A comprehensive survey conducted in 16 Arab countries, and including 8,000 respondents, men and women, shows to some extent the attitudes in the Arab world towards the war in Gaza and towards Israel and the USA.

The survey was conducted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies) that sits in Qatar and was published yesterday (Wednesday). Among the Arab countries that were surveyed through telephone conversations: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and more.

According to the survey, 67% of respondents believe that the October 7 attack was a "legitimate resistance operation". 19% answered that it was a legitimate action but it was flawed, and 3% answered that it was a legitimate act of resistance but it also included heinous or criminal acts. Only 5% answered that it was an illegitimate action.

35% of those surveyed answered that the reason for the attack carried out by Hamas is the "continuation of the Israeli occupation" of the Palestinian territories; 24% attributed this mainly to the events surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and 8% attributed the attack to the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip.

Also, 77% cited the USA and Israel as the biggest threat to the security and stability of the region (51% saw the USA as the most threatening and 26% attributed this to Israel).

As for the response of the Arab governments towards Israel in order to stop the war in Gaza, 36% responded that they should suspend all relations or normalization processes with Israel, while 14% of them stated that aid should be brought into Gaza even without Israeli approval, and 11% supported the use In oil as a means of pressure on Israel and its allies.

An absolute majority of 89% of respondents oppose recognition of Israel, and only 4% support such recognition. In Saudi Arabia, the number of opponents rose from 38% in the 2022 survey to 68% in the current survey, and significant increases also appeared in Morocco and Sudan.