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Approval of Israel’s actions in Gaza has fallen among Americans for the first time since the conflict began, according to the newest Gallup poll published Wednesday.
“While there have been other recent surveys showing continued support for Israel, you have to expect there will be a negative impact on Democratic voters when the leader of the party engages in non-stop political warfare against Israel on a daily basis,” Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and former National Security Council official, told Fox News Digital. “President Biden is doing permanent damage to the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Gallup’s poll on Israel in Gaza, taken in November when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first pushed his forces into the Palestinian enclave, found that at least half of all Americans approved of the operation – with 45% disapproving and 4% having no opinion.
The poll was taken before the United Nations Security Council on Monday passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire during Ramadan, Gallup noted.
“I’m also struck that the narrative in Israel is profoundly different from the narrative in the rest of the world,” Alterman said. “Israelis are preoccupied by stories of their own suffering and heroism, as well as persistent threats from Palestinians. There is virtually nothing in the Hebrew press about either civilian casualties in Gaza or humanitarian conditions there.”
Palestinians scatter as violence erupts during a humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza City on Feb. 29. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Essa, File)
“The international press carries both sets of stories, but it seems to me that many Israelis are embedded in their own narratives, and that makes it harder for them to shape other ones,” he added. “They end up rejecting those narratives as biased or illegitimate, rather than reshape them.”
While Republicans approve of what Israel has done, Biden himself only has 16% approval for his handling of the situation, according to a Gallup poll released last week, while Democrats had 47% approval – still a significant drop from the 60% approval in November.
Biden’s overall approval rating has hit around 40%, according to the pollster – up from 37% in the November survey, but Gallup ascribed the shift to greater confidence in the economy than anything he’s done with Israel.
Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.
