Less than half of Israelis think gov't war decisions based on professional considerations - poll

Some 37% of Jewish Israelis and 22% of Arab Israelis think professional considerations are driving decisions about the Israel-Hamas War made by the political leadership, according to a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute released Wednesday.

This differs significantly across political affiliations, with 51% of those on the Right saying they trust that the political echelon’s decisions on the war are guided by professional considerations. Some 18% of those in the Center and 13% of those on the Left expressed this trust.

A large minority (41%) of Jewish Israelis on the political Right think the political leadership is not primarily guided by professional considerations when making decisions about the war, the poll found.

The survey, which was presented at the institute’s Security and Democracy Conference on Wednesday, also examined Israelis’ trust in the IDF.

While Jewish Israelis’ trust in the IDF has been high during the Israel-Hamas War, hovering around 85% during most of the past year, trust in the IDF senior command was lower, at 66.5%.

This trust differs over the political spectrum. Some 62% of those on the Right expressed trust in the IDF senior command, the poll found. Some 80% of Israeli Jews on the Left expressed trust in the IDF senior command, and 73.5% of Israeli Jews in the Center expressed this trust.

Trust in the IDF was much lower in the Israeli Arab sector and was about 40% in October, the poll found.

The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector also expressed less trust in the IDF, with 52% of haredim saying they trust the IDF “very much” or “quite a lot.” Some 40% of the haredi population said they had “low” or “nonexistent” trust in the IDF.

The poll also examined the impact of the war on perceptions of Israel’s conscription model, finding “sizable change.”

“Previous years have seen a consistent rise in the share of [Jewish] respondents who support ending mandatory military conscription and transforming the IDF into an all-volunteer force,” the IDI said, adding that this has “changed dramatically.”

Support for a volunteer model

Support for shifting to an all-volunteer model has fallen from a 2022 high of 47% to 27%, and opposition to this idea has climbed sharply.

The poll also found widespread opposition to the idea of restricting women’s military service to accommodate for a haredi draft, the IDI said, adding that this spanned the political spectrum. Among Israeli Jews, 76% opposed this type of restriction.

“Even among the National-Religious public, 62% disagree with such restrictions,” the IDI said.

Some 73% of Jews supported a proposal that those who do not perform mandatory military service should pay higher taxes, and 71% supported the proposal that those who perform reserve duty should be given priority for public-sector jobs.

The survey was conducted via the Internet and phone in October. Some 600 men and women were interviewed in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic. The respondents constituted a representative sample of Israel’s adult population aged 18 and over, according to the IDI, which said the maximum sampling error was plus or minus 3.58% at a confidence level of 95%.