July 26, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Though the J Street press release merrily announces, " AMERICAN JEWS CONTINUE TO BACK PRESIDENT OBAMA, US ENGAGEMENT TO RESOLVE THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT," the statement isn't supported by the poll which supposedly underlies the organization's overbroad conclusion. [see, J Street presser, http://jstreet.org/blog/american-jews-continue-to-back-president-obama-us-engagement-in-israeli-palestinian-conflict/]
As a matter of fact, the data actually points in the other direction, that the overwhelming majority of those who participated in the survey oppose Mr. Obama's Middle East policy, which J. Street mirrors - with less than 10% showing strong approval.
For example, from the study:
Q.10 Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the Arab-Israeli conflict?
Total
Strongly approve .................................................................. 9
Somewhat approve ............................................................. 35
Somewhat disapprove ........................................................ 31
Strongly disapprove ........................................................... 26
Similarly fully two-thirds of those polled view America, under this administration, as having gone off the rails.
Q 7 Generally speaking, do you think that things in this country are going in the right direction, or do you feel things have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track?
Total
Right direction ............................................................................... 34
Wrong track ................................................................................... 66
The poll was commissioned by the allegedly pro-Israeli lobbying organization, J Street, and conducted by GBA Strategies, a political consulting group whose clientele tend towards leftist think tanks such as the Soros funded Center for American Progress and James Carville/ Stanley Greenberg's Democracy Corps. The firm has also consulted with the huge public employee union [1.6M members claimed] the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees [AFSCME] as well as the National Education Association, both Democrat cash-cows. [source, http://www.gbastrategies.com/clients/]
Whether or not the poll's respondents are demographically representative of the totality of American Jewry, it's clear that those who were polled are primarily secular, with two-thirds not belonging to a synagogue and nearly 80% seldom, if ever, attending religious services. It is commonly believed that secularism is highly correlated with liberalism among this demographic.
Q.47 Finally, a few questions for statistical purposes. Do you belong to a synagogue or temple?
Total
Yes ............................................................................................... 39
No ................................................................................................. 61
(ref:SYNOG)
Q.48 How often, do you attend formal religious services?
Total
Every week .................................................................................. 11
Once or twice a month ................................................................. 11
A few times a year ....................................................................... 30
Hardly ever .................................................................................. 31
Never ........................................................................................... 17
J Street is partially funded by George Soros, though it has denied it in the past.
In a June 9 item we wrote [Netanyahu To J Street - Get Lost, "Last year the Washington Times revealed that despite denials to the contrary placed on the organization's website, that George Soros was one of J Street's primary funders, "Tax forms obtained by The Washington Times reveal that Mr. Soros and his two children, Jonathan and Andrea Soros, contributed a total $245,000 to J Street from one Manhattan address in New York during the fiscal year from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009." [see, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/24/soros-funder-liberal-jewish-american-lobby/]
Soros has a long history of Israel bashing and cites it as being the impediment to settling the Arab/Israeli conflict.
Soros and J Street are kindred spirits - neither are friends of an Israel with defensible borders. Though the group denies it, it really does support "negotiations," with Abbas [Abu Mazen, PLO/PA] and a return to the 1967 borders, which is in line with Soros' viewpoint. [see J Street's NY Times ad, "Recognizing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders is vital for Israel's existence", http://jstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/NY-Times-J-Street-Ad.pdf].
J Street has proven itself disingenuous in previous public statements, more concerned with courting the hard-leftist and slavishly shilling for the President than working towards a safe and secure Israel - as a Jewish state - which necessarily would require rejecting the 1967 borders and refusing to have anything to do with Hamas - anathema to the left.
The groups' just commissioned poll is significant, the main reason J Street strove to misrepresent it via its press release. Its own polling data clearly shows that Mr. Obama's & J Streets' tilt towards the so-called Palestinians in the Arab/Israeli conflict is out of step with the mainstream of American Jews, who also feel that under this administration the country is heading the wrong way. This can't be reassuring to either J St. or Mr. Obama
While the organization steadfastly claims it is pro-Israel, its actions prove otherwise, that it has more in common with the Jewish states' enemies.
For further reference:
J St. executive summary, http://2011poll.s3.amazonaws.com/J_STREET_NATIONAL_SURVEY_OF_AMERICAN_JEWS_JULY_2011_SURVEY_ANALYSIS.pdf
Polling data, http://2011poll.s3.amazonaws.com/J_Street_Survey_July%202011_Final_Results.pdf
GBA Strategies' client list, http://www.gbastrategies.com/clients
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