Graffiti at Duma arson site
Graffiti at Duma arson siteFlash 90

80% of Religious Zionists in Israel believe that the Duma arson case is being exploited to the detriment of the entire sector, Army Radio reports Monday - and the results of a poll on the subject indicate that the community at large holds moderate views. 

Overall, 65% of respondents stated that the goals of Religious Zionism do not align with - or justify - extremist activity in general; 42% say that "hilltop youth" have no connection to Religious Zionism itself. 42% agree with Prime Minister Netanyahu in rejecting the equivalence of "price tag" attacks against Arabs as "Jewish terror," whereas 40% say that the two are equivalent. 

70.2% stated that there are no familial or social precedents in their own communities being set to support "price tag" attacks or other extremist activity. 

59.3% noted that "price tag" attacks are few and far between, and that very few such attacks actually occur within Palestinian Authority (PA) communities. And 65.3% disagreed that such attacks, when they do happen, "have the benefit of inspiring fear in the hearts of the other side." 

The ISA and Duma

The study also revealed, however, that a significant portion of Religious Zionists - some 40% of those polled - believe that the perpetrators of the arson and murder are not only not the suspects currently under arrest, but are not actually Jews at all. 

Under the current circumstances, 65.3% of respondents do not agree with the statement that exceptional interrogation methods undertaken by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) are necessary due to the severity and nature of the Duma crimes. 

The public remains divided over whether to believe the evidence being presented in the trial itself, as well. 33.7% of respondents agreed that "if the suspects confess to the Duma crimes under the current ISA investigation, I would believe them"; 38.3% reject the objectivity of the case; and 28.1% remained neutral on the subject.