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Iran: Americans' public attitudes shifting on apartheid Israel

Sunday, 30 April 2023 10:35 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 30 April 2023 11:28 AM ]

Israeli policemen detain a Palestinian man at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound following an attack on worshipers during the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in al-Quds, on April 5, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

Iran has highlighted a “tangible change” in the American public opinion on the apartheid nature of Israel, citing a recent US poll that shows declining support for the usurping entity in the United States.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks in a series of tweets on Sunday, days after a University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll found that 44 percent of Democrats and 20 percent of Republicans believe Israel is a “state with segregation similar to apartheid.”

“A look at public opinions in the US – the godfather of the fake Israeli regime – and the latest comments and opinion polls indicate a tangible change in attitudes towards the apartheid nature of this regime,” he said.

In the survey, conducted from 27 March to 5 April 2023 among 1,203 respondents, 41 percent of Democrats said they support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The BDS movement seeks to challenge Israel’s decades-long occupation and abuses of Palestinian human rights through boycotts similar to the successful boycott campaigns of apartheid South Africa.

“Certainly, there will be more surprising results about the nature and existence of the fake Israeli regime in the case of expanded free speech against the Zionists, the United States’ freedom from the grip of the Zionist lobby, and further extensive and independent surveys of the American people,” the senior diplomat said.

“The US public and the elites have the right to seek an answer to the question why the US administrations sacrifice the interests of their people and those of the so-called ‘allied’ countries and nations for the sake of the usurping, apartheid, undemocratic and decaying Zionist regime.”

The survey comes amid heightened tensions between the far-right Israeli cabinet led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government of US President Joe Biden.

“It is clear that public attitudes about Israel are shifting. The term ‘apartheid’ appears to have become a common term among many Americans, especially Democrats,” said Shibley Telhami, director of the Critical Issues Poll at the University of Maryland.

“And even the BDS movement, which has faced considerable obstacles in the American mainstream, seems to have sizable support among Democrats who expressed their opinion.”

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