Survey: Plurality of Israeli Jews oppose withdrawal from Philadelphi Corridor

Forty-nine percent of Jewish Israelis agree with the statement, “Israel must not relinquish control of the Philadelphi Corridor even at the expense of a hostage deal,” a Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) survey showed.

In its new survey, JPPI also found that 43% percent support the statement, “Israel should give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor to enable a hostage deal.”

The JPPI survey of Israelis examined the highly sensitive question of a hostage deal on Sunday, just hours after news of the murder of six Israeli hostages by Hamas was made public.

The question was formulated to correspond with the debate that ensued in Israel following the Israeli Cabinet vote that made the continuous presence of Israel along the Philadelphi Corridor – the area that separates the Gaza Strip from Egypt – official Israeli policy. Many Israelis, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant argue that such a policy would be an insurmountable obstacle to a possible deal for the release of the more than 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity.

The survey proved that the position of the government is in line with the prevailing sentiment among its supporters, and a plurality of the Jewish public. Having said that, this position is unlikely to be the position of the majority of Israelis, as previous JPPI surveys have shown time and again that a clear and large majority of Israeli Arabs are likely to support any realistic hostage deal proposed by international mediators (because of recent events and the urgency of the debate, the data of the Jewish cohort was analyzed and released while the survey of Arab Israelis is still ongoing).