A new poll reveals deep Israeli anxiety about ending the Iran war and growing concerns that the United States — not their own government — holds greater sway over defense decisions.
According to the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute’s monthly survey of 751 Jewish and Arab Israelis conducted in late April, 59 percent believe ending the war “under current conditions” is incompatible with Israel’s security interests. Support for continuing the conflict cuts across the political spectrum: 52 percent on the left, 70 percent in the center, and 65 percent on the right hold this view.
By contrast, only 26 percent of Jews and 48.5 percent of Arabs believe a war’s end would be compatible with Israeli security. The divide underscores the political fragmentation over how to resolve the conflict.
The pessimism extends beyond the immediate war. Sixty-two percent of Israelis — including 64 percent of Jews and 52 percent of Arabs — say there is a high likelihood of returning to war with Iran, suggesting many view any ceasefire as temporary.
Perhaps most striking, 51 percent of Israelis believe the United States “has greater influence over Israel’s defense decisions than the Israeli government” — a view held by 56.5 percent of Jews and 25.5 percent of Arabs. The finding reflects broader concerns about Israeli autonomy in foreign policy decisions.
General optimism about Israel’s national security dropped to 39 percent in April from 47 percent in March, a sharp one-month decline. Optimism about Israeli democracy fared somewhat better at 44 percent.
On the Lebanon front, the poll found similarly grim expectations: 73 percent believe there is little chance of reaching a stable diplomatic agreement with Lebanon that includes Hezbollah’s disarming. Only 17 percent of Jews expressed optimism on this front.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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4 Responses
Bibi will comply. He tied himself to Trump and Israel to MAGA. Bibi’s brilliant strategy of fighting every diplomatic solution in favor of bombing Iran’s nuclear reactor has been an astounding success as Iran’s nuclear program has been pushed back a full year. Under Bibi’s misguided leadership October 7th transpires. Today Hamas is rearming and Hezbullah kills IDF soldiers with impunity and scares Israelis out of Meron. Bibi has allowed Smotrich and Ben Gvir to pick unnecessary fights and wink at settler violence. The IDF is an undisciplined outfits with soldiers posting pictures vandalizing civilian infrastructure and desecrating religious items for the whole world. to see. Israel has loss support across the world and antisemitism is through the roof and Bibi failed miserably.
And we are all paying for this collosal mess with crazy gas prices, sky high airfare and the bankruptcy of Spirit airlines which was a travel lifeline for frum families.
When Netanyahu proposed his war plans to Trump it was only supposed to go on for a few weeks, because that was all the time needed to destroy the targets they had in mind. So do all of these people who want to go on bombing Iran even have a list of targets they want to hit, let alone explain why destroying them will make a difference. However the much bigger point is that now after all the bombing they “suddenly” realized Iran will simply rebuild everything so that in 2 years they will be back to where they were before the war. This is why Trump is insisting on Iran making a deal not to enrich as the only way to ensure they don’t develop a bomb, something they should have understood from the start. So what do all these people think will be accomplished by bombing Iran some more. This is even more so because Iran keeps breaking the ceasefire and doesn’t mind if the war goes on, its the US that understands fighting some more won’t accomplish anything except a whole bunch more destruction to the gulf state’s energy facilities.
Israel has painted itself into a corner. Most Israelis, even frum Israelis, are very comfortable with a “first world” standard of living, but focusing on affordable consumer goods means Israel is in the long run unable to defend itself. When Trump’s subtle back stabbing (based on “America First” policy) switches to the Democrats openly anti-Israel (based on their open support for anti-Semitism) policies, the Israel will be unable to defend itself.