Poll: Many Israeli Arabs Backed Hezbollah
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - No small number of Israeli Arabs backed Hezbollah in its recent war with Israel, while an even larger percentage said they didn't care who emerged victorious, according to a new public opinion poll. Conducted this week by the Dahaf Institute among a sampling of 500 Israelis, the poll revealed that 18 percent of the nation's Arab residents were rooting for Hezbollah and its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Thirty-six percent said they did not back either side in the conflict, and only 27 percent of Arab respondents said they wanted Israel to win. Two Israeli Arabs were arrested by security forces over the past month for passing intelligence information to Hezbollah. Jewish respondents said they believe the number of their Arab countrymen that supported the enemy was actually much higher. A full 76 percent of the Jews polled said that at least half of Israel's Arabs supported Hezbollah as it battled the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and pounded northern Israel with some 4,000 rockets. The Arab respondents suggested the negative view of their sector was the result of statements made by Arab representatives in the Knesset. During the war, Jewish lawmakers accused their Arab colleagues of behaving in a manner bordering on sedition. Forty-four percent of the Arabs who participated in the survey said Arab members of Knesset do not at all |
