The project "Extremism and political violence in Israeli society" examines the influence of traumatic and threatening events and / or conflicts ('The second Intifada', terror attacks, the disengagement etc.) on support for attitudes which express extremism and political violence within Israeli public since the beginning of the previous decade. This project is considered the leading research in this field. The leading scholars are Dr. Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler and Dr. Daphna Canetti.

The project examines the extent of support for attitudes expressing extremism and political violence among various groups in society, explanations for the phenomena and the central characteristics of those who support these positions. The extremism and political violence surveys focus on a number of issues: one is the attitudes of different groups in Israeli society to the state and its institutions, namely political trust in political and security institutions, attitudes towards the induction into the military and insubordination, and support for democratic principles. The second issue is the attitude towards the "other", namely xenophobia, exclusion, political tolerance, threat perception, Kahanism and hatred. A third issue involves trends of protest and political violence as well as relevant issues related to the contemporary political situation.

Using a survey which enables wide representation of all factions of Israeli society, this study examines groups that are generally under-represented in public opinion polls, such as Palestinian citizens of Israel, the Ultra-Orthodox community, settlers and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The data analysis focused this year mainly on comparing the attitudes of three central groups since the beginning of the previous decade: Jews who reside within the green line, settlers and Palestinian citizens of Israel. For this purpose a database, which includes all survey data from the previous decade, was built. This facilitates an observation of changes in these trends and this comparative data will serve as a basis for studies in Israel and abroad.