A substantial majority of American Jews believe Israel’s war against Hamas is justified and the manner in which Israel is carrying out the war is acceptable, according to a study published by the Pew Research Center on Thursday.

Through a rare survey assessing sentiments about the Israel-Hamas war, designed to include a representative sample of both Jewish and Muslim Americans, the Pew Research Center found that Jewish perspectives on the conflict differ drastically from those of the wider American population as well as the Muslim population.

At 89 per cent, Jewish Americans are the group most likely to believe Israel has valid reasons for fighting Hamas, compared to 58 per cent of Americans overall and 18 per cent of Muslims.

62 per cent of Jews approve of the way Israel is carrying out its war against Hamas, compared to 38 per cent of Americans overall and just 5 per cent of Muslims. 68 per cent of Muslims describe Israel’s war conduct in Gaza as “unacceptable.”

Few Americans approve of the way Hamas carried out its October 7 attack. Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of Americans say Hamas’ attack was unacceptable compared to 93 per cent of Jewish Americans and just under half (49 per cent) of Muslim Americans.

About one-in-five Americans say that regardless of how acceptable they find the way Hamas carried out the October 7 attack, its reasons for fighting Israel are valid (22 per cent), though just 6 per cent say its reasons are completely valid.

Of the 18–29-year-old demographic, one-third say Hamas’ reasons for fighting are valid. By contrast, Americans aged 65 and older tend to register strong disapproval of Hamas on this question as well as on others throughout the survey, as 63 per cent say Hamas’ reasons for fighting Israel are not valid. Adults aged 30 to 64 fall in between, producing an overall pattern in which the tendency to say that Hamas does not have valid reasons for fighting rises with age.

Political leanings associated with views on the conflict indicate broader support for Israel among Republicans. 59 per cent of Republicans and right-leaners say that the way Israel has responded to the October 7 attack by Hamas is acceptable, while far few Democrats and left-leaners agree (22 per cent). Roughly a third of Democrats (32 per cent) say Israel’s response is completely unacceptable.

The study also assessed knowledge and understanding of the conflict through attention to news about the war and respondents’ ability to answer a set of three factual questions concerning the key figures in the conflict.

Jews and Muslims demonstrated the most knowledge about the Israel-Hamas war; consistent with assessment of attention to news about the conflict, which was highest among Jewish Americans, Jews were most likely to correctly answer all three questions in the survey, with 76 per cent answering correctly.

Muslim Americans also demonstrated a comparatively high level of knowledge around the issue, with 55 per cent answering the three questions correctly.

Pew Research Center conducted the study by surveying a total of 12,693 American adults from 13-25 February 2024. Researchers “oversampled” Jewish and Muslim Americans to provide more reliable estimates of their views on the topics covered in the survey, but the groups were not overrepresented in the national estimates as researchers adjusted for the oversampling in the weighting of the data.