Aussie sympathies for Israel and Palestine split over political lines

Australians have the same level of sympathy for the ‘people’ of Israel and Palestine, with new data also revealing an overwhelming condemnation of Hamas terrorists.

Australians have the same level of sympathy for the “people” of Israel and Palestine. Picture: Jack Guez/AFP

Australians have the same level of sympathy for the “people” of Israel and Palestine and equally unfavourable views of the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, with new data also revealing an overwhelming condemnation of Hamas terrorists.

But results of an Omnipoll survey revealed that there were differences along political lines, with stronger Coalition support for the Israeli people compared with the Palestinian people, 33 per cent to 21 per cent, and support among Greens voters for Palestine compared to Israelis coming in at 57 to 7 per cent.

However, despite assumptions a majority of Labor voters overwhelmingly support Palestinians, results were split 24 per cent for the Palestinian people and 17 per cent for Israelis.

One third of Coalition voters had “equal” sympathy for both peoples, compared to 39 per cent of ALP supporters who had equal sympathy.

The results come as Anthony Albanese faces pressure from both sides of the political spectrum over the Israel-Palestine conflict, with members of his own party, such as Fatima Payman, calling for more decisive action against Israel.

But Jewish lobby groups and the Coalition have slammed Mr Albanese for his government’s backing of a United Nations vote to expand the rights of Palestine at the General Assembly and refusal to say whether Australia would ­enforce International Criminal Court arrest warrants against top Israeli officials.

Despite the crisis in the Middle East capturing world headlines, the Omnipoll found there was around one-third of Australians who have “no opinion” on the conflict.

The national poll of 1238 people, taken between May 16 and 21, found that while more than 60 per cent of respondents had an unfavourable opinion about Hamas, a small group of 7 per cent had a favourable opinion.

Differences between age groups were also stark, with the greatest sympathy for Palestinians by far being among the people under 35.

Nearly half of this respondent cohort said their sympathies “mostly” or “entirely” lay with the Palestinians. On the other side of the spectrum, less than 20 per cent of respondents over 65 sympathised with Palestinians while nearly 40 per cent sympathised with Israelis.

The Prime Minister said this week that his government was taking “a coherent, principled position” over the conflict.

Faced with questions over the internal pressure heaped on him by Senator Payman last week, Mr Albanese said the West Australian senator did not represent the government’s views on the conflict.