Ynet poll: Judaism or democracy?
Over half of Israeli Jews regard Judaism equal to democracy, survey conducted for Judaism channel shows; one third of participants believe Iran threat to Israel’s survival
Just over 26 percent feel the Jewish identity of Israel is more important than democracy, and nearly 19 percent feel democracy is more important than Judaism.
About three percent of the population feels that the dream of creating a Democratic Jewish state has been shattered, and that Israel is in fact no different than other countries.
Over half of Israel’s secular Jewish community said that Judaism and democracy were equally important. The opinion was shared by 53 percent of traditional Jews in the country, 39 percent of religious Jews, and 23 percent of Ultra-Orthodox Jews.
When asked if he was religious or nationalistic, former National Religious Party leader Yosef Burg once said, “I’m the hyphen that connects the two.”
According to the poll, the majority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel do not share his feeling, as 72 percent feel the country should be Jewish first, and democratic second.
Should shops be closed on Shabbat?
Thirty-four percent of haredi respondents and 45 percent of secular respondents agreed that the religious parties on the Knesset were the most problematic characteristic of religious interference in the State's management. Twenty percent of religious respondents held the same opinion.
The media was accused of being hostile to religion by 80 percent of ultra-Orthodox respondents, 40 percent of traditional participants and 23 percent of secular respondents.
With regards to keeping Shabbat, 58 percent of participants said they were willing to have shops close in order to preserve Israeli’s Jewish character – 38 percent of them were secular.
As for the future of the Jewish people, thirty-six percent of participants said they believed a nuclear attack by Iran was the biggest threat to Israel.
The rise in anti-Semitism and failure to follow the Torah were two other threats to Israel, according to 20 percent and 12 percent of participants respectively.
The poll was conducted by the Gesher organization amongst a representative sample of about 450 participants.
For the article in Hebrew click here
