Digital Library
The 2021 Israel Pluralism Index Consensus and Disagreements
Topic:
Israel & Regional Politics, Jewish Diaspora & Interfaith Relations, Israel Literacy
Principal Investigators:
Shmuel Rosner, Noah Slepkov, Professor Camil Fuchs
Study Date:
2021
Source:
Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI)
Key Findings:
(1) Political Identification
Of the Israeli Jews who self-identified as “right” four years ago, 12% now identify as “center right” (while another 2% self-identify as “center”). Similarly, a third of those who self-identified as “left” four years ago (a small segment of the Israeli populace, amounting to 5 percent) now self-identify as “center left.” These moves do not bespeak a major change in political opinions, but rather a flexible attitude toward self-identification, one that is less concerned with rigid points of identification than with general comfort zones along the social-political spectrum.
The political identification index puts half to two-thirds of Israeli Jews on the right-wing side of the spectrum (right and center right), a quarter at the center, and the rest on the left-wing side (mostly center left, with a small number self-identifying as “left”).
(2) The COVID-19 Pandemic
A substantial majority of Israelis view the behavior of the Haredi sector and, to a lesser degree, the Arab sector, as a blow to Israeli unity.
(3) Cohesion and Partnership
A slight majority of Jews and Arabs agree that “All Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs, have a shared future.” A majority of Israeli Jews agree that “All Jews, in Israel and the Diaspora, have a shared future.”
(4) A Jewish State
Israel’s Jewish public is divided over whether Israel should be “less Jewish,” “more Jewish,” or “as it is today.” There is a strong consensus among Jews that the Jewish state should have a Jewish majority and encourage Jewish creative activity. Only a tiny minority of Jews in Israel (1%) would prefer that Israel cease to be a Jewish state. Arabs would overwhelmingly prefer that Israel be a “state of all its citizens,” with no religious or national particularities.
(5) A Democratic State
A substantial majority of Arabs, and a majority of Jews, want Israel to be “more democratic.”
A substantial majority of Arab Israelis do not regard Israel as a democracy.
There is a near-total consensus among Jews and Arabs that a democratic state should safeguard human rights and not discriminate against minorities.
Methodology:
JPPI’s seventh annual Pluralism Index is based, among other things, on a comprehensive opinion survey. The survey includes Jewish and non-Jewish respondents. In the case of the Jewish respondents, it draws on the large respondent base of JPPI’s comprehensive 2018 Israeli Judaism Survey. The Index comprises a list of set topics, whose developments are assessed each year. The researchers also examine various developments between the positions and desires of different groups within Israeli society (relative to a baseline).
The survey was conducted in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, and in the midst of an election season – Israel’s fourth in two years. The Pluralism Index is not directly linked to immediate political developments, nor to the health and economic crises in which Israel and the rest of the world were mired during the period of its compilation. Its purpose is to identify long-term trends, not to respond to short-term developments. However, crises often precipitate turning points whose effects persist even after the crises have passed. In this context, it is worth looking at some of the findings presented in the Index, especially those relating to groups that stood out during the pandemic.
Moreover, The Index is not the place to expand on Israel’s election cycle. However, JPPI’s use of the same samples in its data assessments for the past four years makes it possible to identify long-term trends even in political contexts. Through comparative analysis of the responses of Israeli Jews to questions about self-definition, including responses in the political data field, rightward or leftward movements along the (5-step) scale can be identified, especially movements of one step up or down.