Survey: Majority of Israelis believe Biden worse for ‘Israel’ than Trump
A majority of Israelis believe U.S. President Joe Biden is worse for ‘Israel’ than his predecessor Donald Trump, Israeli Ynet news said in a report after a survey was published on Wednesday.
According to the Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies – survey conducted in September, nearly 53% of Israelis favored Trump over Biden when it came to their treatment of ‘Israel’.
Out of the representative sample of 700 Israeli adults polled for the ninth annual Foreign Policy Index, 36% said there is no significant difference between the two and 11% said they think that Biden is better for ‘Israel’ than Trump.
The public gives U.S.-Israel relations a score of 6.46 out of 10, with only 35% believing ‘Israel’ relations with the U.S. is good – the lowest the figure has been since 2016 and a steep drop from last year’s rating of 8.05 or 67%.
A Mitvim board member said that it is not surprising that Israelis surveyed believe that Biden is less beneficial for ‘Israel’ than Trump, citing his term as former President Barack Obama’s vice president – who was seen by many Israelis as hostile to ‘Israel’.
The board member added, however, that Biden hasn’t been in office for a full year and should be examined “based on his commitment to Israel’s security, his contribution to resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advancement of the regional peace agreements, a solution to the conflict with Iran, and Israel’s renewed positioning as the subject of bipartisan American support.”
