A Gallup poll in February found that 41% of Americans sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared to 36% for the Israelis, marking the first time in the history of its polling that more Americans favor the Palestinians. That is a five-point margin. Democratic voters overwhelmingly support Palestinian Arabs by a 65-17 margin, and even independents favor them right now. At the same time, the poll shows overwhelming support for Israel by Republican voters by a 70-13 margin.
As a result, many Democratic candidates, including potential presidential candidates, have publicly declared their support for Palestinians in the face of such statistics. What is lost in the media propaganda that has helped lead to these numbers is the absurdity that American voters would actually favor Palestinian Arabs over Israelis as it relates to U.S. interests.
For example, despite ranking No. 92 in the world by population, Israel has, according to U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, one of the two best air forces in the world. It also has one of the best missile-defense systems in the world. Israel is a top military power with one of the best intelligence services in the world. It is a stalwart American ally. It has a thriving economy with around 100 Israeli companies on the NASDAQ U.S. stock exchange. It is a stalwart American ally.
As for Palestinian Arabs, they were found in a poll conducted by the Anti-Defamation League to be the most antisemitic people in the world, with more than 90% expressing antisemitic views—and this was before the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. In polls, the majority of Palestinian Arabs are found to have supported the Oct. 7 slaughter of 1,200 people (including 40-plus Americans) and the kidnapping of 251 others.
It’s not surprising since the Palestinian Authority, led by 86-year-old Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Abbas, continues a program encouraging martyrdom called “pay for slay,” which rewards terrorists who target and kill Jews. These terrorists and their families are rewarded financially.
The 1964 founding document of the precursor to the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, under Article 24, made it clear that the Palestinian Arabs made no claim to the West Bank (which included eastern Jerusalem) and Gaza. The reason they cared (and still care) about territory is its aim to destroy Israel.
It is therefore obvious that militarily and economically, the best interests of the United States would be served by being aligned with Israel and not the Palestinian Arabs. Those who side with the Palestinians tend to base their view on the idea that somehow there is an injustice going on and that the land of Israel really belongs to the Palestinian Arabs.
However, the historical facts tell a completely different story. David was the king of Jerusalem 3,000 years ago. To try to claim the Palestinian Arabs were indigenous to the land before the Jews, Abbas absurdly claims they are descendants of the Canaanites, even though the Bible itself delineates the land of the Canaanites outside of the State of Israel.
The fact is that the Jews have been in Israel for the past 2,000 years, and their forefather Abraham was a direct descendant of Noah, who owned the world after the flood. Noah gave Israel to his son Shem, who gave it to his direct descendant Abraham, and Abraham gave it to Isaac, who gave it to Jacob and then to the 12 tribes of the Jewish people as delineated in the Bible.
After the Ottoman Empire gave up its claim to Israel after World War I, the Allied powers met at San Remo and heard claims from different parties, and gave the Arabs Iraq, Syria, etc., and gave the Jews Israel. They codified that decision on July 24, 1922, by the League of Nations, which adopted the Articles of the Mandate for the administrative and political management of what was then called Palestine. They included the United States in that decision as part of the 1925 Anglo-American Treaty, ratified by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Calvin Coolidge.
There was strong bipartisan support for a Jewish state, including sovereignty over Jerusalem, with presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding and Herbert Hoover all supporting the Jewish right to Israel. The 1922 League of Nations decisions were maintained by the United Nations under Article 80 of its charter.
A U.N vote on partition for an independent Jewish state and an independent Arab state was made on Nov. 29, 1947. It won by a vote of 33-13, with 10 abstentions. After Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion proclaimed a Jewish state on May 14, 1948, regional Arab armies attacked Israel in an attempt to destroy it and failed. They tried again in 1967 and 1973. The Palestinian Arabs are now leaders in these attempts to destroy Israel with vast support from the Palestinians for the events of Oct. 7.
Whether it is militarily, economically, legally or historically, supporting Israel is in America’s military, economic and political interests. It’s not difficult to get the right answer. The case just needs to be made, and the antisemitic propaganda needs to be attacked. Even though the numbers have been getting worse, the fact is that the United States has never had a more pro-Israel president in U.S. history or a more pro-Israel secretary of state and secretary of defense.
Even if poll numbers are not moving in the right direction, U.S. foreign policy has never been better for Israel. At least America’s top leaders understand that.
