Poll: Overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis don’t trust Arab compatriots

72% of Jewish citizens suspicious of Arabs, reverse felt by 43% of Arabs; half of Jews feel more hostility from Arabs since start of Gaza war, 40% of Arabs feels same from Jews

Illustrative: Arabs and Jews protest the escalating violence and riots between the Arab and Jewish population at the time, in Jaffa, on May 14, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Illustrative: Arabs and Jews protest the escalating violence and riots between the Arab and Jewish population at the time, in Jaffa, on May 14, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

There are deep divides within Israeli society between the Jewish and Arab populations, with mistrust and a reluctance for social connections demonstrated by both sides, a poll released Sunday found, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

According to a survey by the Givat Haviva social activism group, 72 percent of Jewish Israelis don’t trust their Arab counterparts, while 43% of Arabs don’t trust the Jews.

The poll was published at Givat Haviva’s annual conference, the report said but did not provide details on the number of participants or methodology.

Half of Jews said they felt an increased hostility from Arabs since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, with the devastating assault on Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas. Among Arabs, over 40% said they felt more hostility from Jews since the war started.

Over two-thirds of Jewish Israelis, 67%, opposed Arab parties joining the government coalition.

Also, 45% of Jews said they were not willing to have social friendships with Arabs, while among Arabs that sentiment was expressed by just 13%.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, who was at the conference, said that in recent years some who live in Arab communities have reached out to Jewish society, seeking partnership, and that the Jewish majority must offer a supporting hand in return, Kan reported.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel attends a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, July 24, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Arab MK Ayman Odeh, who was at the conference said, “You don’t know how torn we are over the images from Gaza.”

There is, he said “imperviousness among large parts of Israeli society” to the suffering of Palestinians.

Givat Haviva CEO Michal Sella told the conference the end of fighting in Gaza and the return of the hostages under a ceasefire deal that began last month are an opening to rectify the situation.

She noted that, on the positive side, Israeli society had not descended into violence over the issue, apparently a reference to the severe inter-communal riots in mixed Jewish-Arab cities that accompanied a previous conflict with Hamas in 2021.

Only 30% of Jews were willing to participate or have their family members participate in groups with Arabs. Sixty percent of Arabs expressed such willingness about Jews.

Hadash head Ayman Odeh speaks during a plenum session at the Knesset in Jerusalem, December 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken captive, including several Arab Israelis.

There have been varying reports about the impact that the war has had on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.

In December, Tel Aviv University said it found encouraging data regarding coexistence in Israel, with 57.8% of Arab Israelis saying they “believe that the ongoing war has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel.”

It noted that a June 2024 survey had found only 51.6% of Arab respondents felt the same. And a similar study conducted in November 2023, just a month after the October 7, 2023, attack, showed that “the majority of the Arab public [69.8%] said the war had harmed solidarity between Arabs and Jews.”

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