The Israeli government’s enthusiastic embrace of Donald Trump and his controversial policies is further exacerbating the estrangement and alienation that many American Jews increasingly feel toward Israel’s leadership -- and perhaps toward Israel more generally.
President Trump, for most American Jews, represents the antithesis of what they view as Jewish values and American values. Seeing Trump and some of his policies – particularly his immigration policy – being embraced by the prime minister of Israel is for liberal American Jews – and most American Jews are liberal -- like fingernails on a chalkboard.
At this low point in the history of Israel’s relations with America’s Jewish community, the Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies at Israel’s Haifa University released a new study about this topic. The study, titled “Israel – a Unifying or Divisive Issue among American Jews” was published this week. We spoke with its author, Alon Pinkas.