The Peace Index, a monthly survey of Israeli opinion, found that in December, 2015, the Jewish public agreed almost completely (88%) that the Shabak (Israel Security Agency) is making every possible effort to prevent Palestinian terror attacks against Jews. The agreement on this matter is widespread and crosses political camps, with small disparities between the various subgroups. As for the efforts devoted to preventing Jewish attacks against Palestinians, the agreement that the Shabak is doing its utmost is slightly smaller though still very wide (78%). Only one-half of Meretz voters, for example, think the Shabak is making every possible effort in this regard, and only about two-thirds of Zionist Union voters think so. Conversely, the figure for Kulanu and Habayit Hayehudi voters is 88% and for Likud voters, 84%.
In contrast, regarding the Shabak’s efforts to prevent attacks against Arabs, only 24% of the Arabs think the Shabak is making every possible effort.
What about the physical torture of terror suspects? Overall, only 6% of the Jewish public thinks physical methods should not be used in such interrogations, compared with 29% who think that it is always permissible to use them. A total of 56% takes intermediate positions: 30% believe it is permissible to use such methods in “ticking bomb” cases, and another 26% think they can be used when senior officials affirm that they will contribute significantly to the investigation.
A full 83% of the Arab public considers that physical force should never be used when interrogating terror suspects.
The findings show that the Jewish public makes a distinction between interrogations of Arab and Jewish suspects. Regarding Arabs, 43.5% view the Shabak’s methods as appropriate, compared with 21% who see them as too mild and only 7% who consider them too harsh. A higher-than-usual rate (28%) does not know. As for Jewish suspects, 36% see the methods as appropriate, though it is smaller than the number who think so regarding Palestinian suspects. Moreover, 23.5% say that methods used against Jewish suspect are too harsh, or three times the corresponding rate regarding Arab suspects.
Among Torah Judaism and Shas voters, this rate is much higher—54% and 52% respectively. Out of all the Jewish interviewees, 13% believe that the Shabak’s methods with Jewish suspects are too soft. The exception is Meretz voters, 29% of whom think so. Not surprisingly, among the Arab interviewees who have an opinion, 33% assess the interrogation methods used with Jewish suspects as too soft.
Regarding the Duma attack, 81% of the Jewish public agree that if it turns out the attack at the Duma village was perpetrated by Jews, it should be considered an act of terror for all intents and purposes. However, 13% are not prepared to define this attack—even if it is proved that it was intentionally carried out by Jews—as terror. The highest rates of those not prepared to characterize it as terror were among those defining themselves as ultra-Orthodox (27%) and as traditional-religious (22%).
Are the Jewish terrorists a marginal group? 73% of the Jewish public agree that the Jewish groups committing terror attacks against Palestinians are marginal groups representing only a small minority of the national-religious public. Support for that assertion is highest among Kulanu and Habayit Hayehudi voters (about 88% in both cases). 19% percent of the Jewish interviewees disagree. The greatest opposition to the “marginal groups” claim is among Meretz voters (69%), the only party a majority of whose voters reject the assertion.
Among the Arab interviewees as well, 60% agree that the Jewish groups perpetrating terror attacks are merely marginal in the national-religious camp.
The Peace Index is a project of the Evens Program for Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Guttman Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research of the Israel Democracy Institute. This month’s survey was conducted by telephone on December 29-30, 2015, by the Midgam Research Institute. The survey included 600 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of the entire adult population of Israel ages 18 and over. The maximum measurement error for the entire sample is ±4.1% at a confidence level of 95%. Statistical analysis was done by Ms. Yasmin Alkalay.