Donald Trump shares a laugh on the campaign trail
Donald Trump shares a laugh on the campaign trailReuters

The Israel Democracy Institute in conjunction with Tel Aviv university published Tuesday their monthly "peace index" in which they reveal that most Israelis believe incoming president Donald Trump will be more friendly towards Israel than the Obama administration was.

Half of Israeli citizens (49.5%) believe that the attitude of outgoing president Barak Obama was hostile towards Israel as opposed to 29% who believed otherwise.

However 69% believe that the attitude of Donald Trump will be friendly towards Israel. 41% of Israelis (45% of Jews) believe that America's abstention from vetoing the Security Council resolution condemning Israeli building in Judea and Samaria stems from the relations between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu while 34% believe it stems from principled differences between the US and Israel..

A large proportion of those polled believe that under the Trump administration Israel will continue to build in Judea and Samaria. 47% believe that Trump will fulfill his promise and move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

38% of those surveyed believe that Russian president Putin is neutral towards Israel, while 25% believe he is friendly and 23% maintain that he is hostile towards Israel.

53% of Jews believe that the condemnation of the Security Council last month stemmed from hostility towards Israel, while 28% of Jews maintained that it stemmed from a principled viewpoint based on international law.

Israelis are uncertain whether the steps taken by Prime Minister Netanyahu in response to the UNSC decision such as consultations with US ambassador and cancelling visits of foreign leaders were excessive. 41% felt they were measured steps while 38% felt they were excessive and 11% felt they were too weak.

Most Israelis - 58% of Jews - did not agree with Secretary of State Kerry's premise that if there would not be a two-state solution, Israel could not be both a democratic and Jewish state. 50% of Israelis agreed with Minister Tzahi Hanegbi that unilateral annexing of Judea and Samaria would be a 'disaster', while 32% disagreed.

59% of Israelis are opposed to the idea of granting residency status to Arabs in Judea and Samaria like that of East Jerusalem Arabs.

The "peace index" is composed by Professor Tamar Herman of the Israel Democracy Institute and Dr. Efraim Yaar of Tel Aviv University. The poll was conducted among 600 interviewees on January 2-3.