusalem: A majority of the Jewish public (72%) believe that following a comprehensive and stable peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, Jerusalem should remain united and the capital of Israel. Among the Arab-Israeli public, 44%want the city to be divided with the eastern part serving as the capital of Palestine and the western part as the capital of Israel.
Weekly demonstrations against political corruption: the Israeli public is divided on the real motive behind the demonstrations against political corruption in Israel. 46% of Jewish Israelis think that the demonstrators main aim is to remove Prime Minister Netanyahu from office, while 21.5% think that the demonstrators are mainly motivated by their fight against corruption. An additional 25% think that both motives combined are fueling the demonstrations.
Israelis trust the professionalism of the authorities: a large majority of the Jewish public (64%) and 42% of the Arab public greatly or moderately trust the judgment of the police in conducting the investigations Netanyahu's conduct.
Crisis at Teva: 56% of the Jewish public believes that even in hindsight, the Israeli government smartly gave Teva tax breaks in order to keep much of its business in Israel, notwithstanding the fact that it’s a publicly traded company. 62.5% believe that it would be best if the state would channel its efforts to find new places of employment for the laid off employees, as opposed to financially helping Teva (15%). The picture in the Arab public is different. In the Arab public, the rate who think the state did not act rightly in giving Teva tax breaks is slightly higher than the rate of those who think the opposite (42% vs. 37%). The highest rate (40%) believes the state should rescue Teva from the crisis compared to 37% who believe it should concentrate on seeking new jobs for the workers
This month's survey was conducted by telephone and Internet on December 26-27, 2017, by the Midgam Research Institute. The survey included 600 respondents- 500 Jews and 100 Arabs - 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%.