There is a large number of American Jews, particularly among youth and intellectuals, who are indifferent to Israel following the Yom Kippur War. This was reported to the Academic Forum of the Zionist Council of Arts, the academic arm of the American Zionist Federation. The panelists at the meeting, which was held recently at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, indicated that the polar ends of the Jewish communal spectrum–those who are totally committed to Israel and those who are totally indifferent–have both been strengthened as a result of the Yom Kippur War.
Dr. Arnulf M. Pins, executive director of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and Visiting Professor of Social Work at the Hebrew University, reported that on the basis of a survey he had conducted on the reactions of the American Jewish community to the Yom Kippur War it is apparent that “despite the increased number of committed Jews; there is still a relatively large number who are ambivalent, and an increasing number of Jews who question the viability of the existence of the Jewish State.”
Attributing the rise in those who identified with Israel, “to the increased personal contact which many young American Jews have had with Israel since 1967.” he urged that Zionists undertake a campaign of “increasing personal contact with Israel, providing more information on what is happening in Israel, promoting Israel as a specifically Jewish cause and preparing young people for political activity and encouraging the committed to goon aliya.”
Dr. Pins said the rising ambivalence and negativism of those intellectuals who were hostile to Israel was due to “the fact that the Yom Kippur War was not as clear-cut an issue as was the last one and that there was an absence of campus activism and ethnic consciousness on the current campus scene.” Dr. Pins provided a statistical breakdown of his findings among those negative to Israel as follows: 5-10% do not care, 25-30% believe Israel should be more flexible, 2-5% believe that U.S. cultural pluralism is a myth and that aliya is the only solution, 50-60% simply worry, and 3-6% acknowledge the existence of a real problem and wish to do something about it.
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