1. Many recent polls have proved time and again that Democratic voters support Israel in much smaller percentages than Republican voters (one such poll can be found here ). Please look at the following possible reasons for this “Israel gap” and rank from 1 (not a factor) to 10 (a great factor) the reasons you think contribute to this gap:
|
Reason
|
|
|
Israel's policies are more in line with Republican ideals
|
|
|
Evangelical support among Republicans makes the difference
|
|
|
Jewish activists don't make the case for Israel among Democrats as strongly as they once did
|
|
|
Israel shows preference for Republican candidates and Democratic voters don't like it
|
|
|
Democratic voters have moved very far to the left on foreign policy – and Israel isn't there
|
|
|
Democratic voters take their cues from the Obama administration, and interpret its relations with Israel in ways unfavorable to Israel
|
|
|
The polls are just wrong, there's no difference in the support for Israel between Dem and Rep voters
|
|
2. Rank the following statements (1 – false, 10 – true) all related to the Hagel Defense Secretary appointment:
|
The pro-Israel lobby foolishly raised hell over an appointment it can't block
|
|
|
Hagel is a good friend of Israel – and there is no reason to oppose his nomination
|
|
|
When Obama appointed Hagel, he was – among other things – sending a message to Netanyahu
|
|
|
The Hagel appointment is proof that the US isn't going to use military force against Iran even if negotiations over Iran's nuclear program fail
|
|
|
Official Israel smartly avoided a public battle over Hagel
|
|
|
Hagel isn't going to be confirmed
|
|
3. Looking ahead for 2016, please rank the following presidential candidates on scale of 1 (bad for Israel) to 10 (good for Israel):
|
Hillary Clinton
|
|
|
Joe Biden
|
|
|
Chris Christie
|
|
|
Marco Rubio
|
|
|
Paul Ryan
|
|
|
Jeb Bush
|
|
|
Rob Portman
|
|
|
Condoleezza Rice
|
|
|
Andrew Cuomo
|
|
|
Martin O'Malley
|
|
|
Deval Patrick
|
|
|
Cory Booker
|
|
|
Elizabeth Warren
|
|
|
Mark Warner
|
|
|
Brian Schweitzer
|
|
|
Sarah Palin
|
|
|
Rick Santorum
|
|
|
Rand Paul
|
|
|
Mike Huckabee
|
|
|
David Petraeus
|
|
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.