Poll: most Israelis scared to visit J’lem

A majority of the Israeli public has refrained from visiting Jerusalem in the past year due to security concerns, according to a poll released Sunday.

According to the Smith Research Center poll commissioned by the Commanders for Israel’s Security movement, 57 percent of non-Jerusalem residents said they had feared visiting Jerusalem in light of the recent wave of violence in the capital.

Seventy-three percent of Israeli Jews surveyed also said they would feel safer if Israel separated the Jewish and Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

In addition, the poll shows that 64% of women as opposed to 49% of men expressed concern over visiting the capital.

The poll, which was conducted last week when Avigdor Liberman was appointed as defense minister, also found that 85% of constituents who voted for his Yisrael Beytenu Party had feared visiting Jerusalem even once during the past year.

Religious Israelis were the most apprehensive according to the poll, with 61% saying they feared visiting Jerusalem in the past year, while 58% of secular and 53% of “traditional” Israelis expressed fear.

The Commanders for Israel’s Security movement is a coalition of some 200 former senior members of the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Mossad and police forces who advocate in support of a two-state solution.