Thursday, January 1, 2009

Is the Tide Slowly Turning?

The readers of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the FAZ, are mostly conservative, but their paper is the most important in the country. Today the paper has an online poll, asking if the Israeli operation is justified or not. I've been watching it for a few hours, and the numbers have inched slightly in the wrong direction, but as I write 72.58% of the responders justify Israel, and 1.3% think Israel is right but over-reacting. (1.41% think things are too complicated to tell). Fewer than a quarter (24.71% at the moment) blame Israel for blocking peace initiatives.

Such polls never have statistical significance, since the participants are not chosen randomly, but it's interesting to note that about 130,000 people have responded; since it's a German publication, it's unlikely that Israeli or American Jews have piled in to ensure the result they want.

Is it possible that a decade of the Islamist War Against Mankind is beginning to make an impression? I don't know, but if so, better many years too late than never.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've just voted on the online poll for the second time, because I wanted to check. The poll let's you, so I am afraid the positive outcome is due to a rather smaller number of Israel friends who were asked by mail yesterday or the day before yesterday to vote. It would have been really nice but I think it is a not yet
look at the first video linked in this post - I think this is closer to what's happening
http://www.achgut.com/dadgdx/index.php/dadgd/article/dortmund_immer_wieder_dortmund/
OK these are benighted Turkish Germans - still ...
rgds,
Silke

Anonymous said...

Silke, maybe it depends on the browser whether double voting works? Yesterday, I was successful with Safari, but not with I.E.

Anyway: According to a poll on Al Jazera, about 70 % agreed yesterday that Israel's actions against Gaza are justified.

The other day, I came across some war protestors. I could not resitst to ask one of them where he and his friends had been when Sderot was bombed in the last seven years. He said he had not been really aware of that. When asked about his suggestions what Israel should do, he could not come up with something Israel has not tried already. Neither could he say why there are never any protests against the fact that billions of foreign aid money does not get to the ordinary people in Gaza, while the clan chiefs live in luxury, or why the Gazans not protest against their failing government themselves. The poor fellow looked so irritated that I almost felt sorry for him. – Of course I do not think that I made him change his mind. But maybe he will start to check what he reads in his "How the Palestinians are suffering" newsletters. One day. Who knows.

Anonymous said...

Oops, sorry, the anonymous above is Judith. And sorry for the rant to our host.
Judith

Anonymous said...

http://www.faz.net/s/RubCF3AEB154CE64960822FA5429A182360/Doc~EFC156A4F34C446BDB31FA4296B785B37~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

They got suspicious themselves and found out about an Israeli working in Geneva, who wrote an eMail asking for support on the poll.