OPINION: What exactly is the Jewish ‘majority’ view on Israel?
The statistics show that the full picture is complex, but the key shared emotion is pain
In truth, most people are struggling. To some degree. But it’s not as simple a calculation as 36 out of 300, or the ‘10% vs the 90%’. It’s rather more complicated than that.
I’m talking about that letter – the one signed by 36 ‘Deputies’ – and reaction to it. Some considered it treasonous. Others lauded the signatories as the righteous ‘lamed-vavniks’. And the leadership of the Board fought to strike a conciliatory tone while doubling down on advocating for the ‘majority’ of our community.
But what exactly is the ‘majority’ view? What do most British Jews think about what is happening in Israel: how the government is prosecuting the war, handling the hostage crisis, or managing the country’s internal challenges?
First, JPR data from summer 2024 show that 70% of British Jews think that Jews who don’t live in Israel should be free to publicly criticise Israel’s government or its policies.
And 76% ‘strongly’ or ‘somewhat’ disapprove of Netanyahu; 74% think he prioritises his own personal interests over those of the State of Israel as a whole. 62% feel the Israeli government hasn’t done enough to secure the release of the hostages, 52% feel it hasn’t done enough to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans, and 74% see Israel’s overall situation as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.
These are all ‘majority’ views held by over half of British Jews.
At the same time, at least 60% have donated to a charity supporting Israel since 7 October, 65% identify as Zionists, 71% feel a great deal of concern for the lives of Israelis, 77% feel attached to Israel, and 88% regard Israel as the ancestral homeland of the Jewish People.
52% think democracy in Israel is alive and well, 57% think the IDF has operated within the bounds of international law, and 90% think Iran represents a threat to Israel’s existence. Again, these are all majorities.
But it’s more complex still. 54% believe in a two-state solution, but 55% think most Palestinians don’t really want peace. 72% think that pro-Palestinian demonstrations should be permitted in Britain, but 66% would avoid them for fear of their safety as Jews.
66% think students should be free to demonstrate support for Palestinians, but 61% think British universities are unsafe for Jewish students. Overall, 72% of British Jews feel some degree of pride in Israel, but 56% feel some sense of shame. Most feel a bit of both.
Some readers will think these data implausible. Why might that be? First, the echo chambers we live in regularly reinforce our own opinions. Second, there’s a lot of dubious data about Jews out there, gathered using sub-standard and amateurish methods. And third, we often understand the Jewish community too narrowly.
Close to half of all Jewish households in Britain don’t belong to a synagogue. Of the remainder, at least one in five is haredi. Thus the community ‘mainstream’ – those most likely to be ‘Deputies’ – probably constitute under half of the whole, certainly if we think of the UK Jewish population as comprised of anyone who self-identifies as Jewish by religion.
If we broaden out to include those who self-identify exclusively as Jewish by ethnicity, as some do, the views represented by ‘the 36’ – and more ardently critical voices – only increase in proportional strength.
But reading between the lines of the data, it seems to me that the majority shared emotion is pain.
Pain, to varying degrees, about the array of threats facing Israel – its people, its institutions, its reputation, its Jewishness, its democracy – and the threats facing us here in Britain – our security, our position, our relationships, our future.
Pain mostly about who we are, who we need to be to secure our future, and what costs we are willing to bear in pursuit of that. That’s our lot right now. Only history will show whether we allowed it to tear us apart, or to bind us more closely together.
- Dr Jonathan Boyd, executive director, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research
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