THE LATITUDE OF ACCEPTANCE - ISRAELI ATTITUDES TOWARD POLITICAL PROTEST BEFORE AND AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF RABIN,YITZHAK

This article answers two related questions: did the assassination of P rime Minister Yitzhak Rabin bring about significant changes in the att itudes of Israeli Jews toward antigovernment protest, and were there s ystematic group differences in these attitudes before and after Rabin' s assassination? The empirical findings of four public opinion surveys point to a significant decline in overall support for antigovernment protest immediately after the assassination, apparently reflecting the shock effect of the murder. The decline was noticeable across the ent ire spectrum of political and sociodemographic segments of the public, and the plateau attained shortly after the assassination remained alm ost intact afterwards. Findings also indicate significant group differ ences in attitudes toward political protest, especially before the ass assination. The changes in attitudes were systematically related to tw o hypothesized influences: guilt by association and socioeconomic stat us.