The FINANCIAL — Georgia is 11 times larger than the State of Palestine (based on its 1967 borders) and has almost the same population size of Gaza and the West Bank only ( there are approximately 6 million Palestinian refugees living outside these territories). Georgia is a bit richer in terms of GDP (nominal or PPP) and both have experienced substantial turbulence over the centuries, with borders constantly shifting and territory currently illegally occupied by neighbors.
There is another similarity between the two – neither of the countries’ populations really has a good understanding of what is going on in the other country. This wasn’t always the case. I clearly recall the near constant Soviet media propaganda against Israel and heavily biased media towards Palestine, where Moscow supported a host of national liberation movements. But that was over 25 years ago. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Georgian media – heavily consumed with domestic issues – seemed to completely avoid the Israeli-Palestine conflict. It is difficult to remember a single analysis, even a poor quality one, in the Georgian mainstream media.
Among many interesting issues in the region, developments in the Middle East are somewhat of a black hole for the Georgian public. What we hear from the region is often limited to casualty figures among Georgian troops serving in Afghanistan, or the radius and capabilities of Zelzal and Shahab missiles when presidents are elected in Iran. One can only hope that by contributing a company-size army unit to the EU peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, the Georgian media would feel encouraged to inform the public about a few facts about Africa and in particular about the background of the conflict, rather than simply the mission’s strategic implications, symbolic or otherwise, vis-a-vis Georgia’s EU membership aspirations. This might be wishful thinking, and for now, let’s focus on what the populations of former Soviet region think about Palestine.
Overall, surveyed countries revealed net positive ratings towards Palestine
These countries have shared many historic moments for tens of years. The legacy of Soviet propaganda has undoubtedly influenced public opinion, and public attitudes towards Palestine are no exception. The data was collected as part of a global poll on Anti-Semitism, known as ADL 100; GORBI has supervised data collection in most of the post-Soviet countries.
The highest net positive rating (the percentage favorable minus the percentage unfavorable) among post-Soviet residents was found in Ukraine (48%) and the lowest in Armenia (2%). Around one if five surveyed respondents in Moldova, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia had also positive feelings towards Palestine. The poll also found that one third of the surveyed population among post-Soviet republics could not rate Palestine and 21% had positive feelings.
Attitudes towards different religion
The ex-Soviet countries surveyed have predominately Christian populations, with the exception of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, and not surprisingly positive attitudes towards Christianity are dominant. While feelings towards different religions vary country by country, Azerbaijan and Armenia are clearly different in terms of positively assessing religions other than those that are dominant in their own countries. The survey revealed that Armenians have negative net feelings towards Muslims and Azeris have negative attitudes towards Buddhists. Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia also negative view Muslims, with 43, 13 and 8 points respectively.
Overall, Georgians enjoy positive feelings towards the “people of the book” and have comparatively lower views of Hindus and Buddhists.
Of the 11 countries surveyed in the post Soviet territory, the top three countries with most tolerance (average of net ratings towards 5 religions) are Kazakhstan (86 points), Ukraine (83 points) and Russia (70 points) and Georgia, which lagged behind a bit with 68 points. The top three countries with the least tolerant attitudes are Azerbaijan (34), Armenia (35) and Latvia (38).
The Anti-Defamation League commissioned First International Resources to research attitudes and opinions toward Jews in more than 100 countries around the world. Fieldwork and data collection for this global public opinion project were conducted and coordinated by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research. GORBI is proud to be responsible for data collection in most of the ex-Soviet countries. All interviews were conducted between July 2013 and February 2014.
As a regional hub for partner organizations and international clients since 2003, GORBI is the only Georgian member of the Gallup International research network to have over two decades of experience in survey research in post-Soviet Union countries, as well as Mongolia and Iraq.
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