Washington - Even as a new study found that American Jews are significantly more opposed to the Iraq War than are Christians, Jewish organizations decided not to take up the issue at their annual policy conference.
Drawing from the results of 13 polls conducted since 2005, the Gallup Organization found that 77% of American Jews think the Iraq War was a mistake, compared with 52% of the general American public. The poll found that Jewish opposition to the war in Iraq transcends political boundaries, with Jewish Democrats and Jewish Republicans being more likely than their respective non-Jewish counterparts to oppose the war.
“These data show that the average American Jew — even those who are Republicans and may support the Bush administration on other matters — opposes the war,” Gallup concluded in the report, released last week.
In sharp contrast, most Jewish organizations have refused to speak out against the war, and at times they displayed support for the administration. This week, the Iraq issue was low on the agenda at the plenum of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs — the community’s main public policy coordinating body, which is made up of the major synagogue movements, several prominent national organizations and 122 local Jewish communities. The 400 delegates passed a rash of resolutions dealing with a wide variety of issues, but nothing regarding Iraq; an open discussion was held on the topic, but it took place late Monday night and drew only about 20 people.
Before the American invasion in 2003, the JCPA and the community’s other main umbrella group, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued statements that supported the use of force as a last resort to ensure that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. Though the statements came relatively late in the run-up to the war and stopped short of directly backing an invasion or support for the administration’s doctrine of spreading democracy, pro-Israel groups have been portrayed in some circles as being chief supporters of the war effort.
At least two influential organizations belonging to both umbrella groups, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, did issue more direct and broader statements of support for the war. But these statements also came late in the process, after the Bush administration was widely seen as bent on invading Iraq.
In the years since the invasion, only the Union for Reform Judaism has shifted into a more antiwar mode, or even moved aggressively to revisit the issue. This week’s JCPA conference was no exception.
“It is very odd that the organizations have not taken stands on Iraq,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow, JCPA’s executive director.
Gutow said that while he would have welcomed an attempt to tackle the issue, the member agencies refrained from proposing any resolution on it. In an attempt to explain the lack of interest in revisiting Iraq, Gutow suggested that “it is very complicated for any organization to go against its government when we’re in war.” He also said that “there is a reluctance to oppose this specific administration” because it is seen as being supportive of Israel.
Rank-and-file Jewish opposition to the war is high — at 77% — compared with a more even split among Christians, with a small majority of Catholics opposing the war and a small majority of Protestants backing it. According to the survey data, at least one Christian subgroup — black Protestants — opposes the war at an even higher rate (78%) than Jews do. The war is also opposed by about two-thirds of those without any religious affiliation.
Among religious groups, Mormons voiced the most support, with 72% backing the invasion.
Gallup’s poll found that 89% of Jewish Democrats think the war was a mistake, compared with 78% of non-Jewish Democrats. Among non-Democrats, 65% of Jews believe that the war was a mistake, compared with 60% who do not.
The Gallup report did not provide any explanation for the strong Jewish opposition to the war, suggesting only that it might be tied to the liberal views held in general by American Jews.
No formal Iraq resolution was voted on at the JCPA plenum, but the issue was addressed during a debate that started after midnight. Of the hundreds of delegates that filled the room Monday for the lengthy debates and votes on resolutions earlier in the evening, fewer than 20 remained to discuss the Iraq War. Sitting around empty tables with half-full coffee cups and leftover doughnuts scattered on them, the few delegates with an interest in the issue attempted to conduct a late-night debate.
“This room was filled with people voting on nonsense, and then they all walked out,” yelled 79-year-old Robert Zweiman of the Jewish War Veterans organization when he stepped up to the microphone. Looking around at the empty hall, Zweiman asked: “Does that give you an indication of how important this is?”
The discussion was wrapped up shortly afterward, with several delegates worrying that an immediate withdrawal would further hurt America’s already deteriorating image in the world and others calling for action against the war.
One of the main panels at the conference was dedicated to the Iraq War, yet the keynote speaker, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, chose to focus his speech on Iran. Hagel, a possible contender for the presidency in 2008, reiterated his support for engagement with Tehran, arguing that there were more possibilities than simply choosing between accepting a nuclear Iran and waging war against the Islamic regime. Even though the Nebraska senator called for engaging Iran and Syria — a position opposed by the Bush administration and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert — he was received warmly by the Jewish delegates, who praised his views and his courage to speak out against the Iraq War.
As he was concluding his speech, the lights and microphones onstage shut down due to a technical malfunction. “Those damn Iranians,” Hagel called out, drawing applause and laughter from the supportive audience.
Following Hagel, Barbara Stephenson, the State Department’s deputy senior adviser on Iraq, tried to explain President Bush’s new war policy, saying that Monday was “a great day” for Iraq because of the agreement reached by the battling ethnic groups on sharing the country’s oil resources. By that time in the evening, not many delegates were left in the room to hear Stephenson’s upbeat analysis of the situation.
Though Jewish groups have been determined to push for tough international action on Iran, this week at the JCPA plenum they ended up not passing a statement on the issue. But JCPA participants say that the matter was procedural, with a proposed resolution calling for the formation of a “Stop Iran” coalition, which was referred to a task force for technical reasons.
The proposal was introduced by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston after the deadline for new resolutions had already passed. It is expected to be discussed in the coming months.
In order to avoid making the impression that the American Jewry policy body is not strong on lobbying against Iran, the JCPA’s associate director, Martin Raffel, took to the stage, assuring “our brothers and sisters in Israel” that the Jewish community is committed to preventing the Islamic regime from having nuclear weapons.
“Have no fear,” Raffel said, “this issue is at the top of our agenda.”
IN MY OPINION, JEWS ARE AGAINST THE IRAQ WAR BECAUSE WE THINK CLEARLY. THE REASONS FOR WAR WERE LIES; THE BUSH ADMINSITRATION HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO LIE TO US AND TO RUN THE WAR IN A VERY INCOMPETENT AND DISGUSTING MANNER; AND WATCHING THE SHIITES AND SUNNIS BRUTALLY AND MASSIVELY KILL EACH OTHER PROVES THAT THIS IS A CIVIL WAR AND NOT WORTH AMERICAN BLOOD. MOREOVER, IF SHIITE IRAN AND THE SUNNIS IN THE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES WANT TO JOIN IN, IT WILL LESSEN THE JIHADIST THREAT IN THE WORLD. I WONDER IF BUSH'S REASON FOR STAYING IS THE NEW IRAQI LAW ALLOWING FOR FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES TO DEVELOP IRAQI OIL INDUSTRY. ALSO, THE PRIVATE 'CONTRACTORS' ARE MAKING HUGE PROFITS WHILE DOING A TERRIBLE JOB AND THUS WASTING U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY. NOTHING GOOD CAN BE SAID ABOUT THE IRAQ WAR, AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND A BAD MESS TAKING PLACE. NEXT, WILL BE THOUSANDS OF IRAQI REFUGEES WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO ENTER AMERICA LIKE SOUTH EAST ASIANS AFTER VIETNAM. HOW MANY OF THESE IRAQIS WILL BE TERRORISTS?? CONGRESSMAN MORAN OF VIRGINIA BLAMED JEWS FOR THE IRAQ WAR WHEN IT STARTED AND HE IS STILL IN CONGRESS. THE FORWARD SHOULD SEND HIM THE POLL RESULTS AND ASK HIM TO APPOLOGIZE.
What a pretentious self absorbed people we are. Has their ever been a more reviled group ? Wherever we go,we sow discord. We finally arrived in a country that accepted us in a way that no other country ever did,yet,we feel the need to destroy ourselves. The Rosenbergs,the deep thinking Writers Guild,The Lawyers Guild,the ACLU,Lynn Stewart, the treacherous lawyer to the blind shiek.On and on. Their will be a very unfortunate recogning down the road.When the scorn you heap on this present admiministrations attempt to combat an assault on America's way of life,turns around and bites you . There is a seething discontent amongst many non Jews who resent our treachery. Stay tuned......
What it shows is the large gap between what Jews actually think and how they are perceived because of the organized Jewish establishment which represents few of the Jews in the United States. It also shows that if there is a conspiracy, it is not among the Jews themselves, but rather among the Jewish organizations themselves who would like make it seem that way. The most interesting revalation from this poll is that Jews who are Republicans are more likely to opposed the war in Iraq than non-Jews.
First of all many of these Jews are marginal Jews at best. Their connection to anything Jewish is very limited. They define themselves as 'Liberals.' Second of all, there are many Jews who don't want to give the impression that the Iraq war was undertaken to protect Israel which is being said in many anti-war blogs. They want to keep a low profile.
"Drawing from the results of 13 polls conducted since 2005, the Gallup Organization found that 77% of American Jews think the Iraq War was a mistake, compared with 52% of the general American public." Does this sentence make sense to anybody? Can different polls taken at different times be compared? It is almost as if someone is desperate to make a point, even if there is no evidence for it. I contend there is not a poll anywhere that finds the non-Jewish American population is "evenly split" on the Iraq war. Remember the last elections? Pretty unequivocal, I'd say. But the important thing is who was pushing for it back in 2002. The record in the media is pretty clear--from Friedman to Krauthammer to Safire to Peretz to Frum, etc, etc, etc. Here is the AJC's survey from just before the bombs started falling-- <a href="http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=838459&ct=1051619">http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=838459&ct=1051619</a> 4. Do you approve or disapprove of the United States taking military action against Iraq to try and remove Saddam Hussein from power? Approve 59%