LONDON, March 7. /TASS/. Negative attitudes towards the United States in Middle Eastern countries have reached a record-high level amid Washington's support for Israel’s ongoing military operation against radical Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, The Financial Times (FT) reports, citing data from the Arab Opinion Index.

According to an opinion poll conducted among more than 8,000 respondents in 16 countries across the region, as many as 76% of those polled said that their attitude toward the United States had become "more negative." This translates into a loss of confidence in the United States across a wide swath of people in the Arab world, the pollsters surmised.

The anti-American sentiment has manifested itself in consumer boycotts of US brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s, by Arab youth. Many of them have abandoned plans to earn degrees at US universities or build careers at US companies.

The FT cited a Western diplomat serving in the Middle East as saying that the current outburst of anger toward the West and the United States in particular is much worse than in 2003 when the US and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

According to Dana El Kurd of the Arab Center Washington, the West’s war has dealt a serious blow to Western values and the democracy-related discourse across the region.