Sympathy for Israel has seen an unprecedented growth in India, where the Jewish state enjoys the highest level of support.
Amid burgeoning defence and trade ties, sympathy for Israel has also seen an unprecedented growth in India, where the Jewish state enjoys the highest level of support, pushing the United States to the second position, according to a study.
The study commissioned by Israel's foreign ministry and conducted by an international market research company has shown that 58 per cent of Indians are sympathetic towards Israel, compared to 56 per cent in the US, daily Yediot Ahronoth reported.
The study was undertaken as part of the "Branding Israel" project and aimed at looking into Israel's international stature at what researchers characterised as the world's 13 most important countries, including the US, Canada, Britain, France, China and Russia.
Other countries that showed significant sympathy towards Israel included Russia (52 per cent), Mexico (52 per cent), and China (50 per cent).
While Britain (34 per cent), France (27 per cent) and Spain (23 per cent) emerged as the least sympathetic countries towards the Jewish state.
The participants in the study were asked a series of questions and were instructed to grade their level of sympathy for Israel on a 1 to 10 scale.
The same participants were later presented with several 'branding videos' on Israel before being asked more questions in order to see whether their opinions changed after watching the clips, the daily said.
The videos focussed on many aspects of life in Israel, including the beaches, landscape, culture, food, technology, and religious sites.
The study showed that a total of 51 per cent of the respondents said that their views about Israel changed for the better after watching the videos.
The percentage of respondents who perceived Israel as an aggressive state is said to have subsequently dropped to 21 from 35 per cent while the percentage of respondents who perceived Israel as a creative country rose from 24 to 40 per cent after watching the clips.
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