Almost 90% of Israelis have a positive view of longtime ally Washington, a survey finds
Public help for the US amongst Israelis has reached a two-decade excessive, in line with a brand new survey of residents in 23 nations. Although backing for Washington has usually declined throughout Europe, Poland was an exception, topping this yr’s record with essentially the most favorable stance.
Requested about their views towards the US for a Pew survey printed on Tuesday, 87% of Israelis polled mentioned their opinion was usually favorable, with simply 12% responding within the damaging. That determine is the best since Pew began conducting the survey in Israel in 2003, with rankings steadily creeping upward.
The US has lengthy maintained shut ties with Israel, with former Secretary of State Alexander Haig as soon as likening the nation to an “American plane service on this planet that can’t be sunk.” It continues to obtain billions of {dollars} in US support yearly, a lot of it spent on army {hardware}.
Although President Joe Biden has been much less vocal in his help for Israel, his predecessor Donald Trump was a robust advocate for the Jewish State. In 2018, he agreed to maneuver the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, consistent with Israel’s disputed declare to town as its capital. He later acknowledged its claims over the Golan Heights, regardless of repeated objections from Syria.
The one nation with a better score for the US than Israel was Poland, the place 93% of residents advised Pew that their opinions had been favorable, in comparison with simply 4% unfavorable. South Korea, Nigeria and Kenya had been additionally excessive on the record, with 79%, 74% and 71% favorability rankings respectively.
Nonetheless, of the ten European nations included within the survey, solely Poland and Greece reported increased rankings this yr than in 2022, suggesting a basic decline in opinion over the past 12 months. Hungary, which retains nearer ties with Russia, got here in with the bottom score at simply 44% favorable, a drop of 11 proportion factors since final yr. A slim majority of Hungarians, 51%, mentioned their view was not favorable.
A number of shut US allies had a number of the lowest rankings of the survey, with solely 52% of Australians saying their view of the US was favorable. Canada had a barely higher determine at 57%, whereas simply 55% of Swedes agreed with that view.
Total, 82% of these surveyed in all 23 nations mentioned america “[interferes] within the affairs of different nations,” although 61% additionally acknowledged that Washington contributes to “peace and stability all over the world.” Respondents had been almost cut up on whether or not US officers “take note of the pursuits of different nations,” with 49% saying they do and 50% answering no.
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