A new study by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) reveals that world Jewry is becoming increasingly uneasy with Israel. The study notes that communities worldwide are finding it difficult to support the Jewish state due to its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, and many Jews do not believe Israel is doing all it can to resolve that conflict.

The 100-page report was authored by Shmuel Rosner, a journalist and senior fellow at the JPPI. “Many Jews doubt that Israel truly wishes to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians, and few believe it is making the necessary effort to achieve one,” he writes.

“A sense of crisis has emerged in many Jewish communities regarding their relationships with Israel, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to discuss Israel because of the bitter political disputes these discussions spark. This difficulty may lead to the exclusion of Israel from Diaspora community agendas, and is an obstacle to communicating Israel’s actions and policies to the Jewish public within a sympathetic communal framework.”

The report is based on surveys of Jewish communities in nine different countries, including the US, Canada, France, Australia, South Africa and Hungary, as well as dozens of meetings with Jewish community representatives around the world.

Almost 60 percent of respondents feel Israel is not making a sincere effort to secure peace with its Palestinian neighbors. However, two-thirds of those who doubted Israel’s sincerity still believed Israel only engaged in armed conflict when absolutely necessary. Among those who accepted Israel’s peace efforts as sincere, that number rose to 88 percent.

Still, 46 percent of those over 30 and 41 percent of those under 30 agreed Israel is not doing enough to avoid another armed conflict with Gaza, though 92 percent of those over 30 and 81 percent of those under 30 felt the Jewish state did everything it could to avoid civilian casualties during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge.

Most Jews feel close to Israel, and want the state to thrive, the survey found. However, they also feel there is a price they pay for this closeness.

“We are all held accountable for Israel’s actions…[There is] no separation between Zionism and Judaism; how Israel acts and negotiates peace affects all Jews,” the participants of a seminar in Pittsburgh remarked.

According to the survey, world Jewry’s support for Israel when under attack has declined in recent years. “This erosion is natural, almost inevitable, given the changing character of Israel’s wars,” Rosner writes. “It is rooted both in the reasons for war – some Diaspora Jews assign Israel responsibility for some confrontations (due to policies unfavorable to producing a peace agreement), and in the outcomes of war — which provide no sense of closure, no victory or defeat, and thus make it difficult for outside observers to identify with Israel.”

Most Jews in the Diaspora also want Israel to take their views into account as it fights, the study found. “Many Jews around the world feel that they are entitled to express an opinion and to have the State of Israel take their views into account, even on major security issues,” Rosner notes. “The justifications given are varied: Diaspora Jewry’s support for Israel, the fact that Israel is a Jewish state, the impact of the events on their own lives.”

Two-thirds of respondents stated they wanted their input heard, for a variety of reasons. For example, 21 percent felt Israel should care what other Jews think it should do if it wants to maintain their support. Younger respondents were more likely to feel they had a right to have a say in Israel’s policies.

Across the ocean, Israeli Jews are interested in what their Diaspora brethren have to say. “At least a quarter of Israeli Jews, and likely many more, have no problem with, and even support, the idea of Israel consulting with American Jewry even in the sensitive military-security sphere,” Rosner writes. Among the study’s recommendations to policy-makers in Israel is that the state “pay more attention to the possible effects of its security-military decisions on Diaspora Jewry” without compromising its own security.