LONDON: Democrats in the US are sympathizing more with Palestinians than Israelis for the first time since 2001, according to a Gallup poll released on Thursday. 

The survey, based on the most recent update of Gallup’s annual world affairs poll, found that 49 percent sympathized with Palestinians and 38 percent with Israelis. 

Views of Republican voters on the issue were unchanged, with 78 percent of those surveyed sympathizing more with the Israelis, while 11 percent sided with Palestinians. 

Lydia Saad, director of US social research at Gallup, said: “The most consequential changes in public opinion on this question have occurred in the past five years, as support for the Palestinians has ticked up and support for Israel, as well as ambivalence about the conflict, have each declined.

“The escalation of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities over the past year, resulting in a high number of Palestinians killed, could partly explain the most recent shift in Democrats’ perspective.”

Betty McCollum, a member of Congress, expressed the hope that an increasing number of Americans would oppose their government’s complicity in Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians.

She tweeted: “More than ever before, Americans do not want the US to be complicit in Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinian children and families.

“Not $1 of US aid should be used to imprison Palestinian children in military detention facilities, or used to tear down their homes.”