47% of Israeli Anglos support West Bank annexation – I24 poll

Netanyahu meets with settler leaders in Gush Etzion after the US stated that settlements are not illegal on November 19, 2019.

(photo credit: GPO/KOBI GIDEON)

A new poll has found that approximately 47% of native English-speakers living in Israel, support a proposed Israeli annexation of sections of the West Bank, according to the survey commissioned by Direct Polls and reported by I24 news.

Thirty-one percent of the poll’s respondents said they do not support the annexation plan, while the remaining 27.7% answered they “don’t know.”

The poll also found that a vast majority of French-speaking Israelis (90%) support an annexation of parts of the West Bank, highlighting a difference of political attitudes towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict between the two communities of Olim (immigrants to Israel).

The poll consisted of 464 native English-speaking and French-speaking Israelis aged 18-years and older.

The growth of the French Jewish community in Israel has come as a consequence of well-publicized incidences of antisemitism, often violent, in addition to ISIS terrorist attacks in France that have targeted Jews in recent years.

Conversely, English-speaking immigrants to Israel are far less likely to attribute antisemitism as the driving force behind their move, with many often citing ideological or religious motivating factors.

Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty in select areas of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley and some Israeli settlements.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah have both strongly opposed any Israeli annexation proposal, threatening serious political and security ramifications in the event of such a move.