Annoyed, Ambivalent and Ashamed: Jewish Liberals, Pro-Israel and Not - Prof. Steven M. Cohen

Over the last few years, American liberals, both Jewish and not, have adopted less positive images of Israel with consequences for their feelings of attachment. These trends have implications both for understanding younger American Jews today, as well as for contending with BDS sympathizers, be they focused upon ending the occupation or seeking the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel. Professor Steven M. Cohen, a Jerusalem Center Fellow, is Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR and Director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at NYU Wagner. In 1992 he made aliyah, and taught for 14 years at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author/co-author of several books on American Jewry, winning a National Book Award in 2010 for Sacred Strategies. He was the lead researcher on the Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, and received the Marshall Sklare Award of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSSJ). Prof. Cohen was elected president of the ASSSJ in 2012.