One in every five Jewish Israelis knows a terror victim, survey finds

48% say they would think twice before attending a public event over Hanukka.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: DECEMBER 6, 2015 11:25
Relatives and friends mourn during the funeral of Reuven Aviram, 51, who died during an stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, November 19, 2015 (photo credit: AFP PHOTO)
Relatives and friends mourn during the funeral of Reuven Aviram, 51, who died during an stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, November 19, 2015
(photo credit: AFP PHOTO)
One in every five Israelis knows someone who was harmed in the recent wave of terrorism that has swept through the country, according to an Internet poll conducted by Panels Politics for The Jerusalem Post and its sister publication, Ma’ariv.
The poll was sponsored by the OneFamily organization, which for the past 14 years has provided assistance to some 2,700 families who have been impacted by terrorist attacks.
Some 21 percent of the respondents said they knew someone who was wounded while 3% did not want to answer. The answers reflected the insecurity Israelis feel about the terrorism that has claimed the lives of 22 people in 142 separate attacks that have injured 231 people, according to the Foreign Ministry – that includes 84 stabbings, 30 shootings and 12 car rammings.
In light of a situation in which there are often many attacks in a single day, 77% said they felt unsafe. Of those, 52% said they didn’t feel so safe and the other 25% stated that they felt unsafe.
In a separate question that specifically asked about their personal sense of security, just 4% said it had not been impacted in the last few months and 1% did not know.
Everyone else felt the difference in varying degrees, with 27% stating their sense of personal security not been so impacted; 27% said it had been slightly impacted; 52% said it had been impacted; and 16% said it had been very impacted.
Some 81% of the respondents said they had changed their behavior as a result, with only 19% continuing as normal.
Of the respondents, 48% said they would think twice before attending a public event over the Hanukka holiday, with 37% stating the violence would not impact such a decision. Another 15% said they did not know.
Some 69% said they felt it was possible to overcome the terrorism, with 23% not believing it could be defeated.
Chantal Belzberg, head of OneFamily Fund was not surprised by the findings: “Since the outburst of the current wave of terror, OneFamily has strengthened their teams all over the country and has provided help to recent victims of terror, as well as to those who have been hurt in terror attacks in past years. The fact that 77% of responders said they do not feel safe coincides with the unfortunate reality in which terror reaches all areas and victimizes all people. Naturally, in light of a massive wave of terror, the public’s attention is focused on victims of terror, and we hope that the nation of Israel and the State of Israel will embrace the victims all year long. We will follow their path to recovery and help with the many struggles facing them.
“In this period, the organization is holding additional gatherings, visits at hospitals and with victims’ families and, starting this week, will also be operating a three-day Hanukka camp for hundreds of children. This is our way of dealing with the deteriorating sense of the personal security, staying together as one family.”
The survey also gave Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman higher marks than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when it came to handling the wave of terrorism.
When asked which politicians were handling it better, 23% said Liberman; 15% said Netanyahu; 9% said Bayit Yehudi; 5% said Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon; and 1% said Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.
Opposition leader Issac Herzog of the Zionist Union and Yair Lapid, who heads the Yesh Atid party, each received a vote of confidence from 3% of those surveyed.
The poll of 500 people was conducted on November 24 and has a ±4.3% margin of error. It focused only on the Jewish population of Israel ages 18 and over. Of those surveyed, 51% were female and 49% were male. Some 26% of live in the Center; 21% in Tel Aviv; 20% in Haifa; 16% in the South; and 17% in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.