Statements by Senior

Embassy Officials

Distinguished American
Speaker Series

Distinguished American Speaker Prof. Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland -- July 10, 2009

Professor Shibley Telhami addressed a high-level Israeli audience of academics, researchers and public opinion experts on the topic “Arab Public Attitudes Towards the United States and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in the Obama Era: Findings of the 2009 Public Opinion Poll.” His talk was based mainly on his polling from April and May 2009 in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.  Dr. Telhami explained how his annual polls in the Arab world, conducted over the past decade, track attitudes over time.  This poll, the first since President Obama’s election and immediately preceding the Cairo speech, found that attitudes towards the United States and towards President Obama had improved compared to the highly negative attitudes towards the U.S. and President George W. Bush over the past several years.    This was Prof. Telhami’s second appearance in the Distinguished American Speaker series.

Following is a link to the 2009 Annual Arab Public Opinion Survey

Prof. Telhami addresses his audience on Arab public attitudes towards the Arab Israeli Conflict. (U.S. Embassy photo by Matty Stern)	Ambassador and Mrs. Cunningham welcome Prof. Telhami (U.S. Embassy photo by Matty Stern)