Israel Matzav

Obama's approval rating in Israel improves... to 7%

In June, I reported that the number of Israeli Jews who believed that President Obama is pro-Israel had fallen to 6%. There's a new survey out and you'll be pleased to hear that the number of Israeli Jews who believe he is pro-Israel has risen ... all the way to 7%. And that's not all the bad news for the Obumbler: Israelis support Prime Minister Netanyahu's policies and not the United States' policies:

The majority of the Israeli public supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign policy and settlement expansion, the War and Peace Index revealed Sunday.

According to the data, some 66% of the Jewish public believes that Israel should continue building in Jerusalem since its sovereignty over the city is indisputable, and therefore it has the right to build anywhere in the capital.

Twenty-seven percent opposed the continuation of building in Jerusalem and the rest said they have no clear stand on the matter.

The majority of those polled also said they support Netanyahu's foreign policy, with 53% saying they approved of the government's conduct. Some 33%, who also affiliated themselves with the Labor and Meretz parties, said they oppose the prime minister's foreign policy. [In other words, the only Israeli Jews who disapprove of Netanyahu's foreign policy are affiliated with the far-Left Meretz party and with the part of Labor that refuses to participate in the government. But Labor and Meretz poll far less than 33% of the Israeli Jewish public so something here doesn't make sense. I checked the original results and what they actually say is "A clear majority of voters for all the parties, with the exceptions of Labor and Meretz, currently view the government’s foreign policy positively." That makes more sense. The original results are here. CiJ]

The survey suggests that the Jewish public's support of foreign policy derives from the perception the US President Barack Obama is pro-Palestinian, a notion 46% of the participants subscribe to; 31% believe that Obama is neutral and 7% said he is pro-Israeli.

Nevertheless, [nevertheless? CiJ] when asked if the US president is likely to preserve Israel's interests in the long run, only 26% said they believed he would do so, compared with 68% who believe he would not.

American Jews may not get Obama, but Israeli Jews certainly do. It is clear to the vast majority of Israeli Jews that President Obama is not pro-Israel. If that matters to anyone in the US anymore.

And by the way, most of us support Netanyahu's policies and oppose Obama's.

All we can do now is hope for change in 2012. And someone taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities before then.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:46 PM