Public support for Israel in western Europe at lowest ever recorded by YouGov
Public support and sympathy for Israel in western Europe has hit the lowest level ever recorded by YouGov, the pollster has said, with fewer than a fifth of respondents in six countries holding a favourable opinion of the country.
As negotiations over a US ceasefire proposal continue, Israel's offensive in Gaza – resumed after it broke a previous ceasefire in mid-March – has been ramped up, accompanied by a humanitarian blockade that has led to famine-like conditions.
More than 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on the besieged Palestinian territory on 7 October 2023, in retaliation for the Hamas attack on the same day in which the group killed about 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.
The survey found net favourability towards Israel in Germany (-44), France (-48) and Denmark (-54) was the lowest since polling on the question began in 2016, while in Italy (-52) and Spain (-55) it was also at its lowest or joint lowest, albeit from 2021.
In the UK, net favourability was at -46, a fraction higher than its low of -49 late last year.
Overall, only between 13% and 21% of respondents in any country polled had a favourable view of Israel, compared with 63%-70% whose views were unfavourable.
Similarly, of all six countries surveyed, only between 6% (Italy) and 16% (France) agreed that Israel 'was right to send troops into Gaza and has generally responded in a proportionate way to the Hamas attacks', down on an earlier survey last October. The figure for the UK was 12%.
Between 29% (Italy) and 40% (Germany), on the other hand, agreed that Israel was 'right to send troops into Gaza, but has gone too far and caused too many civilian casualties'. The UK figure was 38%. Between 12% (Germany) and 24% (Italy) – with the UK on 15% – felt Israel should not have gone into the territory at all.
The Eurotrack survey showed fewer and fewer western Europeans still see Israel's continuing military operations in Gaza as justified: only about a quarter of respondents in France, Germany and Denmark (24%-25%), compared with 18% in Britain and just 9% in Italy.
At the same time, the number of respondents who said they thought the Hamas attacks of October 2023 were justified continues to be low in each country, ranging from 5% to 9% – although it has increased marginally in the UK (from 5% to 6%) and Italy (from 6% to 8%).
The polling also found that fewer people now say they 'side' with Israel. Between 7% and 18% of respondents said they sympathised more with the Israeli side – the lowest or joint-lowest figure in five of the six countries surveyed since the Hamas attacks.
By contrast, between 18% and 33% of respondents said they sympathised more with the Palestinian side – figures that have increased in all six countries since 2023. Only in Germany were the figures for each side similar (17% for Israel; 18% for Palestine).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, most western Europeans believe permanent peace in the Middle East remains a distant prospect. The French were the most optimistic that this may happen in the next 10 years, but even then only 29% said they believed it.
The Danes were the least optimistic, at about 15%. Across all six countries surveyed, expectations that a lasting peace was realistically possible have fallen by between four and 10 percentage points since late 2023.
Such views are not confined to Europe. Polling by the Pew Research Centre in April found that US views of Israel had turned more negative over the past three years, with more than half of US adults (53%) now expressing an unfavourable opinion of Israel, up from 42% in March 2022.
A Data for Progress survey last month found 51% of voters opposed to Israel's plans to send more troops into Gaza and relocate Palestinians, while 51% thought Donald Trump should 'demand that Israel agree to a ceasefire'. About 31% believed he should instead 'support Israel's military operation'.
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