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.

Young people know we are supporting Ukraine but sitting back doing nothing about this…

Do they think Russia doesn't have the right to exist?

Actually many Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots do want to unite and acknowledge their commonalities but there's a political stand off. It wasnt really a religious war at all, neither side is that religious or tribal (just comparing with Israel vs Palestine) They aren't mortal enemies of some sort trying to kill each other or displacing each other with dirty tactics on a daily basis. There's no current ongoing war there. Very different history, culture and reasons. Not a like for like situation really..

What about Bangladesh then? Do they have a right to exist?

Probably the influence of social media and believing everything they see on tictok. I find it hard to believe the majority of teenagers/people in their early 20s would are really that thick though.

I don’t know but I imagine they think Russia has the right to exist, just not to wage war against Ukraine and try to take it by force.

Well yes. Whereas here they don't want Israel to exist.

It's an odd response which has been groomed into them by antisemites.

No, but Pakistans creation did cause just as much trouble as Israel’s creation.

!!!!!

Jews themselves are protesting against Israel, if you support a country that is committing genocide then you need a reality check, it was never about the hostages, they just wanted to wipe off Palestinians and destroy Gaza. They're fathers holding their beheaded children, children in pieces in bags , People under the rubble, Nd we witnessed all of that. If they really cared about their own people, why are they bombing Gaza whilst the hostages are still there ? For them they r collateral damage.

Yes, lots of sweeping generalisations here about how "young people" don't really understand by people who then show their own distinct lack of understanding.

@noblegiraffe if young people genuinely think that, I’d wager it’s less to do with grooming and more to do with anger at what they might deem an unfair and disproportionate response. Israel is losing sympathy at an alarming rate and that’s going to put the west in a more precarious position.

The right of return as applied by Israel gives Jewish people who last lived in this area of the world over 2500 years ago a right of return. That is preposterous enough but it's actually a supremacist policy when this right is given to those people in preference to those that lived in the land for 800 years before 1948 who were actually expelled from the land to give others a right of return.
As for Jews being expelled from Muslim lands in 1948- just read some Avi Shlaim. It is another one of Israel's founding myths. The kids can see through it.

I think someone should be made to write an essay on Israel and its history before giving an opinion like that.

Yes my kids are 18 and 21 and say most of their friends think this way.

And none of them wants Israel not to exist.

Ahhh, conspiracy theories. I see.

Anyway, I didn't realise you were the one to decide when history started. How did you get that job? Was it a difficult interview process? What kind of degree did you get at uni that lead to this job?

Bangladesh fought a war of independence from Pakistan. That's not analogous either. Both are majority Muslim nations.

everyone I know on social media is anti Zionist. Israel has taken it all too far according to them. There is so much coming out of Palestine; awful photos and videos. That everyone is seeing Israel as the aggressor, breaking International law. Rafah has featured everywhere.

I would be fearful of being Pro Israel.

I think if they asked questions to ascertain what they understand of the situation- historically and currently, the answer in most cases would be very little. Most answer questions like this in ignorance of fact and lacking any depth of understanding. They are on the 'cool' bandwagon, whatever that happens to be, that's all.
Several months ago, there was some work done, I think by The Guardian but am not 100% on that, where they did background conversations to find out what students protesting against Israel knew and understood - it amounted to almost nothing with many of them. They did not even know what had taken place, they'd just joined protests like lemmings.

I'm not the one claiming a right of return based on a 2000 year old heritage- you are. Also not sure about conspiracy theories. I'm basing all my comments on the brilliant work of Illan Pappe. He used Israeli archives which were made public in 1990s to detail what happened in 1948.
I recommend his book:
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

Well it isn't surprising is it? The said country is basically carrying out a genocide on a stolen land. I'm not at all surprised that people are finally waking up and seeing the reality.

I feel the same and I am 43

@LuluBlakey1

Please, the Israel/Palestine conflict is on the GCSE history curriculum, many, many young people are entirely clued up on the situation and history of the issues in the region.

Dismissing young people and their opinions for jumping on the bandwagon or not knowing enough about something however is a tactic as old as the hills. The young people were right about Vietnam, for example, but were dismissed in exactly the same way.

Oh ok so which countries are more legitimate - ones created by force during war or ones divided up by negotiations?

You seem determined to make this about anti semitism but as long as you continue to assume that that’s where all anti Israel feeling comes from, you will be looking at the entire situation with a massive blind spot.

I’m going to assume I’m similar to many who were British educated in the late seventies/early eighties and all I grew up knowing about Jews was that Jesus was one and the Germans were terrible to them in WW2 (wrongly, we were taught Germans not Nazis). Absolutely no reason to have a problem with Judaism or the people that believe in it. Never heard of anti Semitism until adulthood.

Since you asked, I don’t want anything wiped off the map, but personally I think we’re at the point that the UN needs to go back and enforce the borders that was made in the first place because Palestinians have more right to live there than random American Jews who already have a safe home and just had a great time on their ‘birthright’ trip. The British should be as ashamed in their part in that as they they should Pakistan/India partition. The only difference is that Pakistan hasn’t been committing international crimes for decades and it isn’t committing war crimes right now.

He didn't know anything at all about 7th October? 😲