Pat Dollard

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Israel Matzav:

A new Smith poll in Friday’s JPost shows that only 4% of Jewish Israelis believe that President Obama is pro-Israel. With a 4.5% margin of error, the poll leaves open the possibility that there is no statistically significant number of Jewish Israelis who believe that the President is pro-Israel – a stunning result in a country that is still considered an American ally. The poll also found that 51% of Israelis – an absolute majority – consider the President pro-’Palestinian,’ 35% consider him neutral and 10% had no opinion or were not sure.

By comparison, 88% of Israeli Jews believed that President Bush was pro-Israel when he left office, 7% felt he was neutral and 2% felt he was pro-’Palestinian.’

In June, the Smith poll found that 6% of Israeli Jews believed that President Obama was pro-Israel. Since then, that poll has been cited as evidence that the President must do something to improve his standing among Israeli Jews in order to encourage Israel to make ‘concessions’ to the ‘Palestinians.’ Many ‘American Jewish leaders’ have suggested that the President speak directly to Israeli Jews as he did to Muslims in June in Cairo. So far, the President has declined to do so. At this point, it is doubtful that a direct appeal to Israeli Jews from the President would succeed. But what is certain is that whatever he has done up to this point to appeal to Israeli Jews has failed.

The new poll was taken on Monday and Tuesday, before reports that Obama had agreed to exclude Jerusalem from a deal with Netanyahu on a construction freeze and to allow construction of essential public buildings, such as schools, to continue in Judea and Samaria.

The poll also has other results that show that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reaching an agreement with the Obama administration on a ‘settlement freeze’ will be politically damaging to the current Israeli government.

The poll asked Jewish Israelis whether they would support freezing settlement construction for a year as part of an American-brokered deal. Fifty percent said no, 41% said yes and 9% did not express an opinion.

The respondents’ views on a settlement freeze followed closely the platforms of the parties they voted for in the March 10 election.

Among those who voted Likud, which opposed a settlement freeze during the campaign, 73% would oppose such a deal.

Two-thirds of Kadima voters said they supported a settlement freeze.

Although Jewish Israelis are approximately 80% of our population, they constitute an even higher percentage of our voters – probably around 90%.

Netanyahu is the leader of the Likud party and we vote for parties and not for individuals. The Prime Minister is not directly elected. That 73% number has serious implications for Netanyahu who must balance keeping Obama happy with maintaining his own standing in the Likud. Unlike Obama, Netanyahu is likely not willing to be a ‘one-term Prime Minister’ in order to bring Israel a tenuous peace that is not likely to hold.

This poll is a serious setback for the Obama administration, as was the previous poll. If the population here perceives Obama as not being in our corner – as is both the perception and the reality – it will oppose making risky concessions to the ‘Palestinians,’ whom most Israelis believe are out to destroy us anyway.

Like so much else this administration has done, its Middle East policies may be described as an ‘epic fail.’