In his recent IPS column, Jim Lobe reports that American Jews continue overwhelmingly to support the Democratic party by a margin of 58 to 15 percent, and that U.S. Jews oppose any American attack on Iran. Lobe, reporting on the latest survey by the American Jewish Committee, adds:

Two-thirds of US Jews now believe that Washington should not have gone to war in Iraq – up two percentage points from 14 months ago – and 76 percent believe that US efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq are going either "somewhat" or "very" badly.

As for the threat posed by Iran – which is expected to be a major foreign policy focus of the Republican presidential campaign, particularly if Giuliani wins the nomination – only 35 percent of US Jews said they would support "the United States taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons," while 57 percent said they would oppose such a move.

On a gloomier note, however, if you look at the data in the AJC poll, there is this. Those polled were asked: "Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? 'The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.'" Incredibly, eighty-two per cent agreed. You can find the data here.