The US Election and the American-Israel Jewish Divide

Peloni:  There is no equitable basis for American Jews to support Kamala.  Recall that just as Israel’s attackers are being financed and protected by Washington, Kamala’s elitist-controlled Washington, so too are the promulgators of antisemitic assaults on American Jews all across the US.  And yet, the age old adage of the American Jews being more tightly tied to the Democratic party than to their own right arm remains in effect, even if it is less so today than ever before.  While the lack of clarity in making such a choice raises many questions, it spells out a clear divide between American and Israeli Jews which Shaw describes quite well.

American Jews, take heed! Israelis, right and left, overwhelmingly think Trump is the better president when it comes to Israel’s needs.

Kamala Harris   Photo: Reuters

The assessment of the Jewish vote ahead of the US Elections is disturbing.

According to polls, the majority of American Jews will be voting for Harris, which, according to the preferences of an Israeli majority, would be very bad for Israel.

The Manhattan Institute poll saw Harris up 53 points among Reform Jews and Trump up 18 points among Orthodox Jews. Even the Satmar hassidic court came out for Trump.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America October poll has a 71% to 26% Jewish outcome in favor of Harris. The voting preference of Orthodox Jews shows a polar opposite result.

There is a clear divide among American Jews over their preference for their next President.

For an Israel that is overwhelmingly rooting for a Trump victory it is deeply disturbing to discover that the majority of Americans Jews may be voting against the best interests of the Jewish State in 2024, even as the majority of American Jewish voters say they support Israel 86% to 5% with 9% unsure.

There is a huge divide between American Jews over who is the better US President for Israel, on an issue that needs to be guided by Israel.

After all, we are the ones on the firing line. We are the ones doing the fighting to protect our loved ones and defend our country. We are the ones whose children are at the front.

And here we come to the most troubling of the polls:

The one big opinion divide between US Jewish voters and Israelis is the poll that shows an 18% US Jewish majority of voters who say that Harris would manage Israel’s war better than Trump!

What do they mean by manage? Why should the US manage the war? So far all the advice from the White House has been proven totally wrong – on Rafah, for the most glaring example.

In Israel, public opinion is radically different.

In an Israeli Channel 12 poll, 66% prefer Trump to only 17% for Harris, with 17% undecided.

Among Netanyahu voters, 93% prefer Trump to Harris’s 1%.

The divide between Israeli and American Jews over what’s best for Israel is shockingly stark just days before the US Election. American Jews, take heed!


Barry Shaw is at Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.

November 3, 2024 | 1 Comment »

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  1. The American Jews in favor of Harris are mostly secular Jews, with little connection to Judaism or Israel. For them being Jewish means bagels and lox, belonging to a Temple as a social club, and a Passover Seder.

    I can recall at a Reform Temple I used to belong to, I was on the library committee. There was to be a new Temple built, and I was speaking to the Rabbi about the new Temple. He was excited about the new library, not about the books, but about using the library for functions like weddings! These are the Obama-Harris Jews.

    It is important to understand that these are members of the elite in America. They are elites by virtue of their education, and by virtue of their incomes. They are elites by virtue of their willingness to travel with the democrat party all the way from support of Israel in 1967 to support of Islamists in 2024. They have made the journey slowly over time and at no point have they been willing to question themselves about the morality and ethics of the party they continue to idealize. They cannot envision a world in which the democrat party is actually the party of an international criminal cartel which has sold out 90% of American large corporations to foreign investors. And if they could envision this fact, they would attempt to justify it.

    While the democrat party used to stand for supporting the working class, this current democrat party stands for supporting billionaires, but the Jews still think the democrats are the party of the little guy. They are that out of touch.

    What can you expect of people who have lost touch with the heart of themselves as Jews? I think they cling to “social justice” as if that makes up for their lack of belief in God.

    So social justice, bagels and lox, a Passover seder shorn of religion, listening to NPR and reading the NY Times is what it means to be a Jew to them.

    I live amongst them, they’re in my family, they’re in my town, they once were my friends, and it once was my temple.

    What’s really sad is that the same thing has happened to many families and social groups in America, mostly around support of Trump or Trump Derangement Syndrome. It doesn’t have to be like this.

    There are forces that certainly want us to be divided and that have worked to achieve this.

    I am trying to work on staying connected with people: family/friends, despite my knowing they hate Donald Trump.

    It’s not easy. But what are the alternatives?