An internal poll conducted by the Israeli Embassy in Germany after Operation Protective Edge discovered views of the Jewish State in the country have reached an unprecedented low.
According to the poll, the majority of Germans said both Israel and Hamas were at fault for the latest round of hostilities. Asked "who was to blame for the violence," eight percent said Israel, 15 percent blamed Hamas, while 53 percent said both parties were responsible.
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which has the highest concentration of Turkish immigrants, gave Israel a particularly low "responsibility rating" – seven percent – which the embassy said was due to wide-reaching pro-Israel activities.
But the embassy staff was more concerned by a different figure: 14 percent of Germans supported the statement that Israel was making every effort to avoid killing civilians, while 18 percent believed Palestinian claims that Israel was intentionally hurting civilians.
The most encouraging figure from the poll was the 49 percent of Germans which agreed with the statement that Hamas supported using civilians as "human shields." According to political sources, the poll highlights a worrying problem for Israel among the local population.