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The upcoming presidential election will not only affect the citizens of the United States but also the citizens of Israel. And according to Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, they are concerned.

Hoffman said the candidate elected to be the next American president “will be in charge of deciding a lot of Israel’s future, at least for the next four years.” Speaking at the University of Wisconsin campus Wednesday, he said Israelis have been paying close attention to what is happening with the 2008 presidential election.

Lee’at Bachar, campus representative of MASA Israel, the group sponsoring the event, said with all of the groups promoting different information to students about the election, MASA wanted to add another “voice to the noise” and give students one more thing to think about. She said it is important for students to know about what happened and to also think about what could happen in the future.

“We’ve seen how Israel has become a very big issue in this campaign; that only inflates the Israeli ego,” said Hoffman, who is called by some the most optimistic man in Israel. “In the last debate they mentioned Israel back and forth but they did not mention China. … It just makes us think even more that we are at the center of the universe.”

He added while most polls taken in the U.S. show Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama leading the race, the results of the Israeli polls are much different.

“When it was still a three-candidate race, Hillary Clinton won by a landslide,” Hoffman said. “That had to do mostly with the fact that she was the most well-known out of the three candidates, but it also had to do with statements that she made about obliterating Iran single-handedly.”

But now, Republican presidential nominee John McCain leads by 10 percent, compared to the Jewish American population that supports Obama by two-thirds of the vote.

Hoffman said many Israelis favor McCain because of his strong background in security, and Israelis generally favor candidates with strong military backgrounds. Hoffman added McCain’s age would be considered a positive thing because he would most likely be a one-term president, allowing him to focus on his presidency rather than his re-election.

Right-wing Israelis think McCain would continue a hands-off approach to conflict in the Middle East, at which both President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton failed, Hoffman said.

But Israeli opinion of Obama is shifting, Hoffman added. He said they see him as “fresh and vibrant,” and the Hebrew word used to describe him by Israeli pop-stars means maverick in English.

“There are people who think what Israel needs is a kick in the pants to get moving,” Hoffman said, adding they think they would get that from Obama.

He said Israelis listen to what Obama says differently from Americans. To Americans, the word change sounds wonderful, but to Israelis, the thought is terrifying. He said many think it can only be considered a negative change.

Hoffman said Israelis are concerned that whoever wins will be dealing with the challenges of Iran and Palestine, and Israel will be “way down on the list.” Hoffman said he thinks conflict in the Middle East will come up very quickly, though. He said issues of nuclear capabilities in Iran and Palestinian conflicts will be front and center on the platform of the next president.

Hoffman said he hopes whoever wins the upcoming election will be able to bring a better and brighter day to Israel.