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.

Sorry but that is completely incorrect. My children both sat the exams. One only last year!

https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/international-schools/pdfs/secondary-curriculum/international-gcse/history/International-GCSE-History-Middle-East-Conflict-Crisis-Change-Student-Book-sample.pdf

I absolutely agree with you, as if the 7th October happened in some sort of vacuum! Mumsnet is rapidly pro-Israel though and they don't want to hear the other side, and if you try to put it, your antisemitic.

And then their casual dismissal of this being a folly for young people, how bloody arrogant do you have to be. I'm 44 and have done plenty of research, and absolutely clear that at the very least there is a collective punishment of a civilian population going on.

So many of the extreme right wing Israeli government have made clear, publicly that they don't see Palestinians as humans ... where is the condemnation of that?!

Cite evidence. 🤷‍♂️

I cited all the History GCSE boards. 🤦‍♂️

as if the 7th October happened in some sort of vacuum!

This, to me, comes perilously close to apologism for what was done on 7 October.

Edexcel. Here you go:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zw4bv4j

There's no module there for that.

ODFOD Its Pearson Edexcel iGCSE (9-1) if you must be a twat about it

https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/International%20GCSE/History/2017/specification-and-sample-assessments/int-gcse-history-specification.pdf

They don't see Palestinians as humans, or that they see Hamas and other terrorists as animals?If someone has said that they don't consider Palestinians as humans then that is quite clearly wrong and should be condemned by everyone. The latter, which is all I've seen, doesn't require condemnation.

See above. Tut, tut, engaging in Ad Hominems already.

The BBC is not the syllabus
Maybe not a whole module but GCSE history allows the school to pick the modules so some are likely to have covered it in part over several modules

State schools don’t study IGCSEs.

Lack of knowledge imv
I looked up wars in the Middle East online - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_conflicts_in_the_Middle_East

There have been
many wars the majority not involving Israel - many, many
Muslims must have died but somehow no one cared/s as it didn’t involve Israel - there is fighting in Yemen as we speak - why aren’t young people concerned about that.

Edexcel (pearson) spec

Oh FFS ok. I'll correct my post. My children who went to an independent school studied the middle east and in particular Israel/Palestine at GCSE level in history in detail.

Every other teen clearly knows nothing..

Make you all feel better now?

Edit - this was responding to those who for some reason think I'm making up a GCSE syllabus (although for what purpose, who knows)

Nopity-nope!

That's Pearson International GCSE! 🤦‍♂️

The poster in question ORIGINALLY claimed young people studied it in GCSE History, i.e. State Education.

Hence, providing ALL the UK exam boards to demonstrate they don't.

Then the poster in question shifts the goalposts to INTERNATIONAL GCSEs instead of acknowledging their own mistake in the first place!

To sum up, the vast majority of young people in the United Kingdom do NOT study the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflicts at all.

There are resources for it on the BBC website for teachers so clearly there is an option for this module to be taught

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zmqsp4j

They don't see Palestinians as humans, take a Google or look on X. Really look for yourself and see.

Meirav Ben-Ari -the children of gaza brought it upon themselves. Going wild when told a child is a child, no matter where they come from.

This is not an isolated statement, there are countless statements from Israeli ministers

And I am sure someone will be along to say, but Hamas. However Israel are supposedly a legitimate government, are you telling me we shouldn't expect a government to held to a higher standard than a terrorist organisation?

I also follow a large number of Jewish creators on tiktok who are very anti zionist and condemn Israel. This is nothing at all to do with Antisemitism!

No, it's not
It's the GCSE syllabus
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-gcses/history-2016.html
The word Israel appears 18 times in the course spec for the standard UK GCSE from Edexcel
Palestine/Palestinian 6 times

What does ‘anti-Zionist’ mean?

The point is not whether the vast majority studied it at gcse...the point is those that have can't be accused of being ill informed and formed a conclusion.

It's you insisting that it's not studied at GCSE who has made the mistake.

Look I argue for a living and even I can't be arsed with this. You are wrong. Both the Pearson iGCSE History syllabus (used by lots of independent schools in the UK) and the Pearson GCSE syllabus P5 cover the Middle East.

The syllabus for the GCSE is here. Its option P5
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/History/2016/specification-and-sample-assessments/gcse-9-1-history-specification.pdf

I really don't see what you hope to gain here but you are wrong.

I've not read all 10 pages, but I expect that "of those under 25, 54% said that they agree with the statement "the state of Israel should not exist". Just 21% disagreed." doesn't come from pure hatred, but from a lack of knowledge/understanding.

There is a fairly common belief that what is now Israel was entirely Arabic/Muslim until the 1940s at which point it was invaded by outsiders and became Israel. If you start from believing that to be true, then thinking they haven't got a right to exist is a logical next step.

So the way to fix this isn't to shout "anti-semite" at this 54% of young people, but to ensure they're educated as to the actual history of the place.

https://quizlet.com/gb/897455959/gcse-history-conflict-in-the-middle-east-flash-cards/

It's also part of edexcel

Another blindingly bad argument; why are people only concerned with Israel rather than Yemen, Syria, Iran/Iraq, China etc. There are so many reasons:

1. The UK govt unequivocally condemned the actions of Assad, China, Saddam etc. They have acted with sanctions and diplomatic isolation as well as military intervention in case of Iraq. They have used their influence to highlight human rights abuses.
2. The UK govt not only considers itself a friend of Israel- it continues to support a racist state whose official policies are abusing and ethnically cleansing Palestinians.
3. The UK's continued unthinking solidarity with Israel -culturally and economically gives Israel cover for its racism.
4. The UK has a unique responsibility to face up to the iniquity the Palestinians face given its historic role. Instead it hides behind the US. It's shameful. The least we can do as citizens is protest.

@LordPercyPercy

It isn't justification for anything, it's just fact.

There is A LOT of posters and people out there that want to pretend it started October 7th because then it simplifies the issue and makes it easier for them to justify war crimes.

@Aladdinzane 7 October was so atrocious that there can't be a justification regardless of the background to the attacks.