68% of Israeli Arabs oppose recent wave of terrorism, poll finds

81% believe Israel is trying to harm status quo on Temple Mount.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
A bullet hole in a door of the Jerusalem synagogue where two Palestinian terrorists killed four rabbis and a police officer, November 19, 2014 (photo credit: REUTERS)
A bullet hole in a door of the Jerusalem synagogue where two Palestinian terrorists killed four rabbis and a police officer, November 19, 2014
(photo credit: REUTERS)
An overwhelming majority of 68 percent of Israeli Arabs opposes the recent wave of terrorist attacks, while 77% prefer to live under Israeli rule rather than Palestinian, according to a recent poll by the Statnet research institute.
The poll, commissioned by Channel 10 and published on its website, also found that 84% of Israeli Arabs support Knesset members who condemned the attacks in Jerusalem, while fully 81% believe Israel is trying to harm the status quo on the Temple Mount.
Just 16% opposed the condemnation of the attacks by Arab MKs.
Yousef Makladeh, CEO of Statnet.co.il shared with The Jerusalem Post on Monday previously unreleased data, which broke down Arab support according to religion.
Of the Israeli Arabs who oppose the terrorist attacks, 88% were Druse, 80% Christian, and 64% Muslim.
Of the percentage of Arabs who prefer to live under Israeli rule: 70% were Druse, 57% Christian, and 49% Muslim. And those that preferred to live under the Palestinian Authority: 2% were Druse, 5% Christian, and 18% Muslim.
Makladeh said the poll was conducted from Thursday to Sunday and included phone interviews of 405 Israeli Arab citizens nationwide, not including east Jerusalem. The survey was conducted in Arabic and 39% of the respondents were men and 61% women.
The survey found that 42% of Arabs feel that they suffer from strong racism; 44% moderate racism; and 14% light racism.
Only 9% feel the state treats them equally; 52% semi-equally; and 39% not equally at all.
Prof. Sammy Smooha, a sociologist from the University of Haifa, told the Post that the survey’s findings appear reasonable.
Smooha points out that his own annual opinion survey, the Index of Arab-Jewish Relations in Israel (based on a random representative sample of 700 face-to-face interviews of those 18 and up, taken in fall 2013), shows that 63.5% of Arabs said Israel is a good place to live.
It also found that only 20.9% of the Arabs are willing to move to a Palestinian state.
A total of 64.8% of Arabs blame Jews for the conflict with the Palestinians; 63.3% of Arabs do not trust Arab leaders in Israel; and only 44.3% of the Arabs agree that Arab leaders should unequivocally condemn violent acts by Arabs against Jews in Israel.
In addition, only 6.9% of Israeli Arabs perceive state policy toward them as equal treatment; 25.2% equal treatment with a certain amount of discrimination; 44% as second-class citizens; and 22.7% as hostile citizens who do not deserve equal treatment (1.2% gave no response).
Meanwhile, tension between Arabs and right-wing MKs escalated at the Knesset on Monday.
When Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh said Yisrael Beytenu MK David Rotem “should choke,” Balad MK Jamal Zehalka called Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin (Likud) a fascist while speaking from the Knesset podium.
Feiglin ordered Zehalka removed from the podium, a rare occurrence in the Knesset. Three security guards removed Zehalka while he physically tried to resist them.
Zehalka called afterward for Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to fire Feiglin. Zehalka reiterated that he considers Feiglin and other right-wing MKs to be fascists, but he denied a charge from a minister who said he overheard Zehalka call Feiglin a neo-Nazi.
Such tension is expected to continue to escalate Wednesday when the Knesset is set to vote on a bill proposed by Rotem that would give the legislature the right to immediately and permanently remove Balad MK Haneen Zoabi from the Knesset.
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.