---
title: "Are American Jews Turning Away from Israel?"
description: "Recent polling shows a growing divide."
date: "2016-03-10"
authors:
  - name: "Bruce Stokes"
    job_title: "Former Director, Global Economic Attitudes"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/bruce-stokes/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/03/10/are-american-jews-turning-away-from-israel/"
---

# Are American Jews Turning Away from Israel?

*Special to [Foreign Policy](http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/10/are-american-jews-turning-away-from-israel/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Flashpoints)*

No one ever said this would be easy.** **U.S.-Israeli relations are heating up as Vice President Joe Biden [criticizes](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html?WT.mc_id=WO-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-ABV-030910-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click) Israeli plans to build new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem against a backdrop of [reports](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-israel-idUSKCN0WA0UK) that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declined to meet with President Barack Obama due to the U.S. election — even while Washington and Tel Aviv are [negotiating](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/biden-arrives-in-israel-to-talk-billions-in-military-aid--and-patch-things-up/2016/03/07/d2dce47a-cec2-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html) new U.S. military aid to Israel. This latest flurry of activity comes in the wake of a new Pew Research Center [survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2016/03/08/israels-religiously-divided-society/) highlighting the differences between American Jews and Israeli Jews and between Israeli Jews and Arabs within Israel on a range of contentious issues surrounding the Middle East peace process.

*Read more at [Foreign Policy](http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/10/are-american-jews-turning-away-from-israel/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Flashpoints)*