How Israeli society is united and divided in the war between Israel and Hamas

Israelis are more pessimistic than optimistic about the future of their political system

As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, the proportion of Israelis who see deep conflict is growing within in their society have decreased in the last year:

• 28% say there is very strong conflict between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews; in 2023, this figure was only 46%.
• 18% say there is very great conflict between religious and non-religious people, a decrease from 29%.
• 24 percent see very strong conflicts between the political left and right; last year it was only 32 percent. (Read more about conflicts in Israeli society in Chapter 1.)

At the same time, Public opinion in Israel is also more polarized in other respects. For example, the views of Arab and Jewish Israelis on important institutions – such as the military – and on political issues are increasingly diverging:

• Jewish Israelis trust that the national government will do the right thing for Israel more than in 2017 (61%, versus 53%). Arab Israelis trust religion less (23%, versus 44%).
• Ninety-three percent of Jewish Israelis believe the military has a positive influence on developments in Israel, while only 34 percent of Arab Israelis think so. This gap has grown significantly since we last asked the question in 2007, when 77 percent of Israeli Jews and 57 percent of Israeli Arabs said the military’s influence was positive. (Read more about trust in government and institutions in Chapter 2.)
• Israelis as a whole are still divided on whether the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank promotes Israel’s security (40%) or harms it (35%). But Jewish Israelis increasingly see the settlements as portion security, thereby widening the ethnic divide on this issue. (Read more about views of settlements in Chapter 3.)
• Fewer Israelis than last year believe that a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully (26%, down from 35%). The decline is mainly due to changing opinions among Jewish Israelis. (Read more about views on a two-state solution in our previous report.)

The views of the ideological left and right have also diverged on some of these key issues since we last surveyed them. For example, 19 percent of the left trust the national government, compared to 75 percent of the right – a difference of 56 percentage points. In 2017, the difference was 43 points (26 percent of the left trusted the government, compared to 69 percent of the right).

Against this background Israelis are more pessimistic (50%) than optimistic (35%) about the functioning of their political system. And while Arabs and Jews were about equally pessimistic about the political system in 2019, Arabs more pessimistic (69%, compared to 57%), while Jews fewer so (44%, compared to 55%).

Israelis are also divided on the prospect of peaceful coexistence between Arab and Jewish Israelis. An equal number of respondents are optimistic (37%) and pessimistic (37%). Around a quarter (23%) say they are both, neither one nor the other, or it depends.

Nevertheless, Israelis are optimistic rather than pessimistic about the country’s national security and the ability of religious and secular Israelis to live together peacefully.

Related: Israeli views on the Israel-Hamas war

These are some of the key findings of a survey of 1,001 Israelis conducted in face-to-face interviews from March 3 to April 4, 2024.

Views of political leaders

In March and early April, attitudes toward Israel’s political leadership were overwhelmingly negative. (The poll was conducted before War Cabinet member Benny Gantz resigned from the government and before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the emergency cabinet.)

At the time of the poll, only one of the seven officials we surveyed – Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – received positive ratings from a clear majority of Israelis.

Jewish and Arab Israelis had very different views of the six other Israeli politicians we asked about. The biggest differences were in the evaluation of Gallant (Jews were 65 percentage points more positive than Arabs), Mansour Abbas, the leader of the United Arab List, better known in Israel as Ra’am (-56), and Netanyahu (+44). Only Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid was viewed about equally positively by Jews and Arabs (37% versus 41%).

There were also large ideological differences between the right and the left – especially with regard to Netanyahu (the right was 61 percentage points more positive than the left), Ben-Gvir (+54) and Smotrich (+54).

(Read more about the views of Israeli leaders in Chapter 1and explore the views of Palestinian leaders in our previous report.)

Violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

About two-thirds of Israelis say they are extremely or very concerned about violence against Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. About a third are similarly concerned about violence against Arabs. However, concerns vary dramatically by ethnicity:

• Jewish Israelis (70%) are more concerned about increasing violence against Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem than Arab Israelis (43%).
• Arab Israelis (73%) are significantly more concerned about violence against Arabs in East Jerusalem and the West Bank than Jewish Israelis (19%).

There are also ideological differences: Left-wing Israelis are far more concerned about violence against Arabs than right-wing Israelis, but far less concerned about violence against Jews.

Jewish religious groups in Israel: Haredim, Datiim, Masortim and Hilonim

Almost all Israeli Jews identify as Haredi (often translated as “ultra-Orthodox”), Dati (“religious”), Masorti (“traditional”), or Hiloni (“secular”). The spectrum of religious observance in Israel—with Haredim generally the most religious and Hilonim the least religious—does not always line up perfectly with Israel’s political spectrum. On some issues, including those involving religion in public life, there is clear overlap: Haredim are furthest to the right and Hilonim are furthest to the left, with Datiim and Masortim falling in between. On other political issues, however, including those related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and views on the United States, differences among religious groups do not always reflect differences among people at different points on the ideological spectrum. For sample size reasons, we combine Haredim and Datiim for the analysis in this report.

For more information on the differing views of these religious groups, see the Center’s detailed 2016 study on “Israel’s Religiously Divided Society.”