Originally published in Tikkun Daily
When an historic nuclear agreement with Iran was announced on July 14, Israel's Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, immediately lambasted it as a "historic mistake." He then warned that Israel would not be bound by it, and pledged to lobby Congress to oppose it. And he did so after claiming that this opposition was on behalf of "the entire Jewish people."
Soon after, a host of American Jewish organizations, including those pluralistic institutions which are supposed to represent the broader American Jewish community, took up Netanyahu's mantle, pledging to oppose the Iran deal on account of the (claimed) danger it poses to Israel. Unsurprisingly, so too did AIPAC, which so far has raised $30 million for its massive lobbying effort to kill the agreement, including television spots in 40 states.
When J Street expressed support for the deal, Jeffrey Goldberg—who has long predicted Israel would bomb Iran and views the deal as "morally dubious"—wondered aloud if those Jews who support it could be considered 'pro-Israel,' given the Israeli government's opposition.
From Netanyahu to AIPAC to Goldberg, the unspoken assumption was that the American Jewish community – and certainly those Jews who care about Israel – overwhelmingly opposed the deal. And those who supported it? Well, they were anything from not sufficiently 'pro-Israel' to self-hating Jews who want to see Israel destroyed.
But guess what? A poll just released, overseen by the country's preeminent sociologist and pollster who focuses on the Jewish community, Steven M. Cohen, shows that the overwhelming majority of U.S. Jews support the Iran deal.
Below are two graphics showing just how strong support for this deal is within the American Jewish community, with 53 percent wanting Congress to approve it (versus 35 percent):
With the vast majority of American Jews supporting President Obama's diplomatic initiative, and viewing it as
adding to Israel's security, it can only mean one thing: the vast majority of Jews in this country must be self-hating.
Or something.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.
