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<\/p>\nThe Jewish People Policy Institute\u2019s (JPPI) monthly Israeli Society Index for February shows that the Israeli public would clearly prioritize toppling Hamas over returning the hostages, should Israel\u2019s leaders be faced with such a stark choice.<\/p>\n
The question posed was hypothetical and not indicative of a preference regarding the current state of affairs, or the Israeli public\u2019s view of any specific deal. Nevertheless, in a situation where the two goals conflict, there is a meaningful disparity between them. Out of the whole population, 40% chose overthrowing Hamas, compared with 32% who chose returning the hostages; among Israeli Jews the gap was nearly double between those who prioritize defeating Hamas (47%) and those who prioritize returning the hostages (25%). Among Israeli Arabs, a majority (61%) prefer the option of returning the hostages.<\/p>\n
The question posed in the survey was: \u201cLet\u2019s assume Israel\u2019s leaders reach the conclusion that they only have the two following options, which do you think should be chosen?\u201d The two options were: \u201cThe hostages are returned, and Hamas remains in control of Gaza,\u201d and \u201cThe hostages are not returned, and Hamas loses control of Gaza.\u201d (There was also a third option, \u201cCan\u2019t answer,\u201d which a sizable share of respondents, 28%, selected).<\/p>\n
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Prof. Yedidia Stern, JPPI’s President, said of the findings: “Mutual guarantee is a central Israeli ethos, and we are proud of that. The daring military operation in Rafah to free hostages, at a huge risk to the soldiers involved, proved this again, and powerfully. However, this does not mean that the public believes that “everything” should be done to return the captives. The JPPI Index examined public attitudes regarding a hypothetical situation we hope will never materialize: If it is not possible to achieve the two goals of the war \u2013 returning the hostages and ousting Hamas from power \u2013 and Israel is forced to choose between them, what is the proper choice?\u00a0 It turns out that the majority of the public prioritizes overall national security considerations above everything else.”<\/p>\n
JPPI\u2019s Israeli Society Index also found an additional decline in public confidence that Israel will win the war. Essentially, the share of Jews in February who expressed high levels of confidence in victory (rated at 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 5) was only slightly more than half, a drop of twenty percentage points compared to October 2023. Among Israeli Arabs, the share that believes\u00a0 Israel will achieve victory is substantially lower. About a quarter (28%) rated their confidence of Israeli victory as high; 44% rated it as low (1 or 2 out of five).<\/p>\n
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Further Key Findings:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n A large majority of the Israeli public supports going to early elections. Only 30% support holding elections in 2026, as scheduled. 36% support elections within the next three months.<\/p>\n Declining trust in the IDF command echelon. January data indicated a slight drop, while February data show a further decline. Trust in IDF commanders is higher among opposition supporters (83%) than among coalition supporters (57%).<\/p>\n Highly significant rise over previous years in the share of Israeli Arabs who feel that many or most Israeli Jews are \u201cpolitically extremist\u201d (62%)<\/p>\n A third of Israelis are \u201cvery worried\u201d about the social situation (36%), while nearly half (45%) are \u201csomewhat worried\u201d by the social situation.<\/p>\n Jews expressed highly positive feelings toward IDF soldiers, the Druze sector, and Diaspora Jews, but have\u00a0 highly negative feelings about Muslim Arabs in Israel.<\/p>\n Among Jews, 44% expressed negative feelings toward the ultra-Orthodox (Haredim). Among the secular, the predominant sentiment with regard to Haredim, settlers, and the National Religious is \u201canger.\u201d<\/p>\n A sizable share (nearly a quarter) of Masorti (traditionalist), Datiim (religious) and ultra-Orthodox Jews expressed feelings of \u201canger\u201d and \u201chatred\u201d toward \u201cTel Avivim\u201d (secular, liberal residents of Tel Aviv).<\/p>\n For the entire report\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Data collection for the JPPI survey was conducted by the\u00a0TheMadad.com<\/a> (about 700 Jewish respondents in an online survey), and the Afkar research company (about 200 Israeli-Arab respondents, half surveyed online and half by telephone).\u00a0 The margin of error is \u00b14.3%.\u00a0 The data was analyzed and weighted by Prof. Camil Fuchs to achieve a representative sample of Israel\u2019s adult population, with further analysis by JPPI\u2019s Shmuel Rosner and Noah Slepkov.<\/p>\n