While there are plenty of sensationalist headlines in the findings of JPR’s new Israel Survey, it is extremely important that we do not miss the big picture view of Jews in Britain that the data reveal. Here, there are three overwhelming messages which, together, paint an important and, in many respects, compelling portrait of our community.
The first is that, as a community, we really care about Israel. Almost all of us have visited the country, for most of us it forms an important, even central part of our Jewish identity, and many of us regard it as the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. That doesn’t detract from our Britishness – most of us have strong British identities and feel comfortable living here – but the fact that Israel exists so powerfully within our Jewish identities goes a considerable way towards explaining why it stirs our emotions in the way that it so often does. It is personal; Israel is a part of who we are. We share in its successes, it hurts us when it is in pain, and it disturbs us when we see it fall short of the standards we would wish it to uphold.
The second is that we really want peace. A clear majority believes in territorial compromise and the two-state solution, and three-quarters of us are opposed to the expansion of settlements. Perhaps because we have been to Israel and seen it for ourselves, perhaps because so many of us have friends and family living there, perhaps because peace is a central value in Jewish tradition, we desperately want to see the country at peace. Indeed, we are so eager to see Israel reconcile its differences with the Palestinians that just over half of us are willing – albeit rather reluctantly and tentatively – to accept the Israeli government conducting negotiations with Hamas, an organization that has, in the very recent past, committed all manner of terrorist atrocities against Israelis. There is something truly extraordinary about that finding, and it should be understood primarily as an indication of just how much Jews in Britain want to see Israel at peace.
The third is that we are very concerned about Israel, in two respects. On the one hand, most of us support the security fence, most regarded Operation Cast Lead in Gaza as “a legitimate act of self-defence,” and almost all of us are deeply worried about the potential threat posed by Iran’s rhetoric and nuclear ambitions. Again, perhaps because we have such strong and personal connections with Israel, perhaps because the memories of Jewish persecution and attacks on Israel continue to be so potent and vivid, we want to ensure that Israelis are safe, and able to live their lives free from the threats of terrorism and hostile attack. There is no evidence to suggest that these attitudes are motivated by anything other than a simple wish to see Israelis live in security.
However, a majority also has real concerns about some of the internal aspects of Israeli society. Whilst most feel that Israel’s democracy is alive and well, many of us are disturbed, for example, about political corruption in the country, and discrimination against both Jewish and non-Jewish minorities. The primary motivation underlying this type of disquiet seems to be that we want Israel to be a country of which we can be proud, and one that lives up to the moral pronouncements included, for example, in its Declaration of Independence.
In essence, the survey findings show that Jews in Britain care deeply about Israel. We are very eager to see it at peace, and are concerned both about the external security threats it faces, as well as the internal issues that seem to weaken some of the values that underpinned the State’s creation. In many respects, respondents have captured perfectly the heart of the dilemma faced by Israel on a day-to-day basis. There is a difficult and precarious balance to be achieved between peace and security, and any compromise Israel makes on either side of that equation has an impact on the other. What Jews in Britain are saying – in much the same way as Israelis are saying – is that we want both.
This article first appeared in The Jewish Telegraph. The report can be accessed here.
Monday, July 19, 2010
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