MembersIsrael’s Brutal Political Discourse

Public discourse in Israeli society is aggressive. Eighty-six percent of Israelis say that violent and offensive language dominates Hebrew-language social media. Wars of words that only further divide society.

But this takes place not only on social media. It’s also prevalent in the halls of the Knesset. Dozens of records show how Israel's representatives yell at, curse and badmouth one another. It is not uncommon for such videos to go viral. It is therefore not surprising that 80 percent of Israelis blame their politicians for the more widespread phenomenon. The politicians setting a bad example.

The data comes from a current survey by the Geocartographia Institute, which examines political and social communication in digital media. 66% of the Israelis surveyed admit that the discourse has become more extreme in the last two pandemic years. 55% avoid leaving comments on social networks for fear of brutal reactions. 65% think twice about whether a comment is worthwhile.

“The level of discourse in Knesset is poor. Unfortunately, there are some members of the Knesset who let things escalate, which has an impact on...