(JTA) — Some 53 percent of Israel’s Jewish population believes that the state can encourage Arabs to leave the country, a new poll found.
The Israel Democracy Institute’s 2010 poll released Tuesday also found that 86 percent of the Jewish public, constituting 76 percent of the total public, believes that critical decisions for the state should be made by the Jewish majority.
In addition, 43 percent of the general Israeli public believes that it is equally important for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic country, while 31 percent believe the Jewish component is more important and 20 percent say the democratic element is more important.
Some 51 percent of the general public approves of equal rights between Jews and Arabs, according to the poll, which also found that the more Orthodox the group the greater the opposition to equal rights between Jews and Arabs.
The poll also found that 46 percent of the Jewish public is bothered by Arabs, 39 percent by foreign workers, 23 percent by haredi Orthodox Jews and 10 percent by non-Sabbath observers.
The six researchers who conducted the annual study compiled its answers from public opinion polls that questioned more than 1,203 people. It was presented Tuesday to Israel’s President Shimon Peres, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Minister of Justice Yaakov Neeman and High Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch.
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