What American Jews think: Eight notes

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 2, 2013 | Edit

Eight interesting notes from Pew Research’s Portrait of American Jewry, published on Tuesday.

The most widely reported finding from a Pew survey on American Jewry released yesterday was that American Jews are increasingly secular. Close behind were reports on the number of American Jews who have Christmas trees in their homes.

Below are some interesting tidbits that I found while reading the survey results. (Read the full survey here.)

1. More American Christians (55 percent) than American Jews (40 percent) believe that God gave Israel to the Jewish people.

2. American Jews are more than twice as likely than members of other religions to describe themselves as politically liberal.

3. U.S. Jews are more likely than the general population to believe that a two-state solution is possible (61 and 50 percent, respectively).

4. Half of American Jews (48 percent) think that Israel isn’t making a sincere effort to bring about peace with Palestinians. Eighty-eight percent say Palestinians aren’t making a sincere effort.

5. As American Jews become more educated the more likely they are to say that continued settlement building harms Israel’s security. (Pew didn’t publish data about income, but it’s likely that socio-economic status overlaps with people’s level of education to some extent.)

6. Asked what is the most important problem facing Israel, over 80 percent chose answers that are somehow related to violence, conflict or anti-Semitism. Only five percent answered “criticism of Israel/Palestinian rights” (what Israel likes to describe as ‘delegitimization’). Only three percent — which also happens to be the margin of error — cited a specific diplomatic solution, meaning a one- or two-state solution as the most important problem facing Israel.

7. A majority of American Jews (60 percent) approve of President Obama’s handling of foreign policy vis-à-vis Israel, compared with 41 percent of the general U.S. population who feel the same way.

8. Jews tend to perceive discrimination against minority groups (including against Jews) at higher rates than the general population, with the exception of discrimination against Christian groups. (Good news for the ADL’s fundraising prospects?)

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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