Israel not top concern

for most American Jews

Mitt Romney’s visit to Jerusalem was indeed pandering to the Christian right and to what he perceives as the American Jewish vote. [“Feeding off the Mideast conflict,” Opinion, Aug. 2.]

Regarding the latter, numerous studies have shown that Israel is not the top concern for most American Jews. Concerning themselves with matters of economy, health care, education and social issues, most American Jews vote first and foremost as Americans, and liberal Americans at that.

It is a very small minority of American Jews that elects its president by measuring his support of Israel, and defines that “support” in terms of the president’s readiness to approve every move and legislation of a sadly nonprogressive Israeli administration. That small minority is comprised mostly of politically conservative and right-wing Orthodox Jews.

As both an Israeli and a liberal American Jew, I note the strong quantitative and qualitative support that the Obama administration has afforded Israel, support that is happily not defined by knee-jerk rubber-stamping of many of the reactionary policies we see emerging from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

— Simcha Shtull, Seattle