A July 1 poll from Pew Research suggests that worries about the spread of violent Islamist extremism are increasing throughout the Middle East:
…from civil war to suicide bombings, plague the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, concern about Islamic extremism is high among countries with substantial Muslim populations… in the Middle East, concern is growing. Lebanese, Tunisians, Egyptians, Jordanians and Turks are all more worried about the extremist threat than they were a year ago.
Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas are generally looked down upon by Muslims in countries where the survey was conducted.
Few Muslims in most of the countries surveyed say that suicide bombing can often or sometimes be justified against civilian targets in order to defend Islam from its enemies. And support for the tactic has fallen in many countries over the last decade. Still, in some countries a substantial minority say that suicide bombing can be justified.
The poll was carried out just before the ISIS takeover of large tracts in Iraq, among 14,244 people in 14 countries: Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, the Palestinian areas, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania, Senegal, Nigeria and Israel.
Support for al-Qaeda was highest in the Palestinian areas at some 25 percent, while Lebanese are the most concerned about extremism (92%), the poll suggests.
In some countries there is a huge lack of opinion on Hezbollah. That peaks in Pakistan where 81% of respondents replied “don’t know.” Understandably, Hezbollah is viewed unfavorably by 100% of Israelis polled and in Lebanon by 88% of Sunnis, 69% of Christians and 13% of Shiites.
In general there is an increasingly unfavorable view of Hezbollah across the Middle East between 2007 and today – most notably in Jordan (from 44% up to 81%) and in Egypt (41%-83%).
Sunni Hamas is most popular among Lebanese Shiites (55%) and in Jordan (39%). Other than in Israel (where even 68% of Arabs view Hamas unfavorably), Hamas is viewed least favorably in Turkey (80%).
When it comes to suicide bombings against civilians, Tunisians are vehemently against, with 90% saying this tactic should never be used. The place where most respondents said suicide bombings can be used often is Gaza (39%). If one adds to “often” those who believe the tactic can be used sometimes (23%) and rarely (13%), the percentage of Gazans that believe civilians may be targeted with suicide bombings reaches 75%.
[Photo: IDF / flickr]