A majority of Israelis, 62%, believe the country has a moral obligation to help Jews around the world facing financial difficulty or natural disasters. By contrast, just 37% of Israelis feel a sense of personal responsibility toward Diaspora Jews who have chosen not to immigrate to Israel. This according to new data published by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry Sunday in honor of Diaspora Week.
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The Diaspora Index, which Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai was set to present to President Isaac Herzog, Sunday, reflects Israeli Jews' knowledge of Diaspora Jewry and Israeli views on Diaspora Jews, assimilation, and Israel-Diaspora ties. The index is the result of a survey carried out in February 2022 of 1,001 Israelis aged 17 to 70 and over representing a sample of the Jewish population with a margin of error of 3.2%.
Forty-nine percent of Israelis surveyed believe Israeli society needs to take the opinions and interests of Diaspora Jews into account on matters of religion and state. In addition, a majority of Israelis, 57%, believe Israel should take Jewish communities in the Diaspora into account when making decisions on foreign and defense policy that could impact Jews overseas.
The vast majority of Israelis surveyed, 85%, said Israel should take significant action to eradicate antisemitic and anti-Israel discourse on social media. Furthermore, 73% of Israelis said their Jewishness was very significant to them, a 4% decrease seen largely among secular and traditional Jews over the last year.
"In recent years, we are witness to a lively discussion on the nature of the relationship between world Jewry and Israeli Jews and the State of Israel and between world Jewry and itself. In a world in which anyone can abandon their identity and become a citizen of the world, and the culture emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual at the expense of society, the family, and the people as a Jew, many Jews ask themselves, 'what is the significance of my existence as a Jew?'" Herzog said.
Shai emphasized, "Many decisions that the Israeli government makes impact the lives of the 8 million Jews living outside of Israel. We must also take their interests and desires into consideration."
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