Shocking Poll, Not All Americans Consider Israel an Ally

We sometimes receive the New York Times International Edition, and since we don't pay for it, I really enjoy looking for interesting tidbits I wouldn't otherwise hear about. In the Feb. 7, 2017 edition, there's a very revealing article about how Democrats, Republicans and Independent perceive other countries:

Ranking American Allies

Places Americans say are allies

	AMONG...
	DEMOCRATS	REPUBLICANS	INDEPENDENTS
Canada	2nd	2nd	1st
Australia	4th	1st	2nd
Britain	1st	3rd	3rd
France	3rd	9th	5th
Italy	5th	4th	9th
Ireland	9th	6th	4th
Israel	28th	5th	17th
Norway	11th	13th	6th
Sweden	6th	10th	12th
Germany	8th	12th	7th
Switzerland	7th	7th	18th
New Zealand	10th	8th	8th
Netherlands	12th	14th	10th
Denmark	16th	11th	11th
Greece	13th	21st	23rd

The State of Israel, its politicians and citizens like to think of the United States as a reliable ally, and even when the Americans have been very critical, most Israelis remain loyal and supportive of the USA. Granted that the past eight years, when Barack Hussein Obama was the President, it was clear the relationship was rocky, but most Israelis still thought that there was a strong mutual respect between Americans and Israelis.

Some of us have been pretty suspicious or wary of American friendship, because we see so much support in academia, think-tanks and the political arena for a new Arab country which would be called "Palestine" replacing Israel. But even I was shocked when I saw these numbers:

Places Americans say are allies

Israel

28th

5th

17th

No other country is considered/ranked so differently by Republicans and Democrats. While Republicans consider Israel as the 5th highest ally, Democrats rank Israel 28th and Independents 17th. This poll sure puts life into the saying:

"Even paranoids have enemies."

Israelis must take this very seriously. For years I've been predicting that the trend of demonizing Israel will only get worse, and I don't see how it can get better. It's not just the anti-Israel media. It's the fact that universities teach that Jews have stolen Arab lands etc. Nowadays pro-Israel student groups are under attack all over the world. In many universities Israelis who come to speak are shouted down and worse.

So far, at least the among the Republicans Israel is seen as an ally and friend. Honestly, I don't know how to reverse the anti-Israel feeling in the states.