Most Israelis felt anxious after Iran attack – Bar-Ilan

40% watched more than three hours of TV coverage

The Israeli public immersed themselves in the news media and experienced great anxiety on the night of the Iranian aerial attack against Israel, according to a new survey by Dr. Gal Yavetz, a lecturer at the information science department at Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in Ramat Gan together with online survey company iPanel.

The survey of 504 Jewish Israelis who constituted a representative sample revealed that:

More than 77% of the respondents reported varying levels of anxiety, while only 20% reported no symptoms of anxiety during the attack. About 3.6% even admitted that they experienced extreme anxiety, including difficulty breathing, confusion and feeling terrorized.

A particularly high consumption of news was reported. About 60% of the public said that the media information they consumed was helpful during the attack.

Three-quarters of those polled said that they trusted the official information they received from the IDF spokesman and the Home Front Command as representatives of the government and the IDF.

“An emergency event of this sort affirms the role of traditional media in notifying, preparing and providing commentary to the public during such an extreme moment of fear and anxiety,” said Yavetz, whose research focuses on social media and information behavior, with particular interest in government and political information.

A previous survey he conducted during the fourth and fifth weeks of the war in Gaza found that about 50% reported consuming more than three hours of news a day.

The new survey mirrors previous war research in which he found that the public trusted IDF spokesman R.Adm. Daniel Hagari to provide a reliable picture of the situation.