New Delhi: Adult Americans below 30 years of age sympathise more with Palestinians while older citizens, especially those over 65, favour Israelis, a survey by the Pew Research Center published in April has found.
About 21 percent of adults between the aforementioned age groups sympathise equally with both peoples, while the rest support neither or are unsure, the report found.
In comparison, 47 percent of American adults aged 65 and over sympathise with Israelis and only 9 percent of respondents from this age group sympathise with Palestinians.
Similarly, more adults (39 percent vs 10 percent) between the ages of 50 and 64 were disposed to Israelis than Palestinians. An equal share of adults (27 percent) in both the age groups (50 to 64 and 65 and over) cared equally for both sets of people.
The sentiments among young adults may have precipitated in large-scale protests seen across university campuses in the US starting 17 April at Columbia University in New York City. More than 2,000 people have been arrested on US college campuses.
This divided view of Palestine and Israel is reflected in the American Jewish community, found Pew in a different report.
Younger Americans have also increasingly become disillusioned with Israel in the past half decade, the report found. Only 46 percent of respondents under 30 held a favourable view towards Israelis, a 17 percent drop since 2019, said the report. In comparison, 60 percent held a favourable opinion of Palestinians in February 2024.
Almost two-thirds of respondents (73 percent) between the ages of 50 and 64 and 76 percent of Americans above the age of 65 supported the Israelis. Forty-five percent of respondents in both age groups held a favourable opinion towards Palestinians.
On the war in Gaza
A majority of Americans (58 percent) across all age groups believed that Israel’s reasons for fighting Hamas were valid, while only 15 percent believed that they were not.
Over a quarter of American adults (27 percent) between the ages of 18 and 29, however, believed these reasons were not valid. For those between the ages of 30 and 49, 18 percent believed the same — showing that a higher number of Americans below 50 questioned Tel Aviv’s reasons in comparison with those above.
Two-thirds of American adults (78 percent) above the age of 65 were convinced that Israel had a reason while only six percent thought the opposite — showing the stark differences between young and old America.
A large number of US adults below 50 found Israel’s retaliation to the 7 October attacks to beunacceptable. Close to half of the respondents (46 percent) between the ages of 18 and 29 felt that Israel’s retaliation was unacceptable, while only 21 percent of adults in this age group believed that they were admissible.
Similarly, 35 percent of those between 30 and 49 thought that Israel’s response was wrong, while 31 percent found it acceptable.
A third of American Jews (33 percent) did not believe that the retaliation by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) was justifiable.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas militants stormed the boundary fencing built around the Gaza strip and killed close to 1,200 Israelis and took another 250 hostage. In retaliation, Israel began an intense aerial and land invasion that has so far killed over 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gazan health ministry. About 80 percent of the 2.3 million people living in the strip are displaced, according to an analysis by the BBC.
Older Americans, especially those above the age of 65 (53 percent) found Israel’s response to the 7 October attacks to be justifiable. Overall, the views amongst US adults were about evenly split on this question, with 38 percent finding Israel’s response acceptable to about 34 percent who believed it was not done.
Close to a third (34 percent) of US adults between 18 and 29 said Hamas’s reasons to fight Israel were right. Only 30 percent in this age group thought they were not.
About 31 percent of American Jews below 35 believed that Hamas’ reasons for fighting Israel were right — almost twice that of the average among all adult American Jews.
Two-thirds of Americans (73 percent) agreed that Hamas’ actions on 7 October 2023 were unacceptable.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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