A new survey from the Institute for the Policy of the Jewish People shows a larger consensus about the nature of the state among the ethnic & religious tapestry of Israeli citizens than anyone had expected to see. Professor Yedidia Stern, the president of the institute, says that "The 2023 pluralism index of the Jewish People's Policy Institute reveals that our extreme image of one another is not true. The facts are that a large majority (of Israelis) wants Israel to be both a Jewish state with 66% overall support and a democratic state with 88% support. This is encouraging news for the 75th anniversary of our independence."
According to the various polls conducted, 46% of judicial reform supporters say that the crisis makes them concerned over what is happening to the State of Israel, and 43% say that the crisis encourages them to fight for Israel's image.
In addition, 97% of the country's Jewish residents want it to be a Jewish country. The study shows that 97% of Jews, from all political sides, want Israel to be Jewish; 92% want the State of Israel to guarantee freedom of religion and conscience; 88% want the State of Israel to maintain equal social and political rights for all its citizens.
Now live: an event presenting data from JPPIโs 2023 Pluralism Index, including findings on the spectrum of attitudes in Israeli society.
โ ืืืืื ืืืืื ืืืช ืืขื ืืืืืื - JPPI (@JewishPolicy) March 28, 2023
Join now >>https://t.co/G7fq0GYTum
Almost half of the Arab population in Israel, 44%, support Israel as a Jewish state or say they "don't care" whether Israel is a Jewish state or not. Perhaps the most surprising conclusive answer coming from the institute is that a vast majority of Arab respondents agreed with the statement "If there was a referendum on a constitution that defines Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and guarantees Arabs full civil rights, I would support it."
However, not all of the results painted an optimistic picture for the future of the State of Israel. The deep polarization between secular, national religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews increased this year. The study shows that a high percentage of secular Israelis believe that there is religious coercion in Israel, and on a scale of 1 to 10, the average secular respondent rated the level of coercion to be over 7. Meanwhile, there was a significant increase among the Ultra-Orthodox respondents who believe that there is coercion coming from the secular community. A whopping 61% of those polled who identify as Ultra-Orthodox rated the pressure of secular coercion with a score above 7 as well, while 49% of the National Religious respondents believed that secular coercion was a problem.
Prof. Yedidia Stern: "In the space of two months, the politicians who had been fed for years by the conservative umbilical cord have succeeded in dividing Israel in a way we have never experienced" >>https://t.co/H3WZrRLHwt
โ ืืืืื ืืืืื ืืืช ืืขื ืืืืืื - JPPI (@JewishPolicy) March 26, 2023
National Religious refers to Israeli Jews who embrace the modern world by who are religiously observant and fervently Zionistic. Ultra-Orthodox refer to those who lead more traditional lives, in many cases insulating themselves from modernity and mostly living in tightly knit communities. Many within the Ultra-Orthodox communities do not define themselves as Zionists, some even identify as anti-Zionist. Secular refers to those who either keep some religious traditions, or none at all, and do not identify themselves as observant on any level. The majority of Israelis fall under this category although the demographics are shifting as religious communities often have a higher birth rate than secular ones.
โThe Haredi leadership that sewed up these agreements is going for strengthening the Haredi autonomy and not integration,โ said Prof. Yedidia Stern, president of the Jewish People Policy Institute. For the full article in the New York Times >> https://t.co/t501M01DdT
โ ืืืืื ืืืืื ืืืช ืืขื ืืืืืื - JPPI (@JewishPolicy) January 9, 2023
This is the ninth year that the Jewish People's Policy Institute has published its annual pluralism index. The survey was conducted between January 26 and February 6, 2023, and included thousands of respondents, both Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel.
