Dr. Yehonatan Abramson discusses his and Dr. Anil Menon's research into whether foreign criticism during war affects public support for change in war-related policies.

Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Co-sponsored by American Friends of the Hebrew University.

About the Talk

Does foreign criticism during war affect public support for change in war-related policies? While existing literature on “naming and shaming” focuses on the impact of international organizations, activist networks, and foreign states, Dr. Yehonatan Abramson (Hebrew University) investigates the impact of diaspora criticism using two pre-registered survey experiments fielded in Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. First, he will discuss the effect of different Jewish-American petition strategies: addressing the Israeli government and the Biden administration. Second, he will address the effect of criticism from different diaspora political organizations: AIPAC (center-right) and J Street (center-left). Overall, the findings of Dr. Abramson and Dr. Anil Menon (UC Merced) indicate that during war, diaspora criticism neither increases public support for change in war practices nor does it trigger backlash. They found one notable exception; criticism from J Street increased public support for the policy that might be considered least costly—condemning settler violence.

About the Speakers

Dr. Yehonatan Abramson is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include International Relations theory, identity politics, and diaspora politics. His work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, the European Journal of International Relations, International Studies Quarterly, Social Studies of Science, Political Geography, and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. He is currently leading a Israel Science Foundation research grant studying diaspora criticism.

Dr. Elizabeth Stein's (moderator) is the Postdoctoral Fellow at the UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Her research focuses on Israel-Diaspora relations, diaspora politics and ethnic lobbying, and organizational fragmentation among Jews in the U.S., France, and Canada on matters concerning Israel. Dr. Stein is developing her dissertation, which was awarded Honorable Mention by the International Studies Association’s International Relations and Religion section, into a book manuscript. She teaches the course "Special Studies in International Relations: Diaspora Politics" in the UCLA Dept. of Political Science.

DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.