By Yaakov Ahimeir
While U.S. President Barack Obama fights for his re-election, and the doubts regarding his chances of success have grown, the U.S. Embassy in Israel can provide him with one unsurprising fact: Israelis aren't happy with his policies and expect a better relationship with the U.S. if Republican candidate Mitt Romney is elected to succeed him.
This fact is garnered from a recent poll conducted ahead of Bar-Ilan University's U.S.-Israel Relations Conference, which will take place at the beginning of next week.
The Israeli public, it appears, is suspicious of Obama. Only 32 percent currently consider him to be a positive force, as opposed to 54% who felt that way at the beginning of his presidential term. The situation will improve, according to respondents, only if Romney is elected president.
Indeed, there will be Israelis who wonder: Why would the most powerful country in the world even care if a poll in Israel reveals these unflattering facts? Will anyone in the White House really be perturbed by this or any other opinion poll? As strange as it may sound, the U.S. wants to be liked, not only in Israel but in all countries around the world.
When U.S. officials find themselves isolated in international bodies on issues related to Israel, or Micronesia, or the Marshall Islands, they feel ill at ease. The decision to veto a resolution in the U.N. Security Council in order to protect an Israeli interest is very difficult to digest in the White House or State Department.
The U.S., similar to much weaker countries, doesn't like to find itself isolated, or disliked in any area of the globe. Therefore, the results of this poll, as unsurprising as they are, will certainly not be welcome news to those in Washington who work in the Israeli arena.
Yet most of the respondents, nearly 70%, consider the U.S. to be a loyal ally of Israel. What's more, 90% believe that during a serious crisis, one which threatens Israel's existence, the U.S. would come to Israel's aid.
One can decipher from this that many Israelis disagree with Obama and his policies, but, as stated, even more see the U.S. as a faithful ally. One can say simply: For Israelis it's all personal. Obama is one matter; the U.S. is another one altogether. Why is this? There is indeed no doubt that security relations with Israel have significantly strengthened during Obama's first term. Despite this, however, it could very well be that the average Israeli thinks that Obama is actually a Muslim. Perhaps the average Israeli also remembers that Obama has not always treated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with respect, recalling how he was once whisked to a meeting through the back door of the White House as if he were a secret North Korean envoy.
It could be that many Israelis, those who support Netanyahu, are concerned that in his second term Obama will impose a barrage of diplomatic pressure on Israel. Indeed, if he is re-elected he will no longer have to take the Jewish vote into consideration, and he can focus on establishing his presidential footprint on foreign policy. There are also Israelis, of course, who wish for just such a diplomatic cauldron of pressure during a second Obama term.
According to the prestigious New Yorker magazine, sources close to Obama have promised that if he is re-elected he will focus on foreign policy with renewed vigor. It is an arena in which much work needs to be done, no less so than on the faltering economy.
However, if Obama takes steps such as pardoning Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard or visiting Jerusalem before the U.S. elections in November, feelings toward him will change.
