Israeli Jews: Romney more concerned about Israel’s interests than Obama

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat introduces Mitt Romney in Jerusalem, July 29, 2012 – Photo by Elizabeth Levy

By Lauren Appelbaum, Political Director

Washington, Aug. 18 – A new Peace Index poll says double the number of Israeli Jews say presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is more concerned about Israel’s interests than incumbent President Obama.

According to the poll, 40 percent of the respondents said Romney “assigns more importance to defending Israel’s national interests” while 19 percent answered the question with Obama. Ten percent said “both to the same extent” while 25 percent said they did not know and six percent said neither.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta meets with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem, July 31, 2012

Another finding from the survey is that a large majority of the public (70 percent) said Israel cannot rely on the recent promise by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that the United States will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.

This survey holds importance because some Israeli Jews hold dual citizenship, are eligible to vote in U.S. elections and care about the next president’s relationship with Israel. A new organization called iVote Israel was started by American-Israelis with the goal of registering these people to vote in U.S. elections for a president “who will support and stand by Israel in absolute commitment to its safety, security and right to defend itself.”

iVote Israel’s goal is for American-Israelis to be fully represented. The 2000 Bush-Gore Presidential elections came down to 537 absentee ballots cast in Florida and 64 of those were cast from Israel. Thousands of Israelis who hold dual citizenship were residents in Florida.

The Peace Index is a project of the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute. This month’s survey was conducted by telephone on August 7-8, 2012 by the Dahaf Institute. The survey included 516 respondents, who constitute a representative sample of the adult Jewish population of Israel. The poll has a 4.5 percent margin of error.