The majority of Israelis see the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia as important according to the Israel Democracy Institute’s latest Israel Voice Index survey.
The polling data comes as the nations of the world convene for the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
One of the questions on the survey asked respondents, “How important do you think it is for Israel to sign [a US-brokered Israel-Saudia normalization] agreement?”
A majority of 57% of survey respondents answered that Israel signing such an agreement is either fairly important or very important for Israel.
There is, however, a sizable gap in opinion between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.
Regarding Israel’s signing of a normalization agreement with the Saudis, Jews were more likely to see significance.
Specifically, 29% of Jewish respondents said it is “very important,” and 31% said it is “fairly important.” Only 8% said it is “not so important” and 5% said “not important at all.”
Furthermore, among Jews, there was a majority consensus on both the political Left and Right as well as the Center (77%, 56%, and 63% respectively) that signing of an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia is important.
Among Arab respondents, there was a much higher proportion that felt Israel-Saudi normalization lacked importance.
Still, nearly a fifth, or 19% of Arab respondents said that Israel signing such an agreement with Saudi Arabia is “very important” and another 20% said it is “fairly important.”
An additional 19% of Arab respondents said an Israel-Saudi agreement is “not so important” and a quarter (25%) said it is “not important at all.”
Both Jews and Arabs had sizable proportions who did not know if such an agreement was important. Specifically, 27% of Jews and 17% of Arabs responded that they “don’t know.”
According to the latest Israel demographic data as reported by the Jewish Virtual Library, 73.3% of Israel’s population is Jewish. Another 21.1% is Arab.
Applying this data to the Israel Voice Index survey data suggests that, if the results of the data were applied to the larger Israeli society, a majority of Israelis would see the importance of Israel-Saudi normalization.
Israelis hesitant to make nuclear concession
However, the survey also suggests that Israelis are not willing to make any concession asked of them in order to achieve Israel-Saudi normalization.
The survey told participants, “In the discussions over this agreement, Saudi Arabia has apparently demanded that Israel agree for it to have nuclear capabilities for civilian purposes.” It then asked its respondents, “In your opinion, can Israel agree to such a demand in order to reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia?”
A quarter (25%) responded that they are certain that Israel cannot agree to such a demand and 32% said they think that Israel cannot agree to such a demand.
This opposition also saw consensus across the political spectrum. Over half (51%) of respondents from the political Left said that Israel cannot agree to the Saudi demand and 65% and 64% from the Center and Right, respectively, also said that Israel cannot agree to the demand.
Only 16% said that they think that Israel can agree to the demand and 6% were certain that Israel can agree.
An additional 21% said they “don’t know.”
The survey notes that the results “constitute a form of ‘embryonic public opinion,’” as the issue is still fairly new, and that as it gains more and more attention, public opinion is liable to shift substantially.