ARE THE ISRAEL Defence Forces (IDF) using the right amount of firepower in Gaza?
Eighty-two percent of Israel’s population think so, according to a Peace Index survey from Tel Aviv University last month. It monitors public sentiment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The survey found three-quarters of all Israelis believed the number of Palestinians harmed in the course of the conflict – which has killed 28,000 – was justified to achieve its aims.
It’s just one of a number of polls indicating a “sweeping majority” of Israelis support the invasion of Gaza, says Tel Aviv-based political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin.
For the majority of the Israeli public the conflict is an “active war of survival” and a response to an “existential attack” on the state of Israel, explains Scheindlin, a commentator with the liberal Haaretz newspaper.
The mainstream view is that Israel has “no choice” but to attack Hamas in Gaza, with supporters “following every report of all of the achievements” of the IDF, she said.
Media coverage
Much media coverage of the conflict within Israel still centred around the events of 7 October last when Hamas attacked and killed 1,200 people and abducted 253.
Since then, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza according to the Gazan Health Ministry.
When The Journal looked at the homepage of the Jerusalem Post yesterday at lunchtime, two of the top five articles referenced the 7 October attacks in their headline.
This holds true for television and radio coverage too, according to Scheindlin.
“The coverage of the conflict is focused on the IDF,” she said.
“It’s footage from their bodycams, it’s drone footage. There will be destroyed buildings and neighbourhoods.
In general, what you’re not seeing are a lot of pictures of [Palestinian] people.”
The images and footage of Gaza shown in media in Europe and the Arab world – of people living in tents, people who are wounded, dead children – are not shown on Israeli television, she added.
Coverage of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza rather “primarily features in conversations among the very, very tiny cluster of Israelis” who would prefer to see a ceasefire.
Views on Netanyahu
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to be a driving force in the conflict, but this doesn’t mean he has remained popular.
Scheindlin, who authored a book about the country’s politics called The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel, said recent polling has shown that Netanyahu’s personal ratings have dropped and his coalition parties would lose seats in an election.
A majority believing his decision-making is “tainted” by political maneuvering.
“But he does still have a resilient core of about 25 to 30% who kind of support him in various ways depending on the question in the survey,” she continued.
These questions range from whether a survey asks if Israelis think Netanyahu is still the most suitable person to be Prime Minister to whether he is doing good job.
But while the prime minister’s support has fallen, support for the IDF remains high.
This could be partly attributed to the nature of its defence forces: a reservist policy saw hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens called up in the aftermath of 7 October to support the permanent forces in the invasion of Gaza.
Criticism of Israel from abroad
As for which global voices carry the most weight for Israelis, Scheindlin said it has long been just the US – but recently South Africa has taken on a greater role in discourse around Gaza after it took a case to the International Court of Justice alleging genocide by Israel.
Yesterday, Ireland and Spain called for an urgent review of the EU’s trade deal with Israel, while earlier this week government minister Simon Coveney likened Israel to a ”rogue state” over its actions in Gaza.
Scheindlin said that Ireland is often “written off as pro-Palestine” in the minds of many Israelis, with criticism from the rest of the world “filtered” through a prism where much of the world is “against us anyway”.
When it comes to criticism of Israel from abroad, there is often a generalised feeling that “it’s a shame everyone is against us”, Scheindlin said.
She added that her perception here was not “suvey based” but reflected “the kinds of conversations that you hear in general about the war”.
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