Israel risks game-changing rift with US Jews

American Jews who hate what Israel is doing to itself have every right to speak up

Image by Weston M via Unsplash

A few years ago, Donald Trump expressed anger with America’s Jews for broadly rejecting him despite a series of favors he had allegedly performed for Israel. He seemed clueless about Jewish sensitivity to accusations of divided loyalties, and was of course indifferent to the outcry.

American Jews generally do not want to be seen as single-issue voters on Israel, and the lessons of history make them especially sensitive to implications of divided loyalties. Indeed, some Jews are disinterested in Israel and a few even wholeheartedly dislike Zionism. But there is also another side: A 2021 Pew study found 25% of US Jews were “very” attached to Israel and another 32% “somewhat” attached. And the engaged ones are quite passionate: Over a quarter among the community said they visited Israel — at least 11 hours away by plane — more than once.

US Jews have stood behind Israel financially as well, helping make AIPAC one of the best-funded lobbies. According to the Israeli Bureau of Statistics, charitable gifts to Israeli organizations from sources outside of Israel – which means mostly US Jews – reached $2.91 billion in 2015.  US Jews also contribute disproportionately to US political parties: with about 2% of the US population, they account for  half of all donations to the Democratic Party and about a quarter of the Republican haul (which is amazing, as barely a fifth vote for them). While there is certainly no quid pro quo, this cannot hurt US interest in Israel’s well-being.

And the US has shown interest. Its support for Israel is manifold, with the smaller part being the billions of dollars in aid (mostly loans, but all of it extraordinary considering the recipient is one of the world’s richest countries). More important is the strategic and military alliance, which yields a vital global understanding that America has Israel’s back. Considering the degree of enmity Israel has faced from far larger neighbors over the years, this understanding has been critical to survival.

Why should US Jews care in this manner? After all, Italian-Americans don’t go out of their way to organize political backing for bumbling governments in Rome.