America's politically divided Jewish community braces for Israel's elections

NEW YORK (AP) — Jewish Americans feel they have a lot at stake in this month’s contentious elections in Israel as three years of Mideast conflicts rile up emotions across the United States, from street protests to the midterm races. But they are sharply divided along political, religious and often generational lines on the preferred outcome in a vote that’s perceived as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and held against the backdrop of the enduring trauma of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s supporters, especially among Orthodox Jews, believe he’s protecting a country they love as central to their identity. Many liberal and younger Jewish Americans believe his policies have harmed Israel’s global standing, engendering widespread anger that threatens them in the U.S., too. The moment is particularly fraught as antisemitism and antisemitic violence grow.

Even harsh critics of Netanyahu’s actions, whether over Gaza or Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, argue that blame for attacks against Jews can’t solely be laid at his feet. “A lot of American Jews are really torn. They want to shout from the rooftops, ‘Stop the pogroms in the West Bank,’ but also yell at everybody, ‘Stop with allegations of genocide and double standards against Israel,’” said Rabbi Dan Levin of Temple Beth El in Boca Raton, Florida.

Israel is important to Jewish Americans’ identity Levin’s large Reform synagogue is one of many across the U.S. hosting educational programs this fall because congregants feel “deeply emotionally invested” in the Israeli elections, even if, as non-citizens, they can’t vote. Under Israel’s complex, multiparty political system, the Oct.

27 election outcome is impossible to forecast. Polls suggest a tight race between a Netanyahu-led bloc and an alliance of rivals for control of the government. Many Jewish Americans have Israeli friends and family.

More broadly, support for Israel is a key component of the religious identity of many U.S. Jewish adults ages 45 and older, particularly those who identify as religiously Jewish, according to a recent AP-NORC poll. The largest Jewish denomination in the United States is Reform, which emphasizes progressive values.