Vast Majority of American Jews Believe Anti-Israel Campus Protests Are Anti-Semitic, Poll Finds, in Blow to JVP

Findings show that the American Jewish community ‘rejects the assertions of these Jewish anti-Zionist groups,’ says Jonathan Schulman

The vast majority of American Jews believe the anti-Israel movements sweeping college campuses and U.S. cities are anti-Semitic, according to a new poll.

The results stem from a survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and commissioned by the Jewish Majority, a public relations and research organization. They reflect a major divide between the Jewish-American community and anti-Israel groups that claim to represent Jews, such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.

Seventy percent of American Jews said anti-Zionist movements are anti-Semitic by definition, and 76 percent said the same about the anti-Israel protests at universities, according to the poll.

Jewish Voice for Peace, which calls itself “the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world” and says it opposes Israel “because we love Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism,” has driven those campus protests. Its chapter at Columbia University, for example, was suspended in the wake of Oct. 7 for holding an “unauthorized event” that included “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”

Jonathan Schulman, the executive director of the Jewish Majority, said the findings show that the “overwhelming majority of the American Jewish community rejects the assertions of these Jewish anti-Zionist groups.” He said his organization is the first to poll Jewish Americans directly on the anti-Zionist movement.

“These very loud groups are saying, ‘As Jews, we believe in X,’ and they’re getting a lot of media attention,” Schulman told the Washington Free Beacon. “But we haven’t actually had any polling, so we decided to actually conduct that poll.”

The news comes as anti-Israel groups seek out “notable Jews” to act as the face of an opposition campaign against President Donald Trump’s plan to rebuild Gaza as the “Riviera of the Middle East.” Rabbis for Ceasefire, the In Our Name Campaign, and other groups linked to Jewish Voice for Peace have been organizing an open letter denouncing the proposal. They plan to run the letter as an ad in the New York Times complete with signatures from “Jewish celebrities” and clergy members, the Free Beacon reported last week.

Schulman’s poll, however, shows the vast majority of American Jews oppose the tactics of anti-Israel activists, such as defending Hamas or wearing Jewish religious garments in anti-Israel protests to give the appearance of Jewish support. Seventy-seven percent said “supporting or praising the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel is antisemitic,” while 66 percent objected to the “use of Jewish ritual items like shofars, prayer shawls, and phylacteries by anti-Israel protesters.”

Most American Jews also opposed negotiations with Hamas, which they overwhelmingly view as a genocidal terrorist group. Eighty percent say Israel “cannot be expected to negotiate with an organization like Hamas which has a goal of eliminating Israel and killing all Jews,” while 62 percent said they don’t believe Israeli concessions would end Palestinian terror. Eighty-five percent of American Jews said Hamas “wants to commit genocide against Jews and Israel.”