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First off, The Washington Institute is an incredibly pro-Israel think tank based in the States.
The data from their polls, used by many analysts, journalists and academics over the years, are collected by an outsourced company in the region.
91% of Saudis agree with the following statement
“despite the destruction and loss of life, this war in Gaza is a win for the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.”
For a nation that has for years suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood belief of popular uprisings, this is significant.
96% of Saudis believe:
“Arab countries should immediately break all diplomatic, political, economic, and any other contacts with Israel, in protest against its military action in Gaza.”
Abraham Accords is on ice; but now citizens believe that destruction can lead to wins.
The datapoints about Hamas are quite something.
Hamas has shifted upwards by over three times; this is in step with the shift seen in the West Bank, where support also shifted upwards three times over.
84% of Saudis do not agree with this statement:
“Hamas should stop calling for the destruction of Israel, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution to the conflict based on the 1967 borders.”
Years of Israel-US soft power lobbying on attitudes collapsed in 11 weeks.
87% of Saudi respondents also agreed with the following statement:
“recent events show that Israel is so weak and internally divided that it can be defeated some day.”
The judicial protests in combination with Oct 7th have shattered the Iron Dome image of military strength.
90% of Saudi’s do not hold a positive view of the Palestinian Authority.
This brings Saudis, according to the data, ever more closer to the views of Palestinians, 90% of whom believe US-backed Abbas should resign.
On Saudi citizen attitudes for long-term solutions:
- 75% support Arab diplomatic involvement in Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking
- 86% agree there’s no military solution to the conflict with Israel, so there will have to be political negotiations.
Polling during war obviously should be viewed through that lens, but the longer Israel’s war on Gaza continues, so grows the prospect of these views not just potentially being a blip, but baked in - held for a generation.
And Hamas is rising in popularity in a state where every apparatus - media, security, economic - has been exercised to try and quell the views Hamas (a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot) holds; the popularity being matched alongside a view that political uprising can lead to wins.
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