Israelis trust the IDF significantly more than they trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Israel Democracy Institute said in its latest Israel Voice Index released on Tuesday, which focused on the war with Hamas.
The survey covered several areas of importance from trust in the military to inter-communal relations, to support for exchanging prisoners for hostages.
Leftist and centrist Israelis overwhelmingly trust the heads of the IDF, at 80% and 74% respectively.
Rightists, on the other hand, are far less likely to trust the heads of the IDF at only 41%, they are also more likely to believe that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be trusted with the war at 10%. 29% trusted both the same amount.
A large majority of the public (70%) believe that the "Black Shabbat" massacres committed by Hamas on October 7 occurred due to internal disagreements about judicial reform, although there is significant divergence on the topic between Jews and Arabs, with Jews at 75% and Arabs at 46%.
After the war
Israelis largely (63%) believe inquiries into the war should wait until after the war, however, this is split along political lines with the rightists most likely to believe an inquiry should be postponed until after the war at 77.5%, while the center and the left were at 66% and 50% respectively.
A majority of Arab Israelis (60.5%) think that it would be right to exchange Palestinian security prisoners for the hostages held by Hamas, only 11% think it would not be right.
Jewish Israelis are split rather evenly on the topic with 45% thinking it wouldn't be right and 40% thinking it would be right.
Intercommunal relations
Jews and Arabs have reversed opinions on whether intercommunal relations have improved or degraded.
In February 2023, 8% of Jews said that inter-communal relations were good against 45% saying they were bad or so-so. In October 2023, 11% of Jews said that inter-communal relations were good against 32% saying they were bad, while 49% said they were so-so.
In February 2023, 33% of Arabs felt that inter-communal relations were good, while 30% thought it was bad and only 36% thought it was so-so. In October 2023, only 21% of Arabs felt that inter-communal relations were good, while 33% thought they were bad, and 39% thought they were so-so.