David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel in the first Trump administration, told Newsmax on Thursday he is deeply troubled by new polling that shows American support for Israel eroding nearly two years after Iran-backed Hamas launched its brutal October 2023 terrorist attack.
According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, 60% of U.S. voters now disapprove of sending additional U.S. military aid to Israel. Meanwhile, a Reuters survey found that 58% of Americans believe all United Nations member states should recognize a Palestinian state.
Friedman told "Finnerty" such figures reflect the cumulative effect of a year-long wave of distorted and misleading media coverage.
"They're very disturbing, and I think they're the result of an avalanche of negative media that has been hitting Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship for more than a year," Friedman said. "It is the logical outgrowth of all the news that's been out there, that's been really unfair, fitting a very untrue narrative."
Friedman welcomed a finding from a Harvard-Harris poll released Monday showing that most Americans blame Hamas, not Israel, for humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. But he warned that misinformation still drives perceptions. As an example, he cited a New York Times front-page photo of a child described as starving in Gaza, when Friedman said the child suffered from a genetic disease unrelated to malnutrition.
Although the Times issued a correction, he said the damage had been done.
"When you publish a picture of a starving child, it's going to move people," he said. "You'd have to be incredibly callous not to care. But when that's not the truth, when it gets buried in a tiny retraction, the false narrative has already shaped public opinion."
Friedman noted that Israel has issued its own detailed report rejecting claims of famine in Gaza and accusing humanitarian groups of manipulating data. Yet, he argued, once images are circulated, they continue to shift sentiment against Israel regardless of the facts.
"It's those pictures designed to change the narrative and manipulate how people think," Friedman said. "And it's having its effect, unfortunately."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.