Posted By James Besser
Reacting to the Iran Story / James Besser in Washington
Recently the Jewish Week ran a story describing a Zogby International poll showing growing support in America for military action against Iran – and an even sharper increase in the Jewish community.
Now, according to Zogby, more than 60 percent of Jews favor military action to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, 48 percent “strongly” supporting it. That contrasts with an American Jewish Committee poll a year ago showing 60-plus percent opposed.
Do you believe it? A lot of Jewish leaders around the country don’t, as calls from several suggested after the story ran.
“Attention? Yes, it’s on peoples’ radar screens now,” said a Jewish Federation leader in response to the Jewish Week story. “But I don’t see the support for military action. Zogby didn’t poll my community.”
Overall, the Zogby numbers differ from other key polls, which show smaller and in some cases declining proportions of Americans favoring the military option. If Zogby is wrong about the nation as a whole, couldn’t he be wrong about the Jews, as well?
The Jewish Week story was picked up by numerous blogs as “proof” that Professors Walt and Mearsheimer are right: that the Jewish groups that “caused” the war in Iraq are trying to do the same with Iran.
The fear such notions could get a lot of additional traction if there is a military confrontation with Iran – and if it goes as badly as the war in Iraq – has made many Jewish leaders fearful of talking about trends in the community.
In private, they say that relentless warnings about Iran from groups ranging from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs to AIPAC are having an impact on Jewish public opinion.
But that doesn’t necessarily translate into support for military action, although some concede the focus on Iran by major Jewish groups and the apocalyptic rhetoric of some (which, many observers say, seems to be getting toned down of late) creates that impression.
Increasing awareness of the menace of Iran is coexisting with growing fears that the Bush administration could be following the path it blazed in Iraq right into Iran, many say.
Even for the segment of the Jewish community that puts Israel at the top of its list of political priorities, there is ambivalence – concern that the warnings about Iran’s nuclear effort are more accurate than those about Iraq’s, but also fear Israel could pay the price for any attack and uncertainty over this administration’s ability to conduct yet another war.
Jewish public opinion is in flux on Iran, many say – but for it to jump to support for another military action by this administration would be a political stretch few see happening.