For over a decade, Americans of all ages have held similar views concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict.
That is no longer the case.
A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that millennials are the only age group in which less than half (43%) sympathize with Israel, while 27% sympathize more with Palestinians. According to Pew, among Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation, more sympathize with Israelis than the Palestinians by a ratio of at least 3-to-1, making millennial support of Palestine the highest share in any generation.
Young American Jews are also changing their views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“American Jews’ relationship with Israel is changing profoundly, but not in the way that many people believe,” wrote Dov Waxman, a Northeastern University professor and co-director of the university’s Middle East Center, in his new book, “Trouble with the Tribe.” Waxman explained that younger American Jews are growing more critical of Israel and often lobby against the government’s policies.
Another factor that has influenced the decline of millennials’ support for Israel was the 2014 Gaza War between Israel and Hamas. The Pew Research Center found that all age groups over 30 largely backed Israel during this 2014 conflict, while 21% of millennials blamed Israel for the violence and unrest, with only 29% blaming Gaza.
Pew’s research also found that only 33% of liberal Democrats sympathize with Israel, while 40% support Palestine. Dr. Jonathan Rynhold, director of the Argov Center for the Study of Israel and the Jewish People at Bar-Ilan University, told JNS.org, “Since younger Americans are more liberal, and each generation is more liberal than the previous generation, they are less sympathetic toward Israel and more inclined to believe that the U.S. should adopt an even-handed approach towards the conflict.”
An increasingly liberal America has resulted in a decline of sympathy for Israelis and bolstered support for Palestinians, fueled by the belief that the two entities should be able to co-exist peacefully despite their differences. Pew’s research indicates that 57% of Americans feel as though the U.S. should deal with its own problems and let other countries handle theirs as best as they can. With this opinion in mind, there is no doubt that millennials will greatly affect the U.S.’s foreign involvement in the years to come.
