Israeli Jews prefer halacha over democracy

By Ted Belman

In 2012, THE FORWARD published an article, When Democracy and Halacha Collide the first paragraph of which said:

In late January, the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Surveys, along with the Avi Chai Foundation, released the results of a comprehensive survey on the religious beliefs of Israeli Jews. Among other interesting findings, it showed that some 80% of the Jewish population in Israel believes in God — which, perhaps, is good news. What is not so good is that only 44% of those questioned replied that if there is a contradiction between democratic values and Halacha (Jewish law), the latter should be upheld. This implies that when push comes to shove, a majority of Israelis would prefer Jewish law to democratic values.

The left in Israel including the Judiciary continues to promote democracy over halacha.

The same Israel Democracy Institute, in another poll, found:

ELOR AZARIA
Amid the ongoing trial of the Kfir Brigade soldier who shot a wounded terrorist who had carried out a stabbing attack in Hebron, we asked the Jewish public:

“Some claim that any Palestinian who carries out a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he has been captured and clearly does not pose a threat. Others claim that the moment he has ceased to pose a threat, the Palestinian attacker must be handed over to the legal authorities. With which of the two claims do you agree more?”

Jewish Israelis were divided, with 47% favoring shooting the terrorist and 45% favoring handing the terrorist over to authorities.

Support for killing the terrorist at the scene was highest among the right (62%), young people aged 18 to 24 (69%), ultra-Orthodox (63%) and religious/traditional Jews (72%).