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.

As I said, in a later post, I did. But he didn't connect it to what he was seeing on social media about Zionists and genocide.

How could he not of known about it if you talked about it?
Tell him to start watching the news (not unbiased I know but probably better than socia media)

Did you ask Arab Israelis if they would prefer to live in a 'free' Palestine governed by Hamas or Fatah for that matter? You might be surprised (or maybe not, but feel you know what's best for them?)

Israel is not perfect by any means but if you walk into any Israeli hospital or pharmacy for example you are more than likely to be seen by an Arab doctor or pharmacist. Arab Muslims, particularly women and LGBT enjoy freedoms and civil liberties not shared by their counterparts elsewhere.

I don't disagree about treatment of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, I am appalled by the settler movement and their actions, and believe they have a large part in what might be the ruination of the state of Israel as we know it. But don't presume the Israeli Arab population would welcome this.

Are the only two options brutally killing 1000s of children or wiping Israel off the map?

I love how magnanimous people think they are being when they condemn the settlers in the West Bank. "Oh those horrible extremist settlers- that's not Israel at all". This is the height of scape goating.
Israel runs the birth and death registry for all Palestinians- it detains arbitrarily women, men and children- up to a million human beings- 20% of the Palestinian population have been detained without trial for months and years- their families don't know when they will return. The siege of Gaza meant Israelis counted the calories for Gazans and let is the bare minimum amount of food- resulting in malnutrition and low birth weight in babies. All of this has nothing to do with settlers. Israel is a racist state in inception, conception and operation.
Muslim medics and LGBT people don't make these facts go away. Don't pink wash this.

@mommyisbest Well said

Not pink washing anything thanks, I was responding another poster who commented on Arab Israelis specifically. Nowhere I said settlers are not Israel, unfortunately they are part of government now and responsible for forming policy, which is abhorrent.

most people who answer yes probably (hopefully!) did not consider that they are endorsing genocide, displacement and massive amounts of human suffering by answering "yes".

Hamas and various local players have repeatedly demonstrated that they would not simply "leave" Isreali citizens in whatever state or entity were to replace Israel.

That´s nearly 10 millions that would be butchered, raped, abducted into various forms of slavery or displaced. But it is very simple to just say "yes".

And no, I am unfortunately not surprised.

Do you have any solutions (apart from final ones) or just pure hatred for the entirety of the state of Israel and it's inhabitants?

You've been told by several posters that you are incorrect. Benjamin Netanyahu was actually born in Tel Aviv. It's almost laughable that you post such nonsense then lecture others on facts.

I'm embarrassed for you.

Don’t be silly.

I tend to agree it should not exist as it does.
It was a mistake to create such a state although I know the reasons why....unfortunately actions such as this rarely solve anything and just compound problems that are many centuries in the making

And the Israeli government have treated Palestinians terribly over many decades.

But believing is should not exist is not the same as believing we should get rid of it now it does, just as with northern Ireland there is no solution that will satisfy everyone. But we can acknowledge mistakes were made that have created the situation we have now.

This is not a new opinion due to 'propaganda' it's one I have held for a long time from reading sources on all sides...even pro Israeli sources don't make me sympathic towards Israel tbh.

Kids get their news from social media now and aren't interested in sitting down to watch the news, and they're exposed to way more news than we were as teens. Unfortunately the news they're consuming is infused with bias and propaganda with a side helping of conspiracy theory. It's really, really difficult to cut through that when they're being bombarded with so many stories online that run counter to what you try to tell them.

But believing is should not exist is not the same as believing we should get rid of it now it does,

But how would getting "rid" of it look to you? @FTPM1980

Did you read the full sentence?
Believing Israel (in its current form) should not exist means it should not have been created, which is NOT the same as believing we should get rid of Israel.

@FTPM1980 Actually I did, but it didn't make sense so I wanted clarification.

In what way does it not make sense?

Israel are not doing themselves any favours.

Their response to Hamas is akin to the UK bombing Ireland because of IRA terrorism in the 70's, 80's 90's. The UK didnt respond like that because it would have been abhorrent. Israels response to Hamas by bombing the most densely populated area in the world is abhorrent. Noone is denying they have a right to respond but they have a responsibility to do that without carnage to innocents. And Iran has now suffered a lot of tragedy too.

The state of Israel has only existed since 1948 and look at how occupation has changed to 2012. I'm surprised only 25% of the youth think Israel shouldnt exist. I dont agree btw but I do think Palestine should exist and in a much greater way than today.

It would be really interesting to see the data on ethnicity and religion of those that believe Isreal shouldn’t exist. There is a very high anti Isreal feeling amongst those in the muslim community where I stay, but they are the only community here that feel that way (and even then it’s more the younger and elderly members of the community with those viewpoints, most adults I’ve spoken to about this don’t hold the same feelings but tend towards feeling despondent and helpless to what a resolution should be).

What are the white and green bits meant to represent?

I believe it. The fact that posters such as @itsgettingweird can say that their 19 year old doesn’t believe Israel should exist as if that’s an acceptable view to have says it all.

It's possible it's true. It's along the same vein as those who mindlessly hold signs and chant 'from the river to the sea' at protests without actually understanding what the phrase means.

That isn’t what that poster said.

Read again…

You surely MUST know we can check the GCSE History course modules and topics covered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland?!

Here are the various exam boards:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zj26n39

As you can see, the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflicts pre and post 1948 is NOT covered in GCSE History.

Sure, the WW2 Nazi era is, especially the Holocaust which may well have a very, very short, limited reference to the fact Jewish people in Europe left for the State of Israel post 1945.

And there's a section on the expulsion of Jewish people from England in 1290 (not covered in Northern Ireland!).

But absolutely nothing in any kind of depth regarding the Arab Palestinian- Israeli conflict from 20th to 21st Century.

It's not a whole module and young people actually aren't as well informed as you think. The fact you're using your own kids as examples here says it all - Anecdotal Fallacy.

My kids do know the history and 3 out of 4 don’t think Isreal should ever have been founded in 1948.