More Americans sympathise with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time since Gallup began tracking the sentiment, according to a poll released on Friday.
The shift comes after more than two decades of Americans favouring Israelis by a significant margin, according to Gallup, and as Palestinian efforts to recover from Israel’s two-year war against Hamas in Gaza have stalled amid an Israeli blockade and intermittent fighting since a US-brokered ceasefire in October.
Forty-one per cent of Americans said they sympathise more with Palestinians in the Middle East conflict, compared with 36 per cent who sympathise more with Israelis, Gallup said. This contrasts with a clear lead for the Israelis only a year ago, 46 per cent compared with 33 per cent for the Palestinians, and larger margins over the previous 24 years.