POLL: SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL UP IN U.S., EUROPE

Pals No More?--II (WSJ-BOTW)
"Israel's public standing in both the US and Europe has improved following the war in Lebanon," the Jerusalem Post reports, citing a study by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg:

Israel's support in the US is near its highest level since Greenberg began systematically charting the numbers in April 2003, while in Europe more and more people see Israel as a moderate force in what is increasingly being perceived as a battle between moderates and extremists in the Middle East.

Amir Gissin, director of public affairs (hasbara) at the Foreign Ministry, said the numbers reflected a general trend in the West, where people were beginning to widen the lens they used to interpret information about the Middle East. A positive side effect of the war, Gissin said, was that people in the West had stopped seeing the Israel-Palestinian conflict as the root of all Middle East instability.

Among the findings:

• 53% of Americans call themselves strong supporters of Israel; only 5% strong supporters of the Palestinians.
  
  
• 74% of Americans said Israel acted in self-defense against Hezbollah; only 16% thought the Jewish state had an "expansionist" policy. On the other hand, 42% thought Israel "went too far," against 45% who thought it acted properly.
  
  
• "60% of the French public, and 64% of its 'elites,' now believe the heart of the problem in the Middle East is the conflict between moderates and extremists, with Israel on the side of the moderates, along with [Mahmoud] Abbas, Egypt and Jordan."

There are still some important differences between American and European opinion:

While in the US 63% said Islamic extremism was responsible and only 15% blamed Israel, in Britain 18% faulted Israel and only 27% Islamic extremism. The figures were particularly worrying among French elites, with 29% placing the onus on Israel and 31% on Islamic extremists.