(Financial Times-UK) James Shotter - Four months into the war, there is mounting international pressure for Israel to rein in its offensive in Gaza. But opinion surveys suggest the majority of the public remains firmly behind the war effort. "Certainly... the lion's share of the Israeli Jewish public is not in favor of pulling out of Gaza," said Tamar Hermann, a senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. "The war is perceived in Israel as a no-choice war." The signs of national resolve are everywhere. Israelis have flocked to enroll in the country's biggest ever mobilization. Businesses have donated huge amounts of food and equipment to soldiers in Gaza. The biggest reason for the continuing widespread support for the war is the deep sense of insecurity that Hamas' Oct. 7 assault - which killed about 1,200 people - has triggered in Israel. "The Oct. 7 hangover will be with Israelis for years, if not generations to come," said Dahlia Scheindlin, a pollster and political analyst. "This is what trauma is. It crowds everything else out."
2024-02-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive