Around three-quarters of Jewish Israelis and a majority of Israelis overall support expanding the military’s Gaza operations against Hamas into the southernmost city of Rafah, according to polling conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute.
Respondents were given the choice of either favoring the nixing of an incursion into Rafah—so as not to endanger relations with Egypt and ongoing hostage-release talks—or expanding operations into the city on the Egyptian border to pressure Hamas to agree to better terms for a deal.
Seventy-four percent of Jewish Israelis and 64.5% overall—including 88% of right-wing Jews and 63% of centrist Jews—said they were in favor of expanding operations into Rafah. In contrast, just 30% of left-wing Jews and 17% of Arab Israelis said they support going into Rafah, where Israel says the last remaining Hamas battalions are concentrated and defeating them is key to winning the war.
Notably, 44.5% of left-wing Jews, a plurality, but not a majority, are against a Rafah operation, while a majority, 64.5%, of Arabs are opposed.
The question was asked in the backdrop of intense international pressure, led by the United States, against an operation in Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that demanding Israel to refrain from the military move is tantamount to requesting that it lose the war against Hamas, which committed the Oct. 7 massacre and has vowed to repeat the atrocities.
Israelis were also asked their views on changes to the military conscription law for haredi Jews currently exempt from service, and 70% of Israel’s Jewish population said they were in favor of changes that would end this exemption.
Predictably, 86% of secular Jews supported these changes, while just 19% of haredi Jews were in favor. However, 65% of national-religious Jews, 52% of traditional Jews and 77% of “traditional non-religious” Jews support the changes, highlighting the broad support for these changes across Israeli society.
The IDI’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research prepared the February 2024 Israeli Voice Index, which conducted a phone and internet survey of 600 men and women in Hebrew, and 150 in Arabic, between Feb. 28 and March 4. The maximum sampling error was ±3.65% at a confidence level of 95%.
