SWG survey: Italians closer to the Palestinians

The more the conflict with Hamas terrorists continues, the more the approval of Italians towards Israel’s actions drops. This is what was registered in the last survey by the SWG research institute, which shows that since the outbreak of the war, the figure of those who feel closer to the “Israeli community” has decreased by nine per cent compared to a month ago, dropping from 25% to 16%. On the contrary, the figure of those expressing greater empathy towards the “Palestinian community” has increased from 10% to 18%. This was an overtaking compared to a previous survey, run two weeks ago, when proximity towards the “Israeli community” (17%) still prevailed over that for “the Palestinian community” (14%).
About two thirds of Italians do not take a definitive stance on this matter: 30% of them claimed to feel close to “both” communities, 23% to “neither”, and 13% chose the option “I don’t know”. Anyway, “a critical attitude” towards the Israeli army’s military offensive prevails, SWG says. 50% of the interviewees considered it to be “too violent” (68% among those who declare themselves centre-left voters), 20% “fair” (34% among those who declare themselves centre-right) and 5% “too mild”. 25% of the sample did not give an opinion.
According to more than one in two Italians (54%), once the conflict ends, the Gaza Strip should pass “under the control of UN forces”, while 33% of Italians think it should go under the aegis “of the Palestinian authorities”, and 13% under the control of the Israeli authorities.
The survey also shows that 76% of Italians feel emotionally involved in the war events (“very much” 38%, “fairly” 38%). This figure is higher than the one regarding the conflict in Ukraine, which affects 70% of Italians closely (“very much” 30%, “fairly” 40%). “During the last five days, did you follow the news about the wars in Ukraine and Israel?”, this was one of the questions asked by the Swg. In the first case, 73% answered yes, in the second 83%. The research institute reports that the survey was carried out using the CAWI method on a nationally representative sample of 800 adults.

Translation by Martina Bandini, revised by Annadora Zuanel, students at the Secondary School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.