Plurality of Americans: US shouldn't help Israel if it attacks Iran
There's a new and very disturbing Rasmussen poll out about US attitudes towards Israel and what the US should do if Israel attacks Iran (Hat Tip: Hot Air). The poll finds that 46% of Americans do not believe that the US should help Israel if it attacks Iran, while only 42% believe that it should. This is despite the fact that 78% of Americans believe that Iran is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. And surprise: it apparently splits along party lines: Forty-two percent (42%) of Americans say that if Israel launches an attack against Iran, the United States should help Israel. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 46% believe the United States should do nothing while just 1% believe the U.S. should help Iran.But 62% of American Jews plan to pull the lever for Barack Hussein Obama in November. Call Bob Wexler. Call Walt and Mearsheimer. Maybe they can explain it.
A separate survey released last week showed that 78% of Americans believe it’s likely that Iran will soon develop nuclear weapons. Only 43% believe it’s possible for the U.S. to prevent that development.
Most Republicans say the U.S. should help Israel while most Democrats and unaffiliated voters say the U.S. should do nothing.
Fifty-two percent (52%) of all voters say that preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is more important than preventing war between Iran and Israel. Republicans overwhelmingly hold this view while Democrats are evenly divided. Among unaffiliated voters, 50% say that stopping Iran’s nuclear program is more important while 29% say
Just 8% believe the Iranian government’s claim that its nuclear enrichment program is to generate energy, not weapons. A Rasmussen Reports survey last month found 45% of likely voters agreed with Obama that it was a good idea for the U.S. president to meet with the leader of Iran, but 59% said the meeting should not take place until Iran stops developing nuclear weapons.
Iran boasted recently that it had launched several new missiles, including one capable of striking Israel, but the video of the purported launchings was later proven to be a fake. A Rasmussen Reports survey following the so-called missile launchings found that 71% of voters viewed Iran as a serious threat to the United States and 46% felt American should intervene militarily if Iran attacked Israel.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:09 PM
7 Comments:
America should not HELP israel with an attack on Iran.
This being said, nor should the EU.
Screw the world. Israel should attack Iran using whatever method will ensure a complete iranian/syrian/hezbollah & hamas defeat.
This of course means:
Israel would NUKE and /or bomb the following:
Tehran
Damascus
Iranian Oil fields, refineries, military bases, power generation plants, water and sewage plants
Major International airports & ports
Southern Lebanon including Beirut
Of course, bombing the 500 tanks the syrians have as well as their power, water & sewage plants as well as the 2 additional nuke sites they are hiding...
Israel should NOT concern it'sself with civilian deaths, it should do all it can to complete destroy those aligned against it's being...
Of course the price of oil? 400-600 a barrel..
the world's economy will be destroyed for 4-6 years
and europe & china? they will be screwed...
or maybe the only power in the world that CAN pull this off without using NUKES will grow some balls and take the cancer out BEFORE radical surgery is needed.
I think America should help Israel attack Iran, but covertly, even if that means painting the Star of David on American Fighter Jets with Americans in the cockpits.
What bothers me most about Israel (with regards to this matter) and sometimes Carl is the incessant complaining and/or urging for the USA to do the work. Unfortunately, we won't be allies forever and Israel needs to have a "us-vs-everyone" mentality. In some aspects of foreign affairs they do, but certainly not enough.
I do not like it when Israel cries to America for help because Israel should act first and foremost in their own defense, not contract out American lives (for their own survival) and I say that with much love for the Jewish Nation. I just wish to see them take action regarding Iran like they did in Syria and Iraq (83) but in a much larger scale.
I love Israel and the Jewish people, but there comes a time when they need to stop bitching and moaning to the Americans and get the job done themselves -- and they proven time and time again they can do it! In fact, if anything, the USA is a hindrance to Israel. Please Israel, get the job done with the help of America. Israel leads, America follows.
America won't be on Israel's side forever and when we appear to be on Israel's side we seem to do more harm than good many times.
I hope you all understand. God Bless Israel and long live the Jewish State!
Its Israel's responsibility to defend itself. A duty the Olmert-Barak-Livni-Yishai government wants to offload to outsiders who national interests are not the same as Israel's.
Israel should do whatever it needs to to safeguard it's citizens and to survive - but it won't because it thinks the world will not hate it if it doesn't. The U.S. should do the right thing and stand with Israel - but it won't because now more than ever, its ongoing existence as a world power is in the hands of Arab oil. Define irony - When doing the right thing or not doing anything give the same result.
What is "occupation,"
Nice but I don't think we have the capacity to do all that. I haven't put it on the blog (and don't intend to), but I heard last week the number of functioning bombers we have. I was shocked.
Daniel434,
Yes, we should be attacking them ourselves. But we should have done it a long time ago, and we are unfortunately long past the point where Israel has the capacity to take Iran out completely. The best case scenario is that Israel could set Iran back 3-5 years. The US could take it out entirely. And since Iran is a threat to the US as well (whether Israel continues to exist or not), it's not unreasonable to ask the US to do something about it.
NormanF,
I agree. Aren't alliances about friends helping friends? Israel doesn't have the capacity to do the job the way the US does. I would have no problem with the US and Israel doing it together, but from the intelligence assessments I have heard, if the US decides to do it, they don't need Israel, and Israel would only be getting in the way.
America should take on Iran, now, alone or with Israel. Our security is as threatened as Israel's by the Islamic nuke. Think they won't sell it to Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaida? And how much hand wringing will there be on both sides of our political aisle when New York or D.C. or Boston or Tel Aviv or Jerusalem is destroyed? Oh we should have done something then but ehy wouldn't let us oh no it was your fault not ours. Hell with that do it and do it now. I've no time or patience for whiny let's talk some more types. This war with Iran is nearly 30 years old let's get serious about fighting it before they tke it to a new level.
And yes, I am an unqualified, unflinching supporter of Israel thank you very much.
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