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July 17, 2008 | 9:04 pm
J Street, the Israel lobbying organization, recently completed a large survey of American Jewish opinions. Matthew Yglesias provides this synopsis of the very, very unsurprising results:
“You’ll see that Jews massively disapprove of George W. Bush in general, and his foreign policy in particular, and his approach to the Middle East in particular particular. Jews are overwhelmingly backing Barack Obama and Democratic congressional candidates. Jews overwhelmingly favor more aggressive US diplomatic involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, clearly believe that only a peace agreement can provide real security for Israel over the long run, and recognize the need for the United States to exert meaningful pressure on both sides to get a deal.“
Why do I say those results do little to shake the senses? To start with, we already knew that, on average, Jews don’t like Bush, and appreciate his Middle East policy even less; that they overwhelmingly support Obama, no matter what you’ve heard to the contrary; and that peace in Israel is essential for the Jewish state’s longevity. The problem is American Jews disagree on how that peace should be achieved, and at what cost.
But, more importantly, the report clearly supports the mission of J Street, which launched a few months back as an Israel lobby for doves. I’m not saying the information is biased or unreliable; it’s just not that interesting. And I apologize for sharing it with you.
Somehow, though, J Street plays this survey data as revealing “a remarkable gap between the attitudes of American Jews and the conventional wisdom about how Jews view America’s role in the Middle East.“ (Phil Weiss also found the data fascinating, but had a much different read than I did: “The figures demonstrate the difficulty J Street is in.“)
Key findings from the press release are after the jump:
® Middle East Peace Is a Core Interest for the U.S. and for Israel: By a 55 to 30 percent margin, Jews believe Middle East peace is a core American interest. When asked whether military superiority alone or a peace agreement with a strong military would provide better security for Israel, Jews favor a peace agreement by a 50 to 34 margin.
® George Bush Not “Best Friend Israel Ever Had”: Sixty-one percent of Jews believe that Israel is less secure as a result of President Bush compared to 25 percent who believe Israel is more secure as a result of his presidency.
® America Should be Assertive in Middle East Diplomacy: The survey finds that American Jews strongly support assertive American diplomacy rather than letting the parties work out the conflict on their own. The survey included an extensive exercise, first asking people whether they support the United States playing an active role in helping the parties resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Initial support for this general statement is 87 percent. Support remained strong even after respondents were asked if they would still support an active role if it meant the U.S. publicly disagreeing with both the Israelis and Arabs or exerting pressure on both parties to make compromises: 75 percent supported public disagreement 70 percent supported the U.S. applying pressure on Israel. “Firm support” – that is, the number of people who supported all three statements – is 66 percent.® American Jews Favor Compromise in Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Jews are very favorably disposed toward the compromises and positions outlined in the 2000 Camp David summit and in other negotiations. Large majorities support negotiating with Israel’s worst enemies (76 percent), withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for full peace like the arrangements with Egypt and Jordan (58 percent) and withdrawal from most of the West Bank (59 percent). Jews overwhelming believe that the Israeli government would not agree to a dangerous peace deal, and 81 percent “will support any agreement the Israelis make with their Arab enemies.”
® Pastor Hagee and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Viewed Very Unfavorably: Pastor Hagee is fairly well-known among Jews (65 percent name identification) and quite disliked (7 percent favorable and 57 percent unfavorable).
® Jews are very wary of military action against Iran. When presented with several statements about the Middle East by a Congressional candidate, respondents were most supportive of someone who says talking with Iran is not appeasement and America should pursue direct diplomacy. Statements invoking military action against Iran test poorly throughout the survey. For example, only 26 percent of respondents were much more likely (and 48 percent total more likely) to support a Congressional candidate arguing that America should support Israel if it preemptively strikes Iran.
® 2008 Election: Jews are more supportive of Barack Obama over John McCain (62 to 32 percent) and the Democrats over the Republicans in Congressional races (69 to 27 percent).
Posted by Brad A. Greenberg in 5 Comments — Leave your comment
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A prime example of junk science, lying with statistics, flimflamming the lazy and ignorant with a phony ‘study’. I’m no admirer of Weiss, but for the wrong reasons this is one of the times he is right.
Jstreet is a fraud, and I promise you that notwithstanding that they consist of a tiny handful of staffers and no supporters, they will never run of money. Certainly cheaper than defeating Israel by force, for whichever enemy of Israel set them up as a false front.
I am an Iranian\Persian, and i only speak for myself when i say this eventhough this is the view held by most Iranians:We have lived happily with Jews for many years, and frankly we do not see them as Jews, we see them as friends as relatives and neighbors.I am a nationalist and i hold Ahmadinejad’s or current Government’s views regarding Israel\Jews as of an Arab view and not truly representative of population of Iran.I also believe that Jews feel the same love towards us Persians as some of them wouldn’t be around if it wouldn’t have been for my fore father Sirus the great, which by the way current Gov of Iran trying to defame as being “not so great”.
I think it’s funny that Pastor Hagee is disliked by the Israeli population that he does everything possible to kiss on the buttocks.
Zionism and the idea that one can “force” the hand of God and his prophecies into reality are as anti-christian as one can get.
The idea that Jews believe that only a peace agreement can provide real security for Israel over the long run does make me uneasy. As a Christian I believe this deal… more specifically a 7 yr deal will be brokered between Israel and the antichrist himself.
As for the Iranian that posted ahead of me, I hope and pray the world will see that comment and understand how wonderful the majority of Iranian people are. Americans need to WAKE UP! Don’t support going to war with a nation because it’s so called “leader”, an ELECTED official (we love democracy right) is running his mouth off.
Let the Iranian people get him out of office the old fashioned way… by voting.
I support Israel and all people willing to co-exist with peaceably with Christians. In the meantime, don’t fall for a man made Armageddon. But know a 7 yr peace deal is a significant signal worthy of much attention.
I thank Jewish Jnl. for running an objective piece on J. Street. I was raised/confirmed a Reform Jew. My father, a hawkish WW.II hero w/bkgrnd similar to McCain, was VERY pro-Zionist. I was raised w concept that if Israel gets screwed so does ea. Jew on planet earth. After seeing the reaction to Jimmy Carter’s book I am beginning to understand that brave soldier’s mentality. When folks start talking Anti-Israel, they soon start chatting Anti-Jew.
I have been a registered Republican for the past 20 years and I resent J. Street telling me that Republican Jewish Coalition spent millions trying to slander Obama, and to link Democratic candidates to Iran. That is ridiculous! Most Republican Jews are not anti-Obama, so much as they are more comfortable with GOP neo-conservatism for lots of reasons beyond foreign policy. J. Street seeks to make it evil to be Jewish Republican and I don’t see how a belief like that can help American Jews. To deny Jews entry into one of 2 major parties does not make sense at all. It can not possibly help Jewish interests. I wonder if J. Street supporters are aware of the large number of Jews placed in high-level positions by Bush? I am not saying it’s something to brag about this year, but it does indicate that Bush at least welcomed Jewish input into his administration.
Out of curiosity, I did attend Christians United for Christ Congress of 2007 and I do support those good Christians. I had expected to meet a bunch of gospel-spouting fanatics and instead I met some very intellegent and sincere people who had many ties to Israel that were not so outlandish. Many of the people I met had inter-marriage in their extended families. They enjoyed their trips to Israel and their church’s educational outreach on Israel. Not so different from you and me. Pastor Hagee is a complex man but I do believe he is sincere. I also believe he has much more to offer than hate and sissy-baiting. His church has raised MILLIONS FOR ISRAEL & Pastor Hagee is unconditional about how Israel spends the money. He has tried, time & again, to explain that he is not pro-war, but rather, cautious about diplomacy with enemies of Israel who tend to lie, and further, the Arabs don’t respect being patronized. They are very difficult people to do traditional diplomacy with. Pastor Hagee has promised that he will accept any policy the Israelie Govt. seeks to pursue. Now, this is a far cry from the way J. Street perceives CUFI. We have Rabbi Yoffie, J. Streets leader making nice to Muslims but he won’t be brotherly towards his evangelical neighbor who is offering the “palm of peace”.
I resent J. Street trying to destroy AIPAC which has been so successful in allowing Israel to thrive. Divide & conquer is what I see going on. I should mention, before closing that I learned, upon visiting J. Street’s FacePlace (or was it MySpace web page?); that J. Street listed members who were under 21. I guess they claim 2,000 members. I wonder how many of these are adults of 21 or over?
It’s a shame that J. Street is not addressing some real legitimate concerns of Reform Jews who are having problems in Israel. There is lots of good work for a Pro-Reform Jewish movement to do, but tampering with AIPAC & name-calling Republican Jews is self defeating.
J Street is one of a number of subversive organizations that put on a Jewish mask to divert attention from their goal and that of their sponsors of undermining and destroying Israel as a Jewish state.