Poll: 4% of Jewish Israelis Think Obama Is pro-Israel
The number of Israelis who see US President Barack Obama’s policies as pro-Israel has fallen to four percent, according to a Smith Research poll taken this week on behalf of The Jerusalem Post.
Fifty-one percent of Jewish Israelis consider Obama’s administration more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, according to the survey, while 35% consider it neutral and 10% declined to express an opinion. The poll of 500 people representing a statistical model of the Jewish Israeli population had a margin of error of 4.5%.
A much-cited Post poll published on June 19 that put the first figure at 6% had been cited by top officials in both the White House and the Prime Minister’s Office as the catalyst for recent American efforts to improve the American-Israeli relationship. But the new poll proves that those efforts have not improved Obama’s reputation among Israelis.
Obama Promises Arabs Jerusalem Will Be Theirs
President Obama and his administration told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting last week the U.S. foresees the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, according to a top PA official speaking to WND.
“The American administration was very friendly to the position of the PA,” said Nimer Hamad, Abbas’ senior political adviser.
“Abu Mazen (Abbas) heard from Obama and his administration in a very categorical way that a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is in the American national and security interest,” Hamad said.
Read the groundbreaking work that exposes the threats to Israel from within and without in Aaron Klein’s “The Late, Great State of Israel” from WND Books.
Another PA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND today that Obama informed Abbas he would not let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “get in the way” of normalizing U.S. relations with the Arab and greater Muslim world.
“We were told from this new administration they will not allow a Netanyahu government to hurt their efforts of rehabilitating U.S. relations with the Arab and Islamic world, which is a high priority of Obama,” the official said, speaking during a visit to Cairo.
Report: US Promises Jerusalem Will Be Palestines Capital
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has been assured that US President Barack Obama’s new peace plan includes a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem.
PA officials told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot that the US intends to stand by its policy that East Jerusalem should be the Palestinian capital. Obama is expected to roll out the peace plan in Cairo on 4 June.
The plan also calls for Israel to freeze settlement activity, and a clear timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state, negotiated under the framework of the Arab Peace Initiative. The newspaper said the US is expected to ask Arab states also to set a timeline for establishing normalized diplomatic ties with Israel.
Meanwhile US Senators sent a letter to Obama asking him to take into account “risks [Israel will] face in any peace agreement.”
The letter, signed by 76 US senators, or more than three quarters of the upper chamber of the congress, urged Obama to “continue to insist on the absolute Palestinian commitment to ending terrorist violence and to building the institutions necessary for a viable Palestinian state living side-by-side, in peace with the Jewish state of Israel,” according to Yediot.
A similar letter is reported to have garnered 200 signatures in the House of Representatives.
On his two-day visit to Washington, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did face demands to halt construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
via Report: US Promised Jerusalem Will Be Palestine^s Capital.
Survey: Israelis Like America, Distrust Obama
A recent survey conducted by Bar-Ilan University’s BESA Center in conjunction with the Anti-Defamation League reveals Israelis’ opinion about the United States relationship to the Jewish State.
The Israeli respondents, 57 percent of whom identified as secular, reported positive feelings toward America (72%), with a preponderance asserting that the United States is a loyal ally of Israel (68%).
The overwhelming majority of those polled trust that the United States would come to the aid of Israel in the event of an existential emergency (76%), with nearly all respondents believing close relations with America is vital to Israel’s security (91%).
However, Israeli confidence in the U.S president plummeted from surveys taken in 2007. While most Israelis considered President George W. Bush’s attitude toward Israel to be friendly (73%), President Barack Hussein Obama is considered friendly by only about a third of Israelis (38%).
The younger generation of Israelis is more skeptical about Obama than the older generation, with 41 percent of respondents aged 42 and over believing Obama is capable of making the right decisions regarding the Israeli-PA conflict, as opposed to only 32 percent of respondents under the age of 41.
In regard to whether Obama would maintain friendly relations with Israel, 41 percent of older respondents agreed he would, with only 34 percent of the younger respondents also agreeing.
A whopping 80 percent of opinion holders said that Obama’s plan to bring about reconciliation with the Arab world in order to improve the U.S.’s position and reputation would come at Israel’s expense.
White House Links Iran Nukes To Palestinian State
May 5, 2009 by admin
Filed under new world order
The Obama Administration on Sunday did what Israelis have long feared and pleaded with the US to avoid when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel linked the resolution of the Iran nuclear crisis to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Speaking at the annual Washington conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Ynet quoted Emanuel as insisting that the ability to confront Iran and reach a diplomatic solution over its defiant nuclear program was solely dependent on progress toward the birth of “Palestine.”
Emanuel said that with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama later this month, Israel now faces a moment of truth – it can either acquiesce to international demands and in return have its most serious threats dealt with, or maintain the status quo and have those threats persist.
In its main conference event on Tuesday, AIPAC is scheduled to present the congressmen representing its thousands of members from across the country with a letter urging Obama to take strong action toward the creation of a “viable Palestinian state.”
A majority of the congressmen are expected to sign the letter and pass it on to the president.
Obama Approval High Among Muslims, Jews, and Catholics
Gallup Poll Daily tracking during President Obama’s first 100 days in office finds broad support for him among Americans affiliated with most major U.S. religions. U.S. Muslims and Jews give Obama his highest job approval ratings, at 85% and 79%, respectively. He also receives solid majority support from Roman Catholics (67%) and Protestants (58%), and more approval than disapproval from Mormons.
Obama also enjoys broad support — 73% approval — from the sizable group of Americans with no religious affiliation, including those calling themselves atheists or agnostics.
These findings are based on large sample sizes for each religious group contained in the combined Gallup Poll Daily tracking results from Jan. 21-April 29, 2009. This includes interviews with approximately 55,000 Protestants (defined in this study as those who identify themselves either as Protestant or with another non-Catholic Christian religion), 24,000 Catholics, 2,500 Jews, 1,600 Mormons, and 350 Muslims. (Full details of the methodology are provided at the end of this report.)
via Obama Approval High Among Muslims, Jews, and Catholics.
Obama Move Alarms Israel Supporters
The Obama administration, already on treacherous political ground because of its outreach to traditional adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, has opened the door a crack to engagement with the militant group Hamas.
The Palestinian group is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization and under law may not receive federal aid.
But the administration has asked Congress for minor changes in U.S. law that would permit aid to continue flowing to Palestinians in the event Hamas-backed officials become part of a unified Palestinian government.
The aid measures may never come into play. Power-sharing negotiations between Hamas and its rival, the U.S.-backed Fatah faction, appear deadlocked. The two have been bitterly divided since 2007, when Hamas drove Fatah out of the Gaza Strip. Fatah controls only the West Bank.
Nevertheless, the move has alarmed congressional supporters of Israel, who are watching for signs that the new Democratic team at the White House might be more sympathetic to Palestinians than was the Bush administration.
Muslim Protesters Block Jewish Entry to Temple Mount
Hundreds of Muslims gathered Thursday at the foot of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, to prevent Jewish worshippers from entering the Temple Mount for a planned prayer service. The Muslim protesters began arriving Wednesday evening, gathering on the slope leading to the Temple Mount area.
The rise, which overlooks the Western Wall, is considered holy to both Jews and Muslims, and houses a sacred site for both religions.
The Islamic Movement had opposed the prayer session, and police said they would allow the Jews to pray on the Mount, but not to engage in any other activities in the area.
Army Radio on Wednesday quoted Jerusalem Police as saying that they would limit the number of Muslim worshippers entering the Temple Mount for prayers on Thursday due to fears of disturbances.
Hundreds of police and Border Police officers were to be deployed to East Jerusalem to prevent violence, and entry to the Temple Mount was to be restricted to women, and men over age 50 holding Israeli ID cards
