Poll finds a quarter of US Jews think Israel is an ‘apartheid state’

The survey, taken after the Israel-Gaza conflict, found 22% of respondents believe ‘Israel is committing genocide’; 67% say denying Jewish state’s right to exist is antisemitic

A SURVEY OF US Jewish voters taken after the Israel-Gaza conflict finds that a sizable minority believes some of the harshest criticisms of Israel, including that it is committing genocide and apartheid.

Among respondents to the survey commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, 34 percent agreed that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States,” 25% agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state” and 22% agreed that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”

Among younger voters included in the survey released Tuesday, agreement with those statements was higher, though still in the minority. The poll found that 9% of voters agreed with the statement “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.”

But among voters under 40, that proportion was 20%. A third of younger voters agreed that Israel is committing genocide, a position that even human rights lawyers who are critical of Israel say is extreme; more than a third agreed that Israel is an apartheid state.

The findings are striking as mainstream pro-Israel organisations struggle to make the case that Israel is central to Jewish identity and that criticism of it often veers into antisemitism.

They suggest that many American Jews agree with statements by some of Israel’s harshest critics on the left made during the Gaza-Israel conflict in May, including in some cases by a handful of Democratic members of Congress who were then criticized by their colleagues.

FULL STORY Poll finds a quarter of US Jews think Israel is ‘apartheid state’ (Times of Israel)

Photo: Activists protest Israel’s military actions in Gaza outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC on May 18 (Alex Wong/Getty Images via JTA)