What do American Jews really think when it comes to Israel and the best way for the US to engage in the Middle East?
The past few weeks have featured high drama, political posturing, and intensive speculation on what recent events mean for US-Israel relations and American politics.
J Street decided to inject facts into the discussion and commissioned a new poll to find out what American Jews are actually thinking about the Obama Administration's efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
What we found was impressive -- our community's support for a strong U.S. role in the peace process and for the Obama administration remains strong and stable
http://www.jstreet.org/page/new-poll-of-american-jews-views-israelI've also pasted some key takeaways below.
These facts should help drive the debate, as well as challenge some of Washington's outdated conventional wisdom on American Jews and Israel.
You're the key to these important results getting into the mainstream political debate. So, after you checked out the results, I hope you'll forward this message on to your friends and family or post on Facebook or Twitter.
Some Key Takeaways From J Street's March 2010 Polling of American Jews
There is solid support in the Jewish community for J Street's position that peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a core Israeli and American interest and that the United States should take an active leadership role in achieving peace.
American Jews by a four-to-one margin, 82-18 percent, support the United States playing an active role in helping the parties to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, with 73 percent of American Jews supporting this active role even if it means that the United States were to publicly state its disagreements with both the Israelis and the Arabs.
* By a 71-29 percent margin, American Jews support the United States "exerting pressure" on both the Israelis and the Arabs to make the necessary compromises to achieve peace. An earlier J Street poll last March found a similar level of support.
A majority of all American Jews, 52-48 percent, still support an active role even if the United States were to publicly state its disagreements with only Israel. American Jews are evenly split on support for exerting pressure on only Israel, a notion that J Street opposes.
60 percent of American Jews believe Israel's announcement of new housing in East Jerusalem caused damage to U.S.-Israel relations, and 55 percent say the United States was right to strongly criticize the Israeli announcement of new housing in East Jerusalem during Vice President Biden's visit.
American Jews agree that the United States should speak out publicly when it disagrees with Israel, yet some do show discomfort when the United States publicly disagrees only with Israel.
44 percent agree that the United States should publicly express our disagreements and request Israel to change certain policies, while 40 percent say the U.S. should keep such disagreements private.
42 percent say that ending the conflict requires the United States to serve as an honest broker and state our disagreements with both Israelis and Palestinians when it is necessary, while 39 percent say public criticism of Israel sends the wrong message to Israel's enemies.
53 percent say the relationship between the U.S. and Israel must be a two-way street that allows an honest public discussion and even criticism, while 47 percent say the Obama administration should work closely with Israel, make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines, and defuse tensions.
Obama's approval in the Jewish community is holding steady at 62 percent. Gallup reported a 64 percent approval rating in an October 2009 poll. Obama's approval rating among Jews is 15 points higher than among all Americans (47 percent) according to a Gallup poll conducted during the same period.
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