BBC survey: Israel one of world’s most unpopular countries and it’s getting worse

Israel is not only one of the world’s most negatively viewed countries, but its reputation is deteriorating, according to the BBC World Service’s latest global survey.

US is only western country with favorable views of Israel

 

And the news only gets worse. Here are some of the highlights from the BBC poll:

• On average, in the 22 tracking countries surveyed both in 2012 and 2013, 52 percent of respondents had negative views of Israel’s influence in the world, an increase of two points from last year.
• Out of the 25 countries polled in 2013, 20 lean negative, three lean positive, and two are divided.
• The United States is the only Western country surveyed holding favorable views of Israel, and the only country in the survey with a majority of positive ratings (51 percent, stable).
• Views of Israel in Canada and in Australia remain entrenched in negative territory with respectively 57 and 69 percent of unfavourable views.
• In the EU countries surveyed, views of Israeli influence are all strongly negative and have either hardened further or remained stable.
• The United Kingdom is the most unfavorable country towards Israel in the EU with 72 percent of Britons holding negative ratings.
• The UK is followed by Spain (70% negative) where views have deteriorated due to a loss of positive ratings, now at just 4 percent (down from 12 perent).
• Positive views have dropped eight points in Germany over the past year, down to 8 percent in 2013 while negative inclinations have remained stable at 67 percent.
• In France, the picture is stable with 21 percent giving positive views (vs 63 percent negative) France is the EU country with the highest proportion of favorable ratings.
• Newly asked countries Poland and Greece have negative pluralities of 44 and 46 percent respectively, while just 15 percent lean positively towards Israel in both countries.
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