To think that this really can't be true about young people's thoughts about Israel?

[Another2Cats]

So, I just read an article where they say they have done a poll of young people and, of those under 25, 54% said that they agree with the statement "the state of Israel should not exist". Just 21% disagreed.

Did the polling company manage to just randomly pick a bunch of people that feel this way, or is this genuinely how many young people feel?

IABU to think that this can't really be true? (I am quite prepared to accept that IABU and that this really is what a majority of young people believe)

The link is here:

https://unherd.com/newsroom/majority-of-young-britons-think-israel-should-not-exist/

and this is the text of the article:

A majority of Britain’s young people do not believe Israel should exist, a new UnHerd poll has revealed.

A preliminary finding of an exclusive survey of 1,012 voters about foreign policy, conducted by Focaldata and due to be released tomorrow on UnHerd, found that a striking 54% of 18-24-year-olds agreed with the statement that “the state of Israel should not exist.” Just 21% disagreed.

This finding dovetails with other UnHerd polling on the same issue. In a separate question, young respondents were asked who was more to blame for the war in Gaza. Half blamed the Israeli government, while a quarter answered Hamas. Only 19% responded “all equally”.

The war’s high degree of exposure online and on social media appears to have fuelled interest among Britain’s young. An AI-generated “all eyes on Rafah” graphic was shared more than 44 million times on Instagram recently, with pro-Palestine content also proliferating on TikTok. Critics have argued that the Chinese social media platform has deliberately promoted anti-Israel content, which TikTok has denied, citing the existing attitudes of its young user base.

These attitudes are reflected in further UnHerd polling, which asked young Britons about their level of interest in wars around the world. It found that Britons aged 18-24 are far more interested in the war in Gaza than they are in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or in US-China tensions. Among this group, 38% were very interested in Gaza and 28% were somewhat interested, compared with 19% and 44% who were very or somewhat interested in the war in Ukraine, respectively.

As the Israeli war enters its eighth month, public opinion has slowly shifted in Palestine’s favour. Historic polling shows that popular support for Israel was at its highest shortly after the 7 October attacks at 21%, but this figure has since fallen. Although young people were most sceptical of Israel before the attack, the overall level of support for the Jewish state over the same time frame has plummeted to 16%, according to YouGov figures.

As of this week, a new ceasefire proposal is on the table, and the US is pushing Israel to accept it. The deal would involve the exchange of prisoners for hostages and would pave the way for negotiations. A ceasefire has strong majority support in the UK.

That’s absolutely terrifying. I hope it’s not true, but if Israel wasn’t really on their radar before and they’ve now had eight months of being told it’s an oppressive colonial power perpetuating apartheid and genocide, that might well be how they see it.

Not sure if my dd would agree with the statement about not existing, but she certainly feels a strong anti Israeli government sentiment (as do I tbh). Neither of us are Hamas sympathisers either.

The war conducted broke multiple international laws to protect citizens from war and lead to war crime allegations toward Isreali PM.

Destruction of
Water
Food
Hospitals
Even so called safe zones we're bombed

Over 35,000 killed the majority are children and women. Over 1 million people displaced and unable to leave or get help.

Hell on earth

My DS is 19.

He doesn't believe Israel shouldn't exist.

But he also doesn't agree with what the IDF is doing in Palestine.

He said he feels for both sides equally based on history.

He agrees with a ceasefire and 2 state solution.

Sadly it's no surprise. Britain has a big problem with racism and xenophobia. People say it is better now that it was, it really isn't. If you try to engage you get a lot of whataboutery, and defensiveness. The average Brit does not understand the issues or history between Palestine and Isreal.

I think you are probably seeing Muslim children upset about the war who feel that Israel wants Gaza not to exist and so are responding that Israel shouldn't exist in kind. It's a flippant question without any exploration into the why so I wouldn't read too much into it.

Absolutely and totally unsurprising given the rhetoric around this conflict in recent months, including on Mumsnet.

A student from one of the encampments was on the Today programme on Radio 4 a few weeks ago and she refused to say that Israel had the right to exist.

People on MN were trying to suggest that she had an 'extreme' view, not one that was the logical conclusion of having marches and intense social media for 8 months which have decried Zionists as the most evil people on earth and calling for Palestine to be free (of Israel) from the river to the sea.

What exactly did people expect to happen?

546 people aged between 18-24 is not a ‘majority’.

These ‘surveys’ are always a crock of shite.

I suspect that if they'd done the same poll before this current tension even erupted the result would have been the same. Most children who have studied GCSE History will have studied Israel/Palestine and the Israelis don't come across well in that module which deals with 1940s onwards. My two certainly had heated debates with DH around the dinner table where they argued strongly that the Israelis were on the wrong side of history (and that the British played a significant role in messing up). Now that feeling has been strengthened.

I guess it depends how you interpret the statement, as it's ambiguous. Does it mean "the state of Israel should not exist in any form" or "the state of Israel as currently defined should not exist" ?

If you interpret it as the latter, I don't think it's surprising that a lot of people agree with that statement, given the situation with Gaza.

Unherd spreads a lot of misinformation. It's owned by the same guy who owns GB news and he is not that fussed about accuracy if he can get clicks.
I'd take it with a huge pinch of salt. Its just trying to stir up division.

I am not shocked by that

the anti Israel feeling has hugely stepped up. Many people view Israel as the aggressors as they look beyond October 7th so question why they should be supported by the west

I think our politicians are mainly out of touch with how people now view Israel and issues in the Middle East. Arabs are no longer viewed with the contempt as they were 20 years ago by many

Well said.

We are losing connection to the reason for Israel for young people

Idk if it’s a correct survey but it’s worrying

Come on though, how many people actually know about the history of Israel and the history of the longstanding conflict? People love to get involved in the latest drama without actually knowing anything about it.

All I know, is if Glastonbury got invaded and thousands of innocent British young people were slaughtered on site or kidnapped, the attackers would have hell to pay. If the attackers hid in amongst locals, I have no doubt the UK, America etc would also attack.

Israel has always been damned either way. I hear literally no one talk about the atrocities of the October attack, people couldn't care less. Israel are expected to take the hit, to lie down and accept these horrific attacks. Who would accept that?! Would these young people you quote be ok if it happened to their sister, mother or friend?

Hypocrisy. Wait until the terrorism comes back to the UK, I'm sure the young adults will soon change their tune.

Actually a lot of young people know far more about it than many people of my age (late 40s) because they study it for GCSE

I don’t think this is surprising. I’m surprised that anyone would think it is surprising. The devastation and trauma is huge. The anger at politicians and the fear that all human rights safety netting (UN) has been disregarded is huge. Israel isn’t looking good. America isn’t looking good. The answer isn’t the erasure of Israel, but anger will mean people sympathise with that view. There needs to be a permanent ceasefire and two state solution.

I think people are more informed about the conflict than they ever were

They are also able to view footage of what is actually happening not something that has gone through media/government agency’s

I'm Jewish can believe it. I think it often comes kind of from a place of misunderstanding and general dislike of religion rather than antisemitism. I think many have a simplistic idea that this is dumb, credulous religious people fighting about who has the better stupid 'God', whereas it, although it's origins may essentially be religious, it's not being fought for 'God' or religion at all and most Israelis are totally irreligious. And indeed Israel is not even officially a 'religious' state.

To them it is just 'another country', other than the fact it is supposed to be an ally of our country.

I think the point of whether Israel should exist is moot - it does exist, I think it had to happen after WWII when a generation of Jews was left unable or understandably unwilling to return home to neighbours who waved them off to their deaths. And I think it has to continue existing even if for no other reason than there would be no safe or sane way to disestablish it without endangering the lives of every Jewish citizen. Also it would be an act of vandalism as it is, in many ways an incredible country that is so dynamic and creative - and I'd love Palestine to be given the chance to shine in that way too with some sort of 2-state solution.

I am ambivalent about Israel in many ways, but I strongly disagree with the narrative that many kids will be taking in that Israelis are 'just white Europeans colonialising brown people', it's much more complex than that and it's an argument designed to assuage liberal white guilt about the idea of disestablishing a Jewish state.

they are young people and see things simplistically
in my view the actual founding of Israel was problematic to put it mildly, people were made homeless, stateless. But it exists now and we can't go back in time, Israelis have the right to peace and security like everyone.

Don't get me started on 'apartheid' -again, young people have no memory of the struggle against apartheid, there is no comparison.

Student politics....they just pick the view they think is the most trendy.

It's embarrassing really

I asked my teen DS about what he knew of the conflict from his social media and he knew about 'genocide' and 'Zionists are evil' but had no idea that the invasion of Gaza was prompted by a mass slaughter by Hamas and that Israel is constantly under attack.

He thought it was a 'Russia invades Ukraine unprovoked' situation.

This is the problem with teaching the history of the region only from 1940s onwards and leaving out all the history and events in the region leading up to that.

I'm not a young person but I do absolutely remember the apartheid in South Africa (and I went on many a protest March). I am also married to a South African who grew up there in the apartheid era, he does indeed make the comparison.

Many won't even know why Israel was established in the first place, or those that do the events of WW2 are too distant for them to weight appropriately. Their perspective makes their view irrelevant at that age.