Nearly half of American Jews who identify as “very liberal” accuse Israel of genocide, the Voice of the Jewish People Index by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) revealed on Wednesday.
Of US Jews in general, 45% say Israel is too aggressive in its war in Gaza, while around 33% say Israel is not aggressive enough. Split socio-politically, the majority of liberal Jews believe Israel is overly aggressive, while most conservative Jews (a smaller cohort) believe that Israel is not aggressive enough. 70% of Jewish Trump voters (roughly a quarter to a third of US Jews) believe Israel isn’t aggressive enough, while an almost flipped 68% of Jewish Harris voters believe Israel is too aggressive.
Of Jewish Trump voters, half believe Israel is winning the war, whereas half of Jewish Harris voters believe Israel is not winning.
“Alarmingly, the survey shows that even among American Jews – who are generally predisposed to support Israel – the country is failing to explain and justify its positions effectively,” said Dr. Shuki Friedman, Director General of JPPI.
This is true regarding both the progress and objectives of the war, and the legitimacy of Israel’s policies in the eyes of US Jewry.”
Israeli Jews view the Iran war as a success, US Jews disagree
JPPI also explored perceptions of Israel’s war with Iran, finding that Israeli Jews were much more likely than US to Jews to see the Iran operation as a success. Only 12% of Israeli Jews felt that Israel did not succeed in the Iran campaign, as to 25% of American Jews. Over a third of Israelis gave the highest score (5 out of 5) for Israel’s success in Iran, compared to just 7% of American Jews.
JPPI noted that political leanings shaped this perception significantly: among “very liberal” American Jews, about half said they felt Israel did not win, whereas ideological center and right-leaning Jews believed Israel was successful.
The survey also found that the Iran conflict had an impact on perceptions of political leaders. Trust that Donald Trump will “do the right thing” regarding Israel-US relations rose following his strike on Iran or potentially Netanyahu’s visit to Washington in early July. And in Israel, 36% say their opinion of Netanyahu has improved in recent weeks following the Iran operation.
Given the spotlight is on New York with the possibility of a Zohran Mamdani mayoral win, the JPPI survey explored perceptions of the far-left anti-Israel candidate.
It found that 69% of American Jews see Mamdani as a negative candidate and oppose his election, and 61% believe Mamdani is both anti-Israel and antisemitic. This opposition, unsurprisingly, is strongest among conservative Jews and Trump voters, with 99% of “very conservative” Jews viewing Mamdani as a negative candidate.
42% of “very liberal” Jews support Mamdani.