49% of Israelis doubt Gaza plan; Americans' support for 'Israel' drops
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Polls say 53% of Americans now view "Israel" unfavorably, up from 42% in 2022, while nearly half of Israelis doubt both ending Hamas and retrieving captives can be achieved.
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Israeli and US flags are reflected on a conference table at the Pentagon in Washington (AP)
Nearly half of Israelis—approximately 49%—believe it’s not possible to simultaneously free the remaining Gaza captives and end Hamas and its governance of the Strip, according to a Thursday poll by Israel Democracy Institute (IDI)'s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research.
IDI added that 46% "think or are certain" that this is possible to achieve. The poll also found that 68% would prioritize returning the captives, while only 25% prioritized ending Hamas if they had to choose only one option.
The "share of those who favor bringing home the hostages as the most important goal has risen steadily, while the share who prioritize toppling Hamas has fallen," according to the IDI.
In January 2024, "around half the public thought that bringing the hostages home was the most important goal," IDI stated. By political orientation, 91% of those on the Left and 80.5% of those in the Center thought that bringing captives home was more important than ending Hamas, as compared to 52% of those on the Right.
Among those who believed ending Hamas is the priority, 74% thought both goals could be achieved simultaneously, while 59% of those who believed returning captives is the priority believed that they cannot be achieved simultaneously.
A similar question was asked in November 2024 and was aired on Israeli Channel 12 news. The poll showed that 69% of respondents saw that securing a prisoner exchange deal to end the war should take precedence over continuing the government's war on Gaza. Only 20% of settlers supported a prolonged "conflict", and 11% said they were undecided on the matter.
More Americans view 'Israel' unfavorably
A survey by the Pew Research Center published Tuesday found that 53% of Americans overall have an unfavorable view of "Israel", compared to 42% in 2022. Among Republicans, 37% view "Israel" unfavorably, compared to 27% in 2022; 69% of Democrats view "Israel" unfavorably, compared to 53% in 2022.
The survey was conducted between March 24-30 among a sample of 3,605 US adults, before Netanyahu’s most recent visit to the US.
Young people in both parties have much more unfavorable views of "Israel": 50% of Republicans under 49 and 71% of Democrats in that age group.
Americans also show a lack of confidence in the Israeli Prime Minister himself (32%).
The survey found that 62% of Americans opposed Trump’s controversial proposal that the US take over Gaza, where Trump has proposed to "buy and own Gaza" by first convincing Arab leaders to take in Palestinians forced out of the territory. Approximately 49% strongly opposed the idea, and 15% supported it. In Trump's own Republican party, 44% opposed the idea, while 27% supported it.
However, 46% of Americans say it is somewhat or very likely that Trump will pursue the policy.
These polls reveal a clear rising trend among Israelis and Americans amid the unfolding Gaza genocide and the failure of the Israeli government to return all the captives since it unleashed the war in October 2023.
