An overwhelming majority of Israelis believe that outgoing President Barack Obama and his administration were pro-Palestinian Authority, as opposed to pro-Israel, according to a new poll by the Smith polling institute. According to the survey, which was released on Thursday, nearly two-thirds of Israeli Jews believe the Obama administration is pro-Palestinian Authority, but an even larger majority say his successor is pro-Israel. The poll, which was conducted from January 10th to 11th and has a margin of error of 4.5%, reveals that 65% of Israeli Jews feel the Obama administration has been pro-Palestinian, compared to just 12% who feel it has been pro-Israel. Twenty percent said Obama has been neutral in his dealings with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Most Israeli Jews, however, view President-elect Donald Trump as being pro-Israel. Seventy-nine percent characterized the incoming administration as such, while just 3% said it was pro-Palestinian, and 10% said it was neutral, while the remaining 8% had no opinion. The results of the Smith poll corroborate the findings of this month’s Peace Index, a survey conducted by Tel Aviv University in conjunction with the Israel Democracy Institute. According to the Peace Index survey, just 22.2% of Israeli Jews believe the Obama administration has been friendly towards Israel, compared to 56.9% who say it is unfriendly, and 17.3% who say it has been neutral. More than two-thirds (68.7%), however, say President-elect Trump is friendly towards Israel, while just 2.6% say he is unfriendly towards the Jewish state, with 12.2% believing he is neutral.
