The proportion of Arab Israelis who say they feel part of the state of Israel has soared to a record high as the country has pulled together in the wake of Hamas’s deadly terror attacks.

Overall, 70 per cent of Arabs said they felt part of state and its problems when surveyed this month, up from under half the population (48 per cent) who said so in June this year, according to poll carried out by the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank.

This is the highest level recorded since the body began asking respondents this question in 2003; the only time the proportion of Arab Israelis who said they felt part of the state of Israel came close to this level was in 2005, when 69 per cent of participants said so.

Where Jewish Israelis were concerned, 94 per cent said they felt part of Israel and its problems this month, compared to 85 per cent in June. The latest figure marks a record high for Jews too.

Within the Arab sample, 84 per cent of Christians and Druze feel part of the state compared to 66 per cent of Muslims.

However, the survey also found that the proportion of Arabs who want to stay in Israel has dipped slightly, from 62 per cent in June to 59 per cent now, whereas the proportion of Jews who feel this way rose, from 70 per cent to 85 per cent.

The survey of over 500 adults, carried out this week, also found that nearly three quarter of Israeli Jews (73 per cent) feel optimistic about Israel’s future up from just over half (52 per cent) in June. In the summer, 40 per cent of Arab Israelis were optimistic but that share has shrunk to just 27 per cent.

The researchers also posed the question “If you could receive American citizenship or citizenship of another Western country, would you prefer to move there to live or would you prefer to remain in Israel?”

A vast majority of respondents said they would prefer to remain in Israel – 77 per cent overall, with 81 per cent of Jews saying they would stay put, and 59 per cent of Arabs. Just 11 per cent of Jewish participants said they would rather move. In total 26 per cents of Arabs said they would choose to go.