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American Jewry in Transition? How Attitudes toward Israel May Be Shifting

(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf - The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has been researching the attitudes of Jewish-Americans for the past two years. We may now be seeing a trend in Jewish-American attitudes that represents a narrower definition of "support" for Israel. Our latest series of data shows moderately strong but less than enthusiastic overall support for Israel. We found mild-moderate but clear expressions of "sympathy" for the Palestinians. There is deep concern over anti-Semitism, dissociated from concern over anti-Israel attitudes. At the same time, there is a lack of serious concern for anti-Semitism from the left-progressive elements of society. Despite some concerns, there is a willingness to associate with possibly anti-Israel movements. Overall, there is a general endorsement of issues associated with liberal or progressive thinking. Israel-related issues are not a deciding or "make or break" factor in the voting behavior of a significant portion of our Jewish-American sample. There is considerable support for Black Lives Matter protests, despite awareness and concern that the BLM movement may lead to an increase in anti-Israel attitudes. However, we found a marked reduction for being personally willing to support "affirmative action"-type initiatives. We also found a less marked reduction in support for defunding police and paying reparations to Black-American institutions. The writer is a fellow at the Jerusalem Center specializing in political psychology.
2020-07-23 00:00:00
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