Most people across the globe have negative views of Israel: Survey

Views on Israel were mostly negative in 20 out of 24 countries surveyed by Pew between January and April 2025.

Most people in Arab and Muslim countries have had a negative view of Israel for decades, but the Pew poll showed widespread negative attitudes across Europe and East Asia. It also showed that positive views of Israel are decreasing in Western Europe and among young people.

In Italy, 66 percent of people had a negative view of Israel, measured by “somewhat or very unfavorable” opinions. In Greece, Sweden and Spain, the negative sentiment towards Israel was all above 70 percent. In the Netherlands, the number reached 78 percent.

Even in Poland, whose government is traditionally supportive of Israel, public sentiment was 62 percent negative. Likewise, in Hungary, 53 percent of respondents had a negative opinion of Israel.

The Pew poll also showed widespread negative sentiment towards Israel in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country in the world, where 80 percent of respondents viewed Israel either somewhat or very unfavourably.

Elsewhere in Asia, the views were negative, including 80 percent of respondents in Japan and 60 percent in South Korea.

US sentiment towards Israel was also included, referencing a poll Pew published in April.

According to that survey, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, have a negative view of Israel. That number was up from 42 percent in March 2022, before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on the Gaza Strip.

In the US, Democrats are still more likely than Republicans to express a negative opinion of Israel by 69 percent to 37 percent, respectively. But the Pew poll said that the number of Republicans who hold negative opinions on Israel has increased 10 percentage points since 2022.

Young Republicans, those under the age of 50, especially, are now more likely to have an unfavourable view of Israel, with 50 percent polling in that direction.

That gap comes as more popular conservative voices, like Candice Owens and Tucker Carlson, have become more open to challenging US military support for Israel and the treatment of Christians inside the occupied Palestine.

Pew said that the last time it asked respondents in the UK about their view on Israel, in 2013, 44 percent had an unfavourable view. Today, that number is 61 percent, and that trend has held across the globe.

“In 10 other countries, we last asked this question in 2013. In seven of these countries, the share of adults with a negative view of Israel has increased significantly,” the report said.

Views of Israel also differ by age group.

“In some countries, younger people are more likely than older people to have an unfavourable view of Israel. This is particularly the case in the high-income countries surveyed: Australia, Canada, France, Poland and South Korea and the US,” the report said. The US has one of the most significant age gaps.

Confidence in Netanyahu was also low across the 24 countries surveyed. In Australia, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey, around three-quarters of adults or more have little or no confidence in Netanyahu.