Almost half of Israel’s Jews think the country’s political left isn’t patriotic, finds the latest poll of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Peace Index, in a survey that shows a public continuing to hold attitudes that favor the current right-wing government.

According to the poll, 48% of Israeli Jews don’t believe leftists are loyal to the country, as opposed to 43% who do, which the survey’s authors describe as “not surprising, though worrisome from a democratic standpoint.” Similar public attitudes appeared to be reflected in the numbers on criticizing the government in times of security threat, which 52.5 percent of Israelis polled said was “illegitimate.”

Israel’s left, which advocates a two-state solution and a freeze or slowdown in West Bank settlement building, has been moribund since the breakdown of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians that started in the ‘90’s and collapsed in the Second Intifada. The Labor Party, the main faction representing the left, has not helmed a government for more than 15 years.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The poll’s other findings also contained ill portents for the Israeli left. According to the survey, more Israeli Jews than not — 44 percent to 38 percent — now favor the annexation of the West Bank. Forty-eight percent of those who favored annexation said that absorbing the entire West Bank would not require giving Palestinians equal rights of citizenship, compared to 42 percent who said it would. As the authors summarized it, this means that “a small but significant minority of the Jewish public supports a situation that the international community regards as apartheid.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount