OPINION:
The left likes to try to sell the line that the Palestinian Authority loves the Israelis, welcomes peace and wants nothing more than a harmonious agreement that allows both peoples to live side-by-side, in perpetual prosperity — oh yes, and that President Donald Trump’s announced move of the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Avid to Jerusalem kills that plan.
But apparently, the line isn’t selling.
Much as the left has tried to generate sympathy for the very anti-Zionist Palestinian Authority, Americans still love Israel — love Israelis. And they do so to near historically high degree, according to Gallup pollsters.
“As the Trump administration prepares to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and is reportedly finalizing its broader Middle East peace plan, Americans’ stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as strongly pro-Israel as at any time in Gallup’s three-decade trend,” the polling site wrote. “Sixty-four percent say their sympathies in the dispute lie more with the Israelis, tying the high previously recorded in 2013 and 1991.”
It was years ago when Gallup first posed the question, “In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?”
In 1991, about 64 percent of respondents answered Israelis, compared to 7 percent Palestinians and 29 percent, “both/neither/unsure.”
The tide began changing in the early 1990s, and by the time 1997 hit, 54 percent of Americans responded “both/neither/unsure”; 38 percent, with Israelis; and 8 percent, Palestinians.
It wasn’t until the early 2000s that the numbers significantly shifted again, this time in Israel’s favor. In 2001, roughly 51 percent said they sympathized with Israel, 33 percent with both or neither — or were unsure — and 16 percent, with the Palestinians.
Since, Israel’s been on a steady climb upward in the sympathy department. And now, under Trump, the love affair of America with Israel is rocking.
“Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who sympathize with neither side, with both sides or who have no opinion about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is now 16 percent, the lowest to date,” Gallup finds. “This neutral category has been shrinking as more Americans take positions on the dispute.”
It’s an interesting poll particularly because the voices of mainstream media have been trying to paint this administration as slapping the face of the Palestinians in particular, and the Muslim world in general, with the announced embassy move, warning every which way possible that proper politics dictates such is just not done — that chaos and quite likely war and death would result. (Mahmoud Abbas delivers a fiery, hate-filled speech against Israel and America in January? Oh, well, MSM shrugs — it’s because America and Israel deserved it, because America and Israel won’t play diplomatic nice.)
But the message isn’t resonating. The anti-Israel left and Palestinian sympathizing side aren’t clicking. America’s friendship with Israel, under this president, isn’t just a symbolic White House handshake. It’s genuine — it’s nationwide. It’s from the people and by the people. And that’s got to be driving the Islam apologists and Palestinian sympathy movement a little bit mad.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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