Nearly all “connected” American Jews —  92%— believe that Israel’s actions in Gaza directly affect their lives in the Diaspora, according to a new survey conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute. However, they are nearly evenly split on whether or not Israeli leaders must take this fact into account while determining the country’s next steps in the fight against Hamas — 47% say yes, 45% say no.

The division on this issue largely tracks with political identification; liberal respondents were far more likely to believe that Israel must take Diaspora Jewry into its considerations than conservative respondents. The monthly “Voice of the Jewish People Index” poll, which surveyed 639 American Jews whom JPPI said tend to “reflect the views of ‘connected’ U.S. Jews,” was conducted between August 14 and 18, shortly after the Israeli government approved plans to occupy Gaza City.

The survey found that American Jews are more concerned that Israel will become a “pariah state” internationally than their Israeli counterparts. Most respondents (54%) said they were “very concerned” about this possibility, and 21% said they were “somewhat concerned” about it. In contrast, 39% of Israeli respondents said they were “very concerned,” and 23% said they were “somewhat concerned.” This also follows ideological affiliations, with liberal respondents being more likely to say they were concerned about the issue than conservative ones.

Despite these concerns, a plurality of respondents, 47%, agreed that Israel “had no choice” but to launch its new military campaign in Gaza in order to remove Hamas from power. Roughly one-third said that Israel was making a “mistake” with this new operation and that it has better options than this, and 10% said that Israel should end the war in Gaza even if it means leaving Hamas in power. 

Few issues more evenly split respondents than the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Asked to what extent they believed that reports of famine are accurate, roughly a quarter each said that they were “very accurate,” “somewhat accurate,” “not very accurate” and “completely false.” The responses closely followed political affiliation, with more liberal respondents believing reports of starvation in Gaza more than conservative ones. Israeli Jews were more likely to not believe reports of famine in Gaza than their American counterparts, with 61% saying that they were either “not very accurate” or “completely false,” compared to 50% of American Jews. 

“Connected” American Jews were closely aligned with Israeli Jews regarding who is responsilble for the failure to reach a negotiated settlement to the war in Gaza, with the majority in both countries primarily blaming Hamas — 61% in the U.S.; 58% in Israel— roughly one-fifth (22%) blaming both the Israeli government and Hamas, and a smaller minority primarily blaming Israel (13% in the U.S.; 15% in Israel).

The JPPI survey also examined how American Jews have been responding to rising global antisemitism. The pollsters found that a significant percentage of American Jews hide their Jewishness while traveling, with roughly half of the Conservative and Modern Orthodox respondents saying they did, along with a 37% of Reform Jews and 29% of the Haredi respondents. A slim majority of Haredi respondents said that they never conceal their Jewishness, as did roughly a third of Conservative and Modern Orthodox Jews, and 39% of Reform Jews.

This month’s poll also looked at differences between American, Israeli and British/Canadian Jews on questions of morality (the latter two were grouped together owing to the smaller number of respondents from each country). American, British and Canadian Jews were generally aligned on most issues of morality, which were often not in line with Israelis’ views. Nearly 80% of American, British and Canadian Jews considered same-sex relations and abortions to be “morally acceptable” compared to 61% and 65% of Israeli Jews. American, British and Canadian Jews were also more accepting of gambling, physician-assisted suicide and speeding than their Israeli counterparts. Israelis were, however, more libertine on the issue of extramarital affairs, with 13% saying that adultery was “morally acceptable,” compared to 4% of American Jews and 6% of British/Canadian Jews. 

Ahead of the upcoming High Holy Days, the pollsters also asked respondents about their plans to attend prayer services. A large majority, 71%, said that they planned to attend at least one in-person prayer service during the High Holy Days, and a majority across all denominations said that they planned to attend more than one. Roughly one-tenth of Reform and Conservative respondents said that they only planned to attend online services.