While a vast majority of American Jews feel comfortable with President Obama and hold his policies in high regard, a majority of Israelis don’t yet know what to make of his plans regarding Israel. A newly released survey commissioned by Bar-Ilan University’s BESA center and the Anti Defamation League found that:

While 60 percent of the respondents in the survey said they had either a “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable” opinion of Obama, and 14% said their attitude toward him was unfavorable, only 32% of the respondents said they approved of Obama’s policies toward Israel, and 21% said they disapproved. Fully 47%, however, had no answer regarding those policies, an indication that people were still forming an opinion.

The poll was taken in advance of a conference on U.S.-Israel relations to be held at Bar-Ilan later this week (I’ll be speaking at this event on the question: Does the Democratic Majority have a problem with Israel?). And while it clearly shows that Israelis were not immune to American and international enthusiasm for Obama’s electoral victory, they do make a distinction between admiring his achievements and worrying about his future policies.

While in a similar poll taken last year, 73% of Israelis said “that President Bush’s attitude towards Israel is friendly,” the number willing to say the same of President Obama is much-much smaller (38%). So — “Is there a threat to Israel from the United States under Barack Obama?” Israelis aren’t exactly screaming “no.” They do hold fairly strong and negative opinions of Obama’s prospective policies:

51% do not believe that the U.S. should hold direct talks with Iran (32% support such talks).

63% believe that American “reconciliation with the Muslim and Arab world” will come at “Israel’s expense.”

Only 5% have a “great deal of confidence” in Obama’s ability “to make the right decisions” regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (32% have “some” confidence, 37% “little” or “very little” confidence).

Israel’s president Shimon Peres is supposed to relay these concerns — toned down, of course — to Obama in a conversation today. But at least on Iran, Peres’s message is predictable: if you must talk, talk. But Israelis are getting restless. As Eric noted, nearly 66% said in the poll that they’ll support an Israeli attack on Iran, and 75%of those who support a strike will not flinch even if the Obama administration were to oppose such a move.