Many American Jews sharply disapprove of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with 61 percent saying Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 saying the regime is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians, according to a Washington Post poll.
The findings are striking given the long-standing ties between the US Jewish community and Israel, suggesting the potential for a historic breach over the Gaza war.
American Jews are particularly unhappy with the current Israeli cabinet. Sixty-eight percent give negative marks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership of Israel, with 48 percent rating it “poor” — a 20-percentage-point jump from a Pew Research Center poll five years ago.
The Gaza war has also torn apart the population of Israel itself, with tens of thousands of Zionists regularly taking to the streets to protest policies that are isolating the country globally. Many Zionists say Netanyahu is prolonging the war for his own political benefit, hoping to postpone his corruption trial and an inquiry into the security failures of Oct. 7.
The growing divide between American Jews and Israel may have consequences for US politics as well. Top Democrats, including Jewish lawmakers, are far more critical of Israel than in the past, and they arguably face less risk of a backlash from Jewish voters deeply skeptical of Netanyahu.
Max Parke, 38, a software engineer in Brooklyn, said the fastest way to improve conditions in Gaza is for the US to restrict aid to Israel or impose conditions on it.
“Jewish principles would say we need to respect everyone’s humanity,” he said. “In Israel, that is not the case; it privileges Jewishness in countless policies, without following actual Jewish principles.”
MNA/
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