Nearly three years into the ongoing war in Gaza, a new national poll is shedding light on deep divisions within America’s Jewish community — and the biggest gaps appear between those who practice Judaism as a religion and those who identify as Jewish through culture, ethnicity, or family background.
The survey, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that for many American Jews, standing with Israel is inseparable from their religious identity, rooted in the belief that Israel represents Jewish safety and self-determination. But others — especially those who don’t identify religiously — feel far less connected to Israel and view its conduct in the war much more critically.
Roughly 7 in 10 Jewish adults identify as Jewish when asked about their religion. The remaining 3 in 10 describe themselves as atheist, agnostic, or without a specific religious affiliation, yet still consider themselves Jewish in a cultural or personal sense.
The conflict traces back to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 people. In response, Israel launched military operations in Gaza that have since resulted in more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not separate civilian from militant casualties. The war has become a divisive issue across the United States, fueling protests, heightening fears of antisemitism, and prompting debate over the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Among religiously affiliated Jews, views on Israel’s military campaign are mixed. Only about half consider Israel’s operations in Gaza to be justified. Roughly one-quarter believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza — a charge leveled by some human rights organizations but firmly rejected by both Israel and the U.S. government.
Secular Jews hold even more critical views. About 4 in 10 religiously unaffiliated Jewish adults believe Israel has committed genocide, while only about 2 in 10 see its military operations as justified. A striking 74% of secular Jews say they feel little or no emotional attachment to Israel — a stark contrast to their religiously affiliated counterparts.
Anna Constant, 56, of Seattle, who identifies as culturally Jewish, says she doesn’t feel a strong bond with Israel. “I kind of think of myself as an American version of a Jew. I do have a homeland,” she said, referring to the United States. At the same time, she expressed empathy for those caught in the conflict: “My heart is broken for everything everyone is navigating over there. … We have bad governments happening not just in Israel but in the United States. I’m trying to hold on to the reality that the people are not the governments.”
The survey also found that Jews who regularly attend religious services are more likely to feel connected to Israel and to view its military actions as justified. About 3 in 10 Jewish adults never attend services, though that figure climbs to roughly two-thirds among religiously unaffiliated Jews. About half of all Jewish adults attend services a few times a year or less. Roughly 2 in 10 attend at least once a month, including about 1 in 10 who go weekly.
Politically, Jewish adults lean Democratic, with about 3 in 10 identifying as Republicans. Religiously unaffiliated Jews are somewhat more likely to identify as Democrats and less likely to call themselves Republicans compared to Jewish adults overall.
Jacqueline Rothstein, 35, who divides her time between a Long Island suburb and Brooklyn, is Modern Orthodox and attends worship services about once a month. A political independent, she views Republican President Donald Trump favorably and holds an unfavorable view of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim Democrat who supports Palestinian rights. Rothstein says her Jewish identity and her support for Israel are “extremely important” to her.
She points to family history as a key factor shaping how Jews view Israel. Two of her grandparents were Sephardic Jews expelled from Egypt in the 1960s; the other two were Holocaust survivors. “There are plenty of American Jews whose grandparents didn’t have that trauma,” she said. “If you have no connection to Israel, if your grandparents were safe in America, … then you don’t know the struggle.”
The term “Zionist” also divides Jewish Americans along religious lines. About 3 in 10 religiously affiliated Jews say the label describes them “extremely” or “very” well, compared to just 6% of religiously unaffiliated Jews. Nearly half of secular Jews — 45% — say the word does not describe them well at all.
While supporting Israel remains fundamental to many Jewish adults’ sense of identity, its relative importance varies. About half of religiously affiliated Jews say it is “extremely” or “very” important to their Jewish identity, compared to roughly 1 in 10 secular Jews.
Rabbi Seth Adelson, who leads Congregation Beth Shalom in Pittsburgh — a Conservative synagogue with close ties to the three congregations targeted in the 2018 massacre at the nearby Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 worshippers were killed in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history — noted that Israel was originally founded largely by secular Jews. He suggested that today, religiously observant American Jews tend to feel a stronger pull toward Israel. “In recent years, perhaps due to the complexity of that region, due to the challenges faced by modern states, religious Jews have been more likely to hold on to our ancient stories, and Jews of no religion have been less likely to hold on to those stories,” he said.
A generational divide also exists. Younger Jewish adults, regardless of religious affiliation, are less likely to view Israel as central to their Jewish identity. Still, there are shared values across age groups — majorities of both younger and older Jewish adults say that remembering the Holocaust is important to their Jewish identity.
Bonnie Brody, 78, grew up in Queens, New York, surrounded by Holocaust survivors. Now a Florida resident, she sees Israel as an essential refuge for Jewish people, even when she disagrees with its government’s decisions. “I heard the stories of the concentration camps and how even (the U.S.) turned back a ship full of Jews,” she said, referencing the ocean liner St. Louis, which left Germany in 1939 carrying hundreds of Jewish refugees and was denied entry to the United States. “Many of them had nowhere to go.”
The survey also captured the personal toll the conflict has taken. More than half of Jewish adults — 55% — say they have been offended by someone else’s comments about Israel since the October 7 attack. About 4 in 10 say they’ve had disagreements with family members over Israel-related issues, and roughly 3 in 10 say they have cut off contact with someone entirely because of what that person said about Israel.
Shainah Horowitz, 45, a Democrat from Portland, Oregon, says her city’s Jewish community is fractured. She described tension between politically conservative Orthodox Jews and more left-leaning congregations, including her own Conservative synagogue, which is openly LGBTQ+-inclusive. She also noted that secular, anti-Zionist Jews in Portland are often sharply critical of Jews like herself who identify as Zionists and support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state. “I cannot have conversations with certain friends — non-Jews and some very secular Jews who buy into the anti-Israel slant,” she said.
The AP-NORC poll surveyed 3,040 adults between June 11 and 17, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to represent the broader U.S. population. The poll included interviews with 1,022 Jewish adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points for adults overall and plus or minus 5.0 percentage points for Jewish adults.
