National Resilience Project: Justification for Lebanon war waning
Study finds Israelis more reluctant to justify Second Lebanon War as time goes by, mistrustful of Supreme Court and other national institutions
To what extent to Israelis have faith in the path the State is taking? Not as much as last year, apparently. The National Resilience Project revealed that Israelis, on average, increasingly see the Second Lebanon War as being unjustified as time goes by.
From a national average of 4.61(on a scale of 1 to 6) in October 2006, justification for the Lebanon war dropped to 4.43 in October 2007, even before the findings of the Winograd Commission are made public.
Support for the notion that Israel is more justified in its assertions than its Arab neighbors has likewise declined, decreasing from and average of 5.15 last year to a current 4.96.
Findings from the Social Bases of the National Security survey, to be presented next week at a convention at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlyia, and first published Wednesday on Ynet, also revealed dwindling faith in Israel’s Supreme Court.
Perhaps it is the never-ending bureaucratic lags, the controversial recent decisions, or the never ending battles with the minister of justice. At any rate, the Israeli public displayed a resounding lack of faith in its Supreme Court according to the survey.
From an average rating of 4.7(on a scale of 1-6) in 2000, support for the court amongst the Jewish population dwindled to a low of 3.82 in October of 2007. This precipitous decline was not as marked among non-Jewish minorities, whose average ranking for the court was 4.13.
Israelis trust in other national political institution was similarly shaky, receiving a minimal rating of 2.4 out of 6, down from 2.69 in October of 2000. Minorities gave Israeli political institutions a slightly higher ranking of 2.45.
One country: Two nations
Measures of patriotism clearly reveal that Israel is indeed one country for two very separate nations. Where as the Jewish population’s love for Israel continually skyrockets, receiving an average rating of 4.74,Arabs and other minorities’ feelings towards Israel are far more tepid, with an average patriotism rating of 3.33 alone.This aforementioned survey was sponsored by the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, and conducted by researchers Professor Gabriel Ben Dor, Dr. Daphna Canneti-Nisim and Dr. Iran Halperin. Their Social Bases of the National Security survey was comprised of five categories, namely militancy, patriotism, optimism, fear and faith in national institutions.
Each category was assessed with a series of statements, which respondents had to rank on a scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 6 (completely agree).
To assess the fear index, for instance, respondents were asked “how worried are you that you or your family will be injured by rocket fire or non-conventional weapons?”
The study’s sample consisted of 30, 168 respondents, including 24,773 Jews(including settlers, new immigrants, and haredim) and 5,395 minorities (namely Muslims, Christians and Druze).
