The top priority for Americans and American Jews in a ceasefire deal is the release of the hostages, according to a survey from the Jewish Federations of North America released on Thursday.
The following priorities are the removal of Hamas from government and disarmament of the group, JFNA said in a release explaining the results of the survey.The survey was conducted by text message between February 23 and March 11 with a sample size of 1,901 American Jews and 4,143 American non-Jews, and was weighted to reflect the general population, the release said.
"Despite the length of the war, and unrelenting biased media coverage, Americans understand that Israel’s fight against terrorism is also our fight. They know that a ceasefire without the return of the hostages and the eventual defeat of Hamas is wrong for Israel, wrong for Americans, and wrong for the free world,” JFNA President and CEO Eric Fingerhut said.
'American-Israeli ties remain strong'
“The deep bond between the American and Israeli people remains as strong as ever despite the difficult political challenges of the past six months," he added.
Just 28% of Americans support an unconditional ceasefire that would leave Hamas in power and hostages in their hands, according to the release.The most recent ceasefire proposal has linked a temporary ceasefire with a release of hostages.of Palestinians.
The survey also found Americans and Jewish Americans have a great deal of empathy for the plightJFNA said that despite the ongoing support for Israel, news of the war has taken a deep, emotional toll on the American Jewish community – more so than in October – likely driven by the rise in antisemitism in the US.American Jews are nearly twice as likely to say they felt at least “somewhat concerned” for their personal safety as the general population. Jews who wore “distinctively Jewish” items were nearly three times as likely to report being concerned for their safety “all the time” as Jews who did not.