A 2008 Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (Monash University) survey of Melbourne's and Sydney's Jewish community found that "Close to 80% of respondents indicated that they regarded themselves as Zionists." (Report Series on the GEN08 Survey, Preliminary Findings)
Nine years on, the ACJC GEN17 survey finds that, while "88% of people feel a personal responsibility to ensure that the Jewish State 'continues to exist'," only 69% identify as Zionist.
What is one to make of these figures?
Well, the good news is that when it comes to those surveyed identifying as Zionist, that's a drop of 11% on the 2008 survey. One could, perhaps, conclude therefore that Zionism is increasingly on the nose with Australian Jews.
But the bad news is that 88%. What does it mean? That 19% of those surveyed simply don't understand that feeling the need to ensure the continued existence of a Jewish State in Palestine means that they are, in fact, Zionists?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It would be good to see a breakdown by age group, MERC. Is it available?
The whole survey is online. However, the executive summary, points out that "There is mixed evidence as to whether younger generations are more 'distant' from Israel than older generations: fewer in the younger age groups feel personally responsible for Israel's continued existence, but in terms of identifying as Zionist, a label close to seven out of ten (69%) self-ascribe to, younger generations identify as strongly as their elders."
That's frightening, MERC. I believe the numbers for younger Jews are much different in the US. But perhaps it's also about identification as Jews. I think there is less interest among those who are of Jewish ancestry in Australia but not practising in identifying as Jewish but I have no hard evidence.
Post a Comment