According to a poll conducted for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem earlier this month and released today, only 12 percent of Israelis see US President Barack Obama as supportive of Israel. 40 percent said the president was more supportive to the Palestinians.

Interestingly enough, the same poll when given to Palestinians in the West Bank saw 64 percent saying that Obama’s policy is more supportive of Israelis. The seeming disconnect likely comes from the fact that while President Obama has harshly criticized Israel over settlements in the West Bank he has made no efforts to press the matter when rebuffed.

Israelis, on the other hand, are unused to a US president publicly criticizing them at all, and with other polls showing Israelis firmly behind Prime Minister Netanyahu in resisting the US calls to freeze settlement construction, it is unsurprising that they have characterized Obama as less supportive.

Yet in recent days, Israel has rejected new construction in the West Bank, which Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman characterized as a de facto settlement freeze. He insisted, however, that the government would not “tolerate” its own decision to freeze construction for long.

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