THEY'D BE MORE ZIONIST IF THEY WERE MORE JEWISH:

So What's Their Problem With Israel? (Jay Tolson, September 06, 2007, US News)

If America's support of Israel is unswerving—perhaps uncritically so, some critics say—a new report on attitudes of young American Jews toward the Jewish state suggest that they may not be the solid block of Israel boosters that their elders have traditionally been. Indeed, the study finds that American Jews under 35 show greater levels of detachment and even alienation from Israel than do any older age groups of American Jews.

Intended as part of series of reports on young Jewish American identity, "Beyond Distancing" focuses on what its authors, Steven Cohen, a research professor at Hebrew Union College, and Ari Kelman, a professor of American studies at the University of California-Davis, believe is a key indicator of the change from a more collective, ethnic, or even tribal view of being Jewish toward what they call "privatized Judaism." The latter, in their view, promotes a "more open notion of community, a more fluid conception of Jewish identity, and a more critical approach to peoplehood and belonging"—and therefore one that would presumably go hand in hand with diminishing attachment to the Jewish homeland.

The data, culled from the 2007 National Survey of American Jews, certainly appear to confirm such a correlation. While only 54 percent of the under-35 group are "comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state," 81 percent of those 65 and over are. More strikingly, less than half (48 percent) of the under-35 cohort would take the destruction of Israel as a personal tragedy, contrasted to 78 percent of the oldest cohort and 66 percent of those 60-64.