Those who tend to take a side are split in whether or not they have sympathy for the other side, however
YouGov has been tracking attitudes towards the Israel-Palestine conflict since before the recent outbreak of fighting.
Our latest tracker results show that 19% of Britons say they ‘most sympathise’ with the Israeli side, while an identical 19% say they most sympathise with the Palestinian side. A further 31% sympathise with both sides equally, while the remaining 31% are unsure.
A new survey looks into these attitudes in more depth, asking Britons to subsequently say how much sympathy they have for either side in the conflict.
The four in ten Britons who express a tendency to support one side more than the other are split on whether they also hold some sympathy for the other side. Among those with a more pro-Israeli view, 49% say they sympathise at least somewhat with the Palestinians. Likewise, 54% of those with a more pro-Palestinian stance say they have at least some sympathy for the Israelis.
However, 44-46% of those who sympathise with one side more than the other say they “don’t sympathise at all” with the other side.
Looking at the British public as a whole, 56% express at least some sympathy for both sides, including 15% who say they sympathise a great deal with those on either side of the conflict. Only 3% have no sympathy for either – 8% sympathise solely with the Israelis and an additional 9% sympathise only with the Palestinians.
Photo: Getty
