Survey: Israel veering to the right

A recent poll shows Israeli Jews veering far to the right in their opinions, beyond the stances of the current government, and in opposition to the demands of the US administration for participation in a peace intiative. Surveys often seem to reflect the ideology of those who initiated them. However, while the Maagar Mohot Survey institute may be biased and the questions were certainly not designed for impartiality, the results are too clear cut to be due only to artifact.

 

According to the survey, by 52% to 33%, Israeli Jews oppose a settlement freeze in the West Bank ("Judea and Samaria") and East Jerusalem in return for Arab gestures such as the opening of various Israeli representation  offices or granting of permission for Israeli flights to fly over Saudi Arabia on the way to the Far East. That is the deal that is rumored to be pending. Respondents agreed by a  margine of 47% to 25% that once Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu formally agrees to a settlement freeze President Obama will pressure him to continue the freeze indefinitely regardless of what the Arabs do.By a margin of 55% to 26% they agreed with the following statement: " Minister Moshe  "Bogie" Yaalon  warned last week that 'When you do things you don't believe in, you enter a slippery slope because they put pressure on you, and you keep rolling downwards.'  Do you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu is on a slippery slope with President Obama?"

The poll also found support by a margin of 51% to 24%  for Minister Moshe  "Bogie" Yaalon's call to legalize illegal outposts rather than dismantling them as Israel had agreed under the roadmap. The wording of the question almost certainly biased the responses. Respondents were not asked if they agreed to legalize illegal outposts that Israel had undertaken to dismantle. Rather, respondents were asked whether they agree "to complete the approval process of outposts in the West Bank  Judea and Samaria that were established with Israel's consent and whose approval process has yet to be completed."

 

Respondents also agreed by a margin of 63% to 22% that the Netanyahu government's "de facto freeze without cabinet approval" (no new building starts in the occupied territories) was "improper."  

Israeli Jews agree (41%:19%) that the Peace Now movement has caused damage to the State of Israel, in line with Deputy Prime Minister Yaalon's recent statement calling Peace Now a "virus."

 

Poll data as supplied by IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis.

Ami Isseroff