Checking in on the Jewish community a year after publishing my original findings

Last year in August 2025, I published my article Jews are NOT Oppressed: The Myth of Systemic Antisemitism. In it, I included an exhaustive list of polling data I gathered from around the internet on the opinion of Jews worldwide towards Israel. Most of the surveys were conducted after the start of the 2023 Gaza genocide. The results showed consistent and overwhelming support for Israel among the global Jewish population, with a rough weighted total average of over 85%.

In this article, I decided to go through newer polling data released since August 2025 to see if things have changed a year after I published my initial findings. Below is a summary of results from surveys I found of American, Canadian, British and Israeli Jews in descending order of recency.

The results show that while favorability toward Israel has declined compared to previous years, it remains in the majority across all countries. A majority of Jews polled also do not even consider Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. Most importantly, the question at the core of Zionism—whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state—still commands overwhelming approval.

Israel’s Right to Exist as a Jewish State • US: 72-87% support Israel’s right to exist; 66-83% say denying this is antisemitic.

• UK: 81-82% support its right to exist.

• Canada: 92% support its right to exist.

• Israel: 87% say Zionism is not racist; 85% identify as Zionist; 1% as Anti-Zionist.

Attachment to & Favorability of Israel:

• US: 55-71% have a favorable view or feel emotionally attached to Israel; 63% say supporting Israel is important to their Jewish identity; 70-83% view Israeli people favorably.

• UK: 75% feel emotionally attached.

• Canada: 69% feel emotionally attached. Views on the Gaza War & Genocide

• US: 73% say Israel’s immediate response to Oct. 7 was justified; 42-46% say ongoing operations are justified; 49-78% deny genocide.

• UK: 81% deny genocide.

• Canada: 70% say Israel’s actions are legal/legitimate; 87-90% deny genocide; 64% do not blame Israel for famine.

• Israel: 71-92% rate the IDF highly; 68% want Israel to stay in Gaza; 61% deny famine reports.

Aid & Arms to Israel:

• US: Only 26% support stopping financial and military assistance; 59% support sending more arms.

• Canada: Only 20% support an arms embargo on Israel; 71% support increased aid to Israeli civil society. Antisemitism & Anti-Zionism

• US: 83% say too many critics of Israel use antisemitic tropes; 38-54% view certain anti-Israel actions as antisemitic; 89% say anti-Zionism is linked to antisemitism.

• Canada: 45% say calling Israel "apartheid” is definitely antisemitic; 45% say calling it “genocide” is definitely antisemitic.

• Israel: 78% say anti-Zionism is linked to antisemitism; 68% say boycotts are antisemitic.

Based on the latest polling evidence, little has fundamentally changed. While favorability toward Israel and approval of its conduct have shifted somewhat, overall support for Israel—particularly its status as a “Jewish state”—remains nearly unchanged, with the vast majority of Jews continuing to back the Zionist project, even as they express reservations about its current government.

So one must ask: given the facts presented here—nearly three years into a genocide carried out by the “Jewish state,” by Jews, for Jews, at the expense of non-Jews, with the overwhelming support of Jews worldwide—why does the Western “pro-Palestine” movement spend so much time and energy doing free PR for Jews? Why go so far as to lie on their behalf about what they actually believe? The Western left loves to talk about “centring voices.” Well, this is what they’ve said. So why speak over them?

    • decended_being@midwest.social
      7·
      5 days ago

      Yep, sorry my initial reply was from my phone and I was struggling with how much to add. United States > Midwest.

      I’m going to answer them without spoiler, in order. And with the HUGE caveat that I do not speak for all Jewish people.

      • Do you attend religious events?
        • Yes, but I want to clarify that ‘religion’ is not necessarily ‘faith.’ I think this is difficult for many US Christians to get.
        • I attend occasional synagogue events (at a very progressive synagogue), holiday events with my friends/family, and charity-style work with local orgs (elder-care, child-care, and nature cleanup)
      • Are those synagogue[s] or organization[s] anti-‘Israel’ (not just antizionist)?
        • This is a really good question, and unfortunately it depends on the semantics. And even many individuals would define antizionism differently - against the formation/creation and actions of the state of Israel, against the existence of Israel, or against the concept of a Jewish Ethno-state. A combination of those with other perspectives.
        • Some organizations in the area are explicitly against Israel’s actions, some are vocal about it, and others are quieter to prevent being silenced. Some orgs try to balance the line with a 2-state-solution style JStreet perspective. Others just parrot the propaganda, and I either stay away from those orgs or try to have discussions with some of the leaders in non-public spaces.
      • Are the other participants extremist zionist or liberal zionists?
        • Again, I hate to be all WhAt Do YoU mEaN bY…, but if we’re saying a liberal zionist is someone who is generally liberal / progressive on things except Israel, that’s like 65% of the Jewish zionists here. If you’re saying a liberal zionist is someone who only kinda supports Israel, that may also overlap with the previous 65% by a lot. There aren’t a lot of extremist zionists if that means blindly supporting Israel with everything, believing Israel’s right to exist supersedes everything else. But the few who are tend to be the rare Jewish republican / Trumper. The remaining quarter or so are progressives who are either anti-Israel / anti-zionist or didn’t have strong thoughts on it until Oct 7 and now likely lean towards the Palestinian cause.
      • Are some of them ex-idf members there?
        • I don’t know any former IDF anymore. There used to be a push to bring them around to spread propaganda.
        • I went to a Combatants for Peace event last year, which had some former militants. It’s an organization that certainly has its own issues, but ultimately has a goal of building community and caring for each other, regardless of identity.

      I’ll end with one last thing:

      • For the MOST part, young Jews growing up in my area (under 40ish) are far more progressive on Israel than the older generations. Giving hope to a community of Jewish people who understand the atrocities that our people endured (often our grandparents, including mine) should not be acted upon any people, for any reason. That The Holocaust didn’t have the only way to cause a genocide; and that Israel’s (and US’s) actions in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan is also a genocide and should be stopped.

      Dang that’s a wall of text, sorry. **Also, edited some formatting because bulleted lists are tough

      • Soupbreaker@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        4 days ago

        Thanks for sharing your perspective. I appreciate the thoughtful answer. I can only hope that sensible people will continue to resist attempts to conflate Judaism with Zionism. All attempts to do so play directly into the hands of neonazis.