Why Many Americans Identify Jewish Americans with Israel: Suggestions for Reducing This Source of Antisemitism and for Better Measures of Antisemitism

Clark McCauley

Authors

Clark McCauley Bryn Mawr College

Abstract

Hostility toward U.S Jews has increased since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. Polling research suggests that at least part of this increase stems from perception of U.S. Jews as responsible for Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, such that outrage against Israel’s treatment of Gazans is generalized to U.S. Jews. The first section of this paper reviews connections of U.S. Jews with Israel that might lead some of the larger U.S. public to see U.S. Jews as responsible for Israel’s policies, including polling data on U.S. Jews’ emotional attachment to Israel, behavioral connections with Israel, and in-the-news examples of devotion to Israel. The second section offers psychological analysis of the power of these connections, the third section considers possible directions for reducing antisemitism in the U.S., and the fourth section advances research directions that might support better understanding and more effective targeting of antisemitism in the U.S. A concluding section summarizes the contributions of the paper and several important limitations.

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Why Many Americans Identify Jewish Americans with Israel: Suggestions for Reducing This Source of Antisemitism and for Better Measures of Antisemitism

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