The Extremes of Israeli Public Opinion

Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, at the end of February, more than three thousand Iranians have died, and the global economy is now at risk of heading into a recession. But unlike in the United States, where the war has hurt President Trump’s political standing, the war remains popular in Israel. (Israel, following rocket fire from Hezbollah, has also invaded southern Lebanon; eighteen-hundred Lebanese have been killed.)To better understand the state of public opinion in Israel, I recently spoke by phone with Dahlia Scheindlin. A polling expert, Scheindlin is a policy fellow at the Century Foundation, a columnist for Haaretz, and the author of “The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel.” During our conversation, which was edited for length and clarity, we discussed why Jewish Israelis are opposed to a ceasefire despite thinking the war is not going well, the complicated political calculations facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and why so much of the Israeli public thinks military force is the only way to solve international problems.How would you describe the way Israelis feel about the war with Iran?There is great disappointment in the ceasefire. I think of myself as somebody who’s pretty in touch with Israeli public