Israel: democracy is in ‘grave danger’ say 70% of left-wing Jews

Seventy per cent of Israel’s dwindling secular liberal Jews believe that democracy in the country is in “grave danger”, a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute’s monthly Israeli Voice Index has found. Of the total sampled in the poll, nearly half of Israelis, 49 per cent, share the alarmingly pessimistic view of secular Jews about the grave threat to democracy.

The most common opinion among Israeli citizens is that the formation of the new far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu will have a negative effect both on Israel’s international standing and on the civil status of Arab citizens of the apartheid state.

The first was highlighted by the recent postponement of a visit to the UAE by Netanyahu following the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extreme far-right Israeli minister who was convicted previously of supporting Jewish terrorist group Kach. Ben-Gvir is also known to idolise Israeli-American terrorist Baruch Goldstein who massacred 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers and wounded 125 others in Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in February 1994.

The survey was carried out against the backdrop of rising local and international concerns over the current far-right government. Questions were asked about street demonstrations in opposition to the government, emigration from Israel and people failing to show up for reserve duty with the Israel Defence Forces. The answers were split into three political blocs: left, centre and right.

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The majority of respondents (64 per cent) think that there is a very high or fairly high likelihood of street protests. Regarding the possibility of increased emigration from Israel to other countries, a majority of those on the left (60 per cent) consider this to be likely, compared with less than half of those in the centre and just one-quarter of those on the right.

The percentage of Israelis who believe that there will be an increase in the number of people refusing to serve in the country’s occupation forces is high, with a quarter of those on the left saying that Israelis will refuse to serve and a further 27 per cent of those who classify themselves as centrist saying that this will be the case. The rise in dissent among Israeli soldiers is likely to see human rights groups like Breaking the Silence coming to greater prominence.

Regarding the expected effect on Israel’s standing in the international community, the differences between Jewish political camps are huge. On the left, 85 per cent expect it to worsen, as do 74 per cent of those in the centre. By contrast, only 36 per cent on the right think that Israel’s international standing will suffer as a result of the formation of the latest far-right Netanyahu government.