Israelis tell poll: War, threat to Israel existence

An opinion survey has showed that half of Israelis “greatly fear” for Israel’s existence in case of a war with Iran, a poll shows.
The survey, conducted by Haaretz at the beginning of the week and published by the Israeli newspaper on Thursday also indicated that the majority of respondents believed that the chance of a conflict with Iran in the new Jewish year, which began last week, was either “medium” or “high.”
The poll, supervised by Tel Aviv University statistician, Professor Camil Fuchs, also showed that only a quarter of the interviewees were not afraid of Israel’s future in the event of a military confrontation with the Islamic Republic.A September 20 survey by the same paper showed that only 18 percent of Israelis were in favor of a possible Israeli strike against Iran without the support of the United States.
Sixty-five percent of the Israeli respondents also said the Tel Aviv regime would not instigate military action against the Islamic Republic without US backing. The figure is up from 52 percent in June. The survey also showed that almost five in every six Palestinian and 77 percent of Israelis believed an Israeli strike against Iran would lead to a major conflict in the region.
The US, Israel, and some of their allies have accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program with the Israeli regime repeatedly threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities based on the unsubstantiated allegation. Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production. Unlike Iran, Israel, which is widely believed to possess between 200 to 400 nuclear warheads, is a non-signatory to the NPT and continues to defy international calls to join the treaty.
Despite warnings by former and current Israeli security and intelligence officials, the Tel Aviv regime has recently stepped up its aggressive rhetoric against Iran. Iranian officials have pledged to deliver a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.