On October 18, Hamas supporters stormed the United States Capitol and
rallied in the Canon rotunda against the Israeli campaign to stop the
Islamic terrorist group. While many of the insurrectionists were
Islamist and non-Jewish leftist activists, the event was linked to two
veteran anti-Israel organizations: Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.
There
has always been a pro-terrorist fringe among American Jews exemplified
by organizations such as these two, along with others such as J Street,
the Israel Policy Forum, the New Israel Fund, Jews for Racial &
Economic Justice, T’ruah and other anti-Israel groups. And while they
have generally boasted more organizations than members, a new poll
raises the question of what percentage of American Jews supports Hamas
and the killing of Jews.
The answer in one poll is deeply troubling.
Cygnal polled Muslims and Jews in America. It found that 57%
of Muslims believed that Hamas atrocities against Jews were justified.
But a less widely reported result found that 11.5% of American Jews also
agreed that Hamas was justified.
3.6% of American Jews “strongly agreed” that Hamas was justified while another 7.9% “somewhat agreed.”
While
the vast majority of American Jews, 88.5% disagreed, there is a
distinct minority of people who were born Jewish that supports killing
Jews.
And supports Hamas.
Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh enjoys a 7.2% favorability rating among American Jews.
When
asked if knowing that “Hamas is nothing but a proxy for Iran and is
funded and supported by Iran. Would you be more or less likely to vote
for a political candidate who supports releasing billions of dollars in
frozen assets for Iran to use any way it chooses”, 10.8% of American
Jews would be more likely to vote for such a candidate.
1 in 10
American Jews supports the murder of Jews. Not to mention the rape,
torture, kidnapping and dismembering of Jews. That is the JVP, IfNotNow,
J Street, T’ruah demographic.
Polls are flawed and Cygnal
dramatically oversamples Reform who make up 44.7% of the poll, but only
37% of American Jews, and Orthodox and Conservative Jews barely make up a
quarter of the respondents, but the poll likely does reflect some
percentage of American Jews.
They are the ones who rallied for Hamas in the Capitol and who, like Anna Epstein at Boston University, can be seen tearing down the posters showing the kidnapped women and children.
Anti-Israel
groups over the years have claimed that they don’t support terrorism.
Even the IfNotNow and JVP rallies operate under the false flag of
calling for a ceasefire. Their allies from J Street to JFREJ to T’ruah
use similarly misleading language. Some even claim to be advocating for
the hostages. This is often enhanced by theatrical performances
inappropriately using borrowed Jewish rituals such as a shofar, a tallit
and the recitation of Kaddish, the mourning prayer, for Islamic
terrorists.
In reality, IfNotNow’s first statement after the
Hamas rape, torture, kidnapping and murder of Israelis asserted that,
“we cannot and will not say today’s actions by Palestinian militants are
unprovoked. Every day under Israel’s apartheid system is a
provocation.” It made no mention of Hamas, but only claimed that the
“blood is on the hands” of America and Israel.
But what the poll
really lays bare is the worldview of Hamas supporters with Jewish last
names. It does so without any of the dishonest language, the
equivocation, the changes of subject that form the essence of their
anti-Israel arguments. Asked if they support Hamas, they do.
It’s that simple and it was always that simple.
There
is a percentage of American Jews whose leftist politics are so extreme
that they back Hamas and the mass killing of Jews. We don’t know exactly
what percent it is, is it really 11.5% or 7% or 3.6%. What we do know
is that members of this group routinely lie and mislead about what they
believe. They talk about peace when what they’re after is war. When they
advocate for a ‘ceasefire’, what they really want is the unrestricted
ability by Hamas to kill Jews.
They are not just opposed to the
policies of a “right-wing Israeli government” or any Israeli government,
they have a favorable view of Ismail Haniyeh: the leader of Hamas, who
had bragged that the Islamic terror group would win because it loved
death while “the Jews love life more than any other people, and they
prefer not to die”.
They aren’t actually advocating for a deal
with Iran, they just want an end to all sanctions on Iran even if it
supports Hamas and even in the absence of any actual deal to end its
nuclear program.
What does the anti-Israel fringe of the Jewish community support?
Israel
released a recording of a Hamas terrorist excitedly calling his parents
to tell them, “Father, I killed 10 Jews! Check your WhatsApp! I sent
you the photos! Father, I killed 10 Jews! I killed 10 Jews with my bare
hands. check your WhatsApp. Father, be proud of me!”
How did we get to the point where any percentage of American Jews supports Hamas?
Another poll, from Harvard/Harris, found that
16% of Americans side with Hamas and 24% agreed that “the Hamas killing
of 1200 Israeli civilians in Israel can be justified by the grievances
of Palestinians.”
This was an opinion held by
31% of Democrats and 36% of self-described liberals. People with
college degrees (29%) were more likely to support Hamas atrocities than
people with only some college (21%). Urbanites (40%) were far more
likely to believe that the murder of Israeli women and children was
justified than suburban (17%) or rural (13%) residents. Those making
$75,000 or more were more often Hamas supporters (33%) than those making
less (19%) and blacks (33%), Hispanics (28%) justified the murder of
Jews more than white people did (21%).
The poll didn’t assemble
the percentage of Hamas support from urban (40%) liberals (36%) with
college (29%) degrees, but it’s a good bet that it’s between a third and
a half of them.
That also is a good description of a sizable percentage of American Jews.
A
third of American Jews do not support Hamas, but when they are immersed
in an environment that does, especially on college campuses, is it any
surprise that some do?
When 21% of liberals admit that they side with Hamas, some Jewish leftists will do it too.
Move
to a neighborhood full of Nazis, enroll your kids in schools where
there are daily chants of “Heil Hitler” during lunchtime and students
are taught of the greatness of the Third Reich, and the odds of your
kids coming home goosestepping vastly increases. Even if they’re Jewish.
Jews
in America have become part of a cultural community that has supported
leftist terrorism for at least half a century. Some never abandoned
their admiration for Communism, others saw the Marxist terrorists of the
counterculture as noble idealists, and some now celebrate Hamas.
American
Jews are much less likely to support their own killing, kidnapping and
torture than the average liberal (36%), but as many as 1 in 10 may be
willing to accept Jewish genocide as the price of social justice. In the
early days of the Soviet Union, the Yevsektsia or Jewish Section, made
up of people who were born Jewish, was the most ruthless in wiping out
Judaism and Zionism. Today, IfNotNow, J Street and Jews for Racial &
Economic Justice take up the banner.
The Hamas atrocities and
the reaction to it are a reality check. Some Jewish liberals recoil in
horror at the implications of the ideology of social justice, others
double down and embrace it. They claim that they want peace, but the
Cygnal poll shows what they really want is dead Jews.
(Editor's note: as bad as these numbers are, they're the best numbers of any U.S. group.)
Daniel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine. Click here to subscribe to my articles. And click here to support my work with a donation. Thank you for reading.
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