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| As Much of the World Frowns on Israel, Americans Hold Out Support | As Much of the World Frowns on Israel, Americans Hold Out Support |
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| WASHINGTON — As Israel’s incursion into Gaza enters its third week and Palestinian civilian deaths mount, reaction in the United States has been muted, with polls through last weekend showing most Americans still supportive — in part, analysts say, because of the failures of the Arab Spring to spread democracy in the Middle East. But in a situation long familiar, Israel is losing the public relations war outside the United States. | WASHINGTON — As Israel’s incursion into Gaza enters its third week and Palestinian civilian deaths mount, reaction in the United States has been muted, with polls through last weekend showing most Americans still supportive — in part, analysts say, because of the failures of the Arab Spring to spread democracy in the Middle East. But in a situation long familiar, Israel is losing the public relations war outside the United States. |
| On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to authorize a commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes in Gaza. (The United States was the sole “no” vote.) The United Nations’ top human rights official raised what she called the “strong possibility” that Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes with indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and the drumbeat from world leaders and demonstrators pointed to the lopsided number of Palestinian casualties — more than 650, most of them civilians — versus 35 on the Israeli side, 32 of them soldiers. | |
| On Tuesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey donned Palestinian garb and denounced Israel as “cruel” for its attacks on Gaza. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are continuing in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and other European cities, some of them assuming an anti-Semitic tinge. An anonymous cartoon of President Obama shielding Israel from world criticism as it stomped on Gaza was making the rounds on social media networks. | On Tuesday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey donned Palestinian garb and denounced Israel as “cruel” for its attacks on Gaza. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations are continuing in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and other European cities, some of them assuming an anti-Semitic tinge. An anonymous cartoon of President Obama shielding Israel from world criticism as it stomped on Gaza was making the rounds on social media networks. |
| The uproar abroad is in sharp contrast to the far more subdued reaction in the United States. A CNN/ORC International poll found that a majority of Americans — 57 percent — believe that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are justified, with only four in 10 saying that Israel has used too much force. The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, echoed a similar one conducted earlier during the latest conflict — July 8 to 14 — in which the Pew Research Center found that 51 percent of Americans sympathized with Israel, compared with 14 percent who sympathized with the Palestinians. | The uproar abroad is in sharp contrast to the far more subdued reaction in the United States. A CNN/ORC International poll found that a majority of Americans — 57 percent — believe that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are justified, with only four in 10 saying that Israel has used too much force. The poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, echoed a similar one conducted earlier during the latest conflict — July 8 to 14 — in which the Pew Research Center found that 51 percent of Americans sympathized with Israel, compared with 14 percent who sympathized with the Palestinians. |
| The polls do not fully take into account the news that became clear in the United States on Monday, when the news media reported that Sunday was the deadliest day of the war, with 122 Palestinians and 15 Israelis killed. | The polls do not fully take into account the news that became clear in the United States on Monday, when the news media reported that Sunday was the deadliest day of the war, with 122 Palestinians and 15 Israelis killed. |
| The divergent reactions echo generations of support for Israel in the United States and harsh criticism abroad. In particular, Europeans “don’t have the same tradition of supporting Israel that we do,” said Andrew Kohut, founding director of the Pew Research Center. “That area of the world is closer to them, and they get more exposure to Arabs and Muslims, and are more open to the Palestinian point of view.” | The divergent reactions echo generations of support for Israel in the United States and harsh criticism abroad. In particular, Europeans “don’t have the same tradition of supporting Israel that we do,” said Andrew Kohut, founding director of the Pew Research Center. “That area of the world is closer to them, and they get more exposure to Arabs and Muslims, and are more open to the Palestinian point of view.” |
| For many outside the United States, Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank is considered illegal. On Wednesday, Iceland’s ambassador to the United Nations, Greta Gunnarsdottir, cited what she called “the core problem” underlying the current violence. | For many outside the United States, Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank is considered illegal. On Wednesday, Iceland’s ambassador to the United Nations, Greta Gunnarsdottir, cited what she called “the core problem” underlying the current violence. |
| “It is the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, that affects all aspects of the daily life of Palestinians, that violates their human rights,” she said. | “It is the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, that affects all aspects of the daily life of Palestinians, that violates their human rights,” she said. |
| In Jerusalem on Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, pointedly called for “an end to the occupation and the daily humiliation and anger that comes with it.” On Sunday, Mr. Ban, who has repeatedly criticized Hamas’s rocket attacks, condemned as “atrocious” the Israeli strikes on the Shejaiyah neighborhood in Gaza — which prompted a rebuttal from Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. | In Jerusalem on Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, pointedly called for “an end to the occupation and the daily humiliation and anger that comes with it.” On Sunday, Mr. Ban, who has repeatedly criticized Hamas’s rocket attacks, condemned as “atrocious” the Israeli strikes on the Shejaiyah neighborhood in Gaza — which prompted a rebuttal from Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. |
| “We hope that the secretary general will use his good office to help find a meaningful path to the permanent end of Hamas’s murderous violence,” Mr. Foxman said in a statement. | “We hope that the secretary general will use his good office to help find a meaningful path to the permanent end of Hamas’s murderous violence,” Mr. Foxman said in a statement. |
| A 2013 Pew poll found vastly more unfavorable feelings toward Israel outside than within the United States, which registered a 27 percent unfavorable view of Israel and a 57 percent favorable view. In contrast, 44 percent of people in Britain had an unfavorable view of Israel. Unfavorable views of Israel were held by 62 percent in Germany, 65 percent in France, 66 percent in China and in the 80 percent to 90 percent range in Arab and Muslim countries. | A 2013 Pew poll found vastly more unfavorable feelings toward Israel outside than within the United States, which registered a 27 percent unfavorable view of Israel and a 57 percent favorable view. In contrast, 44 percent of people in Britain had an unfavorable view of Israel. Unfavorable views of Israel were held by 62 percent in Germany, 65 percent in France, 66 percent in China and in the 80 percent to 90 percent range in Arab and Muslim countries. |
| Things are different in the United States because of a strong pro-Israel community and because Americans perceive Israelis “more or less the way they perceive themselves, as a democratic entity,” said Aaron David Miller, a former American Middle East adviser in Republican and Democratic administrations. | Things are different in the United States because of a strong pro-Israel community and because Americans perceive Israelis “more or less the way they perceive themselves, as a democratic entity,” said Aaron David Miller, a former American Middle East adviser in Republican and Democratic administrations. |
| Mr. Miller, now a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that reinforcing that bond has been the failure, so far, of the Arab Spring democracy movement. “The region is so broken, angry, and dysfunctional that they serve as effective talking points for Israel” in comparison, Mr. Miller said. | Mr. Miller, now a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that reinforcing that bond has been the failure, so far, of the Arab Spring democracy movement. “The region is so broken, angry, and dysfunctional that they serve as effective talking points for Israel” in comparison, Mr. Miller said. |
| Israel did garner initial global empathy at the beginning of the latest conflict, after three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank were killed, but that changed quickly as the Israel Defense Forces moved into densely populated Gaza in an effort to stop rocket fire from Hamas onto Israeli cities and settlements. | Israel did garner initial global empathy at the beginning of the latest conflict, after three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank were killed, but that changed quickly as the Israel Defense Forces moved into densely populated Gaza in an effort to stop rocket fire from Hamas onto Israeli cities and settlements. |
| “When Israel operates in Gaza against Gazans, it operates in an incredibly crowded environment,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who is now at the European Council on Foreign Relations and who is often a critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. “Gazans have nowhere to go, and therefore you know that your action will entail very significant civilian casualties.” | “When Israel operates in Gaza against Gazans, it operates in an incredibly crowded environment,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator who is now at the European Council on Foreign Relations and who is often a critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. “Gazans have nowhere to go, and therefore you know that your action will entail very significant civilian casualties.” |
| The result, Mr. Levy said, is that “clearly the initial sympathy which Western leaders were willing to display begins to dissipate.” | The result, Mr. Levy said, is that “clearly the initial sympathy which Western leaders were willing to display begins to dissipate.” |
| Some foreign policy experts, and some Israeli officials, said they were not sure that loss of sympathy, particularly in Europe, actually mattered. | Some foreign policy experts, and some Israeli officials, said they were not sure that loss of sympathy, particularly in Europe, actually mattered. |
| “The Europeans are anti-Israelis anyway,” said Gen. Amos Yadlin, the director of Israel’s Institution for National Security Studies and former chief of military intelligence. He pointed to the targeting of Jewish businesses recently in European cities by demonstrators angry over the Gaza conflict. “France, Turkey, London — you have a huge Muslim population in some of these places, and these people will demonstrate against us even if the missiles hit Tel Aviv,” he said. | “The Europeans are anti-Israelis anyway,” said Gen. Amos Yadlin, the director of Israel’s Institution for National Security Studies and former chief of military intelligence. He pointed to the targeting of Jewish businesses recently in European cities by demonstrators angry over the Gaza conflict. “France, Turkey, London — you have a huge Muslim population in some of these places, and these people will demonstrate against us even if the missiles hit Tel Aviv,” he said. |