Poll shows 63% in U.S. backed Israeli attack on Gaza

A majority of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis than the Palestinians during the recent war in the Gaza Strip, according to a CNN opinion poll.

Sixty percent of Americans in the nationwide survey said they were sympathetic toward the Israelis, compared with 17 percent who supported the Palestinians, CNN reported Saturday on its Web site. The poll was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. before the Israeli campaign ended in a cease-fire on Jan. 17.

The results indicate Israel was successful in communicating its view that it had to defend itself against rocket attacks on its territory from the militant Palestinian Hamas organization that controls Gaza and is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union. More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the 22-day war.

The poll showed that 63 percent of Americans felt Israel was justified in taking military action, compared with 30 percent who disagreed. The poll of 1,245 American adults was conducted Jan. 12-15 and had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.