Poll: Most Israelis say terror wave is no intifada

Jews and Arabs disagree on whether Palestinian leadership is planning attacks, Israel Democracy Institute survey finds

By JTA 8 December 2015, 5:54 pm

Edit

An Israeli female soldier reacts at the scene of a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian man against two Israeli soldiers, killing one of them, at a gas station on a main road on the busy 443 highway, November 24, 2015. (AFP/Gil Cohen-Magen)

A majority of Israelis say the ongoing string of terror attacks that have killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens more since the start of October do not qualify as an intifada.

According to a poll released Tuesday by the Israel Democracy Institute, a majority of both Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs say the current wave of stabbing and shooting attacks, which began in October, is a “limited uprising” and not an intifada. The Second Intifada a decade ago killed some 1,000 Israelis in a series of suicide bombings.

Israeli Jews and Arabs disagree over whether the attacks are being planned by the Palestinian leadership. Sixty-one percent of Jews say the Palestinian leadership has been involved in the attacks, while 58 percent of Israeli Arabs say the attacks are spontaneous.

The two groups are also split on whether an Israeli-Palestinian accord would reduce the violence. Seventy-one percent of Israel Jews say it would not, while 72 percent of Israeli Arabs say it would.

Two-thirds of Israeli Jews and 64 percent of Israeli Arabs fear for their loved ones’ safety due to the terror wave.

The telephone poll was conducted by the Midgam Research Institute on November 30 and December 1, 2015, and questioned 600 respondents constituting a representative national sample of Israel’s adult population. The poll had a margin of error of 4.1%.