As Israeli kids return to school, a survey of Jewish and Arab parents of schoolchildren reveals sharp differences in their attitudes towards one another, signaling a potential worsening in already-strained Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.

Published on Monday, the results showed many Jewish parents, especially religious and Haredi ones, not wanting their children to learn Arabic, take part in Jewish-Arab summer camps, or be taught by Arab teachers in schools.

The study was undertaken for Givat Haviva – The Center for a Shared Society, which advocates for democracy and an equal society for all Israeli citizens, and probes how Jewish and Arab parents view “the other.”

Michal Sella, Givat Haviva’s executive director, said, “The most worrying findings are in religious and ultra-Orthodox state education, where we see real resistance to education for democracy and any kind of acquaintance with Israelis who are different from them.”

While the survey did not probe attitudes between different Jewish (or Arab) groups, Sella said that Haredi and religious attitudes toward secular teachers in their schools would probably be similar to those held toward Arab teachers.

The research, via internet questionnaire and telephone interviews, was conducted in July by Midgam with a representative sample of 303 parents of Jewish pupils in the education system and 200 from the Arab sector. Sampling error among the Jews was a maximum of 5.7% and for the Arabs, 7.0%.

Mohammad Darawshe, director of strategy at Givat Haviva, said he was surprised by the depth of the alienation.

“I don’t think we’ve been in this situation before,” he said, adding that the nearly two years of war in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of Israel and the resulting societal polarization have negatively affected Israeli attitudes.

The findings echoed those of other recent surveys the organization has carried out, said Darawshe.

“We’ve carried out surveys in the past — not on education, but on mutual trust,” he said. “The last one, in January, showed that lack of mutual trust [between Israeli Jews and Arabs] almost tripled over the past two years, compared with an earlier survey carried out in May 2023, with 72 percent of Jews expressing fear and lack of trust in Arabs, and 51% of Arabs feeling the same toward........

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