Majority of Israelis back Haredi draft law, October 7 inquiry, IDI survey finds

Only a quarter of Jewish respondents supported negotiations with Palestinians, while over half of Jews and Arabs surveyed supported taking strong action against settler violence in the West Bank.

A majority of Jewish Israelis supported requiring ultra-Orthodox men to enlist in the IDF and establishing a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, while Arab Israelis expressed the strongest support for exploring negotiations with the Palestinians, according to an Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) survey published Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute between October 5 and 8, surveyed 602 Jewish Israelis and 149 Arab Israelis aged 18 and above.

According to the findings, 72% of Jewish respondents supported passing a law requiring young ultra-Orthodox men to enlist in the IDF, while 71% supported establishing a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attack, according to the survey.

Support for conscription legislation and a state commission of inquiry was highest on the Left (93.5%) and in the Center (89%), while respondents on the Right expressed lower levels of support (62%).

One quarter of Jews in Israel support negotiations with Palestinians

Only a quarter of Jewish respondents supported exploring the possibility of negotiations with the Palestinians, while the IDI said this proposal received its highest level of support among Arab Israelis, with 58% of those surveyed favoring it.

The findings also showed differences between Jewish and Arab Israelis over the government's settlement policy in the West Bank. Overall, 55% of respondents said the policy of allowing and encouraging settlements was the correct course of action, while 32% disapproved of current Jewish settlement policies.

Over two-thirds of Jewish respondents viewed the Jewish settlement in the West Bank favorably, compared with half of Arab Israeli respondents, who said it was incorrect. The IDI noted that the share of Jewish respondents supporting the policy had increased by about 10 percentage points since a similar question was asked in May 2017.

Israeli attitudes toward European sanctions on Israeli settlements

The United Kingdom, along with Canada and France, announced sanctions on goods originating from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In response to the trade ban, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced that the UK's consulate in east Jerusalem would be shut down.

UK Foreign Minister Ed Miliband defended the sanctions as a response to what he believes is an attempt by Israel to bury the two-state solution by illegally expanding its occupation of Palestinian land.

The survey examined attitudes toward the European sanctions on imports from West Bank settlements. Some 63% of respondents supported a strong Israeli response and equal treatment for settlement products and products made elsewhere in Israel.

Around 70% of Jewish respondents supported demanding equal treatment for products from Israeli settlements, while approximately half of Arab respondents supported recognizing other countries' right to restrict imports.

The survey also examined public perceptions of reports that Netanyahu had received warnings from senior Arab figures in the weeks before October 7 about a planned Hamas attack.

Respondents were divided over the credibility of the reports, with 46% of the overall sample saying they were not credible and 43% saying they were credible.

However, 63% of respondents believed the reports were published in recent weeks to influence the upcoming election results, while 27% believed the information had only recently come to light. The majority view that the timing was intended to influence the election was shared by both Jewish and Arab respondents.

The survey recorded a rise in optimism about the future of democratic rule, national security, the economy and social cohesion compared with the previous month. The largest increase was in optimism about democratic rule, which rose by 9.5 percentage points, followed by an eight-point increase in optimism about national security.