The World Has Made Up Its Mind on Israel

The numbers are stark. Majorities in most of the 36 countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center this spring express an unfavorable view of Israel and little or no confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The findings, drawn from one of the most expansive global attitude surveys Pew has ever conducted on the subject, paint a portrait of a country that has become, for much of the world, a symbol of controversy rather than solidarity.

The survey was conducted between February 8 and May 13, 2026. That timing is not incidental. According to the Kikar Hashabbat report on the findings, the overwhelming majority of interviews were carried out after the United States and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran on February 28, lending the results particular geopolitical weight.

Across all 36 countries polled, 67% of adults hold an unfavorable view of Israel, while only 25% express a positive one. Negative sentiment is most pronounced, predictably, in Muslim-majority nations, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey, as well as among respondents in Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem. Pew noted it was unable to conduct interviews in Gaza.

But the erosion of goodwill is not confined to the Muslim world. In European nations including Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain, roughly half or more of adults say their view of Israel is "very unfavorable." The lone bright spot, relatively speaking, is several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where favorable views remain comparatively high.

The trend line is troubling. Comparing this year's data to 2025 results, unfavorable views of Israel have grown in 13 of the 24 countries for which comparable data exists. In Argentina, the share holding a negative view crossed from a minority, at 46%, to a majority, now at 55%. In Australia, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, and the United Kingdom, the share expressing a "very unfavorable" view rose by double digits. Greece was the only country to register even a modest warming toward Israel, yet even there, just 30% hold a positive view.

A Generational and Ideological Chasm

The data reveals not just where Israel stands globally, but who is driving the shift. In many countries, people on the ideological left and right express vastly different views of Israel. This gap is widest in the United States: 83% of liberals and 37% of conservatives have an unfavorable view of the country. That 46-percentage-point chasm between left and right is one of the starkest partisan divides on any foreign policy question in recent Pew history.

In Australia, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, around nine-in-ten or more on the left have a negative view of Israel.

The generational split is equally pronounced. In Hungary, 72% of adults aged 18 to 34 hold an unfavorable view, compared to 45% among those 50 and older, a gap of 27 percentage points. Similar patterns emerge across North America and Europe, where younger adults are far more likely than their parents and grandparents to view Israel negatively, a trend Pew has been tracking with growing concern over several survey cycles.

Netanyahu's Credibility Problem

The skepticism toward Israel extends directly to its leader. More than half of adults in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the West Bank and East Jerusalem say they have no confidence in Netanyahu at all. Kenya and the Philippines are the only two countries in the survey where a majority expresses confidence in the Israeli prime minister.

Confidence in Netanyahu has fallen in 13 of the 24 comparable countries since 2025. In South Korea, 76% of adults now express no confidence in him, up from 64% the previous year. In Italy, the share expressing complete lack of confidence jumped from 45% in 2025 to 62% today. In roughly half of the countries tracked, the share saying they have no confidence at all, the lowest possible rating, rose by double digits in a single year.

The ideological and generational dynamics that shape views of Israel apply equally to Netanyahu. Left-leaning adults in Australia, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States are at least 25 percentage points more likely than their right-leaning counterparts to say they have zero confidence in him. In Hungary, adults under 35 are 23 points more likely than those over 50 to distrust the Israeli leader entirely.

The survey offers no comfort to those hoping that diplomatic efforts or military outcomes might reverse the trend. If anything, the expansion of the survey from 24 countries in 2025 to 36 this year only broadens the canvas on which Israel's reputational decline is visible — and the picture it reveals is one of a country increasingly isolated in the court of global public opinion.