Netanyahu's Popularity Soars to 82%

There has not been a majority party in Israel for decades. Israelis are as politically divided as Americans in many ways. There is no national consensus on anything. But the Israeli people have unified behind Prime Minister Netanyahu. A recent poll shows he is twice as popular in Israel as Barack Obama is in America.

The Jerusalem Post’s Herb Keinon reports that a whopping 82% of Israelis “are satisfied with Netanyahu’s performance during [the Gaza] crisis.” According to the latest Gallup poll, Obama’s current American job approval rating, in the midst of numerous crises, is 40%, with 54% disapproving.

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Also of interest is where Israelis stand on the military action currently taking place in Gaza. Israelis might be split on when the action should end, but the split is way outside of the universe where Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are operating.

As the Obama Administration repeatedly tries to backdoor Israel with misguided and ill-conceived cease-fire proposals, a whopping 87% of Israelis don’t want the Gaza action to end until the Hamas tunnels are dealt with. Of those 87%, a plurality of 46% don’t want the battle to stop until Hamas itself is toppled.

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My colleague, senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak explains:

“The real issue is that the left-wing parties in government are not opposed to the war. There is near-100% political unity in Israel over this (except for the Arab parties). The terror tunnels scared everyone.

“Israelis are mad at Obama–I just watched a news report in Hebrew–they feel that he is rude, condescending, clueless and dangerous.”

 John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC