What Do Muslims Really Think about Israel?
Judith Mendelsohn Rood Monday, 1 December 2008
The public impression of Islam is that it is a fanatic, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian religion fundamentally opposed to the existence of the State of Israel. The widely cited 2008 Gallup Press publication Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, inadvertently strengthened this misperception by failing to address the question of Israel in its survey of Muslim public opinion, suggesting implicitly that the topic is too explosive to include.
However, there is evidence of nuanced opinion in Muslim-majority societies vis-à-vis Palestinian peace with Israel. Just one example is that over 70 percent of the audience at the Doha Debate on April 1, 2008 passed the motion, "This House believes the Palestinians risk becoming their own worst enemy." Data from the Annual Arab Public Opinion Poll also suggest that Muslims are far from monolithic when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To be sure, the data continue to show high levels of general hostility and distrust of Israel. For instance, when asked to name countries that they believe are a great threat, 95 percent mention Israel. Still, 52 percent support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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