World Map (illustration)
World Map (illustration)iStock

Forty-seven out of fifty-four surveyed countries have a positive view of the State of Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The Prime Minister, who also serves as Acting Foreign Minister, told the committee that the Foreign Ministry was conducting “an Internet survey that we are carrying out in 54 different countries on all six continents. We see a change there, where Israel’s assets are very much in demand.”

Netanyahu said that the survey showed that the populations of several Arab and Muslim nations were beginning to have a positive view of Israel. "Almost all of them, 50 countries, see Israel as a strong country with assets. 47 of the 54 countries, including Arab countries, want to tighten links with Israel.”

According to the survey, 50% of respondents from Sudan supported public or secret contacts with the Israel. In addition, 43% of respondents in Morocco, 42% of respondents in the United Arab Emirates, 32% of respondents in Lebanon, 30% of respondents in Saudi Arabia, and 30% of respondents in Iran, Israel's arch-rival, favor closer ties with the Jewish state.

The survey found that residents of China wished for greater trade with Israel, while residents of Russia and the Ukraine seek to benefit from Israeli medicine and technology.

"When we move from the level of governments to that of publics [we see] that this is happening, and you will soon see the data, [that] there is a change here. I would say that it is a very welcome change which, in my opinion, contains within itself the greatest blessing and the greatest hope, especially in the changes that we are beginning to see in the Arab world, which are truly unprecedented. It could be that there is hope here for a new way that will, in the end, bear fruit for us regarding peace,” Netanyahu told the committee.