This study advances a comprehensive analysis of the antecedents of xenophobia towards Palestinian citizens of Israel among Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union in comparison to nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis. We conducted a large-scale study of xenophobia in the face of terrorism in Israel by means of telephone surveys in September 2003 and analyzed a sample of 641 nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis and 131 immigrants. Findings obtained via interaction analyses and structural equation modeling show that a) immigrants are more xenophobic than nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis ; b) authoritarianism predicts xenophobia both among immigrants and non-immigrants; c) support for extreme right-wing political tendencies, as well as perceived psychosocial loss in response to terror, account for a significant portion of the variance in xenophobia, but only among nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis; and, finally, d) failure to undergo posttraumatic growth in response to terrorism (e.g., finding meaning in life, becoming closer to others) is a significant predictor of xenophobia only among immigrants. Results suggest that immigrant xenophobia is more a product of their experience of being immigrants, whereas nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis are more impacted by personal and social characteristics and their experiences when facing terrorism.

Terrorism Immigrants from the former Soviet Union Conservation of resources theory Democratic norms and ideas Palestinian citizens of Israel Authoritarianism Xenophobia

international migration democratic transition Authoritarianism immigrant Eurasia Asia Israel Terrorism Middle East