Support for discrimination on the rise in Israel
The “immigrant” Israeli population that the report alludes to refers mostly to migrants from the former Soviet Union. ~ Bhaskar
The 2009 Democracy Index, published by the Israel Democracy Institute on Sunday
The Israeli public believes in freedom of expression as a general value, but for the most part refuses to allow harsh criticism to be expressed against the state. 74% support “Freedom of expression for everyone, regardless of their opinions.” However, 58% agree that “political speech should not be permitted to express harsh criticism of the state of Israel.” This is a significant increase as compared to 48% in 2003.
Growing support for denying Arabs’ rights
53% of the Jewish public supports encouraging Arabs to emigrate from Israel. 77% of immigrants support this idea, compared with 47% of the veteran public. 33% of veteran Jews are accepting of the inclusion of Arab parties in the government, by comparison with 23% of immigrants.
Only 27% of respondents objected to the statement that there should be “a Jewish majority in decisions relating to the fate of the country,” by comparison with 2003, when 38% objected to this statement. These figures indicate relatively broad support for decreasing the political rights of Israel’s Arab minority.
54% of the general public (Jews and Arabs) agrees that “only citizens who are loyal to the state are entitled to benefit from civil rights” (56% of the veterans, 67% of immigrants and 30% of the Arabs). 38% of the entire Jewish public believe that Jewish citizens should have more rights than non-Jewish citizens (43% of the veterans hold this belief, versus 23% of immigrants). In addition, 41% of veteran Jews are of the opinion that “Israeli Arabs face greater discrimination than Jewish Israelis,” compared to 28% of immigrants holding this view.
Former Soviet Union immigrants more hawkish
The use of violence: 33% of immigrants from the FSU think that political violence is legitimate, as compared to 35% of Israeli Arabs and 22% of veteran Israelis. Among the general public, the greatest legitimacy is given to the use of political violence by young people aged 18 to 30, at 27%.
Evacuating settlements: 48% of Israelis are not prepared to evacuate any settlements within the framework of a permanent agreement; 37% are prepared for the evacuation of isolated settlements; and 15% are prepared to evacuate all the settlements over the green line.
The position of the immigrants from the FSU is more hawkish than that of the general Jewish public: 64% are not prepared for settlements to be evacuated in the framework of a permanent agreement; 30% are prepared for the evacuation of isolated settlements; and 6% are prepared to evacuate all the settlements. (Ynet, August 3rd, 2009)
[credit: Jews san frontiers]
The same sentiment is reflected here: http://antonyloewenstein.com/2009/08/04/would-the-world-like-to-do-something-about-israeli-crimes/
It seems that Israeli public opinion changes from month to month: in Janurary, there was a portion who wanted a two state solution and now everyone’s irrationally angry at Palestine. For shame.
Israel seems to be a ticking time bomb. The immigrant population (from the FSU) gets more and more Hawkish. I wonder if Kahanism is going to make a serious comeback?
The public mood of Israelis is irrelevant. Israel is entirely dependent on US aid, and would not do anything unless pre-approved by the US. If the US decided to stop supporting the genocide of the Palestinian people, it would stop. Israel simply does not have the wherewithal to pursue genocidal policies without US aid, support and approval. All the rest is a distraction. Zionism is a distraction. Zionism is just an easy way to draw the attention and hatred of anti-Semitic forces. There is really nothing Jewish or Zionist about the Israeli government; it is strictly a pawn of US Mideast foreign policy.