Knesset passes controversial Jewish nation-state bill into law, July 19, 2018 (Reuters)



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A small majority of Jewish Israelis believe the Knesset was correct in passing the the Jewish Nation-State Law , two polls found on Tuesday.A Panels Research poll taken for the Walla News website found that 58% of Jewish Israelis support the law , 34% oppose it and 8% had no opinion. The poll found that those defining themselves as right-wing or centrist were more likely to back the bill, and self-defined leftists were more likely to oppose it.The monthly Peace Index poll of the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University found that 52.3% of Jewish Israelis believe it was important to pass the law at this time, but only 7.3% of Arabs agree.Among Jews, 39.7% think it was not important to pass the law now, and 8% did not know or refused to answer. Among Israeli Arabs 83.8% believe it was not important, and 8.9% did not know or declined to respond.Asked whether guaranteeing equality for all Israeli citizens should be in the law, 59.6% of Jews and 72.5% of Arabs said yes, 29.7% of Jews and 20.8% of Arabs said no, and 10.7% of Jews and 6.6% of Arabs declined to respond or said they did not know.When asked whether the bill’s downgrading of Arabic as an official language was right, 88.3% of Arabs said no and just 6% said yes, while 5.8% said they did not know or declined to respond. Among Jews, 51.2% supported the decision, 39.6% opposed it, and 9.1% refused to answer or said they did not know.Against the background of the Druze sector’s protests, 61% of Israeli Jews do not think the law will impact the Druze community’s commitment to the State of Israel, and 25% assert the opposite.When told that the law says that Israel would work in the Diaspora to maintain Israel’s connection with Diaspora Jewry, 32.8% of Israeli Jews said the law is patronizing or condescending, 50.7% disagreed, and 16.5% said they did not know or declined to respond.The poll found that 64% of Israeli Jews support civil marriage, 68% back granting same-sex couples equal rights to those of other couples, 69% are in favor of allowing same-sex couples to adopt children in Israel, and 59% think Israel should recognize religious marriages conducted by Reform or Conservative rabbis.The survey of 600 respondents, who constitute a representative national sample of the adult population of Israel aged 18 and over, was conducted on July 24-26 and had a maximum margin of error of ±4.1%.The law, formally called Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, was enacted July 19.The Panels poll asked Israelis what party they would vote for if elections were held today. It predicted 33 seats for Likud, 19 for Yesh Atid, 12 for the Zionist Union, 11 for the Joint List, 10 for Bayit Yehudi, eight for United Torah Judaism, six for Kulanu, six for Yisrael Beytenu, six for MK Orli Levy-Abecasis’s new and still unnamed party, five for Meretz and four for Shas.