Wikipedia

American Jews in politics

In United States politics, the trends of Jews have changed political positions multiple times. Many early American German-Jewish immigrants to the United States tended to be politically conservative, but the wave of Eastern European Jews, starting in the early 1880s, were generally more liberal or left-wing, and eventually became the political majority.[1] Many of the latter moved to America having had experience in the socialist, anarchist, and communist movements as well as the Labor Bund emanating from Eastern Europe. Many Jews rose to leadership positions in the early 20th century American labor movement, and founded unions that played a major role in left-wing politics and, after 1936, inside the Democratic Party politics.[1] For most of the 20th century since 1936, the vast majority of Jews in the United States have been aligned with the Democratic Party. During the 20th and 21st centuries, the Republican Party has launched initiatives to persuade American Jews to support their political policies, with relatively little success.

Over the past century, Jews in Europe and the Americas have traditionally tended towards the political left, and played key roles in the birth of the labor movement as well as socialism. While Diaspora Jews have also been represented in the conservative side of the political spectrum, even politically conservative Jews in Northern America and Western Europe have tended to support pluralism, or other positions associated with cosmopolitanism, more consistently than many other elements of the political right in those places.

The divide between right and left correlates to the various religious movements among American Jews. The more socially conservative movements in American Judaism (the Orthodox movement and various Haredi sects, though not the Conservative movement) tend to be politically conservative, while the more socially liberal movements (Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist) tend to be more politically liberal or left-leaning as well.

There are also a number of Jewish secular organizations at the local, national, and international levels. These organizations often play an important part in the Jewish community. Most of the largest groups, such as Hadassah and the United Jewish Communities,[2] have an elected leadership. No one secular group represents the entire Jewish community, and there is often significant internal debate among Jews about the stances these organizations take on affairs dealing with the Jewish community as a whole, such as anti-Semitism and policies regarding Israel. In the United States and Canada today, the mainly secular United Jewish Communities (UJC), formerly known as the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), represents over 150 Jewish Federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Every major American city has its local "Jewish Federation", and many have sophisticated community centers and provide services, mainly health care-related. They raise record sums of money for philanthropic and humanitarian causes in North America and Israel. Other organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Zionist Organization of America, Americans for a Safe Israel, B'nai B'rith, and Agudath Israel represent different segments of the American Jewish community on a variety of issues.

Progressive movement

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Two girls wearing banners with the slogan "ABOLISH CHILD SLAVERY!!" in English and Yiddish. Likely taken during the May 1, 1909 labor parade in New York City.

With the influx of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe many members of the Jewish community were attracted to labor and socialist movements and numerous Jewish newspapers such as Forwerts and Morgen Freiheit had a socialist or communist orientation. Left-wing organizations such as the Arbeter Ring and the Jewish People's Fraternal Order played an important part in Jewish community life until World War II.

Jewish Americans are involved in many important social movements, being in the forefront of promoting such issues as workers' rights, civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, freedom of religion, freedom from religion, peace movements, and various other left-wing and progressive causes.

Presidential elections

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Jews as small-town businessmen were generally conservative Republicans in the late 19th century, but did not mobilize as a separate political faction. The new Yiddish-speaking arrivals in the early 20th century were much more radical and became highly mobilized in labor unions and parties.[3] In 1920 38% of Jews voted Socialist, and 43% voted Republican.[4] According to Beth Wenger, New Dealer Franklin Roosevelt, "cemented an unbreakable Jewish-Democratic bond.".[5] In 1940 and 1944, 90% of Jews voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt, and 75% voted for Harry S. Truman in 1948. During the 1952 and 1956 elections, they voted 60% or more for Adlai Stevenson, while Dwight Eisenhower garnered 40% of their vote for his reelection; the best showing to date for the Republicans since Harding's 43% in 1920.[4] In 1960, 83% voted for the Catholic Democrat John F. Kennedy. In 1964, 90% of American Jews voted for Lyndon Johnson against his Republican opponent Barry Goldwater, who was a Protestant with two Jewish grandparents.[6] Hubert Humphrey garnered 81% of the Jewish vote in the 1968 election, in his losing bid for president against Richard Nixon.[4]

During the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972, Jewish voters were relatively apprehensive about George McGovern, and only favored the Democrat by 65%, while Nixon more than doubled Jewish support for Republicans to 35%. In the election of 1976, Jewish voters supported the Democrat Jimmy Carter by 71% over the incumbent president Gerald Ford's 27%, but during the Carter re-election campaign of 1980, Jewish votes for the Democrat became relatively lower, with 45% support, with Republican election winner Ronald Reagan garnering 39%, and 14% going to the independent candidate John Anderson.[4][7]

During the Reagan re-election campaign of 1984 he retained 31% of the Jewish vote, while 67% went to the Democrat Walter Mondale. The 1988 election saw Jewish voters favor the Democrat Michael Dukakis by 64%, while George H W Bush polled at 35%, though during his re-election in 1992 his Jewish support fell to 11%, with 80% voting for Bill Clinton and 9% going to the independent candidate Ross Perot. Clinton's re-election campaign in 1996 maintained high Jewish support at 78%, with 16% supporting Robert Dole and 3% for Perot.[4][7]

The elections of 2000 and 2004 saw continued Jewish support for Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry remain in the high to mid-70% range. Kerry was Catholic, but had Jewish ancestry. In the 2000 presidential election, Joe Lieberman became the first Jewish American to run for national office on a major party ticket when he was chosen to be the vice-presidential nominee to the Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. Republican George W Bush's re-election in 2004 saw Jewish support rise from 19% to 24%.[7][8]

In the 2008 presidential election, 78% of Jews voted for the Democratic nominee Barack Obama, who became the first African-American to be elected president.[9] Polls indicated that during this election, 83% of white Jews voted for Obama compared to 34% of white Protestants and 47% of white Catholics, though 67% of whites identifying with another religion and 71% identifying with no religion also voted for Obama.[10] In the 2012 presidential election, 68% of Jews voted for Barack Obama's re-election.[11]

In the 2016 election, 71% of Jews voted for the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton over the eventual winner Donald Trump. In a 2018 poll, 71% of American Jews disapproved of Donald Trump's job as president, with only 26% approving—being the lowest approving religious group among those surveyed.[12]

Of the 2016 and 2020 presidential candidates, many front runners were either married to Jews, had children who were married to Jews, or were Jewish themselves. Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, and Marianne Williamson are Jewish. Michael Bennet's mother is Jewish. Beto O'Rourke and Kamala Harris are married to Jews. Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism and married the Jewish real estate developer Jared Kushner. Both were active in Trump's administration. Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton married the Jewish investor Marc Mezvinsky, the son of U.S. Representative and felon Edward Mezvinsky. Lastly, all three of Joe Biden's children who lived into adulthood married Jews.[13]

United States Congress

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Main article: List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
 
Map of current Jewish senators as of 2024. Blue means that there currently is one Jewish senator from that state. Gray means that there currently are no Jewish senators from that state.

For Congressional and Senate races, since 1968, American Jews have voted about 70–80% for Democrats;[14] this support increased to 87% for Democratic House candidates during the 2006 elections.[15] Currently, there are 9 Jews among the 100 U.S. Senators: 8 Democrats (Michael Bennet, Richard Blumenthal, Ben Cardin, Brian Schatz, Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden, Jacky Rosen and Jon Ossoff), and one of the Senate's three independents (Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats as well).

As of January 2023, there are 33 Jews serving in the 118th Congress, a decrease of one from the 117th. They constitute 6% of that body's members, three times the 2% of Jews in the general American population.[16]

Civil rights

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See also: Jews in the civil rights movement

During the American Civil War, American Jews were divided on their views regarding slavery and abolition. Prior to 1861, there were virtually no rabbinical sermons on slavery. The silence on this issue was probably a result of fear that the controversy would create conflict within the Jewish community due to its relative popularity at the time, though some Jews did come to play a role in the ending of slavery. Some Jews owned slaves or traded them, and the livelihoods of many in the Jewish community of both the North and South were tied to the slave system. Most southern Jews supported slavery, and some, like Judah P. Benjamin, advocated its expansion. The abolitionist Ben Wade, who knew Benjamin in the U.S. Senate, described him as "an Israelite with Egyptian principles". Northern Jews sympathized with the South, and very few were abolitionists, seeking peace and remaining silent on the subject of slavery. America's largest Jewish community in New York was "overwhelmingly pro-southern, pro-slavery, and anti-Lincoln in the early years of the war". However, eventually, they began to lean politically toward "Father Abraham", his Republican party, and emancipation.[17]

Since the beginning of the 20th century, many American Jews became very active in fighting societal prejudice and discrimination, and have historically been active participants in movements for civil rights, including active support of and participation in the Civil Rights Movement, active support of and participation in the labor rights movement, and active support of and participation in the women's rights movement.

Seymour Siegel suggests that the historic struggle against prejudice faced by Jews led to a natural sympathy for any people confronting discrimination. Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress, stated the following when he spoke from the podium at the Lincoln Memorial during the famous March on Washington on August 28, 1963: "As Jews, we bring to this great demonstration, in which thousands of us proudly participate, a twofold experience - one of the spirit and one of our history ... From our Jewish historic experience of three and a half thousand years, we say: Our ancient history began with slavery and the yearning for freedom. During the Middle Ages, my people lived for a thousand years in the ghettos of Europe ... It is for these reasons that it is not merely sympathy and compassion for the black people of America that motivates us. It is, above all and beyond all such sympathies and emotions, a sense of complete identification and solidarity born of our own painful historic experience."[18][19]

International affairs

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D-Day services at Congregation Emunath Israel on West 23rd Street New York City

American Jews (and Jews worldwide) began taking a special interest in international affairs in the early twentieth century, especially regarding their co-religionists persecution during pogroms in Imperial Russia, and later, regarding increasing restrictions on immigration in the 1920s. This period was also synchronous with the development of political Zionism, as well as the Balfour Declaration, which gave Zionism its first official recognition.

During the 1930s, large-scale boycotts of German merchandise were organized; this period was synchronous with the rise of Fascism in Europe. Franklin D. Roosevelt's leftist domestic policies received strong Jewish support in the 1930s and 1940s, as did his foreign policies and the subsequent founding of the United Nations. Support for political Zionism in this period, although growing in influence, remained a distinctly minority opinion. The founding of Israel in 1948 made the Middle East a center of attention; the immediate recognition of Israel by the American government was an indication of both its intrinsic support and the influence of political Zionism.

This attention initially was based on a natural and religious affinity toward, and support for, Israel and world Jewry. The attention is also because of the ensuing and unresolved conflicts regarding the founding Israel and Zionism itself. A lively internal debate commenced, following the Six-Day War. The American Jewish community was divided over whether or not they agreed with the Israeli response; the great majority came to accept the war as necessary. A tension existed especially for leftist Jews, between their liberal ideology and (rightist) Zionist backing in the midst of this conflict. This deliberation about the Six-Day War showed the depth and complexity of Jewish responses to the varied events of the 1960s.[20] Similar tensions were aroused by the 1977 election of Menachem Begin and the rise of revisionist policies, the 1982 Lebanon War, and the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.[21] Disagreement over Israel's 1993 acceptance of the Oslo Accords caused a further split among American Jews;[22] This mirrored a similar split among Israelis, and led to a parallel rift within the pro-Israel lobby.[23][24]

Because of the emotional connection many Jews have for Israel, the issue has generated strong passions among both left-wing and right-wing Jews. There is a significant Jewish presence in the disparate political movement known as the "liberal hawks" or the pro-war Left, which, while strongly committed to liberal or leftist social domestic policy, also supports a liberal interventionist, hawkish or right-wing pro-Israel foreign policy for the United States. (Examples include Joe Lieberman, Christopher Hitchens, many of the contributors to Dissent magazine, and many of the signatories of the Euston Manifesto.) At the same time, there is a significant Jewish presence in the pro-Palestinian movement, including Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, and Judith Butler.[25]

The "Israel lobby" is the diverse coalition of groups and individuals seeking to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Zionism, Israel or the specific policies of its elected government.[26][27] These organizations have included political, secular, and religious groups of Jewish-Americans, as well as non-Jewish organizations of political, secular, and religious Christian Americans. These groups have reportedly increased in size and influence over the years. The term itself has been subject to debate and criticism over the years, concerning its clarity and exact definition.

Although Jews are divided in their opinion of Trump's handling of the Israel–Palestine conflict,[28] polling data indicates that the vast majority of American Jews continue to support unconditional U.S. financial and military aid to Israel,[29] which is a fixture of the platforms of both major parties,[30][31] while various polling data indicate that most Americans would prefer to decrease or even halt military aid to Israel.[32][33]

Contemporary politics

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Campaign Financing

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Political donations by major donors in the 2020 US elections

Today, American Jews are a distinctive and influential group in the nation's politics. Although a Jewish-American lawyer named Jeffrey S. Helmreich has written that the ability of American Jews to affect this through political or financial clout is overestimated,[34] and that the primary influence lies in the group's voting patterns,[7] Jewish funding of presidential candidates for both parties is vastly disproportional to the number of Jews in the American population.

For example, while less than 2.5% of the American population identifies as Jewish, in 2016 The Jerusalem Post reported that Jews donate 50% of all funding to the national Democratic party, and 25% of all funding to the national Republican party;[35] while according to Forbes, the top 15 donors to the 2024 Harris campaign were all individuals who identify as Jewish.[36] On the Republican side, the Israel-focused Adelson family donated nearly half a billion dollars to Trump-related causes between 2016 and 2024.[37][38] In a 2024 article on the influence of pro-Israel donors over the U.S. congress, the Guardian reported:

"... most of Congress is in line with conservative pro-Israel positions – but not with those of the US public. While the Guardian found just 17% of Congress was critical of Israel or called for a ceasefire in the first six weeks of the war, US polls show up to 68% of Americans support a ceasefire, and around 80% of Democrats."[39]

Voting Patterns

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According to a 2017 survey, fifty-four percent of Orthodox Jews say they voted for Trump, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee, or AJC. That was well above 24 percent of Conservative Jews, 10 percent of Reform Jews, 8 percent of Reconstructionist Jews and 14 percent of respondents who identify themselves as “just Jewish.”

"Jews have devoted themselves to politics with almost religious fervor", writes Mitchell Bard, who adds that Jews have the highest percentage voter turnout of any ethnic group. While 2–2.5% of the United States population is Jewish, 94% live in 13 key electoral college states, which combined have enough electors to elect the president.[40][41] Though the majority (60–70%) of the country's Jews identify as Democratic, Jews span the political spectrum, and Helmreich describes them as "a uniquely swayable bloc" as a result of Republican stances on Israel.[7][41][42] A paper by Dr. Eric Uslaner of the University of Maryland disagrees, at least with regard to the 2004 election: "Only 15% of Jews said that Israel was a key voting issue. Among those voters, 55% voted for Kerry (compared to 83% of Jewish voters not concerned with Israel)." The paper goes on to point out that negative views of Evangelical Christians had a distinctly negative impact for Republicans among Jewish voters, while Orthodox Jews, traditionally more conservative in outlook as to social issues, favored the Republican Party.[43] A New York Times article suggests that this movement of Jewish voters to the Republican party is focused heavily on faith-based issues, similar to the Catholic vote, which is credited for helping President Bush taking Florida in 2004.[44]

Owing to high Democratic identification in the 2008 United States presidential election, 78% of Jews voted for Democrat Barack Obama, versus 21% for Republican John McCain, despite Republican attempts to connect Obama to Muslim and pro-Palestinian causes.[45] It has been suggested that running mate Sarah Palin's outspoken conservative views on social issues may have nudged Jews away from the McCain-Palin ticket.[7][45] Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, is Jewish, as is his former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.[46]

 
Homophobia isn't kosher, San Francisco Pride 2013

American Jews are largely supportive of gay rights, though a split exists within the group by observance. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews are far more supportive on issues like gay marriage than Orthodox Jews are.[47] A 2007 survey of Conservative Jewish leaders and activists showed that an overwhelming majority now supports gay rabbinical ordination and same-sex marriage.[48] Accordingly, 78% percent of Jewish voters rejected Proposition 8, the bill which banned gay marriage in California. No other ethnic or religious group voted as strongly against it.[49]

Jews in America also overwhelmingly oppose current United States marijuana policy. 86% of Jewish Americans opposed arresting non-violent marijuana smokers, compared to 61% for the population at large and 68% of all Democrats. Additionally, 85% of Jews in the United States opposed using federal law enforcement to close patient cooperatives for medical marijuana in states where medical marijuana is legal, compared to 67% of the population at large and 73% of Democrats.[50]

In the 2012 presidential election, support for Democrats fell by 9 percentage, while support for Republicans increased by the same percentage. The American Jewish vote for President Barack Obama fell from 78 percent to 69 percent in 2012. Obama's opponent in 2008, John McCain, received the support of 21 percent of Jewish, whereas Mitt Romney increased that share to 30 percent in 2012.[51]

Israelis favored Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in the 2012 United States presidential election by a 57 percent to 22 percent margin.[52]

Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire Democratic primary on February 9, 2016, by 22.4% of the vote (60.4% to Hillary Clinton's 38.0%). "Sanders, a self-identified democratic socialist, has repeatedly described himself as a secular Jew. ... " (Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, was the first winner of Jewish heritage, but was a Christian).

In the 2018 midterms, Jews were again the most Democratic group as designated by religious identity, with 79% voting for the Democrats while 17% voted for the Republicans.[53]

Jewish vote to the Democratic Party in Presidential elections since 1916[4]
Election
year 		Candidate of the
Democratic Party 		% of
Jewish vote to the
Democratic Party 		Result of the
Democratic Party
1916 Woodrow Wilson 55 Won
1920 James M. Cox 19 Lost
1924 John W. Davis 51 Lost
1928 Al Smith 72 Lost
1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt 82 Won
1936 85 Won
1940 90 Won
1944 90 Won
1948 Harry Truman 75 Won
1952 Adlai Stevenson 64 Lost
1956 60 Lost
1960 John F. Kennedy 82 Won
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson 90 Won
1968 Hubert Humphrey 81 Lost
1972 George McGovern 65 Lost
1976 Jimmy Carter 71 Won
1980 45 Lost
1984 Walter Mondale 67 Lost
1988 Michael Dukakis 64 Lost
1992 Bill Clinton 80 Won
1996 78 Won
2000 Al Gore 79 Lost
2004 John Kerry 76 Lost
2008 Barack Obama 78 Won
2012 69 Won
2016 Hillary Clinton 71[54] Lost
2020 Joe Biden 69[55] Won
Jewish vote to the Republican Party in Presidential elections since 1916[4]
Election
year 		Candidate of the
Republican Party 		% of
Jewish vote to the
Republican Party 		Result of the
Republican Party
1916 Charles E. Hughes 45 Lost
1920 Warren G. Harding 43 Won
1924 Calvin Coolidge 27 Won
1928 Herbert Hoover 28 Won
1932 18 Lost
1936 Alf Landon 15 Lost
1940 Wendell Willkie 10 Lost
1944 Thomas Dewey 10 Lost
1948 10 Lost
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower 36 Won
1956 40 Won
1960 Richard Nixon 18 Lost
1964 Barry Goldwater 10 Lost
1968 Richard Nixon 17 Won
1972 35 Won
1976 Gerald Ford 27 Lost
1980 Ronald Reagan 39 Won
1984 31 Won
1988 George H. W. Bush 35 Won
1992 11 Lost
1996 Bob Dole 16 Lost
2000 George W. Bush 19 Won
2004 24 Won
2008 John McCain 22 Lost
2012 Mitt Romney 30 Lost
2016 Donald Trump 24[54] Won
2020 30[55] Lost

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hasia Diner, The Jews of the United States. 1654 to 2000 (2004), ch 5
  2. ^ "ujc.org". ujc.org. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  3. ^ Hasia R. Diner, The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 (U of California Press, 2004) pp. 159–161.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Jewish Vote In Presidential Elections". American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
  5. ^ Beth S. Wenger, New York Jews and the Great Depression (Yale UP, 1996) p. 133.
  6. ^ Mark R. Levy and Michael S. Kramer, The Ethnic Factor (1973) p. 103
  7. ^ a b c d e f Jeffrey S. Helmreich. "THE ISRAEL SWING FACTOR: HOW THE AMERICAN JEWISH VOTE INFLUENCES U.S. ELECTIONS". Retrieved October 2, 2008.
  8. ^ .2004 exit polls at CNN
  9. ^ OP-ED: Why Jews voted for Obama by Marc Stanley, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 5, 2008 (retrieved on December 6, 2008).
  10. ^ "CNN Exit Poll". Cnn.com. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  11. ^ "About Barak Hussein Obama". What is USA News. May 17, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2012.
  12. ^ Oster, Marcy (March 14, 2019). "Gallup: 52% of Jews identify as Democrats, 16% as Republicans". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  13. ^ Dolsten, Josefin (March 6, 2019). "A Jewish guide to the 2020 presidential challengers". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  14. ^ F. Weisberg, Herbert (2012). "Reconsidering Jewish Presidential Voting Statistics". Contemporary Jewry. 32 (3): 215–236. doi:10.1007/s12397-012-9093-z. S2CID 143580353.
  15. ^ "2006 exit polls at". CNN. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  16. ^ Diamant, Jeff (January 3, 2023). "Faith on the Hill". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  17. ^ Jews Mostly Supported Slavery — Or Kept Silent — During Civil War The Jewish Daily Forward, 5 July 2013
  18. ^ "Joachim Prinz March on Washington Speech". Joachimprinz.com. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  19. ^ "Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement - March on Washington". Crmvet.org. August 28, 1963. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  20. ^ Staub (2004)
  21. ^ Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht. "The Fate of the Jews, A people torn between Israeli Power and Jewish Ethics". Times Books, 1983. ISBN 0-8129-1060-5
  22. ^ Danny Ben-Moshe, Zohar Segev, Israel, the Diaspora, and Jewish Identity, Published by Sussex Academic Press, 2007, ISBN 1-84519-189-7, Chapter 7, The Changing Identity of American Jews, Israel and the Peace Process, by Ofira Seliktar, p. 126 [1].

    The 1993 Oslo Agreement made this split in the Jewish community official. Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin's handshake with Yasir Arafat during the 13 September White House ceremony elicited dramatically opposed reactions among American Jews. To the liberal universalists, the accord was highly welcome news. As one commentator put it, after a year of tension between Israel and the United States, "there was an audible sigh of relief from American and Jewish liberals. Once again, they could support Israel as good Jews, committed liberals, and loyal Americans." The community "could embrace the Jewish state, without compromising either its liberalism or its patriotism". Hidden deeper in this collective sense of relief was the hope that, following the peace with the Palestinians, Israel would transform itself into a Western-style liberal democracy, featuring a full separation between the state and religion. Not accidentally, many of the leading advocates of Oslo, including Yossi Beilin, the then-Deputy Foreign Minister, cherish the belief that a "normalized" Israel would become less Jewish and more democratic. However, to the hard-core Zionists – the Orthodox community and right-wing Jews – the peace treaty amounted to what some dubbed the "handshake earthquake". From the perspective of the Orthodox, Oslo was not just an affront to the sanctity of Eretz Yisrael, but also a personal threat to the Orthodox settlers – often kin or former congregants – in the West Bank and Gaza. For Jewish nationalists such as Morton Klein, the president of the Zionist organization of America, and Norman Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary, the peace treaty amounted to an appeasement of Palestinian terrorism. They and others repeatedly warned that the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) would pose a serious security threat to Israel.
  23. ^ Danny Ben-Moshe, Zohar Segev, Israel, the Diaspora, and Jewish Identity, Sussex Academic Press, 2007, ISBN 1-84519-189-7, Chapter 7, The Changing Identity of American Jews, Israel and the Peace Process, by Ofira Seliktar, p. 126

    Abandoning any pretense of unity, both segments began to develop separate advocacy and lobbying organizations. The liberal supporters of the Oslo Accord worked through Americans for Peace Now (APN), Israel Policy Forum (IPF), and other groups friendly to the Labour government in Israel. They tried to assure Congress that American Jewry was behind the Accord, and defended the efforts of the administration to help the fledgling Palestinian authority (PA), including promises of financial aid. In a battle for public opinion, IPF commissioned a number of polls showing widespread support for Oslo among the community. Working on the other side of the fence, a host of Orthodox groups, such as ZOA, Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), launched a major public opinion campaign against Oslo. On 10 October 1993, the opponents of the Palestinian-Israeli accord, organized at the American Leadership Conference for a Safe Israel, where they warned that Israel was prostrating itself before a "an armed thug", and predicted that the "thirteenth of September is a date that will live in infamy". Hard-core Zionists also criticized, often in harsh language, Prime Minister Rabin and Shimon Peres, his foreign minister and chief architect of the peace accord. With the community so strongly divided, AIPAC and the Presidents Conference, which was tasked with representing the national Jewish consensus, struggled to keep the increasingly shrill discourse civil. Reflecting these tensions, Abraham Foxman from the Jewish Anti-Defamation League was forced by the conference to apologize for bad mouthing ZOA's Klein. The Conference, which under its organizational guidelines was in charge of moderating communal discourse, reluctantly censured some Orthodox spokespeople for attacking Colette Avital, the labor-appointed Israel Council General in New York and an ardent supporter of the peace process.
  24. ^ Middle East Review of International Affairs, Journal, Volume 6, No. 1 - March 2002, Scott Lasensky, Underwriting Peace in the Middle East: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Limits of Economic Inducements Archived April 22, 2002, at the Wayback Machine

    The Palestinian aid effort was certainly not helped by the heated debate that quickly developed inside the Beltway. Not only was the Israeli electorate divided on the Oslo accords, but so, too, was the American Jewish community, particularly at the leadership level and among the major New York and Washington-based public interest groups. U.S. Jews opposed to Oslo teamed up with Israelis "who brought their domestic issues to Washington", and together they pursued a campaign that focused most of its attention on Congress and the aid program. The dynamic was new to Washington. The Administration, the Rabin-Peres government, and some American Jewish groups teamed on one side, while Israeli opposition groups and anti-Oslo American Jewish organizations pulled Congress in the other direction.

  25. ^ "Jewish Voice for Peace | People".
  26. ^ Mearsheimer, John J. and Walt, Stephen. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, London Review of Books, Volume 28 Number 6, March 22, 2006. Accessed March 24, 2006.
  27. ^ Mitchell Bard The Israeli and Arab Lobbies", Jewish Virtual Library, published 2009, accessed October 5, 2009.
  28. ^ "U.S. Jews are more likely than Christians to say Trump favors the Israelis too much". May 6, 2019.
  29. ^ "U.S. Jews' connections with and attitudes toward Israel". May 11, 2021.
  30. ^ "The United States-Israel Relationship". March 26, 2022.
  31. ^ "History & Overview of U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel". September 13, 2024.
  32. ^ "What Americans think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict". October 4, 2024.
  33. ^ "Poll: Majority of Americans Say Biden Should Halt Weapons Shipments to Israel". March 11, 2024.
  34. ^ Steven L. Spiegel, The Other Arab-Israeli Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 150–165.
  35. ^ "US Jews contribute half of all donations to the Democratic Party". September 27, 2016.
  36. ^ "Here's Every Billionaire Who's Given $1 Million Or More To Help Kamala Harris Get Elected". August 29, 2024.
  37. ^ "Sheldon Adelson Gave Trump and Republicans Over $424 Million Since 2016". January 12, 2021.
  38. ^ "The Pro-Israel Donor With a $100 Million Plan to Elect Trump". June 25, 2024.
  39. ^ "Revealed: Congress backers of Gaza war received most from pro-Israel donors". January 10, 2024.
  40. ^ Mitchell Bard. "The Israeli and Arab Lobbies". The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved September 22, 2008.
  41. ^ a b Sophia Tareem. "Family ties: Obama counts rabbi among relatives". Associated Press. Retrieved September 22, 2008.
  42. ^ "Busting the Myth: Jews Remain Democrats, New Independent Polling Shows". National Jewish Democratic Council. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
  43. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  44. ^ "Bush Benefits From Efforts to Build a Coalition of the Faithful". The New York Times. November 5, 2004. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  45. ^ a b Yitzhak Benhorin. "78% of American Jews vote Obama". Yedioth Internet. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  46. ^ "Barack Obama tells Jewish voters of his support for Israel". London: Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
  47. ^ "Attacks on Gay Rights: How Jews See It". Jewsonfirst.org. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  48. ^ Rebecca Spence (February 2007). "Poll: Conservative Leaders Back Gay Rabbis". Forward Association. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
  49. ^ "L.A. Jews overwhelmingly opposed Prop. 8, exit poll finds". Los Angeles Times. November 9, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
  50. ^ "Majority of Americans Oppose US Marijuana Policies". NORML. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
  51. ^ Stanage, Niall (August 3, 2014). "GOP sees signs of Jewish voters drifting away from Democrats". The Hill.
  52. ^ Pecquet, Julian (October 29, 2012). "Israelis favor Romney over Obama by wide margin in latest poll". The Hill.
  53. ^ How religious groups voted in the midterm elections. Pew Research. E Sciupac and G Smith. November 7, 2018
  54. ^ a b Smith, Gregory A.; Martínez, Jessica (November 9, 2016). "How the faithful voted: A preliminary 2016 analysis". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on January 11, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  55. ^ a b Staff, N. P. R. (May 21, 2021). "Understanding The 2020 Electorate: AP VoteCast Survey". NPR. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2022.

Further reading

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  • Barnett, Michael N. The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of American Jews. (Princeton University Press, 2016) excerpt
  • Diner, Hasia R. The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 (University of California Press, 2004).
  • Dinnerstein, Leonard. "Jews and the New Deal." American Jewish History 72.4 (1983): 461–476. online
  • Dollinger, Marc. Black power, Jewish politics: Reinventing the alliance in the 1960s (Brandeis University Press, 2018).
  • Feingold, Henry L. American Jewish Political Culture and the Liberal Persuasion (Syracuse University Press, 2014) 384 pages; explores liberalism in the culture, and examines role of Israel and the Holocaust.
  • Fuchs, Lawrence H. "American Jews and the presidential vote." American Political Science Review 49.2 (1955): 385–401. online
  • Fuchs, Lawrence H. The political behavior of American Jews (1956) online
  • Goldstein, Judith S. The Politics of Ethnic Pressure: The American Jewish Committee Fight against Immigration Restriction, 1906–1917 (Routledge, 2020).
  • Goren, Arthur. The Politics and Public Culture of American Jews. (1999).
  • Halpern, Ben. "The Roots of American Jewish Liberalism." American Jewish Historical Quarterly 66.2 (1976): 190–214. online
  • Levey, Geoffrey Brahm. "The liberalism of American Jews–has it been explained?" British Journal of Political Science 26.3 (1996): 369–401. online
  • Maisel, L. Sandy, and Ira Forman, eds. Jews in American Politics (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001) online, 14 essays by experts.
  • Mearsheimer, John, and Stephen Walt. The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007)
  • Medding, Peter Y. "Segmented ethnicity and the new Jewish politics." Studies in Contemporary Jewry 3 (1987): 26–45. online
  • Medding, Peter Y. "The 'New Jewish Politics' in the United States: Historical Perspectives." in The Quest for Utopia (Routledge, 2016) pp. 119–153. online
  • Michels, Tony. "Socialism and the Writing of American Jewish History: 'World of Our Fathers' Revisited." American Jewish History 88.4 (2000): 521—546.
  • Moore, Deborah Dash. American Jewish identity politics (University of Michigan Press, 2009).
  • Shapiro, Edward S. A Time for Healing: American Jewry since World War II, (1992) excerpt and text search
  • Sorin, Gerald. A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880-1920 (JHU Press, 1995) pp 191–218.
  • Wald, Kenneth D. The foundations of American Jewish liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
  • Wenger, Beth S. New York Jews and the Great Depression (Yale University Press, 1996).
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