53% of Israeli Jews Say Don’t Annex West Bank Settlements
(JTA) — A new poll found that 50 percent of Israelis are hesitant about expanding construction in the settlements.
The Peace Index, a monthly survey of Israeli opinion conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, reported Tuesday that half of Israeli Jews are sure that settlement expansion is unwise or think it might be. Another 45 percent of Israelis are sure or think the opposite is the case.
The findings come as some right-wing Israeli politicians are feeling emboldened to expand settlements with the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president and his choice of a pro-settlement ambassador to Israel. On Monday evening, the Knesset passed a controversial law paving the way to the legalization of some West Bank outposts built on Palestinian-owned land.
A majority of Jewish Israelis, 53 percent, believe that the current political environment should not be exploited to press ahead with the annexation of large portions of the West Bank, the study found. A little more than one-third of respondents, 37 percent, took the opposite view.
The survey was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1 by telephone and internet by the Midgam Research Institute. It included 600 respondents — 100 Arabs and 500 Jews — and has a margin of error of 4.1 percent.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
