Italy rejects world peace opinion poll
Franco Frattini, foreign minister of Italy and current presidency of the European Union, yesterday rejected the findings of a controversial opinion poll suggesting Europeans considered Israel the biggest threat to world peace.
On Monday, the European Commission published the main findings of the survey – “Iraq and peace in the world” – based on 7,500 responses from 15 EU member states.
The survey found almost 60 percent of respondents named Israel as the main warmonger ahead of North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran.
But Italy said the poll was premised on an ambiguous question.
Respondents were asked: “Tell me if in your opinion [if Israel] presents or not a threat to peace in the world?”
Israel slammed the study, saying Europeans appeared ignorant of the suffering of Israel’s victims.
A statement from the Israeli mission to the EU said it was with “great sadness that we learn that European citizens consider Israel to be the biggest threat to world peace.”
Israel called on EU leaders to reflect on the “emotional gap” which the poll highlighted.
