Poll: Public Support to Israel in Western Europe at the lowest level ever recorded

At the lowest level ever recorded, public support and sympathy for Israel in Western Europe has reached.

According to a poll by Yougov, less than one -fifth of respondents in six countries have a positive opinion on the country.

As negotiations on a US proposal continue, with the aim of ceaseing the fire, Israel’s attack on Gaza – which was repeated after a previous ceasefire in mid -March – has intensified, accompanied by humanitarian exclusion that has led to starvation -like conditions.

More than 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war in the besieged Palestinian territories on October 7, 2023, in retaliation for Hamas’ attack the same day on which the team killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

In Tartaras the opinion of Western European countries on Israel

Israel’s negative image in Europe has been further reduced by 2023.

The research found that the purely positive attitude towards Israel in Germany (-44), France (-48) and Denmark (-54) was the lowest of the start of polls for the question in 2016, while in Italy (-52) and Spain (-55) it was also at the lowest or lower level.

In the United Kingdom, the purely favorable score was -46, a fraction higher than the lowest of -49 at the end of last year.

Overall, only between 13% and 21% of respondents in any country involved in the survey had a positive view of Israel, compared to 63% -70% whose views were negative.

Similarly, According to the Guardian, Of the six countries involved in the survey, only between 6% (Italy) and 16% (France) agreed that Israel « was right to send troops to Gaza and generally responded in analogous to Hamas’ attacks », percentage of a previous investigation last October. The percentage for the United Kingdom was 12%.

On the other hand, between 29% (Italy) and 40% (Germany) agreed that Israel « was right to send troops to Gaza, but produced it and caused too many victims among the civilians. » The corresponding percentage in the UK was 38%. Between 12% (Germany) and 24% (Italy) – with the United Kingdom being 15% – it felt that Israel should not have invaded the region at all.

Percentage between 7% and 18% agrees with Israel

Eurotrack’s survey showed that fewer and fewer Western Europeans still consider Israeli’s ongoing military operations justified in Gaza: only about a quarter of respondents in France, Germany and Denmark (24% -25%), compared to 18% in Italy.

At the same time, the number of respondents who said they believe that Hamas’ attacks in October 2023 were justified is still low in each country, ranging from 5% to 9% – although it has increased marginally in the United Kingdom (from 5% to 6%) and Italy (from 6% to 8%).

The poll also found that fewer people are now saying that they are « in favor of Israel.

Between 7% and 18% of respondents said they shared the Israeli side more – the lower or jointly lower in five of the six countries involved in Hamas’ attacks.

On the contrary, between 18% and 33% of respondents said they shared the Palestinian side – percentages that have increased in all six countries since 2023. Only in Germany the percentages on each side were similar (17% for Israel; 18% for Palestine).

Distant perspective peace between Israel and Palestine

Perhaps as expected, most Western Europeans believe that permanent peace in the Middle East remains a distant perspective. The French were the most optimistic that this could happen in the next 10 years, but even then only 29% said they believe it.

The Danes were the least optimistic, with about 15%. In all six countries involved in the survey, expectations that a constant peace is realistically feasible have been reduced by four to ten percentage points since the end of 2023.

Negative views in the US as well

Such views are not limited to Europe. A Pew Research Center poll in April found that US views on Israel have become more negative in the last three years, with more than half of the US adults (53%) now expressing a negative opinion on Israel, than 42% in March 2022.

A Data for Progress survey last month found that 51% of voters opposed Israel’s plans to send more troops to Gaza and relocate the Palestinians, while 51% believe that Donald Trump should « require Israel ».

About 31% believe they should instead « support the Israeli military operation ».