Haaretz Supports Barack Obama In U.S. Election

With four days to go until the U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama has won the support of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

In an editorial published on Friday, the left-leaning newspaper argued that "Obama is good for Israel" and that there is no reason for portraying the president in a negative light.

The outcome of the elections will be determined by the voters' decision as to which of the two candidates is good for America. But if any of them are vacillating in their vote over whether Obama has been a good president for Israel, the answer is yes.

Although Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to favor Romney, Haaretz evaluated Obama's presidency positively, arguing that relations between the countries' armed forces have never been closer, while Obama has also kept the pressure on Iran.

Indeed, one would hope the realization of Romney's wishes would further advance Washington-Jerusalem relations, in the tradition of all recent U.S. administrations, both Republican and Democrat. But a deeper examination of the core issues comprising the two countries' relations - devoid of political and personal interests - reveals no grounds for portraying Obama in a negative light.

Yet it remains unclear if Haaretz's endorsement reflects the opinion of a wider range of the Israeli population. Reuters reports that a survey released by Tel Aviv University last Sunday indicated that Israeli Jews favored Mitt Romney by a 3 to 1 margin.

According to iVoteIsrael, an organization that tries to make voting out of the country easier, most Americans living in Israel have already voted for Mitt Romney. The Guardian writes that according to the survey, 85 percent of the 80,000 Americans living in Israel who registered to vote through the organization choose the Republican candidate. Democrats Abroad Israel denied the findings, the Guardian adds, and called the poll "slanted and extremely partial."

During his campaign, Mitt Romney has tried to portray himself as a stronger ally to Israel than Obama , Reuters explains. During last week's foreign policy debate, however, both candidates vowed to support the Israeli state and reiterated that Israel is America's closest ally in the Middle East.

"Any change would probably be a question of style over substance," Reuters concludes.