Following a tense Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a new poll conducted by the Viterbi Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research of the Israel Democracy Institute and published on Tuesday showed that 50% of Jews in Israel support being able to pray at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, against 40% of Jewish respondents who oppose it.
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According to the Israeli Voice Index for April 2022, a breakdown according to the voting pattern from the last election reveals a large majority of supporters of Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount among voters for the Likud, Religious Zionism Party, Yamina, New Hope, and Israel Beytenu, and a large majority of opponents among voters for center and left-wing parties and for Haredi parties.
The main reason (38%) given by those in favor of allowing prayer at the Temple Mount was that it "demonstrates Jewish sovereignty over the site," while the main reason (23%) of those against was that it might "invoke a severe negative reaction from the Muslim world." Within the religious context, 17% of those who are opposed are against it because it is "forbidden by halacha (Jewish law)," while 12% said they support the practice as a "religious commandment."
A breakdown of responses by religiosity found that most Haredim oppose Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount because it is prohibited by halacha (86.5%). The largest shares among national religious (51%), traditional religious (54%), and traditional non-religious (49%) respondents support such prayer because it is proof of Israel's sovereignty over the Temple Mount, while the largest share of secular respondents oppose it because it might invoke a severe negative reaction from the Muslim world (39%).
Weak support for Bennett, among Yamina voters as well
Additionally, the poll showed that just one-third of Jewish respondents (33%) gave his policy for dealing with the security events of the last month a good rating compared with 42% who graded it poor and 21% who awarded it a moderate score. Among Arab participants, a particularly low share of respondents (16%) viewed this policy positively.
The largest differences in ratings for the prime minister's policy were found based on the voting pattern from the last election: Among those who voted for parties in the coalition, almost half (48%) gave this policy a good grade, compared with just 13% of those who voted for opposition parties. The ambivalence toward the prime minister's security policy was clearly evident among voters for his own party, Yamina, of whom 35% awarded a positive rating, one-third a negative rating, and 29% a moderate rating. Among Yesh Atid voters, 67% said they held a positive view of his security policy.
Going to another election?
In light of the recent political upheaval in the coalition, participants were also asked whether the government will survive to the end of the year.
Less than a third of respondents (30%) estimated that there is a high likelihood of the government surviving at least a year, while twice as many (60%) considered the chances of this to be very small. This represents a sharp decline relative to February 2022, when half of the respondents thought there was a good chance that the current government will survive.
Among those who voted for opposition parties, 76% expressed this assessment; around one-half of voters for coalition parties (48%) shared the same opinion. Just 44% of those who voted for parties in the coalition think there is a high likelihood that the government will survive at least until the end of the year.
In the survey, which was conducted on the Internet and by telephone from April 24-26, 2022, 601 men and women were interviewed in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic, constituting a representative national sample of the entire adult population of Israel aged 18 and older. The maximum sampling error for the entire sample was ±3.65% at a confidence level of 95%. The fieldwork was done by the Midgam Institute.
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