Israeli public support for continuation of war against Iran and an assessment of the damage (to Iran) have ‘continued to decline,’ an Israeli survey says.
Israeli public support for continuing the campaign until the Iranian regime is overthrown, has continued to decline, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) of Israel said in a survey released on Thursday.
The INSS is an independent think tank affiliated with Tel Aviv University that conducts research and analysis of national security matters like military and strategic affairs, terrorism and low intensity conflict, military balance in the Middle East, and cyber warfare.
While in the first days of the campaign, 69 per cent of respondents estimated that the regime would be significantly harmed, only 43.5 per cent think so today.
‘The trend toward more moderate public attitudes regarding the outcomes of the campaign in Iran and the preferred objective for ending it is continuing. The public is now more cautious in its assessment of the expected damage to Iran’s nuclear project, the missile arsenal, and the Ayatollah regime. At the same time, as the campaign continues, more respondents believe that the home front can endure beyond one month of war,’ the survey says.
A similar decline is evident about he expected damage to Iran’s nuclear project. At the start of the campaign, 62.5 per cent believed it would be significantly harmed compared to 48 per cent today.
The same applies to the ballistic missile array: The percentage of respondents assessing significant damage fell from 73 to 58.5 (per cent).
At the same time, support for continuing the campaign until the regime is overthrown has also declined to 45.5 per cent now from 63 per cent in the first days of the war and 54 per cent after about two weeks.
On the northern front, the public is divided on the question of whether Hezbollah can be disarmed.
Public trust in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) remains high at 77 per cent, while trust in the government remains low at 30 per cent and is characterised by pronounced political polarisation.
In addition, 63 per cent of the Jewish public believes that the chief of staff was right to warn that many missions imposed on the IDF across different arenas, together with the failure to expand the recruitment base, could cause the army to ‘collapse into itself.’
Public trust in the security establishment remains high, although some indicators have shown moderate erosion since the beginning of the campaign. Trust in the IDF remains high and stable, while trust in the chief of staff and the IDF spokesperson has declined, the survey says.
Trust in the political echelon remains low and is characterised by sharp political polarisation alongside sectoral gaps. There has been a slight decline in trust in both the government and the Prime Minister.
About 36 per cent of the Israeli public has high trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, compared to 62 per cent with low trust.
Ramesh Bhan
