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NY state voters split on aid to Israel, poll finds, in shift from November
(New York Jewish Week) — Voters in New York state are split on whether the United States should provide aid to Israel, according to a recent poll, a shift from the weeks following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
A Siena College survey published on Monday found that 45% of the state’s voters are opposed to providing further military or economic aid to Israel, while 43% support it, with the remainder either on the fence or declining to answer.
That’s a shift from a November survey of New York state voters by Siena, taken roughly a month after Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel launched the current war. That survey found that 51% were in favor of aid to Israel while 37% were against.
In this week’s poll, few subgroups supported aid to Israel. Slim majorities of suburban respondents and those 55 and older backed the aid, along with 75% of Jewish respondents. Among Jews, 18% oppose aid to Israel.
Positions on aid did not diverge sharply along party lines, though Republicans were slightly more supportive. Among Democrats, 47% were against aid to Israel and 43% were in favor, while 43% of independents oppose aid and 38% support it. Among Republicans, 46% supported aid and 44% opposed it.
The poll queried 807 New York state voters between January 14-17, and had a margin of error of 4.5%. Margins of error for the subgroups were slightly higher.
The poll also appeared to show a drop in support for aid to Israel among denizens of New York City in particular. A poll by Quinnipiac University last month found that residents of the five boroughs were split, with 46% opposed to sending military aid to Israel, and 45% in favor.
But in this week’s Siena poll, 53% of the city’s residents opposed aid to Israel and 35% supported it.
Subgroups of younger voters, and those with lower incomes, were also less supportive of aid to Israel. In addition, half of white voters supported aid to Israel, while 40% opposed it. Thirty percent of both Black and Latino voters supported the aid, with 56% and 46% of those groups, respectively, in opposition.
The survey also asked about aid to Ukraine, which proved slightly more popular, with half of voters in favor and 40% against. On that issue, there were wider partisan gaps: 63% of Democrats supported more military and economic aid to Ukraine, compared to 26% of Republicans.
Ukraine aid was more popular than aid to Israel among all racial and age groups except Jews, who were still largely supportive of it at 70%.
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The post NY state voters split on aid to Israel, poll finds, in shift from November appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.