Poll: Most Arab citizens have positive attitude towards Israel

Most Arab Israelis expressed positive attitudes towards the Jewish state, with a mere 13% ranking the Palestinian conflict as their top concern.

Some 60% of Arab citizens of Israel have positive attitudes towards the state and its institutions while 37% said their view was unfavorable to Israel, according to a public opinion survey conducted in August for the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center.

The poll released Wednesday at a conference at Tel Aviv University on “citizenship identity and political participation among the Arab population” surveyed 876 citizens of Israel and 125 residents of east Jerusalem who have permanent Israeli residency but not citizenship. It had a margin of error of 2.25%.

Arik Rudnitzky, a project manager at the Konrad Adenauer Program, told Tazpit Press Service (TPS) that the conclusion of the research is that the Israeli Arabs feel generally good in Israel, but added that “attitudes toward the institutions of the State of Israel are very critical.”

Rudnitzky noted that half of those surveyed did not view the Knesset as a positive institution and only 35% viewed prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu positively.

On the flip side, he noted, most of those surveyed said they would feel very proud if a relative would be elected as a Knesset member.

“This actually indicates that the Israeli Arabs view positively the participation in political life in Israel,” Rudnitzky said.

According to Rudnitzky, the pressing issues for Israel’s Arabs are neighborhood crime, violence and personal security (22%), ahead of racism (20%) and economy and employment (15%). Only 13% noted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as their top concern (19% in 2015).

By: Mara Vigevani/TPS

Arab Israelis