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LONDON: Support among Americans for Israel has significantly declined over the past two years, with growing numbers of voters expressing strongly negative views of Israel’s war in Gaza, a new poll from The New York Times and Siena University has found.

It represents a notable shift in public opinion in the US, which is Israel’s most important ally and where support for the nation has enjoyed decades of bipartisan backing.

For the first time since 1998, when The New York Times began surveying voters about their views on the long-running conflict, a slightly higher proportion of voters expressed support for the Palestinians than for the Israelis.

In a similar poll in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 47 percent of American voters expressed support for Israel, while 20 percent sided with the Palestinians.

Almost two years later, the landscape has shifted: only 34 percent of 1,313 registered voters who were polled now support Israel and 35 percent support the Palestinians. The rest were undecided or supported both sides equally.

The survey also found that 60 percent of voters think Israel should end its military campaign in Gaza, even if the remaining Israeli hostages are not released or Hamas is not eradicated. Forty percent of voters believe Israel is intentionally killing civilians in Gaza, nearly double the percentage in 2023.

A majority of American voters now oppose additional economic and military aid to Israel, a significant shift in opinion since the Oct. 7 attacks. Younger voters in particular, regardless of political affiliation, were less likely to support such assistance, with almost 70 percent under the age of 30 opposing any additional aid. Since its founding in 1948, the State of Israel has received hundreds of billions of dollars in US foreign aid, making it the largest recipient of such assistance.

The significant shift in Americans’ opinions about Israel and Palestine was driven by a notable decline in support for Israel among Democratic voters. Republican support remained largely unchanged, with only a slight decrease, the poll found.

Across the US, 54 percent of Democrats sympathized more with the Palestinians, while only 13 percent expressed greater empathy for Israel. In 2023, 34 percent sympathized with Israel and 31 percent with the Palestinians.

More than 80 percent of Democrats believe Israel should halt its war in Gaza, even if it has not achieved its stated goals. Almost 60 percent believed Israel was intentionally targeting civilians, double the percentage who thought so in 2023.

Support for Israel among Republican voters fell slightly, from 76 percent in 2023 to 64 percent. Seventy percent of Republicans support additional aid for Israel, 47 percent believe the Israeli military is taking sufficient precautions to prevent civilian casualties, and a majority said the military campaign should continue until all hostages are released, regardless of civilian casualties.

ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday called on the international aid flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza to immediately stop their mission.
Insisting on a confrontation with Israel could upset the current “fragile balance” that could lead to peace based on the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, Meloni said.
“Many would be happy to disrupt” that plan, Meloni said in a statement.
“I fear that the flotilla’s attempt to breach the Israeli naval blockade could provide a pretext for this. Also for this reason, I believe the Flotilla should stop now,” she added.