One-third of Israelis call Jewish West Bank rioters ‘Israeli terrorists,’ poll finds
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One-third of Israelis call Jewish West Bank rioters ‘Israeli terrorists’, while another 18% describe them as “nationalist criminals,” a JPPI poll finds
About one-third of Israelis describe Jewish rioters involved in recent violence in the West Bank village of Kusra as ‘Israeli terrorists’, according to a survey released on Monday by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). Another 18% of respondents described the rioters as ‘nationalist criminals’, highlighting the strong condemnation of the violence among much of the Israeli public. JPPI President Yedidia Stern said the findings indicate that those involved in the unrest represent an outlier within Israeli society.
“The survey shows that support among Israelis for the Jewish rioters in the West Bank is truly negligible, at just 5%,” Stern said in a release accompanying the poll. “More than half the public judges them very harshly, as terrorists or criminals, while others view them with varying degrees of severity. This represents an unusually broad consensus in Israel’s polarized society.” Only 13% of respondents selected either of the two most lenient descriptions offered in the survey: “young people who sometimes go too far” or “the salt of the earth.”
The findings come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faces pressure from the Trump administration and European governments to take stronger action against Jewish rioters in the West Bank. Netanyahu has faced political constraints because several far-right parties in his governing coalition have expressed varying degrees of sympathy toward settlers involved in such violence. Earlier this month, Netanyahu ordered the removal of some outposts associated with the rioters.
Political differences over the rioters
The survey found significant differences in how respondents viewed the violence based on political affiliation. Among respondents identifying with the left, 63% described the rioters as “Israeli terrorists.” The figure was 49% among those in the center and 3% among respondents on the right. Arab Israelis were also more likely to use the term, with 55% describing the rioters as “Israeli terrorists,” compared with 27% of Jewish Israelis.
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What happened in Kusra?
The survey focused on a recent incident in Kusra in which dozens of masked Israelis reportedly arrived in pickup trucks, threw stones at Palestinian residents and barricaded themselves inside a Palestinian home while members of the family remained inside, according to the Israeli military. Several Palestinians were wounded during the incident. The rioters reportedly fled after security forces arrived, and no arrests were made. The episode followed an earlier confrontation in Kusra, where Israeli settlers established an unauthorized outpost near Palestinian homes.
Huckabee condemns Kusra violence
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee condemned the earlier episode as a “horrific act of terror,” saying it was intended to “intimidate and harass” Palestinian families. The violence has drawn international attention as Israel faces pressure from allies over settler violence and the government's response to incidents in the West Bank.
The JPPI survey was conducted from September 1 to 3 among 663 Jewish respondents and 206 Arab respondents. The results were weighted to represent Israel’s adult population. JPPI did not provide a margin of error for the survey.
