Sentence:  During the years when Israel was passing from crisis to crisis - the Sinai campaign , the infusion of multitudes of penniless immigrants - it was <WSD>felt</WSD> that the purpose of national unity could be best served if the secular majority were to yield to the religious parties . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds