EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Israel, Labor, Liberal, Middle East, Middle East conflict, Nationals, Palestine, Peace in the Middle East, Polling, polls
Q. What, in your view, is the single biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | |
| Unwillingness of Israelis/ Palestinians to compromise | 33% | 38% | 31% | 37% |
| The Israeli (housing) settlements in areas which Palestinians claim for an independent Palestine | 6% | 6% | 7% | 14% |
| Israel’s oppression of Palestinians | 8% | 8% | 8% | 15% |
| Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis | 5% | 3% | 7% | 5% |
| Infighting between the various Palestinian organisations (e.g. Hamas and Fatah) | 6% | 5% | 7% | 4% |
| Inaction by the United Nations | 3% | 4% | 3% | 2% |
| Opposition to Israel from other Middle Eastern countries | 8% | 7% | 9% | – |
| Don’t know | 31% | 29% | 28% | 23% |
One third (33%) of respondents think that the unwillingness of Israelis and Palestinians to compromise is the single biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East and a further one third (31%) do not know. The remaining 36% selected a range of reasons including Israel’s oppression of Palestinians (8%) and opposition to Israel from other Middle Eastern countries (8%).
There were few substantial differences across voter groups.
anti-Muslim, anti-Semitism, EMC, ER, Essential Media, Essential Report, Greens, Israel, Israel-Palestine Conflict, Judaism, Labor, Liberal, Muslim, Nationals, Palestine, Polling, polls
Q. To what extent, if at all, do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?
| Total agree | Total disagree | Total Neither/ Don’t know | Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Don’t know | |
| Australia should support the Israelis rather than Palestinians | 14% | 23% | 62% | 6% | 8% | 33% | 12% | 11% | 29% |
| Being critical of Israel makes a person anti- Semitic | 10% | 46% | 45% | 4% | 6% | 23% | 24% | 22% | 22% |
| The Palestine- Israel conflict fuels anti- Semitism in Australia | 27% | 24% | 49% | 5% | 22% | 24% | 17% | 7% | 25% |
| The Palestine- Israel conflict fuels anti-Muslim feelings in Australia | 31% | 21% | 48% | 7% | 24% | 24% | 16% | 5% | 24% |
The most common answers to these statements on the Israel/Palestine conflict were ”neither agree nor disagree” and “don’t know”. These results indicate both a low level of awareness/interest and an inclination not to take a position one way or the other. The finding that only 14% agree that Australia should support the Israelis rather than Palestinians underlines this reluctance to take sides on this issue.
Views on most statements were split – except for 46% disagreement that “Being critical of Israel makes a person anti-Semitic”.
Respondents were slightly more likely to think the Israel/Palestine conflict fuels anti-Muslim feeling that anti-Semitism.