Percentage of Israelis Optimistic About National Security Drops

 Israeli border guards stand guard as they close all access to the Damascus Gate of the old city of Jerusalem amidst heightened security measures late on June 28, 2022. (AFP)
Israeli border guards stand guard as they close all access to the Damascus Gate of the old city of Jerusalem amidst heightened security measures late on June 28, 2022. (AFP)
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Percentage of Israelis Optimistic About National Security Drops

 Israeli border guards stand guard as they close all access to the Damascus Gate of the old city of Jerusalem amidst heightened security measures late on June 28, 2022. (AFP)
Israeli border guards stand guard as they close all access to the Damascus Gate of the old city of Jerusalem amidst heightened security measures late on June 28, 2022. (AFP)

February saw a sharp increase in the proportion of Israelis who describe their nation's overall situation as bad or very bad, according to the Israeli Democracy Institute's February 2023 edition of the Israeli Voice Index.

The Israeli Voice Index is a monthly survey conducted by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research. The February report was compiled by Prof. Tamar Hermann and Dr. Or Anabi.

The survey was conducted via the internet and by telephone between February 27 and March 5, 2023, with 608 men and women interviewed in Hebrew and 173 in Arabic, creating a nationally representative sample of the adult population in Israel.

According to the Jerusalem Post newspaper, researchers found a notable decline in the percentage of Israelis who are optimistic about Israel’s security, both internal and external.

Optimists were in the minority across the political spectrum - 11% of those on the Left, 22% of those in the center and 46% of those on the Right reported optimism about Israel's security.

The IDI report noted that this could be due to February's uptick in terror attacks.

It also said the level of optimism about the future of democracy has stayed the same over the last several months.

Only 38% of all respondents reported feeling optimistic about the future of democratic rule in Israel. Among those, 41% of Jews expressed this sentiment whereas only 19% of Arabs interviewed did.

In terms of Israel's overall situation, the percentage of interviewees who characterized it as bad or very bad rose from 30% to 47% since October 2022 when the question was last asked.

The number of respondents who described Israel's situation has remained stable at approximately 25%, which means that the shift occurred among those whose opinions were previously neutral.

In the Jewish population, the proportion who describe the situation as bad or very bad has increased from 28% to 43%, and in the Arab public, it has risen from 41% to 66%.



Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Iran Says it Would Resume Nuclear Talks with US if Guaranteed No Further Attacks

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia June 23, 2025. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Iran’s foreign minister said Saturday that his country would accept a resumption of nuclear talks with the US if there were assurances of no more attacks against it, state media reported.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a speech to Tehran-based foreign diplomats that Iran has always been ready and will be ready in the future for talks about its nuclear program, but, “assurance should be provided that in case of a resumption of talks, the trend will not lead to war.”

Referring to the 12-day Israeli bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites, and the US strike on June 22, Araghchi said that if the US and others wish to resume talks with Iran, "first of all, there should be a firm guarantee that such actions will not be repeated. The attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution based on negotiations.”

Following the strikes, Iran suspended cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, which led to the departure of inspectors.

Araghchi said that under Iranian law, the country will answer the agency’s request for cooperation "case by case,” based on Iran’s interests. He also said any inspection by the agency should be done based on Iran's “security” concerns as well as the safety of the inspectors. “The risk of proliferation of radioactive ingredients and an explosion of ammunition that remains from the war in the attacked nuclear sites is serious,” he said.

"The risk of spreading radioactive materials and the risk of exploding leftover munitions ... are serious," he added.

"For us, IAEA inspectors approaching nuclear sites has both a security aspect ... and the safety of the inspectors themselves is a matter that must be examined."

He also reiterated Iran's position on the need to continue enriching uranium on its soil. US President Donald Trump has insisted that cannot happen.

Israel claims it acted because Tehran was within reach of a nuclear weapon. US intelligence agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency had assessed Iran last had an organized nuclear weapons program in 2003, though Tehran had been enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the US airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.