Overwhelming Israeli support of Gaza op: 94% of the public support

[dkf]

The Israeli military operation against Hamas in Gaza enjoys the overwhelming support of Israeli Jews despite the loss of civilian life in the Hamas-run territory, a survey released Wednesday showed.

A whopping 94% of the public support or strongly support the operation while 92% think it benefits Israel's security, according to the Tel Aviv University survey.

The poll found that 92% of Israeli Jews justify the air force's attacks in Gaza despite the suffering of the civilian population in the Strip and the damage they cause to infrastructure.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950849022&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. For all the broad brush painting of the Palestinians supporting bloodshed and Hamas,

at least we now know we can safely do the same with Israel and their government.

[Arrowhead2k1]

2. Well let's face it. Anyone who moves to Israel from the west knows exactly what they're getting

in to. I mean, who in their right mind would move to a country which has mandatory military service and is a hot spot for mideast tensions to boot?

[LeftishBrit]

Most Israelis were born there.

[DogPoundPup]

3. Take a walk through Gaza

http://youngfoxredux.blogspot.com/2009/01/take-walk-through-gaza.html

[oberliner]

4. About the same percentage of Americans who supported the US invasion of Afghanistan

The low estimate for civilian casualties in that conflict is about 10,000.

[LeftishBrit]

5. Sadly, most citizens usually do support a war in its early stages

The British did *not* support the Iraq war, and felt 'dragged in', but that's unusual. Certainly, popular opinion here was strongly in favour of the Falklands War in the early 80s, and it helped Thatcher to win re-election. As I understand, nearly 80% of American citizens supported the Iraq war at the beginning, and probably even more supported the Afghanistan War.

Once a war drags on, popular support tends to wane considerably.