Police and Domestic Security in Israeli Public Opinion in 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.
The 2025 Annual Conference on Security and Democracy
The 2025 Annual Police and Internal Security Survey examined a variety of areas that are at the heart of the relationship between the public and the police: levels of trust, perceptions of fairness and neutrality, fear of crime, willingness to report offenses, satisfaction with police performance, attitudes toward gun policy, and police conduct during demonstrations. The data reflect broad processes that have occurred in Israeli society in recent years, especially since the events of October 7, and highlight the challenges facing the law enforcement system.
The survey presents a worrying picture of the public’s attitudes toward the Israel Police. The findings point to a continuing decline in public trust in the police, exacerbation of differences between political camps in attitudes toward internal security policy, a rise in fear of crime (particularly in Arab society), and widespread criticism of the police’s independence and neutrality. Taken together, these trends constitute a significant challenge to the police’s ability to strengthen public trust and maintain the public legitimacy necessary for it to function. However, a high percentage of all those surveyed say that they would make a report to the police if they were victims of a crime, and there is a high willingness to volunteer in the police and other frameworks responsible for maintaining community security among Jews and Arabs.
Overall, 47% of the public report that they have “little trust” in the police, and another 20% say they have no trust at all. Only a third of the public has a relatively high level of trust in the police. In the Arab public, levels of trust are particularly low: Only 19% express high levels of trust, compared to 35% of the Jewish public, while 40% of Arab respondents have no trust at all in the police. These figures almost precisely repeat the record lows found just before October 7.
The differences between political camps (among Jewish respondents) are also very pronounced. Only 6% of respondents on the Left trust the police, compared to 27% of respondents in the Center and 43.5% on the Right. The trend of politicization of trust in the police, which began in 2018, is continuing and even gaining strength.
To what extent do you trust the Israel Police? (Jews and Arabs; %)
Trust the police 2003–2025 (Jews and Arabs; %)
Trust the police 2003–2025 (Jews, by political orientation; %)
Only 36% of the public think that the Israel Police is politically neutral. This is a significantly lower share than for other security agencies, though there is no agency perceived as neutral by a large majority of the public: 57% consider the IDF to be politically neutral, 56% with regard to the Mossad, and 49% in the case of the Shin Bet.
The political divide regarding perceptions of neutrality is striking: Only a quarter of respondents on the Left view the police as a neutral body (28%), as do around a third of those in the Center (30%). On the Right, the proportion who think that the Israel Police is neutral is larger, but still relatively small (39%). Despite these low percentages, there has actually been an improvement in the public perception of police neutrality, up from 29% last year (total sample) to 36% this year. This increase was observed across all three political camps in the Jewish sample. Regarding the IDF, there has also been a rise in the perception of neutrality, albeit more moderate.
Are the State of Israel’s security agencies politically neutral or not? (total sample; %)
Many in the Israeli public believe that politicians exert influence over the decision-making processes of the senior police command: 74% think that the decisions of the police command and of police officers in the field are influenced by political pressures, and are not based solely on professional considerations. This finding is common to most political camps.
There are also considerable reservations regarding the involvement of the minister of national security, both in appointments and in operational decisions: Half of the Likud voters who participated in the survey believe that the minister’s involvement in appointments or operational decisions harms the neutrality of the police. Among voters for opposition parties, opposition to political involvement is almost absolute.
Only 37% of the public think that the Israel Police behaves fairly to all citizens—a decline of seven percentage points compared to last year. A large majority of respondents (69%) believe that police officers’ decisions are influenced by their personal and political attitudes toward various population groups. There is no substantial difference between Jews and Arabs on this question.
Does the Israel Police behave fairly to all citizens? (Jews and Arabs; %)
The data indicate the depth of the crisis in personal security in Israel. 80% of Arab respondents fear that they or members of their family will be harmed by serious violence or by gunfire due to criminal conflicts. In the Jewish public, a third of respondents express similar concerns. The high levels of fear in Arab society reflect the impact of the wave of serious violence in recent years.
To what extent are you worried that you or a member of your family will be harmed by serious violence or gunfire due to criminal conflicts? (Jews and Arabs; %)
Despite the decline in public trust, willingness to file a complaint with the police when a victim of a crime has increased relative to last year. 91% of Jews and 83% of Arabs would contact the police in the event of a violent crime, and similar shares say the same with regard to property offenses. However, respondents express significantly lower willingness to make a report to the police when they are witnesses to crime. The discrepancy in willingness between the two cases (victim of crime and witness to crime), which was also noticeable in last year’s data, has grown this year. In other words, fewer respondents would be willing to report it to the police if they witness a crime. Arabs are less willing to report than Jews, but not to a significant degree.
Would report crime to the police, as victim or witness (Jews and Arabs; %)
The public’s assessment of the police’s performance is low with regard to most aspects of policing. The level of satisfaction with the police’s handling of serious crime stands at 32% among Jews and 17% among Arabs. Even regarding issues such as equal treatment, incorruptibility, and crime in one’s own area of residence, satisfaction levels are very low. The gap between Jews and Arabs is consistent and significant across all these issues.
Satisfied with various aspects of police performance (Jews and Arabs; %)
The Israeli public is divided in its views on the country’s gun policy and its implications: 41% think that the current policy is appropriate for the circumstances, while close to a third (27.5%) think it is too lenient, and almost a fifth (17%) consider it too strict. Attitudes regarding gun licensing policy have become highly politicized. On the Left, a clear majority think the policy is too lenient, while a clear majority of those on the Right believe it is appropriate.
Is Israel’s policy toward private ownership of firearms too lenient, too strict, or appropriate for the circumstances? (Jews, by political orientation; %)
There are also acute differences between different groups regarding the carrying of guns by citizens in public: 81% of Arabs report that this situation does not give them a sense of security. The Jewish public, on the other hand, is divided, though a small majority report that they feel safer as a result. Analyzing the responses in the Jewish sample by political orientation also reveals profound differences in opinion: On the Left, only 11.4% say that they feel safe with people carrying firearms in public—smaller than the corresponding share of Arabs. In the Center, 38.5% say they feel safe, while this response was given by 69% of those on the Right—a proportion almost seven times larger than on the Left.
Another question focuses on the private domain, and examines the extent to which having a licensed firearm at home evokes a sense of security. Approximately half of all respondents (49.7%) say that this would make them feel safe to very large or fairly large extent, while 43.6% say that in this situation they would feel safe to a fairly small extent or not at all. This is a fairly even distribution, meaning that there is no broad consensus or shared experience among the Israeli public on this issue, though there are significant differences between different groups in Israeli society. Among Arabs, firearms contribute to a greater sense of security for only 26% of respondents, compared to 55% of Jews—more than double. There are also significant differences between political camps in the Jewish sample: 66% of respondents on the Right report that having a licensed firearm at home gives them a greater sense of security, compared to 43% of respondents in the Center and only 14% on the Left. Fully 81% of respondents on the Left say that having a licensed firearm at home would not make them feel safe. No significant differences were found between men and women on this question.
Does having a licensed firearm at home contribute to a greater sense of security? (Jews, by political orientation; %)
58% of the Israeli public agree that demonstrations are an important tool in a democratic state, even when they disrupt public order. By contrast, only a third (38%) of the public think that the police maintain an appropriate balance between freedom of protest and public order considerations. The differences between the political camps in the Jewish sample are prominent: On the Left, only a minority say that the police maintain the appropriate balance (19%), while 79% hold the opposite view; by contrast, on the Right, there is much stronger support for the work of the police in this context, at 40%. A more complex picture emerges when examining views according to voting pattern at the last Knesset elections: Likud and Yisrael Beytenu voters are more likely to agree that the police maintain an appropriate balance between freedom of protest and public order considerations (over 50% in both cases), while United Torah Judaism voters express the least support for this assertion (only 19%).
Agree that the police maintain an appropriate balance between freedom of protest and public order considerations (total sample, by vote in last elections; %)
The survey was conducted from October 22–November 8, 2025. The survey sample comprised 750 respondents, with 150 of these from the Arab sector (20% of the sample). The maximum sampling error was ±3.58%
Among Jewish respondents, 10% defined themselves as on the Left, 23.5% as in the Center, and 63% as on the Right.
Of the total sample, 30% of respondents say that they have contacted the police for assistance during the last three years, 10% that they have been victims of violence or crime during the same period, and 23% that they have participated in at least one demonstration over the last three years.
