A majority of Israelis believe that Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton will be the better president for Israel.

In a survey carried out just before Pesach by TNS polling company for Israel's Channel One, 42 per cent of respondents said that Mrs Clinton was preferable, while 34 per cent said that the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump would be better. Some 24 per cent had no clear preference.

Interestingly, when asked which candidate would work better with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the numbers were different, with 42 per cent of Israelis saying it would be Mr Trump and only 32 per cent believing Mrs Clinton would get along better with Mr Netanyahu.

Both main presidential candidates have, of course, met Mr Netanyahu in the past. Mrs Clinton has spoken of having a good but "complicated" relationship with the prime minister while she was State Secretary during Barack Obama's first term, and that she was often "the designated yeller" in meetings where the two sides disagreed over issues such as settlement-building.

However, she has also said that as president, her first foreign policy action would be to invite Mr Netanyahu to meet her at the White House.

Mr Trump also claims to be a friend of the Israeli prime minister, but he also said recently that he was disappointed when a planned meeting in Jerusalem was put off following his remarks on preventing Muslims from immigrating to the United States.

In recent weeks, the Netanyahu-supporting daily freesheet, Yisrael Ha'yom, has run admiring reports on Mr Trump. Yisrael Ha'yom is financed by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who is close to Mr Netanyahu.