Americans’ views of eight important Middle East countries were fairly stable over the past year, after a decade that saw shifts in several of their ratings, a Gallup poll released Tuesday sowed. About seven in 10 Americans view Israel favorably – making Israel the only positively viewed Middle East country of those Gallup tested.

Less than half of the Americans asked view Egypt favorably, and only a third have a favorable view of Saudi Arabia. Less than 20% have a favorable view of the remaining five, including Libya, the Palestinian Authority, Iraq, Syria, and Iran.

These results are based on Gallup’s 2014 World Affairs poll, conducted Feb. 6-9. Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll measures Americans’ views on a variety of foreign policy issues, as well as the favorable and unfavorable images of a number of countries. The poll was initiated in 2001 and is updated each February.

At 13%, Syria’s minimal U.S. favorable rating is similar to what it was a year ago, but down slightly from 2012, continuing a gradual slide in that country’s image since 2005.

However, Iran’s position in American public opinion has been improving, in response to the massive propaganda brainwashing of the media. As the U.S. and other world powers are engaged in high-level talks with Iran over its nuclear program, never mind the results, Gallup finds little change in the overall percentage viewing Iran favorably, remaining near 85%, but there has been a decline in the percentage viewing Iran very unfavorably, now at 42%, down from 52% in 2012.

No doubt about it, fewer Americans fear and hate Iran this year. It makes for a great slogan: Iran – you don’t hate us so much any more.

The poll shows some differences among different age groups’ view of the Middle East, with young adults aged 18 to 34 holding somewhat more positive views of some Arab countries than do adults 55 and older. This applies to Libya, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority.

It’s also clear that older Americans have more favorable views of Israel, while there is no difference by age in views of Saudi Arabia.

Libya and Egypt, the two “Arab Spring” countries, receive positive evaluations from the youngest Americans. The older folks – not so much.

The Golan Heights “divides the good from the bad,” meaning Iran, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday during a visit to the region along with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.

“On the day when talks between the major powers and Iran are being opened in Vienna, it is important that the world sees the pictures from this place, which divides the good that is in the world from the bad,” the Prime Minister said.

“The good part is that Israel is saving the lives of those who have been wounded in the daily slaughter that is being perpetrated in Syria,” he continued. “This is the true face of Israel. The bad part is that Iran is arming those who are carrying out the slaughter. This is the true face of Iran.

“All of the children who have been injured, to say nothing of those who have been killed, were injured as a result of Iran’s arming, financing and training the Assad regime in the massacres that it is perpetrating. From here, I would like to tell the world, today, as the talks between the major powers and Iran are being resumed, that Iran has changed neither its aggressive policy nor its brutal character. Iran is continuing to support the Assad regime which is slaughtering its own people.”

Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, cited the lateness of American actions against the Nazis in critiquing President Obama’s foreign policy.

In a speech Monday to the Virginia Military Institute, Cantor (R-Va.), who is Jewish, described leading a congressional delegation recently to Auschwitz to mark the 69th anniversary of the Nazi death camp’s liberation.

“Standing there as the frigid wind swept through the eerily quiet ruins of the camp, I could not help but regret that American action in World War II came too late to save countless millions of innocent lives,” he said.

“Hitler’s rise and conquest of Europe did not come as a surprise. We must not repeat the same mistake by reducing our preparedness, accepting the notion that we are one of many or ceding global leadership to others.”

Cantor said that “evil and hateful ideologies still exist in the world,” citing as perhaps the most evident Iran’s “determined march” to produce nuclear weapons.

“I can imagine few more destabilizing moments in world history than Iran on the threshold of being a nuclear power,” he said.

Cantor called on the United States to prepare for additional sanctions to counter what he said was the erosion of Iran’s isolation through its participation in international talks aimed at keeping it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“An America that leads is an America that must work to restore the badly eroded international pressure on Tehran,” he said. “We should lay the groundwork now for additional sanctions in the event Iran violates the terms of the interim agreement.”

The Obama administration has said that the removal of a number of sanctions ahead of the talks has not diminished a tough sanctions regime. It has opposed new sanctions while talks are underway, saying that unilateral U.S. sanctions could fracture the international alliance that has nudged Iran to the talks.

Greek authorities have intercepted arms shipments apparently sent by an unnamed Israeli and intended for Iran, in violation of international sanctions, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.

Greek officials, working together with the American Homeland Security Investigations agency, uncovered two shipments of spare parts for F4 Phantom jets in December 2012 and again in April 2013, according to the newspaper, which claimed to have a copy of the investigation report.

A Greek court ordered the shipments confiscated and transferred to the Americans. The shipment reportedly originated in the Israeli town of Binyamina-Giv’at Ada, east of Haifa, and was sent via a Greek company based in Athens.

Investigators from the drugs and weapons unit of Greece’s Financial Crimes Squad determined the company was a ghost company, Kathimerini reported.

The firm was registered by a British national from the northern city of Thessaloniki who could not be traced.

The White House on Wednesday confirmed that President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet on March 3 and added that the Prime Minister’s visit “is a demonstration of the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and Israel, and our close consultations on a range of security issues.”

That was White House press secretary Jay Carney’s way of stating that Obama is ready to beat Netanyahu over the head to come up with a deal with the Palestinian Authority if he wants the United States to get serious over Iran’s nuclear weapons development.

President Obama also will be meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II this Friday. A meeting Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is also scheduled in the near future as tensions grows towards the supposed end of  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s nine-month peace talk program.

Netanyahu will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention next month. He told the Likud Beitenu faction in the Knesset earlier this week that his visit to the United States will focus on Iran, the Palm, Israeli technology and tourism.

Iran reportedly will allow the United Nations to investigate possible military uses for the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

The agreement reported by news services on Sunday was among seven accords made by Iran during meetings with the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The talks began Saturday.

Iran reportedly also agreed to provide information and access to a uranium mine, a nuclear yellowcake plant and a laser center, as well as answer questions about the Arak heavy water reactor.

Press TV, the Iranian state television network, reported Sunday that Iran and the IAEA released a joint statement reviewing progress on an agreement struck three months ago.

The negotiations are separate from Iran’s talks with the United States and other world powers, which are set to restart on Feb. 18.

Under an interim plan first agreed to in November with the world powers, Iran reportedly has frozen most of its nuclear enrichment capability, including not installing or starting up additional centrifuges or using next-generation centrifuges.

In return, the world powers have provided Iran with some economic sanctions relief. Under the deal, Iran will continue to enrich uranium up to 5 percent.

The interim deal is for six months as Iran and the world powers work to negotiate a final deal.

During a visit to Iran last week, Jibril Rajoub called for a return to armed resistance against Israel if Kerry’s peace talks fail, according to a report in Makor Rishon.

Armed Resistance is a euphemism for suicide bombers and other terror attacks, and Rajoub is one of the Palestinian Authority’s strongmen, as well as the current deputy chief of the Fatah (PLO) Central Committee.

During his visit, Rajoub met with the Iranian foreign minister Mohamad Juar Zarif.

The meeting signifies an end to the freeze between the Palestinian Authority and Iran that went on for many years.

On an “Al Alam” Iranian TV interview, Rajoub said that if the talks failed, “returning to armed resistance would be a good strategy for the Palestinians.” While the PA ambassador to Iran made sure to mention that the talks have reached a dead end.

No one from the Palestinian Authority denounced Rajoub’s pronouncements of renewed terror attacks, while Hamas responded and said the statement was a welcome positive change, and Islamic Jihad said they hoped [Palestinian Authority Prime Minister] Abu Mazen would visit Iran soon.

Abu Mazen released an official statement that, “It’s understood how important the renewal of ties with Iran are for the Palestinian nation.”

Israel has expressed concern that if a “Palestinian State” were to be created, they would immediately sign treaties with Israel’s enemies, such as Iran, and bring Iran onto the Israeli border.

It doesn’t look like they’re waiting for a state to do that.

President Barack Obama will fly to Saudi Arabia next month in an effort to repair a deteriorating relationship following his failure to significantly improve ties in his 2011 trip to Riyadh and in the wake of differences over relations with Egypt, Iran and Syria.

Obama will visit the Vatican on the same junket, as well as the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy.

The White House did not specifically include the Palestinian Authority as being on the agenda of issues the president will discuss with King Abdullah.

White House press secretary Jay Carney tried to make the scheduled visit seem like a routine trip, a “part of regular consultations.” He added, “The president looks forward to discussing with King Abdullah the enduring and strategic ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia as well as ongoing cooperation to advance a range of common interests related to Gulf and regional security, peace in the Middle East, countering violent extremism, and other issues of prosperity and security.”

“Peace in the Middle East” probably refers to much more violent situations than the Palestinian Authority-Israel argument, The Wall Street Journal reported. For starters, there is the Muslim civil war in Syria, with the Sunni sect, backed by Saudi Arabia, against the Iranian-backed Shi’ites.

There is not lack of work for the Obama administration if it wants to get along better with Saudi Arabia, which was extremely unhappy with President Barack Obama’s backing the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, who was replaced by a violent military regime that was succeeded by a violent Muslim Brotherhood regime, which was in turn succeeded by another violent military regime.

Saudi Arabia was upset at Obama’s appeasement of Iran and his about-face on the idea of using military force to help Syrian rebels.

The Obama administration also has lost some influence in Egypt, where Saudi Arabia has stepped in to help the current military regime deal with the crippled economy.

Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia in 2011 did little to calm the monarchy anger over the American support to get rid of Mubarak, implicitly backing Arab Spring unrest.

Obama called for changes in attitudes in the Middle East, and that is the last thing Saudi officials want to see in its own country.