The same rule applies for surveys. The Gen17 Australian Jewish community survey is the kind of golden data pool you would want to drink from. Its quality is very high - the sample is enormous by international standards: 8,621 Jewish Australian respondents amount to roughly 10% of adult Australian Jews in total.
Comparisons with the 2016 Australian Census data indicate that the representativeness of the sample is well above the accepted norm. Finally, many findings of Gen17 correspond with the Gen08 survey, conducted 10 years ago, in a strong sign of continuity and similarity between the samples.
Yet one needs to resist the urge to engage in ‘sniffing’. Before making sweeping statements, it is important to remember that the Jewish population in Australia is made up of a mix of sub-groups of different characteristics, and not all of them feel part of the community at all. “The Jewish community” as a concept may be an “imagined community”, socially constructed by its leadership and indeed, by those who investigate it.
One such sub-group are the Israelis in Australia. In the past, I have argued that Ausraelis (Israeli emigrants to Australia) have a distinct Diasporic identity, mostly different and detached from the Jewish community in Australia at large. They are part of the Israeli diaspora, which is separate but related to the wider Jewish diaspora.
My view was based on my analysis of the previous survey, Gen08, which suggested that at that time, Ausraelis were a closed social group, with little connectedness to the Jewish community and their own socialisation agents that constructed a community of its own.
What do Israelis in Australia think of Israel, and how (and if) are their views differ from other segments of the Australian Jewish community? Gen17 offers a possible answer to these queries.
Respondents were asked if they keep up with events in Israel and if they consider themselves Zionists. Other questions covered participants views about several aspects of the Jewish state: democracy, corruption, treatment of minorities, influence of Orthodox Jews.
Finally, issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were addressed by enquiring whether Israel should give up territory in exchange for guarantees for peace; if control of the West Bank is vital for Israel’s security; and should the government in Israel negotiate with Hamas for peace.
The responses of Israel-born Gen17 participants present a clear and consistent pattern.
Table 1. Gen17 - country of birth: Israel-born, average and media (percentages), rank (country of birth with more than 200 respondents)
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Source: unpublished Gen17 data (weighted)
What emerges from the data can be summed up as follows: most Israelis in Australia consider themselves Zionists, the highest rate in the community, and are possibly the best informed of what is happening in Israel. At the same time, Ausraelis recorded the lowest percentage (yet still a sound majority) of respondents attesting to a strong sense of belonging to Australia.
Most Ausraelis, and in much higher percentages than all other Gen17 respondents, think that there is too much corruption in Israel’s political system, that in Israel orthodox Judaism is too influential and non-Jews suffer discrimination. More Ausraelis than other Australian Jews are critical of the health of Israel’s democracy, yet that group is still a minority within Israel-born.
With regards to the Palestinians, and compared to other Australian Jews, Ausraelis are more supportive of territorial compromise and much less among them consider the West Bank a security asset for Israel. About negotiations with Hamas, more Israelis oppose the idea than support it, yet neither group has a majority, and objection to such a move is by far the lowest among the Jewish community in general.
A wider perceptive on the data is that it suggests that Ausraelis in general are more critical of the state of Israel, its democracy and its treatment of non-Jewish citizens, than other Australian Jews. It also implies that with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ausraelis tend to closer to the centre of the Israeli political map compared to other segments of the Australian Jewish community, who might be considered more to the right.
With regards to Israeli-Palestinian conflict let me be clear. I am not arguing that most Israelis in Israel are politically to ‘the left’ while Australian Jewry is all “right”. If anything, elections in Israel over the last 20 years have shown a very different trend to the right. I am suggesting that when you start drilling down” into the details the picture is more complex.
What does it all mean? This analytical exercise opens questions that are far from being answered with a high degree of certainty based on Gen17 alone, and that need to be further investigated.
The findings can be perceived as another indication of a gap between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora in general. Ausraelis’ critique of Israel can be titled ‘tough love’, not negativity. Closely familiar with Israeli life and politics they exercise more freedom in disagreeing with its policies.
For example, the findings laid out here can be perceived as another indication of a gap between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora in general. Ausraelis’ critique of Israel can be titled ‘tough love’, not negativity. Closely familiar with Israeli life and politics they exercise more freedom in disagreeing with its policies.
A possible explanation is that maybe unlike other diaspora Jews in Australia, Israeli emigrants are more secured in their attachment to Israel, as part of their national identity. This, while other Australian Jews, born here or from other parts of the world, are taught – often by Israeli emissaries and at Jewish schools - to view Israel mostly in bright and positive colours, as a central element of their Jewish identity.
Negative perceptions of Israel in that context may be perceived as an ‘attack’ on the self, hence rejected. An example of this perception is - generally speaking - the fact that Australian Jewish community bodies are almost always supportive of Israeli policies (AIJAC’s recent statement on Israel’s asylum seekers policy is an exception).
The jury is also still out on whether the Israeli emigrant population to Australia is in line with the Israeli population at large. It can mean the opposite, that only people from certain Israeli social strata emigrate, that the emigrant population out of Israel is not a representative sample of Israeli society.
From an internal Israeli point of view, this might suggest that giving Israelis abroad a right to vote in the elections in Israel may result in a similar dispersal between the parties as the general Israeli public. In the past, Israeli emigrants world-wide were considered mostly right-wing supporters. This may no longer be the case.
Photo: Ausraeli children preparing for Yom Haatzmaut (Habayit Australia Facebook page)
