Our survey looks at attitudes to the Gaza conflict in Europe, and views on the possibility of escalation
This autumn saw the Gaza conflict escalate further, with Israel launching a ground invasion into Lebanon, as well as Iran and Israel exchanging missile and air strikes.
A YouGov EuroTrack survey, conducted on 9-24 October, shortly after the 1 October Iran missile attack on Israel and before the 25 October Israel air strikes on Iran that most Europeans thought a full-scale war in the Middle East involving Israel and Iran was likely (52-65%).
While fortunately such a conflict has not come to pass, but if it did, there is a general reluctance to provide material support to Israel. Only between 14% and 28% think that Europe and the US should provide military aid to Israel in the event of war with Iran, compared to 42-59% who say they should not provide aid.
Likewise, when it comes to Israel’s current military action, the most common view in each country leans more towards trying to rein Israel in than to try and help it further. Nevertheless, opinion is relatively split on the issue, and indeed a sizeable minority – approximately one in five – say that Europe and the US should not be involved at all.
Such findings are not surprising given how unpopular Israel is. Around half of people in each of our seven EuroTrack nations have a negative view of the country (44-57%), in every case significantly higher than the number holding a positive view.
Nor do Europeans have a positive view of Israel’s adversaries, though. Between 62% and 81% have an unfavourable view of Iran, and ‘Palestine’ is also unpopular, with 43-61% having a negative view in most countries. Italy is the outlier, with Italians divided 30% having a favourable view of Palestine and 33% an unfavourable one – although the 37% of Italians who answer “don’t know” is the highest of the countries surveyed.
Opinion on the Gaza conflict, one year on
Last month marked the one year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. While only a small proportion of Europe’s publics belief that the Hamas attacks were justified (5-11%), minorities likewise say that Israel’s response since then is justified (16-34%).
That is not to say that people think Israel were wrong to respond. A more detailed question asking about Israel’s actions in the wake of the 7 October attacks finds that many say that Israel was right to send troops into Gaza, at least initially. But many likewise say that Israel has used more force than they would condone, and have caused too many civilian casualties.
All the other military actions that have taken place in the Middle East are likewise largely seen as unjustified: Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Israel’s attacks on Iran, Iran’s attacks on Israel, and Houthi missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
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Photo: Getty
