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

Hosted by
Devin Scillian, Channel 4 Anchor
at
The Zekelman Holocaust Center

28123 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills

“The Final Solution.”
It was meant to
exterminate an entire
race of people, people
like Rita Smilovitz,
mother of Bernie Smilovitz,
sports anchor - Channel 4.

RSVP by
Tuesday
May 10 to

chaim2gen@
gmail.com

Please join CHAIM for a Conversation

with Bernie Smilovitz!

Follow us on Facebook: CHAIM-Children of Holocaust-Survivors Association in Michigan

Attendance
is free
but space
is limited.

Children of Holocaust
Survivors in Michigan