TAU study: 50% of Arabs in Israel believe they and Jews have a “shared destiny”

Research reveals a statistically significant shift in the attitude of Arab Israelis towards the war

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A new survey by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University (TAU) released on December 12, 2024, reveals that, according to the survey, 57.8% of Arab Israelis believe that the ongoing war in Gaza has fostered a sense of shared destiny between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

The researchers emphasize that this is a statistically significant shift in the attitude of Arab Israelis towards the war. In a similar study conducted in November 2023, 69.8% of the Arab Israeli public said that the war had harmed solidarity between Arabs and Jews. Moreover, when compared to the results of a survey conducted in June 2024, the current study indicates a positive trend: at that time, only 51.6% of the respondents felt that a sense of shared destiny had arisen between Arabs and Jews. the current figure represents a statistically significant increase in this metric.

“The war between Israel and Hamas is the longest in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” says Dr. Arik Rudnitzky, Project Manager of the Adenauer Program at the Dayan Center. “Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, this external conflict has affected attitudes and views within the Arab public, as well as relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel. It appears, however, that under the dark shadow cast by the war over all citizens of Israel, both Arabs and Jews, meaningful bright spots are emerging that could redefine the rules of the game in the post-war era.

“An unprecedented majority of the Arab public — almost 72% — support the inclusion of an Arab party in the government formed after the next elections,” Dr. Rudnitzsky adds. “Moreover, the upheavals and turbulence in the Middle East in recent months, resulting not only from the direct war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but also from the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, have boosted the Arab citizens’ appreciation for their Israeli citizenship.

“This does not mean that Arabs in Israel now ignore their Arab and Palestinian national identity, but it does form a clear statement from Arab citizens, signaling to both the authorities and the Jewish majority that they will willingly collaborate in the rebuilding of Israeli society and politics in the post-war era.”

The full text of the study is available here.