Israel Has Some Success Pushing Flotilla Narrative
Half of Americans blame activists for deaths
June 08, 2010
A pro-Israel boat in Israel yesterday.(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
A new poll showed that a solid bloc of Americans continue to back Israel, while basically half—49 percent—blamed pro-Palestinian activists for the deaths in the flotilla raid. Only 19 percent said Israel was to blame.
Other relevant figures:
• 51 percent support an international probe of the incident; 25 percent are against.
• 58 percent say Israel is an ally, two percent say it’s an enemy, and 38 percent say it is somewhere in between. (By comparison, only 30 percent see the United Nations as an ally.)
• Israel is one of only five countries that Americans say the United States should be willing to defend militarily.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
