Majority sees no link between Temple Mount violence and PM’s probes, says poll
Peace Index finds massive support for death penalty
Former prime minister Ehud Barak’s claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fanned the flames on the Temple Mount in order to distract the public from the criminal probes of himself and his associates did not persuade a majority of Israelis, according to the monthly Peace Index of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University released on Wednesday.
Only 36.2% of respondents agreed with the claim that Netanyahu did not try to ease tensions on the Temple Mount issue due to the investigations, while 52.3% disagreed and 11.5% did not know or did not respond. The proportion of those who agreed with the claim was much higher among Arab citizens than among Jews.
Asked whether they thought Netanyahu knew about his lawyer David Shimron being involved in a controversial submarine deal that is being investigated, 55% said yes, 22% said no, and 23% declined to respond or said they did not know.
The poll asked about claims Netanyahu made the submarine deal for personal reasons no less than security reasons. Some 40.2% agreed, 38.3% disagreed, and 21.5% said they did not know or did not respond.
The survey of 600 Israelis representing a statistical sample of the adult population was taken July 25-27, in the days after a terrorist murdered three members of the Salomon family in Halamish. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1%.
The poll found that 69.8% of Israelis would support giving death sentences after a trial to Palestinians who murdered Israeli citizens for nationalistic reasons. Some 25.3% said they would oppose the death penalty, and 4.9% said they did not know or declined to respond.
When asked about giving the death penalty to murderers of IDF soldiers, the numbers were not much different, with 65.8% in favor, 28% against, and 6.1% not knowing or not responding.
The poll asked respondents whether punishments given by Israeli courts to Palestinian terrorists who kill Israelis fit their crime. There was a huge difference among Arab and Jewish citizens in their responses.
Among Israeli Arabs, 63% said they were too harsh, 2.3% said too easy, 25.4% said just right, and 9.3% did not know or respond. Among Israeli Jews 71.6% said the punishments were too light, 2.6% said too heavy, 18.5% said just, right and 7.3% did not know or did not respond.
Likud MK Nava Boker proposed a bill on Wednesday that would allow giving the death penalty to terrorists sent by a terrorist organization who murder at least two people.
“The murderers of the Fogel family in Itamar [in 2011] currently live in a four-star hotel in an Israeli prison,” Boker said. “The recent murders of border policemen on the Temple Mount and the Solomon family in Halamish require taking stricter measures. Enacting a death penalty for terrorists, along with other measures, could restore deterrence and help stop terrorism in Israel.”