US Jews less committed to Israel because of their religiosity or because of Israel's politics

Recently, Pew released report of the American Jewry A Portrait of Jewish Americans. The following infographic details some of the important stats in the report.

This report also surveyed Jewish Americans' support for Israel

Benjamin Barer (Jewish Intermarriage and Israel) discusses one claim made by eminent Jewish sociologist Steven Cohen on the basis of above stats showing support of Israel in various groups of Jewish Americans. Cohen claimed that if more Jewish children are raised in homes with two Jewish parents than the support of Israel would be more widespread.

Barer argues that the support of Israel may not be based on religiosity (i.e. more religious Jews are more supportive of Israel), linking it with homes with two Jewish parents. It may be linked to Israeli politics or how the Israeli state acts. As a committed Jew, planing to become s rabbi, he contends

In this case, we (younger, committed Jews) need to get the message across that there are other reasons why we -- not only 'cultural Jews' or 'Jews of no religion' -- are seen to have lessened (or abandoned) our attachment to Israel. Prime among them is that we do not define engagement with Israel purely as support for Israel. We know that critiquing Israel is a necessary, if sometimes difficult, part of forming and maintaining a robust relationship with a country that speaks in our name. Thus, when we see Israel acting -- politically and religiously -- in ways that we do not believe serve Israel's or Judaism's best interests, we feel inclined to speak out. Simply decreasing the rate of intermarriage among the next generation of Jews will not fix this problem. Talking about Israel, and the ideals that we hope it to embody, might.

Barer argument is valid but Cohen is also correct. Jewish Americans are less now less ready to support Israel no matter what it does, even when it ignores Jewish values. However, unconditional support is still more prevalent and likely to be more prevalent in religious Jews because probably they are more aware of Jewish history and feel more strongly about Israel's claim on the land. And so they are ready to ignore Israel's injustices in view of the centuries of injustice Jews have faced and do not think Palestinians have much right over the West Bank and Gaza.

Hence, there will be more people like Barer in future but they will still be a minority in the religious Jews group.