Israeli Arabs are more afraid than the Jewish public of being attacked by an enemy state, according to the annual "National Resilience" survey.
Israel's Jewish population, meanwhile, is more calm than ever about the possibility of an attack by an enemy country, the survey revealed, reporting an all-time low on its so-called "fear index." This is a continuation of a previous trend that began in 2006. The Jewish population's fear of terror is also reportedly at an all-time low.
The annual "National Resilience" survey has been conducted since 2000. Most recently it was conducted in November during Operation Pillar of Defense, polling 2,000 respondents, including 400 Arabs. Questions covered topics such as optimism, militancy, faith in government institutions, and fear regarding a possible attack.
The survey was led by Prof. Gabriel Ben-Dor, director of Haifa University's National Security Studies Center. The results are being published for the first time here in Haaretz.
Arab respondents are not only more afraid of an attack by an enemy state than are Jews, according to the survey, they're becoming more afraid all the time. This marks the first time Israeli Arabs were found to be more afraid of such an attack than the Jewish population.
In fact, the survey noted marked optimism in the Jewish sector - a phenomenon that is backed by other sources as well, said Ben-Dor.
The public reportedly does not believe Israel is likely to go to war with an Arab country, he said. That's surprising, in light of the situation in Egypt and Syria, especially given that experts actually say such a military confrontation is possible, said Ben-Dor.
"People in Israel are simply optimistic. As a result of a hundred years of Zionism that met with difficult challenges, the public's conceptions are that we have overcome that, and that we will overcome it in the future," he said.
Ben-Dor said "it may be that this stems from a lack of willingness or lack of attention to understand the acute problem, and that fits in with the decrease in fear and the increase in optimism."
Ben-Dor said there was no obvious reason why Israeli Arabs would be more concerned about an attack than Israeli Jews. "It is possible the Arab population is seriously and intensively following what is happening across the border, and they judge the situation differently," he said.
Meanwhile, Druze respondents, who had initially showed a level of patriotism on par with the Jewish population, have over the years become less likely to state that they "love Israel and are proud of it."
Since Operation Defensive Shield, the index has shown a steady drop in all populations' loyalty to the state. But this is the first year that the index revealed significant differences between the Druze and the Jewish populations, said Ben-Dor, who called the trend worrying.
The index also showed a slight increase in support for military action among both Jewish and Arab respondents. Ben-Dor notes this may be due in part to the fact that the survey was conducted during Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza.
Levels of optimism rose slightly among the Jewish population and fell slightly among Arabs.
Since the previous survey was conducted in October 2011, the percentage of settlers expressing faith in the Knesset grew, keeping in trends with other segments of the Israeli public, Jewish and otherwise. Among settlers, faith in the Knesset grew the most.
Of the survey's Jewish respondents, 8 percent were settlers, 10 percent ultra-Orthodox, and 27 percent were new immigrants. The rest were described as "other."
Of the minority populations surveyed, 69 percent were Muslims, 15 percent were Druze and the rest were Christians.
The survey was conducted in advance of the annual Herzliya Conference, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, which opens today.
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