Peace Index - January 2024
The War in Gaza: Aims and War Management
- Similar to the results of the Peace Index survey from November 2023, even three months after the start of the war, the majority (53%) of respondents still think that the government has no clear goals in the war. The criticism of this lack of clarity expresses a deep divide between the voters of the opposition parties and of the coalition, with a large majority of opinion holders from among the former (69%) believing that the government does not have clear goals compared to a minority (38%) from among the latter. The main change from November 2023 is a greater consolidation of coalition voters in favor of the government's conduct, while opposition voters remain equally critical.
- When examining the public's attitudes regarding the extent of the IDF’s use of force in Gaza and its results, the attitudes of the Jewish public are clearly different from those of the Arab public. A large majority of the Jewish public thinks that the IDF uses adequate or too little force in Gaza. Unlike the beginning of the war, now about half of the Jewish public (51% compared to 37% in November) believes that the IDF uses firepower appropriately against Gaza, compared to 43% (58% in November) who believe that there is use of too little firepower. An absolute majority (88%) also justifies the scope of casualties on the Palestinian side when considering the goals of the war. On the other hand, over half of the Arab public (55%) believes that the IDF uses too much firepower against Gaza compared to a fifth (20%) who agree that the scope of firepower use is appropriate. Further, about half of the Arab respondents (53%) believe that the extent of casualties on the Palestinian side is not justified. At the same time, alongside these deep disagreements, over half of both groups (59% among the Jews and 54% among the Arabs) think that the extent of casualties on the Jewish side is unjustified. A significant minority among the Arab public refrains from expressing an opinion regarding the extent of casualties on the Palestinian side (34%) and on the Israeli side (29%).
