Latest Peace Index: Israelis Are "Tense But Not Hysterical"

This month's peace index survey focused on the ongoing wave of terror attacks and how they are affecting the feelings and behaviors of the Israeli public. Overall, the study found a Jewish public that is tense but not hysterical.

This month's peace index survey focused on the ongoing wave of terror attacks and how they are affecting the feelings and behaviors of the Israeli public. Overall, the study found a Jewish public that is tense but not hysterical.

A majority of the Jewish public (57%) fears that they themselves or someone important to them will be harmed in the current wave of attacks. Nonetheless, 64% report that they have not changed their daily habits – taking public transportation, altering shopping routines – due to the security situation.

In contrast, the Arab public is quite frightened. Some 78% answered that they are apprehensive of being harmed and a majority (53%) did report a change in their daily habits.

Punishing Perpetrators
Jewish Israeli and Arab Israelis do not see eye-to-eye with regards to how to punish those who carry out attacks based on a nationalistic background.

• Destroying Homes: While 80% of Jewish Israelis believe Palestinian homes should be raised if the home owner or a family member carries out an attack, only 53% agree that a Jewish Israeli's home should be raised if the home owner or a family member carries out an attack. (Some 77% of Arab Israelis disagree that Palestinian homes should be raised; 67% also oppose raising Jewish homes.) 
• Level of Punishment: The majority of the Jewish public (70%) feels the punishments Israeli courts levy on terrorists are too light. As is expected, the majority of Arab Israelis (60%) feel these punishments are too heavy.

A majority of Jewish Israelis (53%) also said they agreed with the statement that "any Palestinian who has perpetrated a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot."

Official Handling of the Security Situation
When asked what grade each of the following institutions should be given for how they have dealt with the current terror wave, they received the following grades, respectively:

• Israel Defense Forces: Jewish groups ranked the IDF the highest; 93% of the Jewish public gave the IDF grades of very good or moderately good. (Only 31.3% of Arab Israelis gave the IDF a good ranking.)
• Police: The police received the second highest rating; 84.5% Jews graded the police very good or moderately good. (Some 27.7% of Arab Israelis gave the police a good grade.)
• The Shin Bet General Security Service: 71% percent of Jewish Israelis ranked the Shin Bet as good, as opposed to 15.3% of Arab Israelis.
• The Israeli Government: The majority of Jews and Arabs agree that the Israeli government is not doing a good job dealing with the present security situation. Some 55.3% of Israeli Jews and 57.2% of Israeli Arabs graded the Israeli government as handling the situation "moderately poor" or "very poor." 

The Temple Mount

• Jewish Prayer: More than half of Jewish respondents (58%) consider that in the current state of affairs, Jews should not be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount.
• Government Policy: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy on this issue does not get much support. When asked, "Is Netanyahu's policy toward the conflict with the Arab world over the question of prayer on the Temple Mount good or poor from Israel's standpoint?" 49% of Jewish Israelis and 65.5% of Arab Israelis responded that it is very poor or moderately poor.

This month's survey was conducted by telephone on October 28-29, 2015. The survey included 600 adult respondents, who constitute a representative national sample. The maximum measurement error for the entire sample is ±4.1% at a confidence level of 95%.

See the full index>>