Over half the Jews in Israel support the expulsion of Arabs from the country, a new survey has revealed. Conducted by the Pew Research Centre between October 2014 and May 2015, the study included 5,601 Israeli citizens, including Arabs, and showed that 48 per cent of Jews and 71 per cent of religious Jews support the expulsion of Arabs from the country.

With regards to secular Jews, 58 per cent opposed the idea of expelling Arabs, with one-third in favour of the idea.

Seventy-nine per cent of Arabs asserted that there is “a lot of discrimination in Israeli society”, while 74 per cent of Jews claimed that they do not see such discrimination.

The vast majority of Jews said they saw Israel as both a Jewish and a democratic state, but 89 per cent of secular Jews said that there should be a preference for democratic principles over religious laws. But 89 per cent of ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews believe religious laws should take precedence.

The majority of secular Jews said that they identify as Israelis first and as Jews second, while Haredi and religious people identify thought the opposite.

– Read poll results here: Israel’s Religiously Divided Society – Pew Research Center