Why are young people sympathising with Hamas?

Generation Z has been raised to scorn the West and everything it stands for.

Compare the recent pro-Israel rallies with pro-Palestine marches in the US and the UK, and the differences are stark. The gatherings in defence of Israel have been fewer in number, less well-attended and have attracted a noticeably older crowd. The young, it seems, are more likely to demonstrate against Israel, even when that means marching alongside anti-Semites and supporters of Hamas.

This generational split is not new. A 2022 survey carried out by the Pew Research Center in the US showed that only 41 per cent of those aged 18 to 29 had a favourable view of Israel, compared with 69 per cent of those aged 65 or older. The 7 October pogrom has done little to change attitudes. A recent poll notes that less than half of Gen Z and millennials believe the US should publicly voice support for Israel, compared with 63 per cent of Gen Xers and 83 per cent of Baby Boomers born in the decades after the Second World War. It is the same story in the UK. A survey carried out earlier this month shows that British 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely to sympathise with Palestinians than with the Israelis (by 46 per cent to nine per cent), whereas these results were reversed for people over the age of 65.

Concern for the plight of Gazans is one thing. But in the wake of the 7 October pogrom, some young people have shown themselves to be outright apologists for Hamas or to have embraced explicitly anti-Semitic views. Anti-Semitism has exploded in the West in recent weeks, especially on university campuses. While UK universities have been urged to act ‘firmly’ in response, accounts of anti-Semitic abuse directed against Jewish students continue to emerge.

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