According to a recent poll, an overwhelming majority – 72 percent – of Jewish Israelis think that Israel should maintain its sovereignty over the Temple Mount in future diplomatic negotiations.  

The poll also found that 68 percent of Jewish Israelis think that it is important for Jews to be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, while only 32 percent believed that Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is not important.

Unlike Muslims, who enjoy full rights on the Temple Mount, Jews are permitted to visit but may be arrested if caught praying.

The poll was requested by the newly founded Conservative think tank, The Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS) and conducted by Maagar Mochot throughout October. It surveyed 508 respondents in a representative sample of the adult Jewish population of Israel, with a 4.4 percent margin of error.

According to JISS President Professor Efraim Inbar in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, the brand-new institute is Israel’s first center-right and conservative-leaning think tank. Its goal, he said, is to create “serious intellectual infrastructure that might reinforce and lead the mainstream in security thinking.”

He hopes the institute will “reinforce the instincts of the Israeli public, which according to our new public opinion survey, holds healthy conservative leanings.”