An Interesting Survey of American Jews

Posted on December 17, 2007
Filed Under Jews |

Defusing distrust:

Two-thirds think America should have stayed out of Iraq. Just under a third feels relatively unconnected to Israel, while those who affiliate with Jewish institutions and synagogue life tend to feel much more connected. And 98 percent think anti-Semitism is a problem in the Muslim world.

The first part I highlighted in bold contradicts what the Arab street thinks. The second isn’t surprising.

Asked if, “in the current situation,” they favor the establishment of a Palestinian state, 46% of American Jews say they are in favor, with 43% opposed. Yet when the same poll asked whether the Arabs’ goal was the “return of occupied territories” or the “destruction of Israel,” 82% agreed with the latter description.

Interesting. At least we can be 100% sure that we share one thing. Pessimism.

It’s time for a Michael Jackson song.

Heal the World. :P

Comments

10 Responses to “An Interesting Survey of American Jews”

  1. Howie on December 17th, 2007 6:18 am

    I liked the article because it points up something I think many in the Muslim world do hear much of…

    “We” Jews are no monolith. We don’t agree on much of anything…we are splintered and have everything from Noam Chomsky to Meir Kahane (oh, forget…Egyptian dude murdered him in New York). There IS not “the Jews think” …

    But yes we do pretty much agree on that one issue…and that is the heart of our hesitation, I think highly warranted, about peace with the Palestians or Arabs in general. We don’t trust you or those that we do trust, we pretty much think the others will stomp you into the dust.

    Many centuries have made us rather weary since folks that have power over us have had a nasty habit of ultimately killing us.

    As Raccoon where he got his name…I think he is a metaphor for the entire idea.

    It is not as much about land, messianic visions, God’s promises, hate, love, revenge etc. Those are factors for various sections…but most would agree the bottom line is about security, and nobody in the Muslim would has been able to stand up and win our trust, at least and not live very long to talk about it.

  2. Howie on December 17th, 2007 6:20 am

    Geez I need to proof read before I post…

    Aboot as dumb as a Canadian

  3. Roman Kalik on December 17th, 2007 6:32 am

    I agree with Howie, Jews are an extremely argumentative bunch. Why, the mere act of agreeing with Howie now demands that I shout at him over the next forty comments. But as I am very tired through lack of sleep, we will have to pretend that we’ve already done this particular holy ritual.

  4. Drima on December 17th, 2007 6:48 am

    ““We” Jews are no monolith. We don’t agree on much of anything…we are splintered and have everything from Noam Chomsky to Meir Kahane”

    And this is something I wish many other Muslims will see.

    The Lebanon-Israel war was *the* critical time which flipped my opinions of Jews upside-down. I was reading tons of Jewish blogs then and the opinions expressed certainly weren’t monolithic.

    On one end you had the pacifist types saying stuff like “this is crazy and wrong, why are we bombing Lebanon like this” and on the other end you had Kahane types saying shit like “a Lebanese child before an Israeli soldier”.

    I was shocked! The stereotypical monolithic idea I had about Jews was shattered. It was a turning point in my intellectual development.

    Yaaay to blogs. ;)

  5. Drima on December 17th, 2007 6:52 am

    Oh and of course finally getting to learn a lot about the holocaust from online resources and also reading about Jewish history gave me a good understanding of Jewish Psychology, what I call “the Psychodynamics of the Jewish People”.

    As for future prospects of peace, it’s interesting to see the opinions presented by the poll.

    Question… why are 43% opposed to a Palestinian state? Pessimism? Or the whole typical super religious settler-mentality of “get out, God gave us this land”?

  6. Roman Kalik on December 17th, 2007 11:15 am

    My wager? They either don’t know much about the facts in the field, don’t view Palestinians as a national group, don’t view the founding of such a state as a very safe venture for Israel, or simply don’t give a damn. And then in addition to that, you have the “we got attacked, we conquered it, it’s ours”, which tends to go part and parcel with some of the previous.

  7. Howie on December 17th, 2007 2:57 pm

    To piggyback on RK:

    There is also;

    We gave back Gaza and it was a disaster

    So now we put them even closer to our backyard in the event of conflict

    Who are the Palestianians…where is their government and what is there to keep them stable and hold them to their word…they busily kill each other

    They have never ceased terror or recognized Israel

    They are always one bullet away from a governmental chaos

  8. Noli Irritare Leones » Blog Archive » Blogwatch on December 18th, 2007 4:22 pm

    […] Sudanese blogger Drima remarks on An Interesting Survey of American Jews. […]

  9. Andrew Brehm on December 19th, 2007 9:31 am

    I propose a third partition of Palestine.

    An Arab state in Gaza and an Arab state in Judaea and Samaria. They can both be Jew-free if necessary.

    Gaza’s borders are already set. The other Arab state will be subject to how much Israel is willing to donate.

  10. lirun on December 22nd, 2007 10:25 pm

    those are narrow question - we disagree internally about many more things.. rest assured.. we probably even disagree about how much we disagree.. anything is possible with us.. no its not.. sure.. but maybe..

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