A majority of Israeli Jews support the killing of Palestinian terrorists "on the spot," while 58 percent were against Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount during times of heightened tensions, a survey conducted by The Peace Index in October revealed.

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Fifty-three percent of Israeli Jews agreed with the statement, "Any Palestinian who has perpetrated a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he has been apprehended and no longer poses a threat."

This finding may give credence to fears expressed by Israel's Arab public, with 78 percent saying they were "apprehensive of being harmed" in the ongoing violence.

Compared to that, only 57 percent of Israeli Jews said that they personally feared that "they themselves or someone important to them would be harmed in the current wave of attacks."

Dimona police arrest a Jewish terrorist who stabbed four Arabs (Photo:Israel Police)

The relative fear within the different communities in Israel was also reflected in the daily habits of residents. A majority of the Arab public (53.5 percent) said they had changed their daily habits as a result of the violent attacks, while a majority of the Jewish public (64 percent) reported they had not changed their habits.

Equal Punishment?

On the issue of equal punishment for Jewish and Palestinian terrorists, a wide majority (80 percent) of the Jewish public believed that "the home of the family of a Palestinian who has murdered Jews on a nationalist background should be demolished," while 53 percent were against demolishing the home of a Jew who has murdered a Palestinian in a nationalistically-motivated attack. The issue was quite decisive, with 41 percent of Jews said they were not against the demolition of the home of a Jewish attacker.

The statistics were much more consistent within the Arab public, "the majority does not agree that the family home of a Palestinian perpetrator should be demolished (77 percent), but a large majority (67 percent) also opposes demolishing the family home of a Jewish perpetrator," the survey found.

Jews protest at the site of an attack in Rishon Lezion (Photo: Avi Mualem)

Meanwhile, 70 percent of Jews said they believed the punishments Israeli courts levy on Palestinians who have carried out terror attacks are too light, while only 35 percent said the punishments meted out to Jews who have done so were too light.

When prompted on the issue of Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, a majority of respondents (58 percent) answered that in the current state of affairs, "Jews should not be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount."

An overwhelming majority (74 percent) of Jews also noted they did not believe that the attacks stemmed from Palestinian despair over the lack of progress in talks.

Dealing with terror

The Jewish public was most satisfied with the way the IDF has been combating the current wave of terror, with 93 percent giving it grades of very good or moderately good.

The Israel Police came in second, with 84.5 percent of Jewish respondents awarding it grades of very good or moderately good. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), meanwhile, came in third, with less than three-fourths (72%) giving it a grade of very good or moderately good.

A Palestinian takes part in violent riots (Photo: Reuters)

A vast majority of Jews seemed to reject the Israeli government's handling of the current wave, with only 39 percent of them assigning it grades of very good or moderately good.

The numbers emerging from the Arab sector in Israel in relation to the handling of the current situation were also quite surprising, with only 38 percent of respondents giving a positive grade to the Arab members of Knesset.

On the issue of Netanyahu's recent claim that the former mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini had influenced Hitler's decision to adopt the "final solution," Jewish respondents answered that they were overwhelmingly unconvinced, with over 62 percent of them saying that they were not persuaded by the claim.

"Overall, we found a Jewish public that is tense but not hysterical; holding firm yet in certain regards prepared, under the pressure of the incidents, to overturn democratic values; and that does not greatly esteem the policy and statements of the prime minister," the Peace Index said.