NEW YORK: Jewish Americans feel they have a lot at stake in this month\u2019s contentious elections in Israel as three years of Mideast conflicts rile up emotions across the United States, from street protests to the midterm races.<\/p>\n
But they are sharply divided along political, religious and often generational lines on the preferred outcome in a vote that\u2019s perceived as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and held against the backdrop of the enduring trauma of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, which triggered the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s supporters, especially among Orthodox Jews, believe he\u2019s protecting a country they love as central to their identity. Many liberal and younger Jewish Americans believe his policies have harmed Israel\u2019s global standing, engendering widespread anger that threatens them in the US, too.<\/p>\n
The moment is particularly fraught as antisemitism and antisemitic violence grow. Even harsh critics of Netanyahu\u2019s actions, whether over Gaza or Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, argue that blame for attacks against Jews can\u2019t solely be laid at his feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of American Jews are really torn. They want to shout from the rooftops, \u2018Stop the pogroms in the West Bank,\u2019 but also yell at everybody, \u2018Stop with allegations of genocide and double standards against Israel,\u2019\u201d said Rabbi Dan Levin of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, Florida.<\/p>\n
Israel is important to Jewish Americans\u2019 identity<\/p>\n
Levin\u2019s large Reform synagogue is one of many across the US hosting educational programs this fall because congregants feel \u201cdeeply emotionally invested\u201d in the Israeli elections, even if, as non-citizens, they can\u2019t vote.<\/p>\n
Under Israel\u2019s complex, multiparty political system, the Oct. 27 election outcome is impossible to forecast. Polls suggest a tight race between a Netanyahu-led bloc and an alliance of rivals for control of the government.<\/p>\n
Many Jewish Americans have Israeli friends and family. More broadly, support for Israel is a key component of the religious identity of many US Jewish adults ages 45 and older, particularly those who identify as religiously Jewish, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.<\/p>\n
The largest Jewish denomination in the United States is Reform, which emphasizes progressive values. Many Reform Jews see no contradiction between their liberalism and their Zionism \u2014 understood as the Jewish people\u2019s aspiration \u201cto live as a free people in our land,\u201d said Rabbi Josh Weinberg of the Union for Reform Judaism, an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform synagogues in North America.<\/p>\n
But they worry about the growing power of the ultra-Orthodox in Israel\u2019s political and religious life, as well as settlement policies and the treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank, that they perceive as contrary to their values, Weinberg added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Netanyahu wins, I worry very much about the young generation of American Jews who may continue to be, I\u2019ll put it nicely, disenchanted, and who might just say \u2018OK, that\u2019s it. I\u2019m giving up on Israel,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Only about 4 in 10 religious Jewish adults under 45 in the United States say that supporting Israel is \u201cextremely\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d important for their Jewish identity, prioritizing instead other forms of connection, like celebrating Jewish holidays, according to the AP-NORC poll.<\/p>\n
Antisemitism is a key concern<\/p>\n
In the same poll, a majority of Jewish adults said prejudice against Jewish people is an \u201cextremely\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d serious problem in the United States today.<\/p>\n
As the Israeli elections approach, many communities are worrying about their effects on antisemitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome American Jews believe a different style of prime minister, one more similar to earlier ones who constantly talked about the desire for peace, will change the way American Jews themselves are viewed,\u201d said Jonathan Sarna, professor emeritus of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.<\/p>\n
Even Netanyahu critics, however, don\u2019t believe antisemitic acts would stop if Israel changes its government, especially when outrage at his administration\u2019s actions toward Palestinians is used to incite violence against all Jews regardless of nationality or political leanings.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018There is only one solution, intifada revolution\u2019 \u2014 we hear that as a call to rise up and use violence against Jews,\u201d Weinberg said of a popular protest chant referring to the violent Palestinian uprising. \u201cSo when someone says that in Ramallah, that\u2019s one thing. When someone says that in Minneapolis, what exactly are they calling for? That seems pretty clearly to us antisemitic.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some think different Israeli policies would help stem the tide.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody who decides that they\u2019re going to drive a car into a synagogue or attack Jews on the street, that is their responsibility. You can\u2019t blame that on Israel\u2019s actions,\u201d said Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T\u2019ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization. \u201cBut \u2026 I think that it\u2019s going to be a very scary time for Jews around the world if there\u2019s another Netanyahu government and if it continues on its policy of expanding occupation, ethnic cleansing, and forever war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stanley Weinstein, an Orthodox Jew from Florida, rejects much of the criticism of the Israeli military and policymaking, especially given the threats the state faces from militant groups like Hamas in Gaza as well as in other conflicts that keep simmering despite tenuous ceasefires, including in Lebanon and with Iran.<\/p>\n
Weinstein sees Israel\u2019s security as crucial, especially given the rise in anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric among left- and right-wing American political figures that he has observed even from his home in the diverse and vibrant Jewish community of Miami Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am appalled as an American. I am appalled as a Jew. And I say, thank God there is an Israel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, Trump and close elections with unity at stake<\/p>\n
For Jewish Americans, Israel also looms large in the US midterms \u2014 when voters decide who controls Congress for the next two years. The Nov. 3 elections come a week after Israelis go to their polls.<\/p>\n
From New York City to Michigan and beyond, support for Palestinians, and withdrawal of US aid to Israel, are rising issues among Democratic voters.<\/p>\n
Both the Israeli and US elections could affect the two countries\u2019 longstanding alliance. It has been particularly close \u2014 though not without recent strains, especially over the joint Iran war \u2014 under the Trump and Netanyahu administrations.<\/p>\n
Even as some Israeli policies have become controversial in the United States, among American Jews there is still substantial support for the state of Israel, said Jason Isaacson, chief policy officer for the American Jewish Committee, a prominent advocacy group that strives to broadly represent Jews in the US and abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is strong support for the continuation of the US-Israel relationship and for the necessity of Israel\u2019s survival,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Regardless of their faith and politics, some Jewish Americans are most concerned about the prospect of further divisions driven by Israel\u2019s elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis may be the most consequential election in modern Israeli history, because the nature of the current administration is so fraught with division that it\u2019s ripping the people apart,\u201d said Levin, the Reform rabbi in Boca Raton.<\/p>\n
Weinstein, the Orthodox congregant in Miami Beach, believes Netanyahu has been doing \u201ca terrific job.\u201d But he shares the same worry for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest issue in Israel today, which doesn\u2019t exist, is unity. To me, that is what is at stake,\u201d he said. \u201cIs there a way to unify the country, unify the people?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK: Jewish Americans feel they have a lot at stake in this month\u2019s contentious elections in Israel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,85,46,8581,43,196883],"class_list":["post-649378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-antisemitism","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jewish-community","tag-news","tag-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}