Digital Library
How Israeli Society Has Unified, and Divided, in Wartime
Topic:
Israel & Regional Politics
Principal Investigators:
Laura Silver, Maria Smerkovich
Study Date:
2024
Source:
Pew Research Center
Key Findings:
Conflicts within Israeli Society
Regarding Israeli Arabs vs. Israeli Jews, 28% now say there are very strong conflicts between these groups (a significant drop from 46% in 2023).
Regarding religious and secular Israelis, 18% report very strong conflicts (down from 29% in 2023).
Regarding political Left and Right, 24% perceive strong divisions (down from 32% in 2023).
Despite this decline, divisions between groups are still present, with notable polarization in views on key issues like trust in the national government and the military.
Polarization of Opinions
Jewish Israelis' trust in the national government has increased, with 61% saying it does what is right for Israel (up from 53% in 2017). Arab Israelis' trust has significantly decreased, dropping to 23% from 44%.
A large majority of Jewish Israelis (93%) believe the military has a positive influence, while only 34% of Arab Israelis agree, highlighting a growing ethnic divide. This gap has widened since 2007 when 77% of Jews and 57% of Arabs expressed similar sentiments.
Israelis are divided on whether settlements help or hurt Israel’s security, but Jewish Israelis are increasingly supportive of settlements, contributing to a growing ethnic gap on the issue.
Fewer Israelis think Israel and a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully, dropping from 35% in 2023 to 26%. This decline is particularly noticeable among Jewish Israelis.
Ideological Divides
Among Israelis on the political left, only 19% trust the national government, compared to 75% on the right—a 56-point difference, up from 43 points in 2017. 50% of Israelis are pessimistic about their political system, while only 35% are optimistic.
Arab Israelis have become significantly more pessimistic (69%, up from 57% in 2019), while Jewish Israelis' pessimism has decreased (44%, down from 55% in 2019).
Arab and Jewish coexistence:
Israelis are equally divided on the future of peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews, with 37% optimistic and 37% pessimistic. The remainder are unsure or see it as context-dependent.
National security and religious-secular relations:
Israelis are more optimistic about national security and the peaceful coexistence of religious and secular Jews.
Political leadership ratings:
Only Defense Minister Yoav Gallant received favorable ratings from a majority of Israelis. Jewish and Arab Israelis have drastically different views on most political leaders, with Gallant receiving 65 percentage points more favorability among Jews than Arabs. Prime Minister Netanyahu also has a favorable gap of +44% among Jews, while Arab Israelis have a more negative view of him. Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List, has a significant negative rating (-56) among Jews. Views on Netanyahu and other right-wing leaders like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are highly polarized, with right-leaning Israelis viewing them much more favorably than left-leaning ones.
Violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
About two-thirds of Israelis are extremely concerned about violence against Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Jewish Israelis are more concerned about violence against Jews (70%) compared to Arab Israelis (43%). On the other hand, Arab Israelis (73%) are significantly more concerned about violence against Palestinians than Jewish Israelis (19%). Left-leaning Israelis show more concern about violence against Palestinians, while right-leaning Israelis are more concerned about violence against Jews.
Methodology:
This Pew Research Center analysis covers Israeli attitudes toward the country’s leaders, the current and future state of Israeli society, and the influence of various national institutions and groups, all in the context of the Israel-Hamas war.
The data is from a survey of 1,001 Israeli adults conducted face-to-face from March 3 to April 4, 2024. Interviews were conducted in Hebrew and Arabic, and the survey is representative of the adult population ages 18 and older, excluding those in East Jerusalem and non-sanctioned outposts. (The survey also did not cover the West Bank or Gaza.) The survey included an oversample of Arabs in Israel. It was subsequently weighted to be representative of the Israeli adult population with the following variables: gender by ethnicity, age by ethnicity, education, region, urbanicity and probability of selection of respondent.
Prior to 2024, combined totals were based on rounded topline figures. For all reports beginning in 2024, totals are based on unrounded topline figures, so combined totals might be different than in previous years.