Poll: Most Israelis think Diaspora Jews\’ view should be considered in policy

 

This was one of the key findings of a survey published Wednesday by the Israel Democracy Institute and presented at a special panel being held in Jerusalem as part of the Jewish Media Summit – a gathering of more than 120 journalists representing Jewish newspapers and broadcast outlets around the world. The poll, conducted in early May, was designed to assess the attitudes of Israeli Jews to the Diaspora.

 

Asked whether the government, in making important decisions, should take into consideration how they would influence the situation of Jews in the Diaspora, 29.7 percent of the respondents said it “very much needs to” and 41.4 percent said it “somewhat needs to.” Another 9.9 percent said it does not need to “at all,” and 16.5 percent said it does not need to “so much.”

 

Asked whether the government, in making important decisions, should take into consideration the viewpoints of Diaspora Jews, 16.7 percent said it “very much needs to” and 34.2 percent said it “somewhat needs to.” Another 20.2 percent said it does not need to “at all,” and 26.5 percent said it does not need to “so much.”

 

Another key finding of the survey was that although a majority of Israeli Jews believe that the Conservative and Reform movements should have equal standing with Orthodox in Israel, only a minority favor providing government allocations to fund the non-Orthodox streams.

 

Asked if they believed the Conservative and Reform movements should have equal status in important matters like conversion and marriage, 26.4 percent of the respondents said they were “certain” they should and 24 percent they “think” they should. Another 43.4 percent said they were either “certain” they should not or they “think” they should not.

 

Asked if they supported providing government funding to the non-Orthodox movements and their rabbis, 34.6 percent said they were “strongly” opposed and 17.2 percent said they were “somewhat” opposed. Another 40.3 percent said they were either “strongly” in favor or “somewhat” in favor.

 

In another revealing finding, only a minority (38.9 percent) of Israeli Jews said they supported allocating government financial support to Jewish communal activities abroad. This comes several weeks after the cabinet approved a new initiative to spend NIS 180 million over the next three years on programs in the Diaspora that strengthen Jewish identity. This new initiative will come on top of the NIS 400 million that it already spends each year on Diaspora programs, primarily Taglit-Birthright and Masa, which runs dozens of educational, volunteer and internship programs for young Jewish adults across Israel.

 

Asked which objective they felt was the most important for world Jewry to focus on today, the respondents listed fighting assimilation among young Jews in the Diaspora as their top priority (29.1 percent). Next in line was the struggle against anti-Semitism (23.5 percent). Trailing rather far behind that was “a relationship/attachment to Israel” (13 percent).