Peace Index: 71% There will be no peace • 58%: Restrict freedom of expression in warfare

August 19, 2014   

What did you think of Operation Protective Edge? The Peace Index for August provides detailed data on the interesting questions of the operation in Gaza.

The consensus surrounding the operation has been maintained, 92% in the Jewish public (numbers mentioned simply refer to the Jewish public in Israel, Y.H.), think that the operation was justified. Broadly speaking, the Jewish public (92%) believes that the operation was justified. In the Arab public, there is an opposite consensus, a solid two-thirds majority who believe that the operation was unjustified.

47% believe that there were no clear goals for the operation, compared to 51% who believe that there were defined goals, and also believe that the goals were not really achieved. 53% say that only a small part of the goals were achieved, 42.5% think that the majority were achieved.

And for an interesting question, in light of the international investigation committees, only 6% of the Jewish public as a whole believe that during the operation the IDF used too much firepower. 48% assess that the use of force was appropriate, while 45% claim that the IDF used too little force. And among the Arab public, 62% believe that the IDF used too much firepower.

In this context, it should be noted that 63% believe that "the whole world is against us.".

32% are satisfied or quite satisfied with the operation, 27% are very disappointed or quite disappointed, and the rest are not completely satisfied but not really disappointed either.

Will there be peace here? 71% think that there is a low chance that Operation Protective Edge will bring about complete calm in Gaza, even if only for a period of at least three years from the moment of its conclusion.

And what about the negotiations in Cairo? The majority of the Jewish public (58%) believes that Israel should not comply with any of Hamas' demands but rather continue fighting until it surrenders. On the other hand, 41% say that each demand should be discussed in its entirety, and that those that do not endanger the security of the state should be responded to positively. In the Arab public, the majority's preference (54%) is that Israel should consider the demands in their entirety and respond positively to those that are reasonable in terms of its national security. 32% are in favor of accepting all of Hamas' demands so that the shooting stops.

Regarding the functioning of the IDF and the government, 97% give the IDF a good or very good score, but only 61% give a similar score to the political echelon.

The index also examined us, the media, and discovered that the average score given by the interviewees was 6.8 (between "sufficient" and "almost good").

And from the media to freedom of expression, 58% support restricting freedom of expression in times of war, only 39% believe that freedom of expression should be absolute at all times.

National resilience was emphasized a lot during the operation. The Jews gave a score of 9 for national resilience, but the Arabs were satisfied with a 4.3 for Jewish resilience and unity. On the other hand, the Jews