U.S. policy in the Middle East has been so problematic because policymakers refuse to consider its impact on the Arab people. With Israel, it’s a different story. Over-attentiveness to Israeli concerns and a lack of sensitivity to Arab reaction to our actions has caused deep fractures between Arabs and the U.S. and within the Arab World.

Since 2000, we’ve conducted over 50 multi-nation opinion polls on a variety of topics, exploring Arab attitudes toward other Arabs, the U.S., China, Russia, Iran and Israel, and toward conflicts in the region.

Our work indicates that U.S. policies are clearly headed for disaster — not only for the U.S. and its stated goals, but also, and more importantly, for the Arab people.

Some observations based on the trend lines from our surveys:

• After 9/11, President Bush famously claimed, “They hate us because they hate our values.” Our 2002 polling found the opposite: Arabs liked American people, products, education and values, but strongly disliked U.S. policies toward the Arab world.

Bush’s Iraq war and neglect of Palestinians further lowered U.S. ratings. They rose with Obama’s promise of change but fell when he didn’t deliver. Attitudes further plummeted with Trump’s pro-Israel, anti-Muslim policies.

By late 2023, our most recent multi-nation poll showed Biden’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza generating even stronger negatives. Worse still, President Trump’s U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran and his assault on America’s most respected elements — universities, press freedom and immigration policy — likely make it increasingly difficult for Arabs to like American values.

• Arab attitudes toward Iran have followed a consistent pattern. When perceiving that Iran was under attack for resisting the U.S. and the West, many Arabs supported it. But when Iran directly meddled in Arab countries, opinion flipped. Iran’s direct involvement in Syria’s civil war turned majorities in most Arab countries against Iran.

It’s reasonable to assume that U.S./Israel attacks on Iran and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Syria won Iran some sympathy in Arab public opinion. However, instead of seeking Arab support, Iran deliberately attacked its Arab Gulf neighbors — the very countries trying to restore relationships with Iran. Gulf opinion has likely turned against Iran. How much intra-Arab friction has resulted is uncertain.

• Support for Palestinians has long been a central Arab concern, with peacemaking with Israel of little interest even in countries with signed peace agreements with Israel. As Israeli repression of Palestinians intensified and visionless Palestinian leadership fractured, Arab opinion shifted. In 2019, a significant number said it might be desirable to make peace with Israel, even if Israel didn’t accept the Arab Peace Initiative. Many said it might stem the violence and give Arabs more leverage to convince Israel to grant Palestinian rights.

Repeating this question in September 2023, we’d completed half of the questionnaires by October 7, when Hamas attacked. We interrupted the survey and returned a few weeks later to complete it. The changes were significant. Before October 7, responses were similar to 2019, but by the end of October, reacting to Israel’s assault on Gaza, attitudes shifted dramatically against any deal with Israel. Three years later, one can assume this hasn’t changed.

In 2024 and 2025, we polled in the Occupied Lands three times — with disturbing results. Israeli policy had discredited the Palestinian Authority, weakening its ability to govern. West Bank respondents had turned against the PA, now preferring Hamas. In Gaza, Hamas was deeply disliked, with a strong plurality preferring the PA. Few in the West Bank and Gaza supported the U.S., Israeli, or international governance, but preferred Palestinian unity.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to lay waste to Gaza, runs roughshod over the West Bank and East Jerusalem and rejects any role for the PA in Gaza. As the situation further unravels, the U.S. ignores Palestinian wishes and Israeli misdeeds.

• In Lebanon, when Hezbollah was seen as resisting Israel, it found favor, especially since Israel frequently bombed Lebanon and occupied Lebanese land for decades until 2000. However, when in 2008 Hezbollah turned its weapons against the state and in 2019 against the popular revolt, Lebanese opinion divided along sectarian lines. Our polling before 2023 showed that most Lebanese wanted Hezbollah disarmed or controlled by the Lebanese army. But Israel’s recent assault on Lebanon, bombing throughout the country, forced expulsion of one million Lebanese from the south, destruction of homes, farmlands and entire villages, and explicit intention to annex a large territory has likely restored some support for Hezbollah and exacerbated internal sectarian tensions, while turning more Lebanese against Israel and the U.S.

In this light, U.S. efforts to pressure the Lebanese government to forcibly disarm Hezbollah and make a peace agreement with Israel is dangerous for Lebanon’s stability.

– Dr. James Zogby is the founder and president of the Washington based Arab American Institute (AAI).