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.

No innocent Israelis to be found? No dodgy Palestinians anywhere?

Extraordinary dividing into goodies and baddies here.

@sprigatito Israel was created over 80 years ago. Where do you really think most living in Gaza were born?

I'm not sure anyone whose actually serious about peace is talking about the original lines. They're talking about 1967 lines when Israel occupied the land from Egypt and Jordan.

And it's not whattaboutery to point out how insane your suggestion of moving all Palestinians back in to their exact houses from 80 years ago is. Because that's all I was doing - pointing out why your suggestion is absolutely ridiculous. I have no intention of kicking people out of their homes in Iraq or Poland to get back what they took from my immediate family. Because that would be absolute lunacy.

@noblegiraffe

But Israel isn't just a Jewish state, as its supporters here keep pointing out, and criticising the actions of the government is not the same as criticising the whole country or its largest ethnic group.

Other regimes that imprison people without charge get compared to the Nazis ( I've heard it used for Iran/ the Saddam Regime in Iraq etc), I've heard the policies of the Chinese government towards the Uyghur Muslims compared, so its not just Israel is it?

Is it that it makes you uncomfortable that the comparison is accurate?

Deflect away, but keep using that word and it loses its power, it already has done since this conflict started and all sorts of international institutions and aid providers, all the protestors (including Jewish ones) are suddenly anti-Semitic.

@MyMumIsBetterThanYours "I'm not sure anyone whose actually serious about peace is talking about the original line"

I don't see why not, I think a total reset to the original plan would be the best thing, with Jerusalem being a UN city as planned.

It is whatabouterry to discuss the return of Jews ( who migrated to Israel from other Middle East states due to a number of reasons of which persecution was one) getting land back BEFORE allowing the return of Palestinians expelled in the Nabka.

There is only one way that this situation resolves its self, is by the return of these people to the land that they had once. The original intention of the UN was not that they should have been forced out in the first place.

and Yes, those forced out of other countries because of persecution should be compensated, however very few of these people are still refugees till this day where as the Palestinains are.

Gaza is a giant refugee camp full of mostly second-generation displaced people, yes. But as I have no doubt you are aware, the forcible displacement of Palestinians has been ongoing since 1948, and is still happening today. This is common knowledge (and the ridiculous embargo on talking about it has collapsed, because once you spend a few months systematically murdering unarmed civilians, your ability to silence people with cries of "anti-semitism" declines quite sharply).

But Israel isn't just a Jewish state

But it is a Jewish state. The only Jewish state.

criticising the actions of the government is not the same as criticising the whole country

But using Nazi comparisons to criticise the actions of the government of the world's only Jewish state is something that antisemites love to do. Why are you so keen to join them?

Other regimes that imprison people without charge get compared to the Nazis ( I've heard it used for Iran/ the Saddam Regime in Iraq etc), I've heard the policies of the Chinese government towards the Uyghur Muslims compared, so its not just Israel is it?

Well then you can compare Israel's actions to those of the Chinese government then, can't you? And avoid the awkwardly antisemitic Nazi comparisons without having to redefine antisemitism. Job done.
👍

People attempting to equate what the Israeli Government are doing today to what the Nazis did in WW2 are stunningly, terrifyingly ignorant.

There is terrorism and war and all the horrors and tragedies of that - but what the Nazis (and the Japanese) were doing in WW2 was beyond anything that I expect any of us on here could ever truly contemplate or understand.

Terms like "genocide" need to be very carefully used so as to not undermine what it really means. And, worryingly, much of the reporting of the international law aspects of the current situation have been inaccurate or just flat out incorrect.

your ability to silence people with cries of "anti-semitism" declines quite

Oh yes , we're always "crying" anti semitism aren't we? Bore off ....we've heard it all before

i don’t understand this? are you saying the only 2 choices for people existing in this territory are to be a) israeli citizens or b) born in gaza? sorry if i misunderstood

You're going to be hearing it a lot more, if you keep accusing people of racism for objecting to egregious breaches of humanitarian law 🤷🏻‍♀️

Many posters on here have tried to explain what sort of language and behaviour is considered anti semetic...it's a shame you are not interested in listening to them.

I wouldn’t disagree with this at all but you have to admit the land of Israel and Palestine has a very long and complicated history that’s not particularly easy to digest.

As I’ve read elsewhere, maybe it wasn't up to Britain to decide what happened in Palestine in 1948, but then by that reasoning neither did the Ottoman Empire, the Crusaders, the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Edomites, the Umayyad’s, and any other “occupier".

After Arab outrage at a UN proposed two state solution in 1947, the UN withdrew its backing so Britain went on alone with Israel declaring itself an independent state on 14th May. Then on 15th May, 5 Arab nations joined forces to attack and eradicate the newly formed state.

76 years later we are appalled at the utter tragedy of tens of thousands of deaths of the Palestine people at the behest of Netanyahu, a far right dictator. At the same time, other questions keep reoccurring. If we are all horrified, why do Hamas, protectors of Palestinians, hide behind their fellow citizens in hospitals and schools and refugee camps? Why not voluntarily hand back the kidnapped Isreali’s? Why not stop sending rockets into Israel. I’m always surprised to hear that this is still happening because it feels like we hear only one view of the conflict.

Further, why did Hamas attack so brutally in the first place knowing exactly what Israel would do to their families and their communities in response? In an ideological war, did they think the loss of Palestinian lives would be worth it? Were they astute enough to know Israel would retaliate with every possible military response thus incurring international condemnation? We now have a growing number of countries recognising Palestine as an independent state.

With thousands of its young people slaughtered, what would have been the ‘proportionate’ Isreali response to that attack? I’d be interested in hearing others with a better understanding of that thousands year old conflict thoughts on that.

In the meantime, I can only hope that international negotiations bring about a ceasefire, but I don’t believe that Hamas will ever stop attacking Isreali people.

So your genius solution is to displace absolutely everyone? But without having anywhere for the newly displaced people to go because you have decided it's not important to start with that because why? They're not Palestinian? Because they didn't live in the region in the 800 year period people have decided is when history started, even though they're descendants of the exact same people?

"who migrated to Israel from other Middle East states due to a number of reasons of which persecution was one" - they "migrated" for the exact same reasons Palestinians "migrated" during the Nakba. Mostly because they were forced to. 900 000 Jews left the Arab world, 700 000 Palestinians left what is now Israel. Some were told to, some chose to.

The fact Palestinians are still refugees and Jewish refugees aren't isn't Israel's fault 🙄

Forcibly displaced Jews should be "compensated" at some point at a time TBD but Palestinians should get back everything they owned (well, not owned. The houses and land they worked but others owned) immediately. Right.

There are more than enough ways of accurately and articulately discussing the situation in Gaza without resorting to anti-Semitic tropes, unless you suffer from a wildly impoverished command of the English language. Or are actually anti-Semitic, of course.

I hope you also tell off the person who called me an Islamophobe for zero reason. Wouldn't want to think of you as a massive hypocrite.

Do people who think Israel has the right idea right now also think the correct UK response to the IRA in the nineties would have been to carpet bomb Ulster?

@Zodfa Challenging anti semitism is not the same as supporting Israel foreign policy.

To be clear, I’m not saying that Isreal had the right idea. Personally neither do see the conflict between Ireland and England as an equitable comparison.

“Why did you lead him on it’s what you were wearing!!” - You
Israel had no right to respond in that manner and blaming Hamas for Israel’s actions is shocking behaviour

@noblegiraffe

I'll tell the Arab members of Parliament they are Jewish then shall I?

It isn't a Jewish ethno state.

The government has had policies that can be compared, rightly, to those of the Nazis.

Its just a deflection to call this anti-Semitic.

However, I can't be bothered to debate such a ridiculous point.

And for the record, I believe there can be a one-state solution in which the Israelis will remain there, not be displaced, like many are suggesting I believe. I was only criticising the arguments people uphold as to why Jews have a right to the land, but Palestinians do not.

"The fact Palestinians are still refugees and Jewish refugees aren't isn't Israel's fault 🙄

The fact that there were Palestinian refugees in the first place IS Israel's fault and it was a policy of the militia and the incoming Israeli government at the time.

@Aladdinzane Agreed