The use of violence in the Palestinian West Bank and attitudes toward protest behavior: Experimental findings from Germany

Several studies highlight that the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians impacts protest behavior, political crime, and anti-Semitic attitudes in Germany. As soon as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalates into violence, both anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic attitudes increase within the German population. However, it has not yet been investigated in detail whether it makes a difference if Israeli state or non-state actors are the source of the use of violence. Our survey experiment therefore focuses on the question of whether the use of armed force by the Israeli military compared to Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank has a causal effect on the increase in criticism of Israel and the acceptance of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic protest behavior among people living in Germany. Based on data from over 3,000 respondents in the 3rd wave of "People in Germany: International", this paper highlights the following findings: The use of violence by the Israeli military resulting in death among Palestinian civilians can lead to an increase in the acceptance of criminally relevant, anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic protest behavior. However, this effect is almost exclusively found among people who already have a latent susceptibility to anti-Semitic prejudices. There is no comparable effect in the case of violence exercised by Jewish settlers. In this respect, the use of force by the Israeli military causing civilian victims in the Palestinian West Bank is able to additionally radicalize individuals with an already latent anti-Semitic potential among people living in Germany. However, such effects are not discernible among the majority of the German population, around three quarters of whom are clearly not anti-Semitic.