The War and Peace Index survey that was conducted about a week and a half after the launching of Operation Cast Lead shows that the operation, with its various aspects, enjoys overwhelming support from the Israeli Jewish public: 94% of the public support or strongly support the operation, 92% think it benefits Israel’s security, and a clear majority, albeit smaller-62%-believe the operation is also helping Israel from a political standpoint. Ninety-two percent justify the air force’s attacks in Gaza despite the damage they cause to infrastructure and the suffering of the civilian population in the Strip. The decision to introduce ground forces into Gaza also enjoys broad support: 70% say it was a necessary move.

On the question of whether to continue the operation, the public-unlike the disagreements among the political leadership-displays unanimity: 90% of the interviewees think Israel should continue until it achieves all its objectives. That support goes hand in hand with the large majority’s assessments that (70%) the operation has high or moderately high chances of achieving all its objectives and that (75%) the government has a clear plan of action for continuing the operation in Gaza. Presumably this broad support for sustaining the fighting is considerably bolstered by the public’s current positive assessments of the IDF’s fighting capability (93%) and of the southern communities’ resilience (87%).

In a similar spirit, on the question of whether Israel should or should not cease the military activity in Gaza if Hamas is prepared to stop firing on the southern communities in return for opening the crossings, 80% responded negatively. In other words, the majority does not think Israel should stop the operation even if Hamas agrees to an offer of that kind. Moreover, a similar majority says Israel should not sign a ceasefire agreement with Hamas if it does not include the freeing of Gilad Shalit.

In light of the public’s broad support for Operation Cast Lead and the positives assessments of how it is being run, not surprisingly the leadership associated with the operation wins high levels of confidence, though these differ for different individuals. At the top of the ladder of public confidence is Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenasi with an 85% rating, apparently because the IDF is “above” the party-political arena. Ashkenasi is followed by President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, both at  62%, and after them come Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Likud opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu-both at 53%. At the bottom of the ladder is the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who enjoys only a 44% confidence rating.

Finally, the findings from the sample of Israeli Arab citizens show the reverse of the Jewish public’s positions on almost all the questions we tested. For example, 85% of the Arabs oppose the operation, 93% think Israel should end it based on an agreement that includes a cessation of Hamas’s shelling in return for opening the crossings into the Strip, and 80% say Israel should sign a ceasefire agreement even if it does not entail the freeing of Gilad Shalit.

The War and Peace Index  is funded by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research and the Evens  Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution of Tel Aviv University. The telephone interviews were conducted by the B. I. Cohen Institute of Tel Aviv University on January 4-6, 2009 and included 593 interviewees who represent the adult population of Israel (including the territories and the kibbutzim). The sampling error for a sample of this size is 4.5%.