A new survey of Arab citizens of Israel finds their attitudes toward the Jewish State and its institutions to be more positive than previously thought.
The survey results, published in The Jerusalem Post this week, showed that 60 percent of Israeli Arabs have a favorable view of the State of Israel, while only 37 percent report their view as unfavorable.
The poll, released last week, was conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University and Keevoon, a global research company.
Broken out by religious faith, 49 percent who identified themselves as Muslims view the Jewish State favorably, compared with 48 percent who say their view is unfavorable. Among Christian respondents, 61 percent said their view is favorable compared to 33 percent who reported an unfavorable view.
Itamar Radai, Academic Director of the Adenauer Program and a scholar at Tel Aviv University, said he found the number of favorable responses “quite remarkably high.”
Racism, however, was listed as a top concern by respondents. Nearly half said they feel “generally treated unequally” as Arab citizens.
Surprising and significant
Among the most surprising and significant findings was the response to the question, “Which term best describes you?” The largest number, 28 percent, replied “Israeli Arab,” while 11 percent said “Israeli,” 13 percent said “Arab citizen of Israel” and 2 percent said “Israeli Muslim.”
Only 15 percent of respondents said “Palestinian,” while 4 percent said “Palestinian in Israel,” 3 percent said “Palestinian citizen in Israel” and 2 percent said “Israeli Palestinian.”
“The bottom line is there is more identification with Israel than with a possible Palestinian state,” says Michael Borchard, a director at the Konrad Adenauer Program.
Borchard also highlighted that nearly two-thirds of Arab citizens surveyed said Israel is a “positive” place to live, with only one-third saying it is negative. Respondents also gave high marks to the country for having a “strong” degree of personal freedom and a “strong” amount of stability.
The survey asked citizen respondents to rate on a scale of 1–10 how much sense of “belonging” to the State of Israel they feel (with 10 being the highest level of “belonging.”) Forty-five percent gave responses between 8 and 10, 17 percent between 5 and 7 and 35 percent between 1 and 4.
For the poll, researchers surveyed 876 citizens of Israel and 125 permanent residents of East Jerusalem.
The 'Palestinian issue'
In another key revelation, the survey found that Arab citizens of Israel are more concerned about the economy, crime and equality than the “Palestinian issue.” When asked which issue most concerns them, 22 percent said personal security and crime, and an equal number said racism. Fifteen percent said the economy and jobs are their top concern, while 13 percent cited the “Palestinian issue.”
When asked about policy implications of the survey, Brochard said he believes “Israel should do more to answer this rather positive attitude and be more inclusive.”
Yousef Jabareen, an Israeli Arab and member of the Knesset (Israel’s legislature), responded differently to the findings, saying they might be misleading in terms of how Israeli Arabs view their situation.
More participation “is our demand, but it’s the government that excludes us and has this campaign of delegitimization,” Jabareen said. “Participation is an aspiration, but it doesn’t reflect the situation on the ground.”
Takeaways
As a Believer in Yeshua (Jesus) who lives in America, I experience a nonstop drumbeat of negative opinions about Jewish people and Israel – certainly in the news media. Perhaps you see it too.
Yet, here’s a new survey saying that even Arabs who live in Israel have a more positive view of the Jewish State than we’ve been led to believe. First, that’s good news.
But it’s also a reminder that we need to be more careful about how we filter news reports that put a consistent negative spin on events in Israel.
This flow of misinformation and bias feeds the growth of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment worldwide and, I believe, encourages racist movements like Boycott, Divest and Sanction.
Still, we can take heart in the good news coming out of Israel. And it’s my pleasure to share it with you today, because I know that, like me, you care deeply about the Jewish people, their security and their future.
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