Nearly half of Israelis (46%) and half of Jews (50%) believe that more pressure should be applied to enlist young haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men into the IDF, a July poll by the Israeli Society Index of the Jewish People Policy Institute revealed.

Approximately 31% support conscription only with the agreement of the haredi leadership, and 11% believe that efforts to draft haredi men are futile and should stop.

Generally speaking, the index showed a stark political divide on the issue, with right-wing respondents preferring a haredi-approved compromise (59%), while the center and left demanded sanctions on the haredi population at 73% and 79%, respectively.

Likewise, Likud supporters show a 75% favor towards compromise, while Yisrael Beitenu strongly favors sanctions at 84%.

Among the haredi population itself, 45% agree that conscription could be possible if the leadership agreed, while 15% support sanctions.

Haredi anti-draft protests compared to anti-judicial reform protests

The poll also gauged public perception of the haredi anti-draft protests specifically in relation to protests against judicial reform.

Approximately one-third of respondents (32% of the public at large and 36% of Jews) believed that, because the prior anti-judicial reform protests had been allowed to block public roads, the haredi anti-draft protests should also be allowed to.

On the other hand, 39% of respondents, including 53% of secular respondents, said that the haredi protests are "unjustified protests which must be stopped."

"It turns out that the main consideration by which Israelis choose their position even on this existential issue is political interest. The right prefers a continued alliance with the Haredi, and the center and left, which are not politically supported by the Haredi, believe that sanctions are necessary," said Professor Yedidia Stern, president of the JPPI.

"When the decisive factor is purely political, and not substantive, the solution seems further away than ever," he added.

The JPPI Israeli Society Index survey was conducted by the index panel and Afkar (in the Arab sector). The data is weighted according to voting patterns and religiosity so as to represent the position of the entire Israeli public. The JPPI Israeli Society Index is compiled by Shmuel Rosner and Noach Slepkov; research and production by Yael Levinovsky; statistical consulting by Prof. David Steinberg.