Nearly three years after the Oct. 7 attacks, Israelis remain gripped by the fear that the country could face another assault on the same scale, according to a new Channel 12 poll.
The survey found that 74% of Israelis are concerned about the possibility of another Oct. 7-style attack, while only 20% said they are not worried about such a scenario.
The anxiety cuts across political lines. Even among voters aligned with the governing coalition, 66% said they fear a similar attack could happen again.
The findings point to a country still living under the shadow of the deadliest single-day attack in Israel’s history, when Hamas-led forces invaded communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, murdering about 1,200 people and abducting 251 others into Gaza.
The massacre has not only reshaped Israel’s security posture. It is also shaping its politics.
According to the poll, 53% of respondents said Oct. 7 would influence how they vote in the next general election, scheduled for October. The figure suggests that public judgment over accountability, security readiness, and the conduct of the war will likely sit at the center of the campaign.
A majority of Israelis also want answers. The poll found that 66% support establishing a national inquiry into the failures that allowed the attack to unfold.
The Hamas-led assault triggered a prolonged multi-front war involving Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran, leaving Israelis to confront not only the memory of the breach, but the question of whether the state has fully corrected the failures that made it possible.
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