J-Street Poll: 75% of U.S. Jews Supported Gaza Invasion

by Charles Lenchner · 2009-03-23 13:59:00 UTC
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J-Street's new poll of American Jewish opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is out. You can catch the details here. 

I found it interesting - but not surprising - that 75% of the survey respondents approved of the recent military action in Gaza, but only 41% thought that it would improve Israel's security. in other words, a full third supported the war while not trusting the official Israeli line that it would be militarily useful.

This reminds me of another study, conducted during the horrific suicide boming campaign carried out during the 2nd Intifada. I forget the exact results, but they clearly showed that Israelis were in favor of 'targeted killings' the assassination by death squad of Palestinian military and civilian leaders. Not because it would do anything useful, like put a stop to terror. Nope. Just like here, there was a large overlap showing many who supported the killing even though they themselves thought it wouldn't do anything to decrease the level of terror.

It's a commenplace thing to hear: that Arabs and/or Muslims are less rational decision makers when it comes to resolving conflict or choosing among policy options. After all, why do they refuse peace again and again? Why are they full of hate (an emotion) instead of life (our logic)? Just be clear, these aren't things I believe - I'm channelling all too common voices.

This shows us the limits of our cherished, civilized, logical and peace loving veneer. Israeli Jews want to kill Palestinian leaders, even when doing so will not decrease terror. American jews support israel's invasion, while suspending belief in the utility of the invasion.

It would be wrong so say, flat out, that Israelis and American Jews are driving by hatred or revenge. But we can say that on both sides, there is no such thing as purely rational decision making. Peace is not logic imposed from on high. It is the net effect of complex emotions filtering from below. For them, for us, and everyone else.

Charles Lenchner
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