Israelis overwhelmingly still back Iran war, despite surprise at Iran’s resilience

Both Jews and Arabs tend to agree that war planners underestimated Iran’s resilience in the face of US and Israeli attacks.

By World Israel News Staff

The vast majority of Israeli Jews still support the ongoing war against Iran, even though most say Israeli war planners underestimated Iran’s ability to endure American and Israeli airstrikes, a new poll shows.

On Friday, the Israel Democracy Institute released figures from a new poll, conducted among 756 Israeli adults March 22-26, which found that the vast majority of Israeli Jews still support the war with Iran.

A total of 78% of Israeli Jews said they support continuing the war with Iran, including 50% who said they strongly support doing so.

By contrast, just 19% of Israeli Arabs support the continuation of the war, compared to 71% who say they oppose continuing the war.

While support remains high among Israeli Jews for the war, the IDI poll did reveal a modest decline.

In the first IDI poll conducted after the war began, March 2-3, 93% of Israeli Jews said they supported the war, including 74% who “strongly supported” continuing the war.

Support for the war remained virtually unchanged in the second poll, conducted March 9-11, with 92.5% backing the war.

Now, 11.5% of Israeli Jewish respondents said they do not back the continuation of the war, with a further 10.5% giving no response.

In addition to being divided over whether Israel should continue the war with Iran, Israeli Arabs and Jews largely disagree on how they perceive the underlying motivations for the war.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Israeli Jews say the war was launched primarily on the basis of security-related concerns, with just 27% saying they believe it was launched over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal or political considerations.

Among Israeli Arabs, however, more than half (55%) believe Netanyahu’s personal and political considerations were the primary factor in the decision to go to war, while just 30% say security interests were the determining factor.

However, both Jews and Arabs tend to agree that war planners underestimated Iran’s resilience in the face of US and Israeli attacks.

A total of 56% of Jews and 51% of Arabs say Iran has responded more strongly than war planners anticipated, while just 15% of Jews and 12% of Arabs say Iran has responded more weakly than anticipated.