Israel second only to Iran in negative image worldwide, according to the results of a BBC poll released Wednesday. 54% of those polled viewed Iran negatively, and 52% viewed Israel negatively.
The poll did not address the question of why so many people have strong feelings about the state of Israel, although it may have something to do with Israel's 40-year long occupation of all of historical Palestine, and the disenfranchisement and forced removal of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians for the creation of the state of Israel 60 years ago.
The poll's creators did, however, speculate on the reason why Iran is viewed so negatively: that nation's attempts to gain nuclear power. Although it is unclear whether the speculation was merely conjecture on the part of the pollsters, or was actually a question in the poll.
The BBC conducted the survey in 34 countries around the world, with 17,000 participants.
