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Jews in the United States and Israel sharply disagree over the creation of an independent Palestinian state, with American Jews heavily in favor of the idea and Israelis much more deeply divided, according to new polls conducted by the Los Angeles Times and Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
American Jews approve of an independent Palestinian state, 68% to 19%. Israelis, by contrast, split, with 44% approving and 49% disapproving, including 34% who strongly oppose the idea. In both countries, more than two-thirds of those polled believe that a Palestinian state is likely to be created whether they like it or not.
The American Jewish support for a Palestinian state comes despite increasing skepticism about the chance for a lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
About 4 in 10 American Jews say they are less optimistic about the chances of a lasting peace than they were a year ago. Only 9% are more optimistic. The numbers are similar in Israel -- 46% less optimistic, 12% more so. And in both countries, a majority said they did not think that even a "true peace with the Palestinians" would put an end to the overall conflict with the Arabs.
The polls also reveal a surprising amount of potential support in Israel for liberal, American-style Judaism.
Orthodox Jews have long enjoyed a monopoly on religious affairs in Israel, and even the majority of Israeli Jews, who consider themselves secular, generally associate religion with Orthodoxy.
But, the poll shows, 58% of Israelis approve of allowing rabbis from the more liberal streams of Judaism -- the Reform and Conservative movements -- to perform marriages and religious conversions in Israel; 36% are opposed. That issue has been the subject of intense controversy in Israel for the last year, with Orthodox leaders bitterly opposing it.
In addition, 48% of Israeli Jews say women should have the right to be rabbis despite the fact that female rabbis are virtually unheard of in the country. Only 38% of Israeli Jews say women should be barred from the pulpit -- the position taken by the Orthodox -- while 13% are unsure.
American Jews overwhelmingly support both female rabbis and equal status for Conservative and Reform rabbis in Israel.
Israelis and Americans do disagree sharply over whether Jews should support Israel publicly even when they disagree in private -- as they have with frequency in recent months over conversion and other issues.
By 65% to 28%, Israelis say Jews should support Israel in public even when they disagree privately. Among Americans, 40% take that position and 50% do not.
Positive Relationship
But although Israelis dislike public criticism from American Jews, a 78% to 18% majority believe that the views of American Jews should be taken into account in Israel's policies.
The majority of Jews in each country are, on the whole, at least mildly upbeat about relationships between the two groups -- 74% of Americans and 80% of Israelis describe the current relationship as fair or good, and another 8% in each country say relations are excellent.
"There's a sharing of a sense of the same fate and destiny, a deep, deep feeling of belonging to the same people . . . the same moral values, knowing that in one's heart one cannot be without the other," said Eliahu Ben-Elissar, Israel's ambassador to the United States.
"At the same time, [we're] having a lot of problems, a lot of problems which, may I say, are very Jewish."
The polls, undertaken in conjunction with Israel's 50th anniversary, asked a similar set of questions of Israeli and American Jews to compare their attitudes.
The Los Angeles Times poll, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, was conducted nationwide among 848 American Jews by telephone from March 8 through April 1. The poll by Yedioth Ahronoth -- the largest daily in Israel -- was conducted by the Dahaf Research Group; it surveyed 1,011 Israeli Jews by telephone from March 12 through March 23. The margin of sampling error on the American poll is plus or minus four percentage points; on the Israeli poll, it is plus or minus three percentage points.
Critical of Israel
Among the many things on which Israeli and American Jews agree is that things in Israel are headed in the wrong direction.
American Jews approve of an independent Palestinian state, 68% to 19%. Israelis, by contrast, split, with 44% approving and 49% disapproving, including 34% who strongly oppose the idea. In both countries, more than two-thirds of those polled believe that a Palestinian state is likely to be created whether they like it or not.
The American Jewish support for a Palestinian state comes despite increasing skepticism about the chance for a lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
About 4 in 10 American Jews say they are less optimistic about the chances of a lasting peace than they were a year ago. Only 9% are more optimistic. The numbers are similar in Israel -- 46% less optimistic, 12% more so. And in both countries, a majority said they did not think that even a "true peace with the Palestinians" would put an end to the overall conflict with the Arabs.
The polls also reveal a surprising amount of potential support in Israel for liberal, American-style Judaism.
Orthodox Jews have long enjoyed a monopoly on religious affairs in Israel, and even the majority of Israeli Jews, who consider themselves secular, generally associate religion with Orthodoxy.
But, the poll shows, 58% of Israelis approve of allowing rabbis from the more liberal streams of Judaism -- the Reform and Conservative movements -- to perform marriages and religious conversions in Israel; 36% are opposed. That issue has been the subject of intense controversy in Israel for the last year, with Orthodox leaders bitterly opposing it.
In addition, 48% of Israeli Jews say women should have the right to be rabbis despite the fact that female rabbis are virtually unheard of in the country. Only 38% of Israeli Jews say women should be barred from the pulpit -- the position taken by the Orthodox -- while 13% are unsure.
American Jews overwhelmingly support both female rabbis and equal status for Conservative and Reform rabbis in Israel.
Israelis and Americans do disagree sharply over whether Jews should support Israel publicly even when they disagree in private -- as they have with frequency in recent months over conversion and other issues.
By 65% to 28%, Israelis say Jews should support Israel in public even when they disagree privately. Among Americans, 40% take that position and 50% do not.
Positive Relationship
But although Israelis dislike public criticism from American Jews, a 78% to 18% majority believe that the views of American Jews should be taken into account in Israel's policies.
The majority of Jews in each country are, on the whole, at least mildly upbeat about relationships between the two groups -- 74% of Americans and 80% of Israelis describe the current relationship as fair or good, and another 8% in each country say relations are excellent.
"There's a sharing of a sense of the same fate and destiny, a deep, deep feeling of belonging to the same people . . . the same moral values, knowing that in one's heart one cannot be without the other," said Eliahu Ben-Elissar, Israel's ambassador to the United States.
"At the same time, [we're] having a lot of problems, a lot of problems which, may I say, are very Jewish."
The polls, undertaken in conjunction with Israel's 50th anniversary, asked a similar set of questions of Israeli and American Jews to compare their attitudes.
The Los Angeles Times poll, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, was conducted nationwide among 848 American Jews by telephone from March 8 through April 1. The poll by Yedioth Ahronoth -- the largest daily in Israel -- was conducted by the Dahaf Research Group; it surveyed 1,011 Israeli Jews by telephone from March 12 through March 23. The margin of sampling error on the American poll is plus or minus four percentage points; on the Israeli poll, it is plus or minus three percentage points.
Critical of Israel
Among the many things on which Israeli and American Jews agree is that things in Israel are headed in the wrong direction.
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