Pictured Above: A mock Israeli checkpoint set up during “Israeli Apartheid Week” in May 2010 on the campus of University of California, Los Angeles. Credit: AMCHA Initiative.

(JNS.org) Support for Israel is significantly declining among American Jewish college students, according to a research study released by the Brand Israel Group at this week’s Herzliya Conference.

Eighty-four percent of Jewish college students in the U.S. supported Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians in 2010, but by 2016 the figure plummeted to 57 percent, the study states. Additionally, the study recorded an increase in Jewish college students’ support for the Palestinians from 2 percent in 2010 to 13 percent in 2016.

Further, among the general college student population, favoring Israel over the Palestinians decreased from 73 percent in 2010 to 54 percent in 2016.

The Brand Israel Group’s new study was prompted by policy changes and political disputes between the U.S. and Israel that occurred since the initial 2010 survey was conducted.

The 2016 study surveyed some 2,600 Americans, including 1,000 respondents from the general population and 1,600 from key demographic groups such as Hispanics, blacks, Jews, Jewish college students and non-Jewish college students.

The report cautions that Israel may lose the support of “at-risk groups” such as college students, Jewish college students and minority groups, but still enjoys a strong base of core support among Jews, evangelicals, senior citizens and political conservatives.

“Current communications approaches are not stemming the negative trends,” the Brand Israel Group’s researchers stated. “We need to reach out to at-risk groups…[and] address their concerns.”

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