Israel Matzav: The difference between Orthodox and other Jews on politics

The difference between Orthodox and other Jews on politics

Shmuel Rosner comes up with this observation.

I warned you this will not be a surprise, but look how the Jewish Orthodox answer the questions on Obama's handling of Israel: 17% approve (compared to 55% of Jews generally), 74% disapprove (37% for Jews generally). Interestingly, when it comes to Netanyahu's handling of the relations the Orthodox aren't as forgiving as one might assume: 30% of American Orthodox Jews disapprove of the way Netanyahu is handling his relations with Obama and the US. In fact, the number of Orthodox approving of Netanyahu (57%) is lower (!) than the number of Conservatives (61%) and identical to the number of Reform who think Netanyahu handles the relations properly (also 57% - 31% of Reform disapprove).

There is likely a difference between why the Orthodox disapprove of Netanyahu's handling of Obama and why the others disapprove. Those Conservative and Reform Jews who disapprove of Netanyahu's handling of Obama likely do so because Netanyahu is not accommodating enough to Obama and because Obama is obviously displeased with Netanyahu. Those Orthodox Jews who disapprove of Netanyahu's handling of Obama likely do so because Netanyahu is not tough enough - for example, because Netanyahu caved in on the 'settlement freeze' in Judea and Samaria. Thus the disapproval numbers on Netanyahu - even if they are similar - are not comparable.

Israel Matzav: The difference between Orthodox and other Jews on politics