"Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say NO to ethnic cleansing!" – In mid-February, the New York Times published a full-page advertisement with these words, signed by hundreds of American rabbis and a list of American Jewish luminaries – actors, directors, public intellectuals. The ad was a response to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of plans to remove Gazans and bring into effect an American takeover of the Strip.
The rabbis and certainly the public figures generally represented liberal and progressive voices. But mainstream, establishment Jewish organizations voiced their disapproval too. The CEO of the American Jewish Committee found Trump's proposal "concerning and confusing."
The Anti-Defamation League responded that while Trump's involvement was essential, "any plan must take into account Israel's security needs and the well-being of Palestinian civilians in Gaza."
Then in mid-April, 36 members of the U.K. Jewish community's Board of Deputies published a nigh-unprecedented public letter in the Financial Times. In pained tones, "out of love for Israel and deep concern for its future," they wrote of the "heartbreaking war" and the "partisan populism [that] is bitterly dividing Israeli society. Israel's soul is being ripped out."
Of Israel's protesters against the war and the government, demanding return of the hostages, the deputies wrote: "We stand with them. We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life." They felt it was "our duty, as Jews, to speak out."
Although the American Jews criticized Trump, ultimately both statements represent an unusual public rebuke of Israel's government and policies, by the largest and fourth largest Diaspora Jewish communities in the world. Jews outside of Israel have long argued over Israeli policy, but rarely in mass-audience, non-Jewish platforms, including critical statements from establishment Jewish figures.
The letters set off shock waves within their respective communities. In the U.S., the Chairman of the Rabbinic Zionist Coalition wrote that the New York Times ad "was intended to smear Israel and associate it with a crime it hasn't committed." Josh Weinberg, president of Association of Reform Zionists of America and a self-defined "Zionist-left" rabbi, declined to sign what he thought was not a "helpful statement" in response to Trump's "ridiculous" position.
The U.K. Board of Deputies – one of the oldest bodies in British Jewish life, whose members are elected by the roughly 150 constituent organizations – has opened an investigation into the issue and suspended certain members already. Hannah Weisfeld, the Executive Director of the progressive Jewish organization Yachad, which supports Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, observed in an interview that the Board seems committed to disciplining "the 36," which she believes will spark a major backlash from Jews who agree with the letter. Pre-existing tensions are "at a breaking point," she said.
The Israel that once rallied and unified world Jewry has for some yearsgenerated deep divisions in the Diaspora. But October 7 and the war in Gaza have generated a whole new set of pressure points between the Diaspora and Israel, if the U.S. and U.K. are any example. Sadness and anger are coming from beyond the traditional critics such as young Jews and radical left-wingers. And since neither community is homogenous, the rifts between different political and religious camps appear deeper than ever.
At the same time, people interviewed emphasized that these Diaspora Jewish communities remain overall very strongly committed to Israel, given the shared collective history and identity – for some, that sentiment has only grown stronger. What drives the two apart, what binds them – and which trend is stronger?
Newer, deeper wedges
On certain aspects of the war in Gaza, liberal-leaning Diaspora Jews – the vast majority in the U.S., where 70-75 percent vote Democrat – diverge sharply from the Israeli government's position. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has embraced Trump's proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza, and among Israelis a strong majority – of the Jewish public, that is – support it in polls. Arabs in Israel are heavily opposed. Yet among American Jews, a 62 percent majority oppose the plan, according to a Pew Research poll in late March.
The two sides differ fundamentally on attitudes towards Gaza's civilians. In February 2024, Pew found that a majority of U.S. Jews support America providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. That same month, a slightly higher portion of Israeli Jews opposed such aid – even if international actors were to send it.
Palestinian men search through the debris following an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City, on Thursday.Credit: Jehad Alshrafi / AP
Diaspora Jewish compassion for the suffering in Gaza quite clearly reflects the fact that they see far more of it than Israelis, whose mainstream news largely avoided such visuals. In the early months, "British Jews were quite outraged about how the war was being fought, and Israelis just did not understand that," said Weisfeld.
Diaspora Jews and Israelis theoretically share their urgent desire to retrieve the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza. But a veteran expert on American Jewish affairs, who preferred to remain anonymous, noted that American Jews are disturbed by Netanyahu's prioritization of destroying Hamas over hostage return: "The issue of a Jew in danger, a Jew that needs to be rescued, is very much ingrained in the American Jewish psyche," he said.
The perception that Netanyahu is placing their lives second to destroying Hamas makes the prime minister into "a political target." For all public criticism of Netanyahu in the U.S. by Jews, he believes there are more who share the sentiment privately. Recently, the iconic former director of the ADL, Abe Foxman, implored both Trump and Netanyahu to prioritize the hostages instead of the Gaza "Riviera" plan.
Netanyahu himself represents a serious rift. American Jews view Trump as "the antithesis of everything they believe in for America," said another expert on American Jewish public opinion, and they are deeply skeptical of Netanyahu for embracing Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in the beginning of April.Credit: Mark Schiefelbein / AP
Polling in late 2024 for the left-wing organization J Street has found that American Jews held net favorable ratings for Netanyahu for his first decade back in office from 2009. But during Trump's first term in 2018, American Jews reversed course entirely to give Netanyahu a net unfavorable rating. In November 2024, 63 percent of American Jews saw Netanyahu unfavorably, about twice as many as those who held favorable opinions. To be sure, Netanyahu is unpopular in Israel now too, but the country has still elected him for most of the last 15 years.
Extremist elements of Israeli politics are also scandalous for U.S. Jews, sometimes finding common cause with Israelis. Even prior to the war, American Jewish groups shunned the extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. This Thursday, the Israeli expat anti-government protest group UnXeptable organized a rally in New York against Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, currently on his first official visit to the U.S.
Speakers included beloved Jewish Congressman Jerry Nadler and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a prominent progressive Jewish candidate in New York's upcoming mayoral election. Beis Shmuel Chabad, a Crown Heights synagogue, canceled an event with Ben-Gvir in Brooklyn, intended as a fundraiser for Chabad in Hebron – the reason was unclear.
Josh Weinberg, the reform rabbi, noticed that for some progressive Diaspora Jews, these rifts are generating a breaking point over Zionism itself, including among an older generation of committed liberal Zionists. Kathleen Peratis is a prominent American Jew involved in human rights and anti-occupation causes in Israel. This Passover, she read a text at the seder held by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, the iconic feminist author and co-founder of Ms. magazine – also a lifelong liberal Jew.
"I used to believe in Israel's declaration of independence," wrote Peratis, "with its promise of 'complete equality of social and political rights.' I believed that was the real Israel ... But I was blind. Hatred and suspicion of Palestinians is not a bug ... It is a feature of Zionism, which enshrines inequality under the law." She called her essay "Breaking the Yoke of Zionism."
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir exits the Yale-based Jewish society Shabtai in New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday.Credit: Michelle McLoughlin / REUTERS
Weinberg recalled a recent conversation with a Jewish educator from a large Zionist Conservative synagogue in the U.S.: "He said Israel is a completely failed state because it has failed to deal with the Palestinians and make peace." Weisfeld in the U.K. shared a similar conversation with an observant Jew, who said: "You know, 70 years is not a bad run for sovereignty – I think it's all over now."
"This is from a regular synagogue-goer from a Bnei Akiva background," Weisfeld related. These are severe indictments, and they aren't limited to the 20-something progressive left.
A lasting commitment, or lingering sentiment?
However, in the big picture, all interviewees noted that the majority of American and British Jews remain deeply attached to Israel, with a sense of shared identity and collective history. Nearly half of U.S. Jews reported feeling more connected to Israel in an AJC survey from March 2024.
The rise in antisemitism documented in the Diaspora since October 7 grafts onto Israelis' deep alarm over what they view as a wave of global antisemitism. The veteran observer of American Jewish affairs noted that this wave was a "wake up call" pushing many to recall their shared fate, including for younger Jews – possibly offsetting the progressive trend alienating some of the young folks from Israel. Yet even here, the communities differ: For American Jews, Donald Trump is part of the problem, but Israelis see him as part of the solution.
Finally, in the U.S. and the U.K., the Orthodox communities are even more devoted to Israel's positions as well as its policies. One colleague said the American Modern Orthodox community is coming to resemble Bezalel Smotrich's strain of religious Zionism. Although Orthodox Jews are a minority in all three places, this too is a convergence – and Weisfeld worries about overtones from the religious communities hinting that their commitment to Israel – an obsolete, disconnected version in her mind – makes them better Jews.
It is too soon to know what these trends mean. But in the coming years, Diaspora Jews may find themselves paraphrasing Kafka: "What do we have in common with Israel? We hardly have anything in common with ourselves."