A small group of pro-Israel demonstrators and counter-protestors gather in front of Columbia University on 27 August 2024 in New York City (Spencer Platt/AFP)
More than one-third of American-Jewish teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18 agree with the statement, “I sympathise with Hamas” – more than a year into Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a new poll released by an Israeli government ministry.
The survey by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism found that 36.7 percent of American-Jewish teens either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” to the statement, “I sympathise with Hamas”, Israeli media reported on Thursday.
The number contrasted sharply with the seven percent of Jewish teens living outside of the US who agreed with that statement.
An even greater percentage of American-Jewish teens, 41.3 percent, agreed with the statement that Israel was “committing genocide” in Gaza. Only 10 percent of Jewish teens living outside the US agreed with that statement.
A majority, 66 percent, said that they sympathise with the Palestinian people as a whole.
Still, a significant majority of those polled said they had pro-Israel sentiments. Sixty-two percent of American-Jewish teens consider themselves to be Zionists, while 84 percent said they believe Israel has “the right to exist as a Jewish State”.
The survey comes more than a year after Israel began its war on Gaza, which started as a response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw 1,200 people killed and over 200 taken as captives back to Gaza.
Throughout the course of the war, Israeli forces have attacked civilian residences, schools, UN shelters, hospitals, and mosques and killed aid workers, medical staff and journalists.
So far, Israel’s military has officially killed over 44,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
However, the ministry has been heavily under-resourced over the past year, and some estimates from doctors within Gaza have put the death toll at more than 100,000. A study by The Lancet puts the figure at 186,000 or more.
The war has led to mass pro-Palestinian protests on the streets of major US cities as well as on many university campuses. Many of these protests have been led in part by Jewish students.
Middle East Eye reported earlier this year about the rise of anti-Zionism among young American Jews.
The Israeli ministry’s survey says that young American Jews had “weaker” Jewish identities and called on pro-Israel Jewish organisations to target younger age groups to strengthen “their Jewish identity and subsequently their connection to Israel”.
“Furthermore, their connection to Israel is weaker, they have less desire to visit Israel, they tend to support the Palestinian side in the war in Gaza, and their support for Israel increased only marginally following the events of October 7,” the survey’s conclusion said.
Several polls in the US have indicated that while the majority of American Jews hold pro-Israel sentiments, a significant minority is critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
In 2021, polling showed that a quarter of American Jews agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state”, and a majority of them did not find that statement to be antisemitic.
