The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned an American polling firm to perform a sweeping battery of surveys and focus groups, coupled with message-testing, aimed at rehabilitating Israel’s image in both the United States and Europe. The work remains ongoing, but a preliminary report from the firm was leaked to Drop Site News by a source with direct access to it.

The work is being performed by Stagwell Global, a firm founded by notorious political operative Mark Penn, who serves as the company’s chairman and CEO. Penn donated $100,000 to AIPAC after October 7, 2023, and his ties to Likud date back to his work on Menachem Begin’s 1981 campaign for prime minister. Stagwell is also on the verge of getting a no-bid contract from the Trump administration to study American attitudes toward vaccines. (...)

In the U.S. and Germany, the two countries where the public remains relatively supportive of Israel, according to the survey, the respondents also believe that Israel’s campaign has been far less deadly than it has in reality. The median response in the U.S. and Denmark estimating the number killed by Israel was just 10,000—as opposed to the 30,000 and 40,000 death toll estimated in France and Spain, respectively. The current confirmed death toll, certainly an undercount, is over 64,000, though the surveys took place over the past year or so.

That gap in perception versus reality suggests that attitudes toward Israel have not hit their floor.

Israel’s best tactic to combat this, according to the study, is to foment fear of “Radical Islam” and “Jihadism,” which remain high, the research finds. By highlighting Israeli support for women’s rights and gay rights while elevating concerns that Hamas wants to “destroy all Jews and spread Jihadism,” Israeli support rebounded by an average of over 20 points in each country. “Especially once the situation in Gaza is resolved, the room for growth in all countries is very significant,” the report concludes.

Stagwell tested fear of “Radical Islam” and found overwhelming majorities in Europe and the United States cited it as a “threat”: (...)