Most religious Zionists want Arabs out of Israel, study finds

Survey shows high levels of anti-Arab sentiment among nationalist religious Jews in Israel, who consider minority an existential threat

ed note–as usual, anything involving Israel or organized Jewish interests in general cannot be taken at face value, but must be studied for those little intellectual boobie traps that come as a sine qua non with all things associated with the synagogue.

The obvious inference here is that the sudden wave of ‘anti-arabism’ amongst ‘religious Zionists’ is a new, never-before-seen phenomenon, and that it is all due to the recent spate of knife attacks–real, manufactured, or contrived–on the part of Palestinians towards their occupiers.

The truth of course is another thing altogether. Both the right and the left hate the arabs (and indeed, all Gentiles) with equal fury, it’s just that one is a little more clever about how they express it. Lest we forget, David Ben Gurion, an avowed atheist and devoted leftist, was just as genocidal in his approach to the Palestinians as his counterparts on the ‘religious right’, to wit–

”We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting off of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”

and…

“The present map of Palestine was drawn by the British mandate. The Jewish people have another map which our youth and adults should strive to fulfill —From the Nile to the Euphrates.”—Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion

As well as other ‘non-religious’ Zionists from the left such as Joseph Weitz, former head of the Jewish Agency’s Colonization Department, to wit–

”Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. The only solution is Eretz Israel, or at least all the land west of the Jordan River without Arabs. There is no room for compromise on this point … There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries – all of them. We must not leave a single village, not a single tribe.”

Furthermore, the ‘religious Zionists’ who want the Arabs moved out would be in favor of this position even were there not a single knife attack or anything else, because Judaism is very clear on this matter that the land of Israel belongs only to the Jews and that it is the religious duty of all adherents to follow through with the commandments given by Moses, Joshua, David, to expel, kill and exterminate all those who ‘pollute’ the land through their status as Gentiles.

Times of Israel

During the previous wave of terror in Israel, 11 months ago, Jewish Home party chairman Naftali Bennett said in a speech, “99.9 percent of Arab-Israelis are loyal to the State of Israel, and there’s a very small minority that acts against it.”

Apparently, his religious Zionist constituency disagrees.

A new poll by the Miskar agency, which surveys Israel’s religious Zionist population, found high levels of antagonism and mistrust toward Arab-Israelis. Contrary to polls of Arab-Israelis themselves, most religious Zionists believe that Arab-Israelis are hostile to Israel. A large majority see Arab-Israelis as a threat and would like to see the government push them to leave the country.

“The religious Zionist sector takes very extreme and unequivocal positions in terms of Israeli Arabs’ loyalty to the state, their posing an immediate and long-term security danger, and the need, therefore, for declarations of loyalty and a prepared plan for [population] transfer,” the poll’s analysis section read.

The pollsters surveyed 480 religious Zionists — defined by Jewish observance level and self-identification. The margin of error was 4.5 percent. Here’s a closer look at some of the major findings.

Religious Zionists view Arab-Israelis as an existential threat to the country.

Four-fifths of religious Zionists believe Muslim Arab-Israelis are hostile to Israel and its Jewish citizens. Nearly 70 percent believe they pose a short-term existential threat to Israel, and 84 percent believe they pose a long-term existential threat. Less than one-fifth believe Arab-Israelis oppose violence and want to integrate into Israeli society.

These findings contradict the stated feelings of Arab-Israelis. According to a 2014 Israel Democracy Institute poll, nearly 60 percent of Arab-Israelis “feel part of the State of Israel and its problems.” Nearly two-thirds feel proud to be an Israeli. Forty percent say integrating Jews and Arabs should be Israel’s top priority.

Most religious Zionists want Arab-Israelis to leave.

A majority of religious Zionists support reopening a public discussion about the forced transfer of Arab-Israelis from the state. Three-quarters want the government to prepare a practical plan to encourage Muslim Arab-Israelis to emigrate. And should Arab Muslims stay in Israel, two-thirds of religious Zionists believe they should have to swear a loyalty oath to the state.

Most religious Zionists boycott Arab businesses.

Seventy percent of religious Zionists support a boycott of Arab businesses. Less than 38 percent believe economic cooperation between Arab and Jewish Israelis is important.

Religious Zionists don’t believe Israel is racist toward Arabs.

Only one-third of religious Zionists believe Arab-Israelis face significant racism. Only 17 percent believe Arab Muslims have difficulty integrating because of discrimination. And only 30 percent believe Arab-Israeli communities suffer from a lack of government investment, despite research showing that Israeli Jews receive greater government investment per capita than Arabs.

According to the Israel Democracy Institute poll, a majority of Arabs-Israelis do feel discriminated against.