Israel Matzav

Israel, Georgia, Philipines favor McCain

Don't let anyone tell you that everyone outside of the US wants Barack Hussein Obama to win the upcoming elections. There are at least three countries where John Sidney McCain is the favorite and two of them are theaters of recent conflicts: Israel and Georgia. The third country is the Philipines (Hat Tip: Hot Air).

Ynet obtained the results of the poll, ordered by the Rabin Center for Israel Studies and conducted among 500 Israelis aged 18-65, in preparation for a special debate on the US elections and their repercussions on the country's foreign policy in the Middle East, to take place Monday.

The survey found that given the right to vote in the US, 46.4% of Israelis would vote for the Republican nominee, John McCain. Thirty-four percent would vote for Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and 18.6% remain undecided.

Almost half of those polled (48.6%) believe McCain would better impact Israel, while 31.5% thought the country would better benefit from Obama's leadership. Just over 5% believe the candidates would have the same effect on Israel, while 14.2% remain undecided.

The poll found McCain to be Israel's best bet concerning Iran as well. Over half (52.5%) believe he possesses the skills needed to deal with the security threat the country poses to Israel, more so than Obama, who has gained the confidence of just 27.6% of those polled.

...

Alon Pinkas, the former consul general of Israel in New York who currently heads the Rabin Center's institute for Israel-US relations, explained the results of the poll. "What we see here is a significant difference in positions between Jews in the US and Jews in Israel," he said.

"Israel is one of just three countries that prefer McCain over Obama. The other two are Georgia and the Philippines," Pinkas added.

Too bad American Jews don't seem to get it.

By the way, note that this is a poll of Jewish Israelis and not of American Jewish ex-pats. The percentage of American Jewish ex-pats who favor McCain is likely much higher.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:01 PM