Survey: 62% of Israelis believe internal divisions worse threat than external dangers
A year after Hamas massacre, third of Israelis pessimistic about future and 20% would consider leaving, Hebrew U. poll finds; less than half satisfied with war’s progress in Gaza
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
A year after Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel, which launched the ongoing multi-front war, Israelis view the deep polarization among the population as the biggest threat to the country, according to a new study published Sunday.
The survey, released by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also found that Israelis were dissatisfied with the state of fighting in Gaza, viewed the return of the hostages as by far the most important war goal and were not optimistic about the future of the state, with more than 20 percent of all Israelis saying they wanted to leave the country.
“Our findings reveal a nation at a critical juncture, balancing serious security threats while facing profound internal divisions. This data highlights the urgent need for both strategic action on security and renewed efforts to foster societal cohesion,” said chief researcher Nimrod Nir, in a statement released by the university.
The survey polled 2,542 Israelis online and via phone between September 29 to October 1, 2024, with a margin of error of +/-3.2%.
Asked how they felt about the future of the country, 37% of all Israelis said they felt optimistic, compared to 34% who felt pessimistic and 29% who said they felt about 50-50, according to the survey. Among just Jewish Israelis, 42% felt optimistic and 29% felt pessimistic, and among Arab Israelis just 14% felt optimistic with the majority, 57%, expressing pessimism.
A whopping 62% of all Israelis polled said that they believed the greater threat to the future of the State of Israel was from internal divisions and threats, with 38% saying that external threats posed the biggest danger to the country. The findings were similar among Jewish and Arab respondents.
When asked about the possibility of leaving the country and moving overseas, more than 20% of all respondents expressed interest, with 9% saying they would and 11.3% saying they want to but can’t, compared to 13% who said they weren’t sure and 66.6% who said they would not leave. Among Arab Israeli respondents, just 50% said definitively that they would not leave, with 19% saying they weren’t sure, 17% saying they want to but can’t and 14% saying they would.
Asked at the start of the war, in October 2023, how the Hamas attack and the war in Gaza would affect Israeli society, 77% said they believed it would bring greater unity. One year later, however, just 40.2% believed it had brought cohesion to the nation, and 40.6% said it had instead made the populace more divided.
According to the poll, in August 2023, 59% of respondents identified themselves as being right-wing, with 25% calling themselves centrists and 16% leftists. By October 2024, the poll showed, 66% of those surveyed now identified as right-wing, and only 13% called themselves leftists.
When asked to weigh in on the progress in the war, an overwhelming 80% said that the IDF’s operations on the northern fronts had met or exceeded their expectations, while just under 50% said the same about fighting in Gaza. Asked to identify the primary war goal, 52.6% of respondents said returning the hostages, and only 15.8% said overthrowing Hamas, while 10% said destroying Hamas’s terror infrastructure.
Among all those polled, 75% said that a deal should be reached to free the hostages and end the war, with 25% in opposition. Among Jewish respondents the move had 72% support, and among Arabs it had 88% support.
Asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should resign, 66.5% of all respondents said yes, with 33% overall saying it should be immediate, and the rest saying it should come either after the end of intensive fighting or after the end of the war. Only 25% of those polled said Netanyahu does not need to resign. Close to 50% of all Israelis said they believe the cabinet makes its decisions based largely on political and not professional considerations.
Meanwhile, 70% of all those polled believed that the country should declare on October 7, 2024, a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught one year earlier.
