Israel Matzav

Perspective: More Israelis believe Obama isn't pro-Israel than believe the Goldstone Report is biased against the IDF

I want to put things in perspective. 4% of Israeli Jews believe that President Obama is pro-Israel. 6.5% believe that the Goldstone Report is not biased against the IDF (Hat Tip: Shmuel Rosner via Twitter).

Sixty-one percent of Jewish-Israeli respondents—compared to only 22% of the Arabs—answered that they know what the report’s main conclusion is. Among the Jewish interviewees who responded that they are aware of the report’s main conclusion, there was almost total unanimity (93.5%), that the report was biased against the IDF.

According to the poll, 79% of Israel's Jews oppose the Goldstone Report’s claim that during Operation Cast Lead the IDF committed war crimes. Not surprisingly, in the Arab public only 5% opposed this claim of the commission.

Unlike the consensus regarding the content of the report, the poll showed the Jewish public is divided on whether the Israeli government’s decision not to cooperate with the Goldstone Commission was justified or unjustified: 46% think the decision was justified, 20% believe that it was unjustified, apparently believing that cooperation with the commission could have softened its harsh conclusions against the IDF, and 34% do not know.

Things are looking up, eh Barry?

But there's a more serious connection between Obama and Goldstone: Friday's action on the Goldstone Report represents yet another failure for Obama.

Apart from his inability to hold Abbas to his word, Obama failed to appeal to the sensibilities of U.S. allies on the council such as Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who voted in favor of the report. This confirms that the Arab world is still more interested in vilifying Israel than negotiating with it, despite Obama's attempts to engender good will in the Arab world by exacting concessions from Israel. More importantly, Obama has conveyed to the Israelis that he lacks sway with the Palestinians. This bodes poorly for future negotiations.

The Goldstone is not just a black eye for the United Nations. Obama has demonstrated that his diplomatic efforts in the Middle East have thus far failed.

Indeed.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:19 PM