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.

@Aladdinzane might be interested to read your comment about how inadequate the teaching at schools often is when it comes to history.

@TinyYellow why would I be interested when the comment here is about how badly it was taught in the 70s, which is obviously not what young people are learning now?

Didn’t assume you’d be interested, my reply wasn’t to you.

"but had no idea that the invasion of Gaza was prompted by a mass slaughter by Hamas and that Israel is constantly under attack."

Good god if there are people that believe this started on October 7th then the young really aren't the ones in trouble.

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

You mean 1948 ceasefire line? That would leave Egypt in Gaza and Jordan controlling the West Bank and Jerusalem. I don't think that's what you want is it?

It was me who tagged you because you seemed to think that because it's taught at GCSE the kids know what they're talking about. And my point is, that's utter BS, and the post I tagged you in helped point that out.

@TinyYellow Then why @ me then?

Or are you trying to make the point that history education in the UK is appalling which is why young people have these view points? Seems a bit weak to imply that due to this person's poor education in the 70s ( which would indicate she isn't that "young"),

Pakistan is actually a good example of why a country created purely on religious grounds (and causing mass displacement of people in both directions) is not a good idea. It was created sort of by mutual agreement but caused a lot of misery and death, after which both India and Pakistan sort of settled down to their own countries. East and West Pakistan both were Muslim majority, but they had different language and cultures, bound together only by religion. When the government of West Pakistan started treating East Pakistan in a discriminatory fashion (forbidding the local language, imposing unfair taxes, taking away voting rights) Bangladesh was born. So Pakistan had/has the right to exist but didn't have the right to oppress the people of now Bangladesh. The result was a two-state solution.

The difference with Israel is that the two-state solution was implemented fast (with help from India) and Pakistan did not have the ability to hinder the formation and survival of Bangladesh. Neither does it have the power to occupy or seriously inconvenience India (though it does seem to breed terrorists). So these countries (Islamic states of Pakistan and Bangladesh and the secular state of India) are co-existing (albeit uneasily) as sovereign countries. Israel, on the other hand, with the help of western governments, has been actively hindering the formation of Palestine and oppressing the people of Palestine. Israel has funded Hamas to weaken the Palestinian authority. Now their own Frankenstein's monster rose up to hurt them and they are using that as an excuse to annihilate Gaza. Young people can see the sheer injustice of this war and are reacting by saying Israel shouldn't exist.

I don't think Israel shouldn't exist, btw, but they need to accept the two-state solution seriously. And our governments need to stop propping them up.

@TinyYellow Oh dear, so you think someone recounting their education in the 70s means that you can dismiss young people's education on matters now?

Maybe it isn't them that needs the education?

This!!!

Do not entirely agree with this. I heard publishers some excellent articles (I haven’t read them all) and the point of Unherd (clue in the name) is to not just blindly accept mainstream media as gospel.

The BBC consistently reported on the crisis with bias, starting every time with emphasising that Hamas were a terrorist organisation, using biased language, and not reporting numbers of deaths accurately.

Oh ok so which countries are more legitimate ones created by force during war or ones divided up* by negotiations?
*
Countries that do not favour one group of citizens over another - whether on religious grounds or otherwise. Neither Bangladesh nor Pakistan occupy land illegally, cleanse it of indigenous people or operate roads/checkpoints/restrictions for one group while also subjecting them to military rule and arbitrary detention.

@Aladdinzane I was making a completely separate point to another poster that anti Israel feeling isn’t down to anti semitism, and trying to back it up by saying that I had no reason to be anti semitic because I’d basically been taught to feel sorry for Jews in my education.

Sorry for the confusion.

I don't agree and this is not Vietnam. It is not a generation of young people protesting about a war where they and their friends are being conscripted to fight by their own government, where millions of their friends/family/neighbours/classmates have died.

It is a conflict in an area of the world most of them know absolutely nothing about apart from having had a few GCSE history lessons (possibly) seen prejudiced reporting, emotive footage and a huge wave of anti-semitic rhetoric by muslims and activists (exactly what you'd expect). They all love a protest and an opportunity to get out there shouting and indulging in a bit of social disorder about the current 'cool' issue. In 10-15 years time they'll have gone back to the suburbs, have jobs, be settling down and be living lives where protests about the middle-east are for younger people.

From Wiki "The partition caused large-scale loss of life and an unprecedented migration between the two dominions.[6]Among refugees who survived, it solidified the belief that safety lay among co-religionists. In the instance of Pakistan, it made palpable a hitherto only-imagined refuge for the Muslims of British India.[7] The migrations took place hastily and with little warning. It is thought that between 14 million and 18 million people moved, and perhaps more. Excess mortality during the period of the partition is usually estimated to have been around one million.[8] The violent nature of the partition created an atmosphere of hostility and suspicion between India and Pakistan that affects their relationship to this day."

You don't seem to know much about the creation of Israel or Pakistan.

@LuluBlakey1

" It is not a generation of young people protesting about a war where they and their friends are being conscripted to fight by their own government, where millions of their friends/family/neighbours/classmates have died."

Protests happened outside of the US too ( quite famously in the UK outside the US embassy). However, the intention wasn't to say that there is a exact comparison between the conflicts but to compare the sentiments expressed by the older generation about the young in order to undermine their protests.

Which of course the rest of your post does, rather than debate the issue you attack the people protesting. The fact that you'd commit such a blatant and obvious logical fallacy does rather undermine you.

So much of this is wrong, it's difficult to know where to start.

@Marvintheparanoid I don't think Israel shouldn't exist, btw, but they need to accept the two-state solution seriously. And our governments need to stop propping them up.

We agree.

I'm from that region, I know far more than you. This isn't about Indian region - this is about Israel - you're deflecting and trying to compare oranges with apples. It won't work anymore. A lot of people are seeing the reality.

There was definitely a fair bit of cleansing going on at the time.

Your dismissal of the partition of India and Pakistan as being “just wanting their own land” grossly ignores the human impact which was horrific.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-40874496

Not meaning to disrespect your son, but how could he not have known about October 7th?

They definitely took a fair bit of pleasure in it.

WTF are you talking about? So much of your post is demonstrably false. It's hard to know where to start.