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Tag: security threat

  • Most Israelis say social division bigger threat to country than Iranian nuclear threa

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    While 59% of Jewish respondents viewed polarization as the greatest threat, only 39% of Arab participants said the same, possibly due to higher Arab sympathy with Palestinians.

    Israelis see the danger in internal polarization as surpassing the Iranian nuclear threat as well as the Israel-Palestinian conflict, new data from the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) revealed in December.

    The data, collected in an extremely diverse population, was “analyzed and weighted by voting patterns and religiosity to represent the views of Israel’s adult population.”

    According to the survey, conducted on Israelis of both Jewish and Arab background and from all sides of the political spectrum, 55% of Israelis “polarization and divisions within society” as the greatest threat facing the nation, the highest recorded number to date.

    Only 23% of respondents saw the Iranian nuclear threat as the primary danger, and 18% the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

    Curiously, while 59% of Jewish respondents viewed polarization as the greatest threat, only 39% of Arab participants said the same, possibly due to higher Arab sympathy with Palestinians. Politically, 73% of centrists gave this as an answer, compared to 48% of the right.

    Demonstrators block Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during a protest calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, August 26, 2025 (credit: ERIK MARMOR/FLASH90)

    Israel’s public worries about Israel’s future

    According to JPPI President Professor Yedidia Stern, “[the] JPPI Index findings show that the public is worried about the country’s future and places the internal challenge – relations between population groups, the political rift, and social instability – at the top of the national priorities.

    In the public’s view, the social threat ranks above the security threat, and these data cannot be ignored when assessing national risks.

    For this reason, we are advancing the ‘lean constitution’ initiative, intended to regulate relations among the branches of government through broad, stable agreements that rise above political disputes.

    We seek to create common ground as a remedy for Israel’s social rifts, and we call on all those with influence to help us forge a public consensus around fair and stable rules of the game for everyone.”

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  • Number of children abducted in Nigerian school attack raised to more than 300

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    A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.

    ABUJA, Nigeria —

    A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.

    The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.

    He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.

    The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.

    No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.

    Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.

    “We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”

    School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.

    UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.

    The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.

    The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.

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