Infiltrators in Tel Aviv
Infiltrators in Tel AvivTomer Neuberg, Flash 90

The Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, published today, shows that 52% of Israelis prefer that a government without haredim be established in Israel, while only 25% say they support a government with the haredi parties.

In addition, most of the public (55%) supports the position of Defense Minister Liberman, who attacked rabbis who protested the enlistment of women, and the Minister of Defense's condemnation of the rabbis’ call to the chief of staff to resign on this basis (50.5% supported, while 27.5% opposed it).

70% of Jewish respondents believe that the argument that the Torah study of young haredim protects Israel no less than military service is incorrect.

In addition, most Israelis (53.5%) believe that there is a high chance that the US Embassy in Israel will move to Jerusalem by the end of 2019, in accordance with the US Vice President's speech in the Knesset.

Two thirds of the public (65.5%) also believe that the move is an important interest for Israel. The Israeli public is divided on whether Prime Minister Netanyahu's efforts have improved Israel's international standing recently (46% agree with this position and 46% disagree with it).

Regarding the deportation of asylum-seekers, two-thirds (66%) of all those surveyed agree with the government's decision to deport them to African countries with which Israel reached an agreement.

Classifying according to political position, a majority on the Right (78%) support such a move, while in the Center (35%) and the Left (25%), only a minority support it. 55% of Israelis and 60% of Jews believe that despite the history of the Jewish people, who have suffered from persecution and violence in other countries, there is no need to be overly generous and allow the asylum-seekers to remain in Israel.

However, 50% of the Israelis agree that the state authorities should immediately examine all the requests of Sudanese and Eritrean citizens to remain in Israel and allow those whose requests are found to be justified to remain in Israel, compared with 43% who oppose this position.

The survey was conducted by Prof. Ephraim Yaar of Tel Aviv University and Prof. Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute between January 30-31, 2018 among 600 respondents comprising a representative national sample.