War and Peace Index shows 52% of Israel’s Jewish residents believe those criticizing Israel’s policy when talking to foreign elements should not be viewed as traitors.
IOA Editor: Which may mean that nearly half of Jewish Israelis believe that we are. Goes to show that no news isn’t good news.
War & Peace Index – YNetnews.com – 19 Feb 2010
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3851567,00.html
Some 52% of Israel’s Jewish citizens oppose the claim that those criticizing the State’s foreign and security policy abroad or when talking to foreign elements are traitors, according to the monthly War and Peace Index.
The survey was conducted on the backdrop of a campaign launched against the New Israel Fund, claiming that it provided “incriminating” evidence against Israel to the Goldstone Committee which investigated the Israeli operation in Gaza.
War and Peace Index shows majority of Jews living in Israel pleased with government’s performance in terms of security, but disappointed with its handling of social matters. Fifty-three of Jews back decision to reject Hamas’ demands in prisoner exchange deal. Arabs more optimistic than Jews on chances for progress in peace process
Nonetheless, a breakdown of the responses according to the way Israelis voted in last year’s Knesset elections points to big differences in terms of this issue. Only 8% of Meretz voters and 15% of Labor voters believe that those who deliver information to foreign elements are traitors, while a vast majority of National Union and United Torah Judaism support this claim.
The survey also revealed that 57% of Jews in Israel agree that in a case of an external conflict, human rights are less important than the security-national crisis. A breakdown of the responses to the two questions according to age and education level did not find significant differences between the various groups.
As for the source of donations to peace and human rights organizations, the public was nearly divided when asked whether there is a difference between donations from private sources and donations from governmental and international sources.
Some 48% believe there is no difference, while 40% believe there is. On the other hand, 55% think there is no difference between donations from Jewish elements and donations from non-Jewish elements, compared to 34% who think there is a difference.
Donations from Jews?
A breakdown of these data according to how Israelis voted in last year’s elections show there is no significant difference between voters of the various parties as to the question whether the source of the donations is a private or an official one.
As for the question whether the source of the donations is a Jewish or non-Jewish organization, most voters of secular and religious parties do not see a difference, but most Shas and United Torah Judaism believe that receiving donations from Jewish organizations is different from receiving donations from non-Jewish groups.
The survey’s participants were also asked about the foreign minister’s recent statements against Syria. “Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently slammed Syria’s policy and its president, Bashar Assad, blatantly and in a threatening manner. Do you believe that as the State of Israel’s foreign minister, he acted wisely or unwisely?”
Some 57% said that Lieberman’s move was unwise, compared to only 29% who supported his actions.
The War and Peace Index is funded by the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University. The telephone surveys were conducted by the B. I. Cohen Institute at Tel Aviv University in February 8-10 and included 508 respondents representing Israel’s adult population. The sampling for a sample of this size is about 4.5%.
