Monday, June 22, 2009

Bibi may have just gotten the political pass

There was a little remarked poll results released in Israel last week. If you were in North American and blinked - you might have missed it. The Jerusalem Post:
Only 6 percent of Jewish Israelis consider the views of American President Barack Obama's administration pro-Israel, according to a new Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll. The poll, which has a margin of error of 4.5%, was conducted among a representative sample of 500 Israeli Jewish adults this week, following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech in which he expressed his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state.


The last time Binyamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister, he was accused of bungling the Israeli-US relationship, and it played a part in the downfall of his administration. Now, Israeli-US relations are at a low, but this time, Netanyahu may very well skate on this issue as Israeli popular support perceives the US administration as being ‘anti-Israel’ - so it becomes almost irrelevant what the Israeli Prime Minister does or does not do. This is an unheard of opportunity for the Israeli government to stand firm in the face of any kind of US opposition towards Israeli policies.

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