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.

The strength of the West is also important for the survival of Israel which explains why Iran has spent years using propaganda against Westerners, especially young people. In that light, social media is a Godsend for hostile States such as Iran, China and Russia.

There was a poll recently that showed that 20% of young adults in the US have a positive view of Osama bin Laden. There was that viral tiktok trend of people reading his Letter to America and saying ‘omg he was right about everything’

I read it and it’s the fanatical ramblings of a rabid anti-western, antisemite.

But a bit of tiktok propaganda and the youth think he’s a good guy.

People really should be wary of the proliferation of anti-west propaganda.

I saw something a few weeks ago about how there’s loads of tik toks popping up about how marvellous North Korea is. Might be worth polling young people about that too.

Brilliant post.

I watched a Sky news report from one of the first Pro Palestinian Marches that took part in London Just after the Oct 7th massacre, A young Londoner ( may 19 years old) was asked her thoughts on the massacre, her reply was no, that's a lie that never happened, there was no massacre by Hamas it is false news by Israel, her friend stood beside her told her it did in fact happen, the young woman was shocked but insisted it couldn't be true as she hadn't seen any coverage about it. That sums up the thought process or lack of. Too many young jump on whatever passing band wagon. They have an opinion formed by SM, they truly believe whatever Sm tells them and don't seem to be able to research on their own or understand that their view isn't always right.
Just yesterday a poll showed very few youngsters have a clue about D DAY, many thought it took place in London, some believed it happened in 1970 and that D day was they day Britain was bombed or in one case it was doomsday ! They may all carry a very powerful computer in their pockets but they don't have the ability to use that tool.

Great, we’re at the Jews control the media bit of the debate.

Dear oh dear

Many years ago my sister knew a very lefty student type girl...this girl told me sister she was off on a protest march. Oh, what's the march about? No idea said the girl. These people do exist

The government of Israel are not doing the Jewish any favours and I believe it is them that need to be blamed for the rise of anti semitism

Why is this an ok thing to say...?

Surely you wouldn't say ...

The government of Iran are not doing the Muslims any favours and I believe it is them that need to be blamed for the rise of islamophobia..

Doesn't sound great does it....?

The government of Israel are not doing the Jewish any favours and I believe it is them that need to be blamed for the rise of anti semitism

Bloody hell, I missed this gem.

"The government of Iran are not doing the Muslims any favours and I believe it is them that need to be blamed for the rise of islamophobia"

Yes I agree. There probably a lot of Iranians who would say the same.

You are just spouting utter nonsense at this point. And we've heard it all before. You're not as clever as you think you are

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. People who’ve lost their silly little heads to this kind of nonsense aren’t worth engaging with.

Young people have been targeted by Iran in disinformation PsyOps for years now. See the post from the Supreme Leader.

In the UK, the vast majority of young people are NOT taught about the Middle East in school nor are they well informed. Fewer than 2% of them learn it in history GCSEs!

Young people are even more susceptible to PsyOps via social media from hostile States such as Iran, China and Russia.

Thankfully, social media is not reflective of real life where most American students at Harvard Uni have a positive view of Israel and a very negative one of Hamas.

There is also a difference between asking if something should exist, and asking if now it does exist it should be eradicated.

The question posed appears to be quite deliberately "should Israel exist" not should we get rid of Israel? Surveys like this often like to be ambiguous but lots of people will answer that in terms of would we create an Israeli state now? And no we would not.

Now we are comparing Jews to Nazis.

Antisemitism bingo.

They are no different to the Nazi.

This is anti-semitism.

I think that's broadly true

It's not saying they are anti-semitic, but their actions influence the global publics view of Jews generally, and if there is an INCREASE in antisemitism (not just anti israel) then that increase is just as likely to be driven by the actions of the Israeli government as anything else.

I presume that legitimises killing every last Palestinian until they find them? That could be what young people cannot reconcile with.

I don’t know what hypocrisy you speak, so can’t speak directly to that. If it’s a ‘what would the British do if it was them’? British people were killed in US and UK bombings, but folks were still opposed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Trendy? I don’t know again what you’re talking about, because people have been arguing for both sides for decades. We just have SM now where views are louder and reach more people, so it’s a topic that can no longer be ignored.

And yet there are people who would get rid of Israel and are answering the question meaning exactly that.

The student on R4 wanted a single Palestinian state where Jews could live happily because antisemitism would be tackled.

This bloke with a megaphone in Leeds was very clear that he wanted the whole of the area from the river to the sea to be handed back to the Palestinians, to the cheers of the crowd.

https://x.com/habibi_uk/status/1789631217161093223?s=46&t=vKGM6xpoeW3wdlaVVVagQA

That Harvard table is as positive a view of American students at Harvard as you think it is.

Its funny how you all think that Israel are the victims and that this only started on the 7th Oct. That's what they would like the whole world to think. But we don't think that anymore and there are millions of us all over the world who think Israel are in the wrong. But it seems to me that you don't seem to care about about 1000's of innocent people killed.
Yes I do not condone what happened on the 7th Oct, but what Israel did in return is off the scale and that cannot be right. Israel had a hand in creating Hamas exactly for this, to put the lives of innocent Israelis and Palestinians at risk and then use Hammas as a reason to invade Gaza. But Hammas are not in the West Bank or Jerusalem so why are the IDF and the right-wing settlers still harassing Palestinians. Why are Palestinians not treated equally. They do not have the same voting rights, they cannot even walk down or drive on certain roads.
Israel's own National Security Minister Ben Gvir wants to rid Israel of all Palestinians, he calls them animals not humans. Do you think what he is saying is correct. There are plenty more videos of him and others within Israel's parliament saying this. This is what everyone is seeing. Some of Israel's own army have turned their back and are speaking up against what Israel are doing, maybe you should listen to what they have to say.
This is what the younger generation are seeing and you will happily call them stupid, which is quite an insult if you ask me. Will you call everyone that doesn't agree with what is happening stupid? I do feel very sorry for you.