Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Cottonbro Studio/Pexels
Jewish star
(JNS) — Four in 10 Jewish Americans say they try to hide their religious identity, according to a new Washington Post poll that also reported almost one in three respondents saying they don’t feel safe as a Jew in the United States.
In the survey, 42% of respondents said they do not wear, carry or display anything in public that could identify them as Jewish, with 58% saying they do. In an American Jewish Committee poll taken in November 2023, a month after Oct. 7, just 26% said they hid their Jewish identity, while 73% said they did not.
Almost one-third of Jewish Americans (31%) said they did not feel safe, while 69% said they did.
By 95% to 5%, respondents said that there was more antisemitism in the United States, and 85% said there was a lot of or some antisemitism at college campuses, with 15% saying there was little or none.
In the poll, which was conducted before U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, just 29% of Jewish Americans approved of his performance in office, with 71% disapproving. By 65% to 35%, they said that he did not understand the concerns of American Jews.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also received low marks, with 68% expressing negative views of his leadership and just 32% saying it was positive.
Respondents deadlocked over the way that the Jewish state conducted the war, with 48% disapproving of Israel’s military action and 46% approving. By 61% to 29%, they said that Israel committed war crimes, but a far greater percentage (94%) said that Hamas is guilty of war crimes. Just 2% said they believed the terrorist group did not commit such crimes.
By 68% to 32%, respondents blamed Hamas, which operates in civilian areas and began the war, and not Israel, for the number of civilian casualties. Asked if Israel committed genocide in Gaza, a majority (51%) said no, while 39% said yes.
The poll of 815 Jewish Americans was conducted Sept. 2-9 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
