Why are Young People so Pro-Palestine?

Ever since October 7th, social media has been filled with videos of pro-Palestine protests in city centres and university campuses across the West. In this video, we're going to take a look at how the younger generation's opinions of Israel differ, and the reasons for why that is.

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00:00 - Introduction
00:58 - Young People are More Pro-Palestine
04:06 - Why?
04:17 - Young People are More Left-Wing
05:24 - Social Media
06:41 - Diversity
07:36 - Sponsored Content

[TLDRnewsGLOBAL]

CORRECTIONS:
At 4:30, the labels on the graph are wrong: the blue line represents Democrat sentiment, while the red line represents Republican sentiment.

Apologies for this sloppy error, and hope you nonetheless enjoyed the video!

[tpdblake]

I just think it’s funny that regardless of which side you support, people call you racist either way

[grahamlewis]

I think it's worth noting that older generations can remember Isreal being attacked by its neighbours. They viewed it as a plucky David. Most youngsters have grown up watching well armed men on tanks firing at kids throwing stones. For them, Israel looks like Goliath.

[fs]

I think it's important to point out the wording in the questions in the polls. A lot of them ask about support for Hamas, not Palestine. Most people who support Palestine don't necessarily support Hamas.

[isaiahkoufos]

It’s so frustrating that every little thing has to become left or right. It’s so much more complicated than that but the big guys in charge have drilled it in over a hundred years that you’re either conservative or you’re liberal and that’s how everything else in the world works too

[AKen_Films]

I feel it should be made clear that being pro Palestine is NOT the same as being pro Hamas! The atrocities Hamas has committed are horrific and Isrial’s answers are also horrific. This is ultimately about allowing Palestine as a people to exist and for all people to recognize the legitimacy of each other’s narrative.

[zaakknight]

One of the biggest reasons I think it has changed from previous conflicts, it's that now with social media there are way more videos/photos/info of people in distress because of the war. Things the established media doesn't show us on TV because of mature/graphic content. Which, I believe it creates empathy towards them.

[Sfyc-tyF]

americans after successfully turning a war in asia into a "them democrats vs republicans" issue

[Brookecannotcook]

I am neither pro Israel or pro Palestine. I do not support Hamas or the Israeli government. I am supporting the children, the pregnant women, the elderly. Whether that be on the Palestinian side or Israel side. I am pro innocent children and civilians.

[kronus]

It’s interesting that you looked at ethnic backgrounds in America but not in Europe, I assume it’s because that data wasn’t available but I think it’s a pretty telling factor. In the US ethnic minorities are Hispanic or Black, while in Europe they’re mostly people from the Middle East. I think that would be a significant reason for Europe’s more pro Palestine stance.

[michaelmoser]

There is another factor not mentioned in the video: support for Israel was also based on remembering World War II. The first and second generation born after that deluge were still part of the collective memory, that formed as the result of The War. Later generations are not part of that.

[MminaMaclang]

The older generations have a collective remembrance of the Holocause and the atrocities against Jews, and therefore lived a long time where anti-semitism was a big issue in their society. The younger generation lived through 9/11, and US's wars in the Middle East, and so Islamophobia was the big societal issue that their generation was more cognizant of. I frequently hear older people say that Hamas is "anti-semitic"--they literally are killing Jews. But for the younger generations, what they see is an ethnic cleansing/genocide of Palestinian Arabs, violence at Mosques, and removal/limiting of rights. Millennials also see this as a race issue, by some conversations I've seen online. And so, it hits closer to home for them and to what societal issues they've cared about these past two decades.

[lead_sommelier]

I really dont like the phrasing of the questions on those polls you cited. I dont think there's an issue with your analysis but asking "do you support israel or hamas" can be pretty misleading

[matmonti]

Those polling questions were ridiculous!!! “Do you stand with Israel or Hamas?” “Should the US stand with Israel or Hamas” “are Israel justified in attacking Hamas” young people are PRO-PALESTINE, not Pro-Hamas, those questions were purposefully trying to get people to condemn Hamas and support Israel and Young people just aren’t falling for it.

[carstengrooten]

I also think that WW2 had a great influence on how the West sees ethnic Jews. Due to the holocaust a lot of people believed Israel deserved and needed western support, but as WW2 slowly becomes less relevant, younger generations focus on Israels actions in the present.

[Entername-mdev]

For older people, they remember Israel being a country formed by people who survived the holocaust and had to defend themselves against a bunch of neighbouring countries just to continue existing - so they were seen as the victim/underdog back in the day to boomers. Whereas today, young ppl see Israel as the powerful country and Palestine being the poor undeveloped state that’s trying to preserve its population and land so I guess it’s just the typical underdog David vs Goliath plot line that differed greatly between generations

[XVducoeur]

I think there is also the timeline of the conflict in comparision to your age. For instance, the older generations have their memories filled with events were Israel was the defender against arab agression ( 1967, 1973) while the younger generations can recall of Israel being the agressor, especially since the intifadas (from 1987)

[Reaper]

I am glad you actually acknowledge how demographic changes effects politics

[MorbidEel]

Meh. There is always too much focus on sides and not enough on goals. "who do you support?" is a question that inherently invites conflict. It should be "what do you think should be the future of the Israel/Palestine situation?"
1. They split into two countries and do their own things
2. Integration into a single country

Of course there is basically a 0% chance of either. People are more concerned for their side to be right than how to have a peaceful future.

[Rain_MG]

The prevalence of social media means that real people share their experiences, among these people are Palestinians, they share their real suffering, and people close to what is happening share their suffering, not media.
A video filmed on a phone by someone seeing their home destroyed is more convincing than someone talking on TV.