78% of Israelis expressed concern: The big fear on the day after the elections

The JPPI 2026 report reveals that 78% of Israelis express deep concern over the level of social cohesion, with the main fear being mutual delegitimization that would prevent recognition of election results. 55% see internal polarization as the most dangerous threat to the state, compared to 23% who fear Iran and 18% who fear the Palestinian conflict. Six out of ten Israelis fear a civil war.

The 2026 report of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) paints a worrying picture of Israeli society on the eve of the elections. The main finding: 78% of Israelis express deep concern over the level of social cohesion, with the heaviest fear being mutual delegitimization that would lead to neither camp recognizing the ballot results. 55% of Israelis point to internal polarization and discord as the most dangerous challenge to the state's existence - a figure significantly higher than the fear of the Iranian nuclear threat (23%) or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (18%). Six out of ten Israelis believe there is a real danger of bloodshed and civil war. The religious-secular divide has jumped to the top of tension hotspots, mainly around the issue of the exemption from military service law and the protests of draft dodgers. On the geo-strategic front, the report notes that the IDF has dealt heavy blows to Hamas and Hezbollah and severely damaged the Iranian nuclear program, among other things in Operation "Roar of the Lion," but these achievements have not yet been anchored in a binding strategic agreement. In Iran, about half a ton of uranium enriched to 60% remains without reliable supervision. On the international stage, anti-Semitism has become a systematic strategic threat: in the US, a record of 203 physical attacks was recorded, in France 126 attacks. 76% of European Jews and 55% of US Jews hide Jewish symbols. The rate of emigration from Israel has soared, and the population of Israelis abroad stands at about 755,000 people.