More than 40% of Israeli Jews are opposed to a ban on mosque minarets, with opposition to the restriction strongest among religious Jews, according to a poll conducted for the New York-based Foundation of Ethnic Understanding. Forty-three percent of respondents said they would not vote in favor of a ban of minarets while 28 percent said they would; with 29 percent undecided. Five hundred Israeli Jews were questioned in the survey.
Respondents who considered themselves "national-religious" Jews opposed a ban by 72 to 16, with 55 percent of that group saying that they were "strongly opposed". Among ultra-Orthodox Jews, 53 percent were against such a measure, while support for a ban was somewhat stronger among secular (29 percent) and "traditional" (31 percent) Jews.
In November 2009, a majority of voters in Switzerland approved in a referendum a ban for the building of new minarets in the country.
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