Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Sunday 7 November 2010

Support for Israel Continues High in the United States, Gallup Polls Say

This is a Guest Blog by Wales-based historian Professor William Rubinstein:


Supporters of Israel who are worried that the bad press and media which its actions vis-à-vis the Palestinians and other Arabs often receive will impact negatively on public opinion might be relieved to learn of some recent Gallup Polls in the United States which show that the opposite appears to be the case.

The Gallup Polling Agency is the world’s oldest and perhaps most widely respected, and has a useful website reporting its findings. Gallup Polls relate to many subjects and questions apart from American elections, among them the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The two most recent surveys it did on this issue were posted in March 2009 and February 2010. In both polls – and in similar polls going back many years – it asked a random sample of American respondents, “Are your sympathies with the Israelis or the Palestinians?” and has asked this same question annually over many years. In 2009, it found that 59 per cent of Americans said their sympathies were with Israel, 18 per cent with the Palestinians, and 23 per cent with neither. A year later, support for Israel had actually risen, despite all the negative media reporting – support for Israel was recorded at 63 per cent, compared with an unchanged 23 per cent for the Palestinians.

Significantly, this poll found greater support for Israel among persons who intended to vote Republican than among Democrats, with no less than 85 per cent of Republicans supporting Israel. Since Republicans support America’s right-of-centre party, this highlights the long-term shift in the bases of support and hostility towards Israel from the left to the right of the spectrum, which has been going on for at least forty years.

Presumably, Republicans – and Americans generally – are more likely to regard Israel as a pro-American democratic bastion facing the same terrorist threat as is the United States. If so, the long-term positive effects of support for Israel because of 9/11 and other anti-American terrorist attacks should not be underestimated, and greatly outweigh the negative effects of anti-Israel reportage, especially in the left-liberal media.

Additionally, probably more pro-Republicans are religious and Christian than are Democrats, and it is quite possible that there is a strong element of Christian pro-Zionist philo-semitism in these results.

It seems abundantly likely that similar polling in Britain and Europe would show very different results, with much greater levels of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian sympathy. This would be because of many historical and cultural factors, not the least of which being the visibility and legitimacy of consistently anti-Israel leftist media outlets such as, in Britain, the BBC and the Guardian and Independent newspapers.

(This photograph shows one of the several anti-Israel London demonstrations that have occurred in recent years at which the "We Are All Hizbullah Now" slogan has appeared.)


Daphne Anson says: While on the subject of the United States, I recommend two articles that have recently appeared on Jewish voting patterns at the mid-term elections; the first was written before the elections, and the second immediately afterwards:

"Why Do American Jews Vote for Their Enemies" by James Lewis, which appeared in American Thinker
www.americanthinker.com/...why_do_jews_vote_for_their_ene.html


"Jews Stayed with Democrats, Now Worry About Domestic Agenda" by Nathan Gutman
which appeared in the Jewish Daily Forward
http://www.forward.com/articles/132786/

6 comments:

  1. I'm told the Lewis article link dosen't work. Here's a taste of the article:
    "A billion Muslims in the world are exposed to classic anti-Semitic hate propaganda. You can see it day by day on the MEMRI website, with straight translations from the Persian and Arab language media. Hate-Jew cartoons are all over those Islamic media. Hitler's Mein Kampf sells like hotcakes in Egypt. The Saudis sponsored a truly filthy TV series shown throughout the Arab world based on the Elders of Zion, the phony czarist anti-Jewish propaganda tale....
    And yet, American Jews vote for Obama. Now, Obama himself is careful to avoid any appearance of militant hatred of Jews. He just inveighs against "Wall Street Fat Cats" and "Neo-cons" and protects Black Muslims who are caught in voter intimidation in Philadelphia. A lot of those targets of abuse are Jews, and a lot of them sort of agree with Obama's rants against capitalism. But capitalism frees people, and the Jews, who have suffered more than their share of oppression, should recognize that instantly.
    Half of American Jews are women. Women are badly used and abused both sexually and physically throughout the Islamic world. So are gay people. So are Christians who profess a religion that does not elevate Muhammad as the last prophet. Jews by the million have been forced to leave Muslim countries and are now settled in Israel and America. Every other day Ahmadinejad issues another nuclear threat against Tel Aviv. The Muslim Brotherhood, which inspired Hamas, has acted to destroy Jews and Israelis since its World War II alliance with Hitler. Jimmy Carter is a big fan of Hamas and brought that other medieval throwback, Ayatollah Khomeini, into power, thereby driving Jews and other Iranians out of that country.
    And still the Jews vote 70-plus percent for their enemies.
    Two plus two does not equal four.
    This is not adult, rational behavior. It is not intelligent. It is not wise or benevolent. It is not charitable toward the weak and oppressed peoples of the earth. It is not good for future generations. And as 97 percent of the Israeli public has decided, Obama is very bad for Israel; after all, he's done nothing visible about Iranian nukes, which are the biggest genocidal danger to Israel ever. A second Holocaust has never been closer. Obama's backed off now for the election, but he'll be back at Netanyahu's throat as soon as the election is past. His White House "advisors" are all for shafting Israel but good. It's their substitute for sane foreign policy.
    Something isn't right here. People usually don't vote for those who hate them and who constantly act in alliance with genocidal haters like Hamas and the Iranian fascisti."

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  2. Beware the longevity and sincerity of support for America's right-wing.

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  3. I veer instinctively towards the right-wing myself. As a "Private Eye" cover once had a Tory leader saying: "Life's better under a Conservative".

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  4. Cute but historically questionable.

    All I am saying is that American right-wingers (and they are not "conservative" in any rational sense) are not reliable allies for Israel.

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  5. Hi, again! Time will tell. I realise it's as well to be wary ....

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