New York Jewish Week’s James Besser on the Gallup poll showing only 53 percent of US Democrats have a favorable view of Israel:
Talk to a a random sample of Jewish leaders, and in private, at least, most will lament what they say is a growing detachment from Israel among American Jews, especially younger ones.
Maybe the Democrats aren’t as gung-ho about Israel, or at least the current Israeli government, but nobody’s saying Israel’s aid should be cut off, a Democratic president isn’t pounding Israel with a diplomatic sledgehammer, so what’s the big deal? Where’s the crisis? Absent a crisis, maybe the growing gap in attitudes about Israel just isn’t much of a factor to many Jewish voters.
Maybe the widening gap between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to support for Israel, combined with the continuing Democratic voting behavior of most Jews, reflects something that spells bigger trouble for Israel: most American Jews just aren’t that involved in the issue.
Mirroring the widening gap between Democrats and Republicans on Israel is the widening gap between pro-Israel activists in the Jewish community, a relatively small minority, and rank-and-file Jews who care about Israel, but don’t make it their highest priority. If I was a Jewish Democratic leader, I’d be worried; there’s no way to spin theser numbers as good for their side. If I was the leader of a single-issue pro-Israel group, I’d be a lot more worried.
