Attitudes of Israels Towards America and American Jews
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jr fÀ7r\ ATTITUDES OF ISRAELIS TOWARDS AMERICA AND AMERICAN JEWS by Hanoeh Smith and The Smith Research Center INSTITUTE ON AMERICAN JEWISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE INTRODUCTION The two largest Jewish communities in the world are those of Israel and the United States. Together they total more than 9 million of an estimated 13 million Jews in the world, approximately 70 percent of the world Jewish population. Over 3,300,000 live in Israel; the rest of the 9 million in the United States - the country considered by Jews everywhere to be Israel's staunchest ally. Jews in Israel and the United States feel very close to one another; but because they live far apart and in different milieus, knowledge of each other's goals, opinions, problems and fears is imperfect. For example, American Jews do not fully understand the intensity of Israeli fears about Arabs, while Israelis tend to underestimate American Jewish concerns about anti-Semitism and other limitations to full Jewish participation in American life. One way to bring these two vital Jewish communities closer together is to examine how American Jews and Israelis feel about a variety of common issues, and to pinpoint areas of agreement and disagreement, understanding and misunderstanding, shared values and differences. Polling representative samples of both communities is an invaluable method of acquiring such information, and the findings can be the basis of ongoing programs to promote mutual respect and understanding. For the first time, under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee's Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, two surveys were conducted simultaneously in Israel and the United States which included, along with questions specific to the inhabitants of each of the two countries, a large number of questions that were identical. The American survey reported under the title, Attitudes of American Jews Toward Israel and Israelis, was conducted by Dr. Steven M. Cohen and included 640 interviews. The details of his survey design are described in the report. The Israeli sample, carried on by Hanoch and Rafi Smith of the Smith Research Center in Jerusalem, was a national probability sample totalling 1018 interviews and representing cities, towns, development towns, kibbutzim and moshavim. The poll was conducted by trained enumerators sent to specified addresses, and all persons interviewed were Jews. Examination of the sample data showed it to be highly representative of the Israeli population with respect to age, sex, country of birth and type of settlement, and even political balance. The field interviews were conducted between June J-15, 1983, and all information was transferred to a computer. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA Two major sub-analyses were made of all the data, differentiating country of origin and present political preference among parties. -2- The country of origin classifications represented a cross of two sub-variables — continent of birth and continent of father's birth, and include: (1) born in Africa or Asia; (2) born in Israel of a father born in Africa or Asia; (3) born in Europe or America; (4) born in Israel of a father born in Europe or America; (5) an Israeli whose father was also born in Israel (third generation plus). The first two classifications — Africa/Asia — comprised about 44 percent of the population aged 18 years or older and were mostly Sephardim. The third and fourth categories — Europe/America were mostly Ashkenazim, while the third generation Israelis, about 6 percent of the voting-age population, were mainly Ashkenazi in earlier origins. It should be stressed that this country-of-origin split is one commonly used in Israel, though it is imperfect regarding Sephardi-Ashkenazi classifications, and makes it possible to separate the population according to major origins while noting the shifting generational differences. The second classification used for analysis was current political preference. No effort was made in this poll to define a specific party of preference; the goal was to distinguish between support for a government coalition party or an opposition party. The coalition parties, headed by the Likud, include all the religious parties, including Tami, the Tehiya party and remnants of the late Moshe Dayan's Telem party. The coalition received 56 percent of all Jewish votes in the June 1981 elections. The opposition, led by the Ma'arach (Labor party), includes Shulamit Aloni's Citizens' Rights, Shinui, Shelli and other opposition parties. In this survey, 43 percent supported the coalition, 37 percent supported the opposition and the remaining 20 percent either were undecided, refused to reveal their political preference or did not wish to express a preference. The difference between coalition and opposition, (6 percent), was much lower than in the 1981 elections, and less than the 9 percent difference found in a Smith Center political poll two weeks earlier. (It should be stressed that party preferences in this survey were less rigorously pressed than in regular political surveys. However, as other recent polls have shown, support for the government coalition has been declining and support for the opposition has been rising since Spring 1983.) « -3- I. VIEWING AMERICA American Support of Israel How similar or different are the views of Israelis and American Jews on subjects related to the American scene? On questions dealing with U.S. support of Israel there is general agreement. When respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed that "U.S. support for Israel is in America's interest," the following results were obtained in the two surveys. Percent Agree Disagree Not Sure U.S. Jews 91 3 6 Israeli Jews 79 13 8 American Jews were practically unanimous in their view that their country's support for Israel is in their country's interest. Interestingly, Israelis also believed this to be so, though a small proportion, (13 percent) did not agree. About 18 percent of third generation Israelis and 16 percent of the Asia/Africa populations, but only 8 percent of the European-origin Israelis, disagreed with th*e proposition. (This European-born Israeli population came closest to attitudes prevailing among American Jews.) Also because Asia/African Jews are more Likud government- oriented than European Jews, opposition supporters tended to agree with the proposition slightly more than did government coalition supporters. At the same time, it should be stressed that neither Israelis nor American Jews are secure in the belief that the U.S. government will always support Israel, as the responses to the following statements demonstrate: "I am worried the U.S. may stop being a firm ally of Israel." Percent Agree Disagree Not Sure U.S. Jews 55 31 14 Israeli Jews 51 43 6 -4- "When it comes to the crunch, few non-Jews will come to Israel's aid in its struggle to survive." Percent Agree Disagree Not Sure U.S. Jews 54 24 22 Israeli Jews 42 38 20 American Jews were a little more worried than Israeli Jews about the firmness of U.S. support for Israel. Within the Israeli sample, the Asia/Africa respondents were more concerned, and their responses more closely approximated the view of U.S. Jews than did those of European Jews. Despite this, however, more opposition supporters were worried on this score than were government coalition supporters. Among the politically undecided voters, the highest percentage, 57 percent, were worried. The difference in views between the communities on the second question is more fundamental. Israeli Jews were fairly evenly divided in their expectation of support from non-Jews for Israel in a crunch, while far fewer American Jews expected non-Jewish support in such a situation. * Within the Israeli community the key differences were not by political preference, but by country of birth. A clear plurality of foreign-born Israelis agreed with the prevalent U.S. Jewish view, but more Israeli-born Jews, by a small percentage, did not agree. Sabras apparently have a more favorable view of non- Jewish support for Israel than do foreign-born Jews. The fact that American Jews are less confident of the support of non-Jews and of their government than Israeli Jews will come up again on other issues. -5- Evaluation of American Groups and Institutions When it comes to assessing key American groups and institutions, assessments of Israelis and American Jews are amazingly similar. For example, both sets of respondents were asked to rank a number of American institutions. "Do you believe each of the several American groups and institutions below is generally friendly, mixed or neutral, generally unfriendly, towards Israel?" Percent Generally Mixed or Generally No Friendly Neutral Unfriendly Impression CONGRESS U.S. Jews 44 44 5 7 Israelis 47 26 7 19 PRESIDENT REAGAN U.S. Jews 33 44 17 6 Israelis 36 36 19 . 9 NEWS MEDIA U.S. Jews 21 51 24 5 Israelis 12 36 38 14 STATE DEPARTMENT U.S. Jews 22 37 33 9 Israelis 20 31 25 24 THE MILITARY U.S. Jews 31 36 19 15 - Israelis 26 15 18 31 There was agreement that Congress is the most favorably disposed American institution, that President Reagan and the military are, on balance, slightly favorable, and that the State Department and the news media are, generally unfavorable. Israeli Jews tend to view the U.S. news media more unfavorably, and the State Department less unfavorably, than do American Jews. -6- Among Israelis, the foreign-born Asian-African group found Congress, President Reagan and the State Department most friendly, though differences among groups are small. There were no large differences in perception among supporters of the different political groupings. Criticism of Israel and Opponents of Israel On questions regarding public criticism of Israel, certain differences in overall outlook between Americans and Israelis emerge, as well as significantly sharp differences among the Israeli sub-groups.