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Nearly a quarter of Arab Israelis say they mark Israeli Independence Day as a holiday, a poll from the Israel Democracy Institute revealed Sunday.
The survey — released ahead of the national holiday which begins Monday at sundown — evaluated questionnaires from 600 participants from various communities regarding their attitudes to Independence Day, their preference for next president, and their stance on cutting government funding for institutions that mark the Palestinian Nakba (or “catastrophe,” as the Palestinian national movement refers to the 1948 war in which Israel was founded).
When it came to celebrating Independence Day, results differed across national, religious, political, and age groups, with 87% of Jewish Israelis and 24% of Arab Israelis considering the day a holiday.
By self-identified religiosity, 93% of the secular population, 97% of the “traditional non-religious,” 90% of the “traditional religious,” 94% of the Orthodox, and 35% of the ultra-Orthodox said they celebrated the holiday.
When grouped by political affiliation, the left showed higher rates of self-reported celebration of the holiday, with 95% of the left and moderate left, 94% of centrists, 88% of the moderate right, and 79% of the right observing the day.
Finally, respondents over 45 were far more likely to celebrate Independence Day (with 95% of people over 55 and 96% of 45- to 54-year-olds) than their younger counterparts, and the numbers declined with age: 69% of those aged 18-24, 77% at 25-34 and 87% of those aged 35-44.