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Survey: 60% of American Jews Support Establishment of Palestinian State

A Palestinian flag hangs on a tent at the protest encampment at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag hangs on a tent at the protest encampment at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Survey: 60% of American Jews Support Establishment of Palestinian State

A Palestinian flag hangs on a tent at the protest encampment at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)
A Palestinian flag hangs on a tent at the protest encampment at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, on May 1, 2024. (AFP)

About 60% of American Jews support the establishment of a Palestinian state, found a survey by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs last week.

The survey showed that American Jews are affected by the growing differences between their government and Israel, and therefore, share views that differ from Israeli public.

About 52% of the 511 American Jews surveyed by the Center regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict said they supported US President Joe Biden’s decision to potentially withhold arms shipments to Israel if it continued its offensive in the Rafah border.

Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf, the head of the team of researchers that conducted the survey, said approximately 33% of respondents agreed with the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, including 13% who said they strongly agree.

He noted that in the aftermath of the Israeli army’s entry into the Rafah border area and Biden’s announcement of a potential arms embargo should Israel continue its offensive into Rafah, the Center noticed a great deal of activity both in the media and on the American streets.

The survey aims mainly to highlight the views of American Jews on a number of subjects and how they may have been influenced by events in Israel, Gaza, and in the United States, Mansdorf said.

Its results indicate a general feeling of apprehension and concern for the future of American Jewry.

Despite a significant awareness of the complex situation, there is a notable suspicion and skepticism towards Israel and the actions of its government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also, support for Israel remains robust but conditional. About a quarter indicated unconditional support, while another quarter supported Israel but not the current Israeli government.

Mansdorf explained that although a third of the respondents increased their support for Israel as a result of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at universities, a quarter indicated that their support for Israel had decreased.

Meanwhile, 28% of the respondents expressed great concern about their future or their family's future as Americans Jews in light of events unfolding on US campuses. Furthermore, 13% expressed little concern, while only 8% expressed no concern at all.

The survey also shed light on the attitude of American Jews towards the upcoming US elections. It said 26% of respondents said they were closer to Biden while only 13% indicated that they would abstain from voting. Despite the arms embargo on Israel, Biden is still absolutely ahead of other Jewish competitors in the United States, the survey showed.

Mansdorf said American Jews are also concerned about personal relationships with non-Jews, which had reportedly deteriorated since the onset of anti-Israel demonstrations in the US.

Most respondents said they experienced negative impacts in their relationships with non-Jewish neighbors, friends, and colleagues as a result of the war and demonstrations.

When considering voting for progressive candidates like Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar over a moderate Republican, 26% of respondents said they would, with 13% abstaining and a similar amount expressing indecisiveness.

Also, the survey showed that Biden enjoys substantial support for re-election, leading former US President Donald Trump by a wide margin (52-11).

While support for a two-state solution to end the Palestinian-Israel conflict is declining among Israeli public opinion, the support among US Jews is rising, the survey revealed.

It said 12% of respondents back a totally independent Palestinian state with no conditions attached, 24% support a totally independent Palestinian state that must recognize Israel as a Jewish state, while 25% said an independent state for Palestinians must be demilitarized and accept Israel as a Jewish state.

It then showed that 16% support a confederation between Israel and a Palestinian entity with negotiated security arrangements while 5% said they are against any form of Palestinian state.

Mansdorf concluded that the survey highlights a community in flux, grappling with its traditional liberal values and evolving perspectives on Israel.

While support for Israel remains strong, it is increasingly conditional, reflecting a shift in how American Jewry relates to the current Israeli government and the broader conflict, the survey said.

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As It Attacks Iran's Nuclear Program, Israel Maintains Ambiguity about Its Own

FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
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As It Attacks Iran's Nuclear Program, Israel Maintains Ambiguity about Its Own

FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)
FILE - This file image made from a video aired Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, by Israeli television station Channel 10, shows what the television station claims is Israel's nuclear facility in the southern Israeli town of Dimona, the first detailed video of the site ever shown to the public. (Channel 10 via AP, File)

Israel says it is determined to destroy Iran’s nuclear program because its archenemy's furtive efforts to build an atomic weapon are a threat to its existence.

What’s not-so-secret is that for decades Israel has been believed to be the Middle East’s only nation with nuclear weapons, even though its leaders have refused to confirm or deny their existence, The Associated Press said.

Israel's ambiguity has enabled it to bolster its deterrence against Iran and other enemies, experts say, without triggering a regional nuclear arms race or inviting preemptive attacks.

Israel is one of just five countries that aren’t party to a global nuclear nonproliferation treaty. That relieves it of international pressure to disarm, or even to allow inspectors to scrutinize its facilities.

Critics in Iran and elsewhere have accused Western countries of hypocrisy for keeping strict tabs on Iran's nuclear program — which its leaders insist is only for peaceful purposes — while effectively giving Israel's suspected arsenal a free pass.

On Sunday, the US military struck three nuclear sites in Iran, inserting itself into Israel’s effort to destroy Iran’s program.

Here's a closer look at Israel's nuclear program:

A history of nuclear ambiguity Israel opened its Negev Nuclear Research Center in the remote desert city of Dimona in 1958, under the country's first leader, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. He believed the tiny fledgling country surrounded by hostile neighbors needed nuclear deterrence as an extra measure of security. Some historians say they were meant to be used only in case of emergency, as a last resort.

After it opened, Israel kept the work at Dimona hidden for a decade, telling United States’ officials it was a textile factory, according to a 2022 article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an academic journal.

Relying on plutonium produced at Dimona, Israel has had the ability to fire nuclear warheads since the early 1970s, according to that article, co-authored by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project with the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a researcher at the same organization.

Israel's policy of ambiguity suffered a major setback in 1986, when Dimona’s activities were exposed by a former technician at the site, Mordechai Vanunu. He provided photographs and descriptions of the reactor to The Sunday Times of London.

Vanunu served 18 years in prison for treason, and is not allowed to meet with foreigners or leave the country.

ISRAEL POSSESSES DOZENS OF NUCLEAR WARHEADS, EXPERTS SAY

Experts estimate Israel has between 80 and 200 nuclear warheads, although they say the lower end of that range is more likely.

Israel also has stockpiled as much as 1,110 kilograms (2,425 pounds) of plutonium, potentially enough to make 277 nuclear weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organization. It has six submarines believed to be capable of launching nuclear cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles believed to be capable of launching a nuclear warhead up to 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles), the organization says.

Germany has supplied all of the submarines to Israel, which are docked in the northern city of Haifa, according to the article by Kristensen and Korda.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST POSE RISKS

In the Middle East, where conflicts abound, governments are often unstable, and regional alliances are often shifting, nuclear proliferation is particularly dangerous, said Or Rabinowitz, a scholar at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and a visiting associate professor at Stanford University.

“When nuclear armed states are at war, the world always takes notice because we don’t like it when nuclear arsenals ... are available for decision makers,” she said.

Rabinowitz says Israel's military leaders could consider deploying a nuclear weapon if they found themselves facing an extreme threat, such as a weapon of mass destruction being used against them.

Three countries other than Israel have refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: India, Pakistan and South Sudan. North Korea has withdrawn. Iran has signed the treaty, but it was censured last week, shortly before Israel launched its operation, by the UN's nuclear watchdog — a day before Israel attacked — for violating its obligations.

Israel's policy of ambiguity has helped it evade greater scrutiny, said Susie Snyder at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a group that works to promote adherence to the UN treaty.

Its policy has also shined a light on the failure of Western countries to rein in nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, she said.

They “prefer not to be reminded of their own complicity,” she said.