An overwhelming majority of Israelis would support America leading an international consortium of air forces in a military strike on Iran if sanctions and diplomatic talks do not work, according to a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post.

The results of the poll were announced by Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde at the Jerusalem Post Conference Sunday in New York. The poll of 500 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult population in Israel was taken last week and had a had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

The poll found that 72% would back an international strike, while just 14% would oppose it, and 14% did not express an opinion.

When asked whether they supported Israel taking action if the US declined, support was much lower. Only 45% said they would back an Israeli strike, 40% opposed it, and 15% had no opinion.

Israelis who identified themselves as right-wing and religious were more likely to support an Israeli strike on Iran. Support for such an attack is wider among people over 50 than people under 30.

Responding to the poll at the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said: “The results reflect a common sense shared by the Israeli people that since Iran is a threat to the entire international community, this threat should be removed by the international community led by the US. However since we have witnessed through past and recent history that the international community response is not always effective nor timely, we should keep all options available to us, since no one will take better care of our security and national interests than ourselves.”

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said he did not know whether Israel should attack Iran, but he said: “It is legal. I would support it and defend it.”

In other results from the poll, 24 percent said US President Barack Obama’s administrations is more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian, 24% said it was more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, and 36% called it neutral. Sixteen percent did not express an opinion.

The Likud would win more than twice as many mandates as any other party if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advanced the next general election.

Likud would win 31 seats, followed by Labor and Israel Beiteinu with 15, Kadima 13, former journalist Yair Lapid’s new Atid Party 11, Shas eight, United Torah Judaism six, National Union four, and Habayit Hayehudi and Meretz three. The three Arab parties together would win 11 mandates.

Altogether, the Right-Center bloc would win 67 seats and the Left-Center bloc 53. The split in the current Knesset is 65-55.

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