Digital Library
Is Criticism Disloyal? American Jews' Attitudes toward Israel
Topic:
Israel & Regional Politics
Principal Investigators:
Graham Wright, Leonard Saxe, Kenneth D. Wald
Study Date:
2020
Source:
Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies,Brandeis University
Key Findings:
This study, drawing upon research on the nature of patriotism and “national attachment,” investigators finds that politically liberal and conservative Jews express their patriotism toward Israel and America in different ways. Conservative Jews tend to oppose criticism of Israel and the United States for any reason, while liberal Jews view criticism as an important part of “caring” about both Israel and America. Both forms of patriotism are positively associated with stronger emotional connections to the relevant country. In effect, emotional connection to Israel represents a form of social identification with Israel (Tajfel and Turner Reference Tajfel, Turner, Austin and Worchel1979; Theiss-Morse Reference Theiss-Morse2009). Consequently, lower levels of connection to Israel among some American Jews seem to be driven more by apathy than active criticism or hostility.
Survey results show that, as researchers hypothesized, politically moderate and conservative Jews are significantly more likely to feel uncritical patriotism toward the United States, and significantly less likely to feel constructive patriotism toward the United States, compared to liberal Jews. As predicted to be the case, Jewish background and participation in Birthright Israel are relatively unrelated to either form of patriotism toward the United States. The exception is having at least one non-Jewish parent, which is associated with higher levels of constructive patriotism and lower levels of uncritical patriotism.
The results demonstrate that American Jews' attitudes toward Israel follow many of the same dynamics as Americans' attitudes toward the United States. Like other Americans, politically liberal Jews appear to have a predisposition toward constructive patriotism. All else being equal, Jews who support constructive criticism of Israel are more emotionally connected to Israel than those who do not express such support.
Depending on their ideological disposition, American Jews may express their “patriotism” toward Israel in different ways. For conservative Jews, patriotism toward Israel is likely to manifest itself in an aversion to criticism of Israel, but for many liberal Jews, criticism of Israel is a critical component of what it means to “care” about Israel. In either case however, this patriotism is associated with a stronger sense of social identification with Israel.
Methodology:
Researchers utilized data from a 2019 survey of American Jews who applied to the Birthright Israel program between 2001 and 2009. Although the program's applicants are not a random sample of the broader American Jewish population, they include a broad cross-section of American Jews, from those with strong connections to Jewish life who had already traveled to Israel, to those with virtually no previous attachment to Jewish religious or cultural institutions. Although only young adults are eligible for the trip, the broad range of applicant cohorts included in this study, and the time that has passed since application, means that the study includes American Jews who are currently between 29 and 46 years old.
The survey was conducted primarily online, although some respondents were interviewed by phone. Respondents were offered a $25 Amazon.com gift card as a guaranteed incentive for completing the survey, and extensive efforts were made to track down respondents. These efforts led to 2,544 completed interviews, corresponding to an overall response rate of 46% (AAPOR RR2). To reduce the nonresponse bias, responses were weighted to demographic targets from the pool of all Birthright applicants. Weights are applied to all analyses reported, with the exception of exploratory factor analyses.