Israeli youths increasingly internalize the concept of democracy as a general human value, but when asked specific questions, most of them continue to exhibit anti-democratic views, according to Dr. Nina Zemach of the Dahaf Institute and Alouph Hareven of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem.
They were referring to the results of a public opinion poll Zemach conducted for the Van Leer Institute last May among 612 Jewish high school students, aged 15-18. The results were published in full in Haaretz Monday.
While only 6 percent of the respondents said they would vote for Rabbi Meir Kahane’s extremist Kach Party, down from 11 percent in a 1984 survey by Zemach, a third or more agreed “with the ideas that Rabbi Kahane and the Kach movement stand for.” A similar number would support a private organization dedicated to avenging Arab attacks on Jews, the poll found.
According to the findings, 31 percent of those questioned believe an Arab found guilty of nationalistically motivated murder should receive “more severe punishment” than a Jew found guilty in the same circumstances.
About 35 percent believe Israeli Arabs should not be free to express support for a Palestinian state in the news media, and about 50 percent believe the rights of Israeli Arabs should be curtailed generally.
While 40 percent would grant Israeli Arabs full civil rights, the same percentage would ban them from voting in Knesset elections, the poll found.
On the issue of the administered territories, 60 percent of the respondents hold that Jews have virtually full right to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while 30 percent think the Arabs have almost complete right to the territories.
A third of those questioned think Israeli Arabs are loyal to the state, a significant departure from the last Zemach poll in 1985, in which only 13 percent did not question Arab loyalty.
On other matters, Israeli youths consider people in business to be the “least trustworthy” of all groups in society, followed by journalists and political parties. They place their greatest confidence in the Israel Defense Force, the courts and medical doctors in that order.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
