Majority of Israelis support expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, poll finds
An overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews support the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, according to a poll by Pennsylvania State University.
The survey, conducted in March and published by Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, found that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Earlier this month, Israel launched the "Operation Gideon's Chariots" in the besieged strip, which, according to the Israeli news outlet Ynet, is intended to advance US President Donald Trump's plan to "clean out" Gaza.
Ynet reported that during the operation, the Israeli army plans to push as many Palestinians as possible towards the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, where food and aid will be delivered. The new military plan is also aimed at promoting the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians, according to Ynet.
The new plan has garnered support among the majority of the Israeli public, even though the Israeli army's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, warned that it would pose a danger to the lives of the Israeli captives in Gaza.
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According to a separate Channel 13 poll, 44 percent of the Israeli public supports the operation while 40 percent oppose it.
The same poll showed that the Israeli public also supports the continuation of the full blockade that Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip since the beginning of March. It found that 53 percent of the Israeli public think that Israel should not allow humanitarian aid into the enclave.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that one of Israel's war goals is to implement Trump's proposed plan to expel the Palestinians from Gaza.
At a press conference, Netanyahu said that he was willing to end the war but only "under clear conditions that will ensure the safety of Israel: all the hostages come home, Hamas lays down its arms, steps down from power, its leadership is exiled from the strip".
"And we carry out the Trump plan - a plan that is so correct and so revolutionary," he added.
Secular public supports expulsion
According to the Penn State poll, support for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave was also found among 70 percent of the secular Jewish public, parts of which are considered liberal. Meanwhile, support among the Masortim (traditionalists), religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities exceeds 90 percent.
The sweeping and cross-political and social support for the expulsion of Palestinians does not stop at the borders of the occupied Gaza Strip. According to the poll, 56 percent of Israeli Jews support the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel from their land.
Donald Trump's Gaza plan: Ethnic cleansing or crime against humanity? Read More »
While the highest levels of support for the move were recorded amongst the Masortim, religious, and ultra-Orthodox communities, exceeding 60 percent, there was also significant backing among the secular public. Thirty-eight percent of secular Israeli Jews support the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel from the country, the poll reported.
Commenting on the results survey, Shay Hazkani, a professor of history and Jewish studies at the University of Maryland, and Tamir Sorek, a professor in the history department at Penn State University, wrote: "There are those who see the shock and anxiety that befell the Israeli public in the wake of the events of October 7th as the only explanation for this radicalization.
"But the massacre only seems to have unleashed demons that have been nurtured over decades in the media and in the legal and educational systems."
Throughout the war, Israeli media outlets have echoed calls for the expulsion and killing of Palestinians. Recently, Israeli human rights organisations submitted a request to the Supreme Court to open an investigation against Channel 14, seen as loyal to Netanyahu, on suspicion of "incitement to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity".
The education system has also played a role in shaping extremist views among young Israelis. Hazkani and Sorek say that since the early 2000s, it has undergone a process of radicalisation.
According to the poll, only 9 percent of Jewish men under the age of 40, representing most of the soldiers in regular and reserve duty, were fully opposed to the ideas of expulsion and transfer.
Religious language
It was only last March that the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed a petition filed by human rights organisations seeking to compel the government to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. In the ruling, one of the justices used religious language to justify the verdict.
Since the beginning of the war, religious language has been widely used in Israel to describe the war in Gaza. One frequently invoked term is 'Amalek' - referring to an ancient enemy of the Israelites, against whom Jewish tradition commands an all-out war.
Trump says 'clean out that whole thing' as part of his plan for Gaza Read More »
A week after the 7 October Hamas-led attack, Netanyahu urged ground troops preparing to enter Gaza to "remember what Amalek has done to you".
Religious discourse in Israel, however, is not limited to the religious public. The poll found that 65 percent of the Jewish population believes there is a modern-day "Amalek". And of those, about 93 percent think the "mitzvah" , or commandment, to 'wipe out the memory of Amalek' should still apply today.
Meanwhile, 47 percent of the Jews answered yes to the question: "Do you support the claim that the [Israeli army] in conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites did when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, ie to kill all its inhabitants?" The reference is to the biblical account of the conquest of Jericho.
"Zionism, in addition to being a national movement, is also a movement of immigrant-settlers, which seeks to push the local population out," wrote Hazkani and Sorek.
"The aspiration for absolute and permanent security can lead to an operative plan to eliminate the opposing population, and therefore every settlement project has the potential for ethnic cleansing and genocide."
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