Fifty-nine percent of German residents agree with the expression, “Israel is foreign to me,” according to a poll by the German Forsa Institute conducted on behalf of the Welt newspaper on Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, among Germans aged between 30 and 44, seventy per cent of respondents consider Israel to be foreign to them. The poll also found that 57 per cent of Germans believe Israel pursues “its interests without regard for other peoples.”
Welt claimed that in October, 51 per cent of those polled held the same view.
Only 35 per cent of respondents agree with the statement that Israel “respects human rights.” The newspaper reported that the figure was 37 per cent in October.
Just 9% believe that Israel “has no right to exist in the Middle East,” up from 6% in October.
Immediately after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 44% of Germans stated that Germany had “a special obligation towards Israel.” In December, however, that figure dropped 7 percentage points to 37%.
13% of German respondents are convinced that Jews are responsible for “most of the wars and conflicts in the world.”
