Poll Explores U.S. Jews' Opinions on Arab-Israel Conflict, Terror Threat
by Ed Thomas
October 25, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The newest installment of an annual survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee finds Jewish citizens evenly divided in their assessment of the outcome of the recent Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and skeptical about the chances for a lasting peace.The latest "Survey of American Jewish Opinion" polled 958 Jewish U.S. citizens. The respondents answered questions on a broad array of issues, including the Arab-Israeli peace process, terrorism, Iran, Iraq, anti-Semitism, and more.
American Jewish Committee (AJC) spokesman Kenneth Bandler says the outcome of last summer's Israeli-Hezbollah conflict was as difficult for U.S. Jews to analyze as it was for their fellow Jews in Israel. "What we found in the American Jewish community was [that people were] evenly divided on who won the war: 49 percent said neither Hezbollah nor Israel won," he notes.
Bandler says he believes the controversy within the American Jewish community about "what the outcome of the summer conflict was," to a certain degree, reflects the debate that has been going on inside Israel as well. Another example of this fairly evenly divided debate, he points out, is the survey's finding that 56 percent of American Jews think Jews and Arabs may never settle their differences; but most -- a majority of 54 percent -- still favor a Palestinian State as a possible solution.
Among the terror threats evaluated in the 2006 survey, the AJC spokesman says the poll reveals that Iran is considered one of the biggest sources of apprehension. Only 33 percent of more than 900 American Jews surveyed approved of the U.S. policy in addressing the Iranian nuclear program.
"There's a general concern, looking at the world, that there's a growing threat from Iran and from Iran's proxies of Hezbollah and Hamas," Bandler explains. "These together, starting with Iran, which is on the verge of going nuclear, first and foremost threaten Western interests -- not Israel alone, but actually threaten the United States as well," he says.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
