A survey shows widespread fears of violence, including more than a third who believe the proposals could lead to civil war.

Sixty percent of Israelis believe to “a high to certain likelihood” that the fierce battle over radical legal reforms promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition will turn violent, and 35% – one in three – fear a civil war.

Only a minority of 31% expressed the belief that the chances of violence breaking out over the issue are “low to non-existent,” the poll commissioned by the Jewish People Policy Institute found.

JPPI President Yedidia Stern called the survey results a “flashing red light that Israeli politicians must heed” because “our nation depends on it.”

The survey comes as the organisation kicked off a mass advertising and billboard campaign called “No to Coercion and Violence: Yes to Dialogue” expressing concern that the rhetoric in the fight has gone beyond the limits of legitimate discourse and calling for “leaders from both sides to sit down and talk.”

Carried out by Smith Research, which questioned a sample of 600 Israeli Jewish adults, the new survey found that the level of worry over a deterioration to violence exists across the political spectrum, and across the factors of age and level of religious practice.

Stern noted in a statement that he and others at the NGO were initially doubtful that the troubling numbers were realistic, but “as we double and triple checked, we found that Israelis don’t think the possibility of some sort of violent conflict is just political rhetoric or media spin; it’s a real concern.”

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Sixty percent of Israelis think battle over Netanyahu’s reforms ‘highly likely’ to turn violent (Haaretz)

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