Wednesday August 10, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

According to the latest poll Israelis are split almost 60-40 on the Gaza Redeployment issue.
57% of Israelis support withdrawing from Gaza
37% of Israelis oppose it
23% of those who oppose believe that the withdrawal will be considered a victory for the terrorists.

Surprised? Given the press coverage surrounding the Gaza withdrawal, most people probably are. But they should not be. These poll numbers have been pretty stable over the past 4 months.

Why the skewed assumption and perception? Because the media loves to focus on extremists - better pictures, better sound bites, better ratings and larger readership. Resisters are loud, boisterous, colorful, they grab headlines. They speak in exaggerated terms and they threaten gross responses.

But it does not change the reality on the ground.
A clear majority of Israelis support the Gaza Redeployment.