Peace Index - August 2019
- About one week before the elections, a quarter of the public in Israel prefer a right-wing government led by the Likud and another quarter prefer a center-left government headed by the Blue-White party. More than half of the Jewish public prefer a government under Likud leadership while about two-thirds of the Arab public prefer a center-left government. The widespread appraisal is that the Likud will establish the next government.
- About half of the Israeli public say that they will vote in accord with their ideological preference, and a quarter say that they will vote strategically for the largest party in the bloc which they support in order to increase its chances of establishing a government.
- All of the various sectors of the Israeli public clearly reject the call by Netanyahu to boycott Channel 12.
- The Israeli public is divided almost equally between those who feel that the agreements between Netanyahu and Feiglin are proper and those who reject these agreements as improper.
- More than half of the Jewish public believe that the Joint Arab List should not be allowed to participate in the elections to the Knesset. In contrast, only a quarter believe that the Otzma Yehudit party should not be allowed to participate. Half of the Arab public feel that Otzma Yehudit should not participate, while a clear majority feel that the Joint Arab List should participate.
- About half of the Jewish public think that Netanyahu’s decision not to initiate a wide-ranging military operation in Gaza stemmed from practical-security considerations, while about half of the Arab public feel that his considerations were connected to the coming elections. Despite the relatively increasing proximity between the United States and Iran, about half of the general Israeli public believe that Israeli policy towards Iran will not affect its political-security situation.
- The preferred solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among the general Israeli public remains the two-state solution, although even that solution does not have majority support. Nevertheless, about half believe that the present situation will continue.
- The measure of support for and belief in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority has declined to its lowest level in several decades.
- With the opening of the school year, about half of the Jewish public think that the professional level of Israeli teachers and their image as educators is appropriate. However, about half of the Jewish public feel that teachers’ salaries and status is not as it should be. Among the Arab public, it is clear that their attitudes towards teachers are more uniform – the status of the teacher and his/her image as a professional and as an educator are stable, and their salaries are viewed as appropriate.
