More than half of Jewish Israelis polled in May 2012 agreed that black Africans living illegally in Israel are a cancer in the body of the country

The new poll from the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University is a sign of how deep the backlash against black African migrants goes in Israel, a country founded by refugees that has seen angry and sometimes violent resistance to the new influx from Eritrea, Sudan and elsewhere in Africa. The new poll showed strong support for the recent Tel Aviv protests against black African immigrants, with more than four out of five Jewish Israelis saying that they backed the demonstrations. Perhaps even more strikingly, more than a third said that they could identify with the violence that followed, as angry Jewish mobs smashed store windows and attacked a car carrying black Africans. Six hundred Israelis were polled, including Arab Israelis, who were much less likely to object to the black African immigrants. Only 19% of Arab Israelis agreed that black African illegal immigrants were a cancer and only 25% backed the Tel Aviv protests against them. While more than half of Jewish Israelis were tolerant of foreign workers from Eastern Europe, Thailand or the Philippines, nearly three out of four said that they were disturbed by Sudanese or Eritrean workers. Among both Jewish and Arab Israelis, strong majorities oppose the idea of an open-door policy toward refugees who were persecuted in their countries of origin.