Israelis are almost unanimous in their support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision not to coordinate the airstrike that targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with the Biden administration in advance of its commission, a new JNS poll conducted by Direct Polls show.
JNS asked, “According to reports, Israel did not coordinate with the United States in advance of it carrying out its operation to assassinate Hassan Nasrallah. Do you think it was the right decision or the wrong decision?
Eighty-three percent of respondents responded that it was the right decision. Nine percent felt it was the wrong decision. Eight percent did not know.
For the past several decades, Hezbollah ground forces and missile arsenal in Lebanon have deterred Israel from attacking Iran. Fearing that Iran would order Hezbollah to attack Israel with daily barrages of thousands of missiles and order its ground forces to invade the Galilee, Israel delayed acting directly against Iran’s nuclear and missile installations.
JNS asked the public whether Israel should now seize the momentum it has gained through its recent strikes on Hezbollah to attack Iran before the U.S. elections. Sixty-two percent of the public answered affirmatively. Twenty-six percent said that Israel should abstain from using its momentum to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities ahead of the U.S. elections. Twelve percent said they did not know.
Finally, JNS asked which candidate for U.S. president Israelis believe will be more sympathetic to Israel’s interests. Sixty-five percent of respondents said Republican candidate Donald Trump would be more sympathetic to Israel’s interests. Just 13% of Israelis believe that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris would be more supportive of Israel. Fifteen percent of respondents said that both would be equally sympathetic to Israeli interests and 7% said neither would be sympathetic to Israel’s interests.
The results of the JNS poll align with results of one commissioned by Channel 14 and conducted last week by Direct Polls. That survey, carried out the day before Israel’s elimination of Nasrallah, asked the public whether they believed that the U.S. has weakened or strengthened Israel in its struggle to remove military threats to its national security from the south and the north of the country.
Fifty-seven percent of respondents said the U.S. has weakened Israel. Thirty-five percent responded that the U.S. has strengthened Israel. Eight percent didn’t know.
The thrust of both polls indicate that Israelis believe that the Biden administration does not share or support Israel’s war goals and are concerned that the administration will use the lame-duck period
between the Nov. 5 presidential election and the inauguration of the next president on Jan. 20, 2025, to undermine Israel’s capacity to win the war.
Direct Polls questioned a sample of 520 adults (aged 18 and older) representing Israel’s general population.
