4 | MAY 5 • 2022 

for openers
Of Pain And Suffering 
H

amlet bemoaned suffering the 
“slings and arrows of outrageous 
fortune.” Many of us, it would 
seem, could easily share his feelings as we 
note the references to bodily 
discomfort we make in our 
daily conversations.
If you know of an inci-
dent where someone has 
done you wrong, you have 
experienced dealing with a 
back stabber. When hear-
ing of bad news, you may 
respond, “Oh, my aching back.”
Admit it; you do feel good know-
ing that you are a “sight for sore eyes.” 
However, if you overstay a welcome, you 
may become a pain in the neck (or a bit 
lower down).

You never want your 
actions to reflect badly 
— giving you a black eye. 
It is truly a kick in the teeth 
to learn that someone in the 
family has become a royal pain. 
That might even put your nose out 
of joint.
No one likes to pay through the nose, 
but be careful not to put your foot in your 
mouth when complaining when those 
who are in control are within earshot. 
They may turn a deaf ear or give you a 
slap on the wrist.
Are you a practical joker? Then you 
may have to twist someone’s arm to go 
along with your gag until the one being 
fooled realizes that you are pulling his 
leg. Such antics are usually a result of 

growing pains and not meant to really 
give someone a pain.
Not invited to the latest open house 
given by your cousin’s brother’s latest 
girlfriend? Well, just take it on the chin; 
not all such omissions are deliberate 
slights.
If all this talk of discomfort has left 
you weak in the knees, please know that 
I share your pain and will just limp along 
until my next brainstorm. 

Sy Manello 
Editorial 
Assistant

PURELY COMMENTARY

column
Israel Retains High
Favorability in U.S.
A

ccording to the 
February annu-
al Gallup poll of 
country favorability, 71% of 
Americans accord Israel a 
“very favorable” and “most-
ly favorable” 
rating. This 
matches Israel’s 
average favor-
ability since 
2013, compared 
to 58% in 2002, 
71% in 2012, 
69% in 2019 and 
75% in February 2021. Israel’s 
all-time high favorability was 
in February 1991 (79%) in 
the aftermath of the January-
February Iraqi Scud missiles 
striking Tel Aviv.
Israel is ranked seventh 
among countries rated by 

Gallup, trailing Canada, 
Britain, France, Japan, 
Germany and India. However, 
none of these countries has 
been targeted — as has Israel 
— for daily criticism by the 
U.S. State Department (which 
fiercely opposed Israel’s estab-
lishment in 1948), the United 
Nations, the New York Times, 
the Washington Post, the Los 
Angeles Times, CNN, MSNBC 
and many of the political and 
social-science departments on 
North American campuses.
While Israel is consid-
ered favorably by 71% of 
Americans, the Palestinian 
Authority earned a meager 
27% favorability rating, at 
the bottom of the favorability 
scale along with Cuba, 40%; 
Pakistan, 21%; China, 20% (an 

all-time low); Libya, 19%; Iraq, 
16%; Iran, 13%; Afghanistan, 
12%; Russia, 12%; and North 
Korea, 10%.
Furthermore, Israel has 
retained a high level of favor-
ability among all three major 
U.S. political groups: 63% of 
(mostly moderate) Democrats, 
71% of Independents and 81% 
of Republicans. At the same 
time, the Palestinian Authority 
received a 38% favorability 
rating among Democrats, 29% 
among Independents and 14% 

among Republicans.
The 2022 Gallup poll reflects 
the unique bottom-up phe-
nomenon of the U.S. attitude 
toward Israel, which is largely 
determined by the U.S. con-
stituency’s traditional affinity 
toward the Jewish state, con-
trary to the top-down phe-
nomenon of U.S. policy toward 
other foreign countries, which 
is generally determined by the 
White House and the State 
Department.

Yoram 
Ettinger
JNS

continued on page 10

Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7pm

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