The genocide being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza shows no sign of abating. Nearly twenty-one months have passed since October 7^th 2023, and Israel continues to kill and maim with impunity. According to the latest figures released by the Gaza Ministry of Health on July 2^nd 2025, Israel has killed at least 57,012 Palestinians and wounded 134,592 (of the identified fatalities, 55% were women, children and elderly, although it is important to note that the number of total fatalities reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health is surely an underestimate). According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than four fifths (85%) of the Gaza Strip is currently within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or both, and at least 1.9 million people (or about 90% of Gaza’s population) have been displaced during the “war”, per UNRWA. Nearly three quarters (70%) of all structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed per UNOSAT’s latest assessment conducted on April 4^th 2025, and almost all (92%) housing units have been damaged or destroyed according to the Gaza Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

Who is responsible for this calamity? The obvious answer is the government of Israel, led by Netanyahu and his coalition, backed by the US and other Western powers. However, focusing on Netanyahu and his coalition misses an important dynamic in this ongoing genocide, and one that is rarely discussed in the mainstream Western press: the role of Israeli society, and more specifically, Israeli Jewish society (as opposed to Israeli Arabs or Palestinian citizens of Israel) in support of official Israeli government policy. The truth is that Israel’s “war” on Gaza has been supported by the (vast) majority of the Israeli Jewish public, and policies that are tantamount to ethnic cleansing as well as outright genocidal policies, such as the prevention of humanitarian aid into Gaza, are not merely Israeli government policy, but a reflection of the broader views of a majority of Israeli Jews. When US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (one of the chief architects of US policy in support of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza) gave his interview to the New York Times on January 4^th 2025 a few weeks before departing office, he made this exact point when he stated that these types of policies after October 7^th weren’t just advocated by “the prime minister or a given leader in Israel. This was an entire society that didn’t want any assistance getting to a single Palestinian in Gaza”. Blinken re-iterated this point in an interview with CNN on January 15^th 2025, where he stated that “what’s been misunderstood around the world is ascribing to one individual or maybe a small group of individuals the policies that Israel is pursuing that many people don’t like. I think this is a reflection of 70, 80, 90 percent of Israelis”.

The empirical evidence supports Blinken’s assessment, and the purpose of this article is to examine in a comprehensive manner the views of Israeli Jews vis a vis the ongoing genocide in Gaza. This was done by collecting every available public survey conducted after October 7^th 2023 (till the present) and that posed at least one question to Israelis related to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The surveys were then examined, and only those surveys whose data was available and that were based on a representative sample of Israeli society were included (in some cases, the sample was provided as part of the survey; in other cases, the author had to rely on a statement from the survey assessor that it was representative). A subset of questions within those surveys that met these thresholds were focused-on for this article, specifically around the views of Israeli Jews on the IDF’s “performance” in Gaza, on the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and on a variety of Israeli government policies vis a vis Gaza, including the blocking of humanitarian aid into the Strip and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza (note that all survey questions and responses in this article are transcribed in Italic). A comprehensive database created by the author containing all the relevant survey questions and responses for this article can be found here (a total of 71 surveys and 128 questions are included, although the database captures additional questions that are not covered in this article, such as Israeli views on settlements in Gaza, solutions to the Palestinian Israeli “conflict”, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and so on). In addition, the original set of survey questions and responses can be found here.

Note: The author has focused on the views of Israeli Jews as opposed to Israeli Arabs or Palestinian citizens of Israel because their opinions are the ones that really matter within the context of Israeli government policy. As such, the views of Israeli Arabs or Palestinian citizens of Israel were not collected in the database nor discussed in the article, although they are available as part of the original set of questions and responses. Based on these responses, their views on the vast majority of the questions related to these aforementioned topics tended to be opposite to those of Israeli Jews.

On Israel’s Conduct of the “War” in Gaza

Infamously, when Israeli Jews were asked in a Tel-Aviv University survey taken over the period of October 23^rd – 28^th 2023 how would you characterize the IDF’s use so far of its firepower in Gaza, a near unanimity (94.1%) believed that the IDF was either using too little (57.5%) or an appropriate (36.6%) amount of firepower, while only a vanishingly small minority (1.8%) responded with too much use of firepower. By October 28^th 2023, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel had killed at least 7,703 Palestinians (of whom 66% were women and children) and wounded an additional 19,743 people, making the average Palestinian casualty rate in Gaza nearly 1,250 per day in a span of three weeks since October 7^th. Even more shockingly, more than four out of ten (41%) of those killed were children (accounting for 3,195 fatalities), prompting the NGO ‘Save the Children’ to state that “the number of children reported killed in just three weeks in Gaza is more than the number killed in armed conflict globally – across more than 20 countries – over the course of a whole year, for the last three years”.

When participants in that same survey were asked how do you assess the performance of the IDF in [the] Swords of Iron war so far, the vast majority of Israeli Jews (78.3%) rated it as very good or moderately good, with only a small minority (20.5%) rating their “performance” as either not so good or poor (one has to wonder whether the latter group overlaps with the group who thought too little use of firepower was being used). Support for the IDF’s “performance” did however improve by early November. In an Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) survey taken over the period of November 5^th – 6^th 2023, participants were asked, on a scale from 1 = very poor to 5 = excellent, what grade would you give the IDF combat forces for their functioning during the war until now. Among Israeli Jews, a near unanimity (92.6%) chose either excellent or very good, with a vanishingly small number (0.9%) choosing very poor or poor.

Tel-Aviv University released another survey conducted over the period of January 8^th – 15^th 2024, and asked the same question again about the IDF’s use of firepower, with similar results. A nearly identical amount (94.2%) believed that the IDF was using too little (43.4%) or an appropriate amount of firepower (50.8%), with only a small minority (3.2%) responding with too much use of firepower. By January 7^th 2024, Israel had damaged or destroyed 69,146 structures in Gaza according to UNOSAT’s satellite imagery analysis, corresponding “to around 30% of the total structures in the Gaza Strip and a total of 93,800 estimated damaged housing units”.

In that same survey, participants were also asked whether the number of casualties on the Palestinian side [had] been justified or unjustified in order to achieve the war aims. Among Israeli Jews, an overwhelming majority (87.4%) answered justified, versus a tiny minority (6.2%) who answered unjustified. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, by January 7^th 2024, Israel had killed at least 23,084 Palestinians and wounded 58,926 since October 7^th, with the “daily death rate in Gaza [an average of over 250 killed per day by January 7^th] higher than any other major 21^st century conflict”, according to Oxfam.

Despite the overwhelming level of destruction and loss of life in Gaza (or perhaps because of it), in an IDI survey taken over the period of January 14^th – 17^th 2024, when participants were asked how would you rate the performance of IDF forces during the war until now, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews (88.4%) responded either very good or quite good, with only a small minority (9.8%) responding not so good or not at all good.

A few months later, in a Pew Research survey taken over the period of March 3^rd – April 4^th 2024, still only a tiny minority of Israeli Jews (4%) believed that Israel’s military response against Hamas had gone too far. By March 1^st 2024, Israel had killed and wounded over 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, displaced over 1.7 million people per UNRWA (over 75% of the population), and damaged or destroyed 35% of the total structures in Gaza, per UNOSAT.

Most of that destruction and killing came at the hands of the Israeli air force, which in mid-April 2024, still garnered massive support from the vast majority of the Israeli public. Indeed, in an Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) survey taken over the period of April 11^th – 14^th 2024, and in response to how would you rate the Israeli Air Force’s performance since the start of the war, an overwhelming majority (86%) of Israeli Jews gave it a high score, with only a tiny minority (3%) giving it a low score. Interestingly, when participants in that same survey were explicitly asked do you agree or disagree that when undertaking military operations, the IDF should ensure that it is not breaking international laws and rules of war, less than a majority of Israeli Jews (46%) responded that the IDF must comply with international law, while a nearly similar amount (42%) responded that the IDF did not need to comply.   

By July 2024, the already catastrophic situation in Gaza had only further deteriorated, with record-levels of destruction being wrought by Israel. In a comprehensive assessment conducted by UN-HABITAT and the UN Environment Program (UNEP), based on satellite imagery analysis provided by UNOSAT, it was revealed that as of July 6^th 2024, 151,265 structures had been damaged or destroyed (corresponding to 63% of total structures in Gaza), with the “total debris generated by the conflict amount[ing] to approximately 41,946,018 metric tonnes” (or 114 kilograms of debris for each square meter in Gaza); this corresponds to a “volume of debris that is 14 times greater than the combined total from all conflicts over the past 16 years”. Furthermore, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, as of July 24^th 2024, Israel had killed at least 39,145 people in Gaza and wounded another 90,257 (of the identified fatalities, 60% were women, children or elderly). Despite that, in a joint survey conducted over the period of July 18^th – 29^th 2024 between Tel-Aviv University and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, when participants were asked whether they thought what Hamas did on Oct 7 justifies what Israel did in the Gaza Strip since that time, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews (84%) answered either definitely yes or probably yes, with only a small minority (13%) answering definitely no or probably no. In that same survey, participants were also asked whether the number of casualties on the Palestinian side [had] been justified or unjustified (presumably in order to achieve Israel’s “war” aims), with more than three quarters (76%) of Israeli Jews saying they were justified, versus a small minority (15%) saying they weren’t.

Support for Israel’s military among Israeli Jews as it continued to commit genocide in Gaza also extended to protecting Israeli soldiers from facing justice for the crimes of sexual abuse and torture of Palestinian detainees. In a highly publicized incident of gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman military base (turned detention camp and torture facility where systematic human rights abuses against Palestinian detainees have been widely documented), ten Israeli soldiers belonging to a unit known as Force 100, in charge of guarding the facility, were arrested for the rape on July 29^th 2024 (with five soldiers subsequently released). Scenes of Israeli protesters breaking into the facility the following day to try to free the arrested soldiers were widely televised, and a debate in Israeli media ensued about the “virtue” of raping detainees. This is the context, then, for a question posed in an INSS survey taken over the period of August 8^th – 11^th 2024 about the arrested Israeli soldiers in the Sde Teiman case. The survey states that the military prosecutor recently asked to extend the detention of the five soldiers suspected of severe abuse and clarified that there is further evidence strengthening the suspicions against them. It then asks how these soldiers should be disciplined. Nearly two thirds of Israeli Jews (65%) responded that they should only be disciplined at the command level, while less than a quarter (21%) answered that they should face criminal prosecution (perhaps this should not be too surprising given the answers to another question in the survey, where participants were explicitly asked do you think that Israel should obey international laws and maintain ethical values in war, with a plurality of Israeli Jews (47%) saying it should not obey them, and 42.5% saying it should obey them).

A related question was posed six weeks later in an IDI survey taken over the period of September 15^th – 19^th 2024, when participants were asked do you support or oppose investigating soldiers when suspicions arise of abuse of Palestinians from Gaza who are being held in detention by the IDF. Nearly two thirds (61.4%) of Israeli Jews were opposed to any investigation, with only slightly more than a third (34.5%) in support. A follow-up question in the same survey asked in your opinion, what punishment should be given to someone found guilty of abusing detainees from Gaza held by the IDF, with a clear majority of Israeli Jews (60.3%) choosing a reduced punishment, as these detainees were suspected of involvement in terrorism, and only slightly more than a quarter (28.9%) choosing the usual punishment defined by law for such cases. It is worth noting that six weeks earlier, the Israeli NGO B’Tselem had released a wide-ranging report on August 5^th titled Welcome to Hell – The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps, based on the testimonies of 55 Palestinians released from various prison camps (almost all of whom were not charged). The report revealed that the abuses at Sde Teiman are “only the tip of iceberg”, and that “since 7 October, Israel has instated a systemic policy of abusing and torturing thousands of Palestinians in its custody”, including “use of sexual violence, in varying degrees of severity, by soldiers or prison guards against Palestinian detainees as an additional punitive measure”.

In light of the above, it should come as no surprise then, that when participants in that same September IDI survey were asked on a scale from 1 = very poor to 5 = excellent, how would you rate the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the following areas: moral conduct in combat, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews (82.8%) rated them as excellent or very good, with only a tiny minority (6.3%) rating them as poor or very poor. Never mind that this is a military whose soldiers have relished in documenting their own abuses and war crimes, from the grotesque to the perverse, on social media platforms for everyone to see. In a documentary published by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit on October 3^rd 2024 about Israeli soldiers’ widespread abuses and war crimes committed in Gaza, “Al Jazeera said it was able to track down the names, ranks and military units of many of the soldiers after compiling a database of over two and a half thousand social media accounts, containing photos and videos placed online by Israeli soldiers”. According to Al-Jazeera, “most of the photos and videos fell into one of three categories: wanton destruction, the mistreatment of detainees and the use of human shields”. A few days later, on October 8^th, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) followed with a formal filing supported by over 8,000 pieces of verifiable evidence “with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against 1,000 Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza, Palestine. These individuals, all of whom have been identified by name, are accused of participating in systematic attacks against civilians during the ongoing genocide in Gaza”. As a result of the efforts of the HRF, the Israeli military announced earlier this year the enactment of “new measures to conceal the identities of soldiers of all ranks, amid arrest warrants and investigations of suspected war crimes in Gaza” – measures that clearly befit “the most moral army in the world”.

On the Suffering of Palestinian Civilians

Based on the responses to the questions discussed in the previous section regarding Israel’s conduct of the “war”, it is clearly justified to infer that considerations of harm for Palestinian civilians as Israel bombed and destroyed the Gaza Strip didn’t rank high in the priorities of the Israeli Jewish public. Indeed, this inference is explicitly and fully supported by survey data, as seen in an IDI survey taken over the period of October 18^th – 19^th 2023, where participants were asked to what extent do you think that Israel should take into consideration the suffering of the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza when planning the next phases of fighting there. An overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews (83.4%) responded not at all or not so much, versus a small minority (12.9%) who responded quite a lot or very much. A nearly identical question was posed by the IDI in a survey taken over the period of December 11^th – 13^th 2023, with almost the same results (81.1% vs 15.9%).

By mid-December, Israel had “dropped 29,000 weapons on Gaza in a little over two months”, nearly half of which were so-called “dumb bombs” or unguided munitions, according to an assessment by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (including 6,000 bombs that had been dropped on Gaza within the first few days, according to the Israeli air force; in comparison, “the U.S. military dropped 3,678 munitions on Iraq from 2004 to 2010, according to the U.S. Central Command”). At that point, supposed “rifts between the United States and Israel spilled into public view”, after President Joe Biden stated that Israel “has most of the world supporting it”, but “they’re starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place”, and suggested Netanyahu change course (Biden, of course, never let that indiscriminate bombing stop him from continuing to support and arm Israel as they destroyed Gaza). That, then, is the context for a question posed by the IDI in a follow-up survey conducted over the period of December 25^th – 28^th 2023, which stated that according to reports, the United States is demanding that Israel shifts to a different phase of the war in Gaza, with an emphasis on reducing the heavy bombing of densely populated areas. Participants were then asked should Israel agree to this demand? Despite the record-setting carnage that Israel had already inflicted on Gaza and its civilian population, the vast majority of Israeli Jews (75.1%) thought that Israel should not agree to this demand, as opposed to a small minority (15.9%) who answered that it should.

In fact, the situation is far more sinister than the vast majority of the Israeli Jewish public simply “not caring” about harm inflicted on Palestinian civilians, as in many instances, the (vast) majority of the Israeli Jewish public supports actively harming Palestinian civilians. Indeed, in a survey by the IDI taken over the period of February 12^th – 15^th 2024, more than two thirds (67.5%) of Israeli Jews opposed the idea that Israel should allow the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents at this time, with food and medicines being transferred by international bodies that are not linked to Hamas or to UNRWA; less than a third (29.9%) of Israeli Jews supported the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even when the “bar was lowered” to eliminate UNRWA or aid organizations “linked” to Hamas (Israel has of course been inciting for years against UNRWA, with their claims having largely been debunked).

The answer to the above survey question is consistent with results from the monthly omnibus survey conducted by Agam Labs (Hebrew University) from November 2023 to June 2024, where they asked Israeli Jews whether they supported or opposed allow[ing] humanitarian aid to Gaza during the war. The answers range, on the high end (in January 2024), from 61% in opposition (24% in support), to on the low end (in April 2024), 50% in opposition (33% in support). Note that in June 2024 (the last surveyed month), those in opposition climbed back up to 59% (with only 27% in support). In light of the above survey results, it is worth mentioning that protests to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza at the Karem Abu Salem and other border crossings starting on January 18^th 2024 (and lasting until June 2024) by extremist groups like the “Tsav 9” movement (which has been sanctioned by the US) can rightly be seen as reflective of the views of the (vast) majority of Israeli Jewish society (note that groups like Tsav 9, although nominally operating outside of the state, have typically enjoyed impunity from Israeli authorities).

In order to appreciate how depraved such views are, it is important to understand how dire the humanitarian situation in Gaza was around the time the survey questions were posed. On March 18^th 2024, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global authority on food security that consists of a partnership of 19 organizations (including various UN organizations such as the FAO and UNICEF), released the first of their assessments on Gaza. This assessment revealed that “about 2.13 million people across the Gaza Strip faced high levels of acute food insecurity classified in IPC Phase 3 or above (crisis or worse) between 15 February and 15 March, including nearly 677,000 experiencing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5)”; the situation in the north of Gaza was even worse, as 55% of North Gaza and the Gaza governorates were classified in IPC Phase 5 (the highest and most dire classification). To put this in concrete terms, “virtually all households are skipping meals every day and adults are reducing their meals so that children can eat. In the northern governorates, in nearly two thirds of the households, people went entire days and nights without eating at least 10 times in the last 30 days”.

On March 28^th 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a second set of provisional measures as part of the case brought forward by South Africa against Israel under the Genocide Convention. The Court observed “that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, as noted in the Order of 26 January 2024, but that famine is setting in, with at least 31 people, including 27 children, having already died of malnutrition and dehydration according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)”. The Court furthermore ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.

Despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation highlighted by the IPC, and the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, when the UN Security Council passed resolution 2728 on March 25^th 2024 calling for an “immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan” (of which only two weeks remained at the time the resolution passed) and the “need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance” into Gaza, while also demanding the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”, a majority of Israeli Jews still opposed it. Indeed, in a survey conducted over the period of March 31^st – April 3^rd 2024 by the IDI, the survey stated that the UN Security Council recently adopted a resolution that included a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire during Ramadan and the immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli hostages. It then asked participants in your opinion, should Israel implement its part of this resolution? A majority of Israeli Jews (60%) answered it should not, with less than a third (32.1%) answering that it should, even when this temporary two-week humanitarian pause was accompanied by the “immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli hostages”.

To make matters worse, not only does the (vast) majority of the Israeli Jewish public have little to no sympathy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and actively wishes harm upon them, a significant majority of Israeli Jews want to even censor others from expressing any sympathy for them. This is clear from a survey conducted by Pew Research over the period of March 3^rd – April 4^th 2024, where nearly three quarters (70%) of (Jewish) Israeli adults who, when thinking about the war between Israel and Hamas, say people should not be allowed to post each of the following on social media sites: posts that express sympathy for civilians in Gaza.

This callous disregard for Palestinian human suffering remained more or less constant as the genocide progressed, with numerous surveys reflecting that. In an IDI survey taken over the period of March 18^th – 21^st 2024, participants were asked to what extent should Israel take into consideration the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza when planning the continuation of the fighting there. The vast majority of Jewish Israelis (80.3%) responded either not at all or to a fairly small extent, as opposed to a small minority (18.1%) responding either to a fairly large extent or to a very large extent. In a survey conducted by the Mitvim Institute in August 2024, participants were asked do you think Israel should act to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza? Among those expressing an opinion, only a small minority (17%) of Jewish Israelis answered yes, it’s the ethical thing to do, while a majority (54%) answered that Israel should not concern itself with the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The remainder (29%) answered yes, it’s in Israel’s interest in order to defend its international standing and protect its public health, even though there was a strong self-interested motive to choose the latter option given that the poliovirus had been discovered in Gaza, and officially declared an epidemic by the Gaza Ministry of Health on July 29^th 2024 (thus this option was offered by the survey within that context, knowing that infectious diseases could be brought back to Israel by Israeli soldiers in Gaza). Similarly, in a survey by the INSS taken over the period of September 12^th – 15^th 2024, when Jewish Israelis were asked to what extent are you concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, only a small minority (15%) answered very much or quite a lot, while an overwhelming majority (82%) answered very little or a little.

Although some Israelis are keen to point out that Israelis are not their government, and many have indeed participated in demonstrations to end the “war” on Gaza and called for Netanyahu’s resignation, it is instructive to look at polls to better understand how reflective these are of broader Israeli society, as well as the motivations underlying such actions. When the IDI surveyed Israeli Jews over the period of September 15^th – 19^th 2024 and asked in your opinion, has the time come to end the war in Gaza, a roughly even split answered it has (45%) versus those who answered it has not (42.6%). However, of those who would like the “war” to end, when asked in your opinion, what is the main reason why the war in Gaza should be ended, only a tiny minority (3%) would like it to end because of the high cost in human life and the desire for quiet, peace and security. The majority (55.8%) of that group want the “war” in Gaza to end because continuing the fighting endangers the hostages, and another fifth (20.1%) want an end to the “war” because ending the war in Gaza will enable the decision-makers and the IDF to turn their attention to the northern front in Lebanon (another 15% want it to end because the fighting has already achieved most of what can be achieved). The point here is that supporting an end to the “war” in Gaza because of Palestinian human suffering barely registers at all as a primary consideration among Israeli Jews.

This point is clearly driven home, almost a year after October 7^th, in a joint survey conducted by Langer Research Associates and PORI (Public Opinion Research Israel) in September 2024. The survey revealed that a near unanimity of Israeli Jews (90%) believed that Israel’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza were either too much (59%) or about right (31%), with only a negligeable minority (7%) believing it was doing too little. This is a country whose military, far from avoiding civilian casualties, displays a reckless disregard for civilian lives, and that “during the first six weeks of the war in Gaza, routinely used [at least 208 times] one of its biggest and most destructive bombs [2,000 pound bombs] in areas it designated safe for civilians”, and that “on several occasions authorized the killing of more than 100 civilians in the assassination of a single [Hamas] commander” (including, on one occasion authorizing “the killing of approximately 300 civilians” to assassinate the commander of Hamas’ Central Gaza Brigade, Ayman Nofal). This is a country whose military furthermore deliberately targets civilians, including the sniping of small children in the head and chest on numerous occasions, the shooting of civilians waving white flags on several occasions, the crushing of civilians by deliberately running them over with military vehicles, and the deliberate killing of medical personnel as part of a “concerted policy to destroy the health-care system of Gaza”. This is a country whose military has also killed a record-number of journalists (in many cases directly targeting them), with at least 177 Palestinian journalists and media workers confirmed killed by Israel according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) between October 7^th 2023 and June 16^th 2025, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992”. This is country whose military has furthermore killed a record-number of humanitarians, with at least 408 humanitarian workers confirmed killed by Israel between October 7^th 2023 and April 1^st 2025 according to UNRWA, making 2023 and 2024 the deadliest years on record for humanitarians according to data from the Aid Worker Security Database. Finally, this is a country that has committed genocide according to numerous respected human rights organizations and scholars, including the International Federation of Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the OPT, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, and whose Prime Minister and (former) Minister of Defense have outstanding arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the basis that they “found reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”, as well as “the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. If all of this amounts to “doing too much” to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, one has to wonder what the majority of Israeli Jews would have found “acceptable”.

It’s important to mention that the views of Israeli Jews regarding Palestinian human suffering in Gaza have not changed even after nearly 21 months of “war”, and despite Israel implementing a full blockade on Gaza for 11 weeks between March 2^nd and May 18^th 2025, “entailing a ban on the entry of any supplies, including food, medicine and fuel”, according to OCHA. On May 12^th 2025, the IPC published its latest assessment, warning that 1.94 million people (93% of the population) were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 classification), including nearly 244,000 people facing catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5 classification). Despite the dire situation in Gaza, an INSS survey taken over the period of May 22^nd – 26^th 2025 shows that more than three quarters of Israeli Jews (76.5%) were not distressed by the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, whereas less than a quarter (21.5%) answered that they were distressed. Furthermore, in an IDI survey taken over the period of May 26^th – 29^th 2025, participants were asked to what extent should Israel take into consideration the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza when planning the continuation of the fighting there. More than three quarters of Israeli Jews (76.6%) responded either not at all or to a fairly small extent, as opposed to a small minority (20.2%) responding either to a fairly large extent or to a very large extent. Finally, in a follow-up question in the same survey, participants were asked in light of the pressure from multiple countries, should Israel increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip? Nearly two-thirds of Israeli Jews (62.9%) said it should not, with less than a third (30.5%) answering that it should, numbers that have remained roughly consistent over the entire length of the “war”.

On Trump’s Plan, Ethnic Cleansing and Amalek

A recent article in Haaretz published on May 18^th 2025 references a much-discussed survey of Israeli Jews commissioned in March 2025 by Pennsylvania State University and conducted by the Israeli polling firm Geocartography Knowledge Group. According to this survey, we learn that “82 percent of respondents supported the expulsion of Gaza’s residents, while 56 percent favored expelling Palestinian citizens of Israel”, that “nearly half (47 percent) of respondents agreed that “when conquering an enemy city, the Israel Defense Forces should act as the Israelites did in Jericho under Joshua’s command – killing all its inhabitants””, and that “sixty-five percent said they believed in the existence of a modern-day incarnation of Amalek, the Israelite biblical enemy whom God commanded to wipe out in Deuteronomy 25:19”.

However, the data from this survey has not been made publicly available (including the phrasing of the questions themselves), and the survey has been criticized on methodological grounds by academics at Tel Aviv University’s School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs (who requested and did obtain the raw data). These academics also claim that “at around the same time this poll was conducted, Tel Aviv University fielded a comprehensive, large-scale survey as part of its ongoing Israel National Election Studies research project. In that study, participants were asked whether they would support a solution for Gaza that includes transferring its population to another country or countries. Among Jewish respondents, agreement stood at 53 percent”. The authors go on to postulate reasons for the (~30%) difference in results between the surveys, but do not make the raw data available for their survey, making an independent judgement between them impossible. It is, of course, worth noting that even if the latter survey better represents the opinions of the Israeli Jewish populace, it still reflects a majority who support the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the higher number better reflects Israeli Jewish opinion, based on results from numerous other (publicly available and representative) surveys that have been conducted over the last few months.

Before delving into the details of those other surveys, it is important to first properly set the scene. On January 25^th 2025, a few days after becoming the 47^th US President, Donald Trump made comments aboard Air Force One that provided a preview of his proposal to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza and for the US to take over the Strip. After talking to Jordan’s King Abdullah that day, Trump referenced that call by telling reporters that “I said to him I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people”. He then added that ““I’d like Egypt to take people”, and said he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday. “You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing””. He re-iterated his comments in some form over the next few days, even as Jordan, Egypt, and Hamas officials categorically rejected his suggestion to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

This, then, is the backdrop for a Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) survey taken over the period of January 30^th – February 3^rd 2025, and that states that President Trump suggested the possibility of relocating Arabs from Gaza to another country, before providing participants with several options to choose from, and asking them what is the closest to your position regarding this proposal? An overwhelming majority (82%) of Israeli Jews supported Trump’s proposal, split between I think it’s a practical plan that should be advocated (52%), and I don’t think it’s a practical plan, but wish it were (30%); only a tiny minority (3%) answered that this is an immoral population transfer proposal and should not be accepted (while another 13% believed that this plan is a distraction, we need to talk about realistic solutions).

The same question was posed in a subsequent JPPI survey taken over the period of February 27^th – March 5^th 2025, with similar results, after Trump announced in a press conference with Netanyahu on February 4^th that the US would “take over and own Gaza” to “redevelop it into the Rivera of the Middle East”, while confirming in a Fox News interview on February 10^th that Palestinians who would be “re-located” from Gaza to “re-develop it” would have no right to return to Gaza, in a plan tantamount to ethnic cleansing. In that subsequent JPPI survey, the same tiny minority (3%) of Israeli Jews believed that relocating Arabs from Gaza to another country is an immoral population transfer proposal and should not be accepted, while more than three quarters (76%) of Israeli Jews supported Trump’s proposal, although less believed that it was practical relative to the earlier survey (38% answered I think it’s a practical plan that should be advocated, while another 38% answered I don’t think it’s a practical plan, but wish it were; 20% answered this plan is a distraction, we need to talk about realistic solutions).

In a separate Tel-Aviv University survey taken over the period of March 5^th – 10^th 2025, participants were asked whether they supported or opposed Israel providing incentives that would lead to voluntary departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries. A large majority of Israeli Jews (71.1%) supported the measure, versus a small minority (20.8%) who opposed it. To be clear, the term “voluntary departure” is of course entirely misleading, as no departure should ever be considered “voluntary” when the alternative is genocide. Having said that, even when the misleading term “voluntary” was absent from a subsequent question in the same survey, and use of “force and military means” was explicitly referenced to “evacuate Palestinians” from Gaza, the numbers remain largely similar.  Indeed, when participants were asked whether they supported or opposed Israel evacuating Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, even by force and military means, to other countries, nearly two thirds (61.8%) of Israeli Jews supported the measure, whereas less than a third (29.1%) opposed it. Furthermore, when participants in the same survey were asked if Palestinians leave the Gaza Strip for other countries, to what extent do you think Israel should or should not allow their return to Gaza after its rehabilitation, only a tiny amount (5.5%) of Israeli Jews answered that Israel should allow full return, while the vast majority (70.0%) answered that Israel should not allow their return (with another 16.6% choosing to support partial return).

Finally, in a survey by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCSFA) taken in May 2025, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews (82%) supported Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip, while only small minority (8%) opposed it (note that an earlier survey by the JCSFA that was taken over the period of February 11^th – 13^th states that “75% of Israelis supported the idea of Gazans migrating elsewhere”, although the raw data and the Israeli Jew/Arab split were unavailable).

If there was any doubt that the (vast) majority of the Israeli Jewish public supports the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza, the answers to these questions provide clear evidence in support of that position.