Survey finds vast gaps in support for Iran war between Israelis and Palestinians

75% of Israelis say the US made the right decision to attack Iran, while 80% of Palestinians think it was wrong, Pew report finds; In the US, 59% are opposed

By Zev Stub

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

Israelis, Palestinians and Americans have vastly different views as to whether the United States and Israel made the right choice in attacking Iran, according to a Pew Research Center report published Tuesday.

As of late April, three-quarters of Israelis said the US made the right decision in attacking Iran, while eight in 10 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem said it was the wrong decision, the report found. In the US, 59 percent said they think it was the wrong decision, compared to 38% who said it was correct.

The report is based on the findings of several recent Pew surveys, including a poll of 1,001 Israelis (of whom 399 were Arab Israelis), a survey of 1,038 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and two studies conducted in the US.

A recent Pew poll showed that views of Israel have continued to sink over the last year in several countries, including among allies such as the US and Germany. An Israel Democracy Index Survey published Tuesday, meanwhile, found a sharp decline in the number of Israelis who believe that Israeli security is a concern for US President Donald Trump.

The five-week war began on February 28 when US and Israeli forces killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the beginning of a massive airstrike. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf states until a ceasefire went into effect on April 8.

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Once the war is over, Israelis broadly (57%) anticipate a safer world, a safer Israel and an Iran that is less likely to develop a nuclear weapon, the report found. While they are less optimistic about how the Iranian people will fare, more Israelis think the war will leave the Iranian people better off (34%) than worse off (26%), though many are unsure or anticipate little change.

Palestinians, meanwhile, mostly expect the war to make things worse, with 69% expecting it to leave them less safe. Thirty-one percent of Palestinians say the war will increase Iran’s likelihood of developing a nuclear weapon rather than decrease it, although large shares are unsure.

Americans were more divided, with 40% saying the war will make the US less safe, compared to 22% who think it will be more safe.

Americans were about evenly split on whether the war will make Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon more or less likely than it was before the war, and were more likely to think the Iranian people will be worse off than better off, the report found.

Voters identifying as Republicans and Democrats also have very different views of the war, the report noted, with Democrats much more likely than Republicans to think that the war will make the Iranian people worse off in the long run.

In Israel, voters who support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition were also much more likely to view the war favorably, the report found.

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