Terrifying: Young Americans Want To Eliminate Israel And Replace It With Hamas

A recent poll of Americans' opinions about the Israel-Hamas war revealed some disturbing (and contradictory) beliefs held by the younger demographic. While acknowledging that Hamas wants to murder all of the Jews, a majority of young Americans thought the solution to the conflict should be the annihilation of Israel and replacing it with a Hamas-run entity.

The monthly Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that overall, 81% of Americans backed  Israel in its war against Hamas, but a majority (51%)of young respondents aged 18 to 24 felt that Israel should be "ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians." This compares to only 26% of young respondents who supported erasing the Jewish state after October 7. This contrasted sharply with older Americans with only  4% of Americans aged 65 and above saying that Israel should be ended.

In a seemingly contradictory manner, 58% of these young respondents thought Hamas should be removed from running Gaza. Overall, 81% of Americans believe that Hamas should be removed from running Gaza. 34% of Americans say that Israel should run Gaza, 27% say that the Palestinian Authority should, and 38% say that it should be a new authority set up with Arab nations.

Among 18-24-year-olds who were asked this question, 45% answered that Israel should administer the Gaza Strip, followed by 41% saying the PA should, and 14% saying a new authority should. 

Other solutions that did not require the complete genocide of Israel were less popular with young Americans.  32% of the same age group favored a two-state solution which would create an unprecedented Palestinian state inside of Israel, ethnically cleansed of Jews, with its capital in an exclusively Muslim Jerusalem. 17% suggested that other Arab countries should take in the Palestinians.

Overall, 60% of respondents preferred a two-state solution.

66% of respondents in the 18-24 age group believed that Hamas's October 7 massacre of over 1,200 Israelis constituted genocide. The poll also found that 60% of the 18-24 age group believed that Palestinian grievances justified Hamas' Oct 7 terrorist attack. 74% of all Americans and 58% of the 18-24 age group acknowledged that Hamas wanted to commit genocide against the Jews in Israel.  

Nonetheless, 76% of 18-24-year-olds think Hamas is an organization that can be negotiated with to create peace.  Among the totality of Americans, 64% disagree, saying that they believe Hamas is dedicated only to the destruction of Israel.

80% of Americans believe that Hamas uses civilians as human shields and three-fourths said they believe that Hamas, not Israel, is primarily responsible for endangering Gazan civilians.

Additionally, almost three-fourths of Americans (73%) said Hamas is primarily responsible for triggering the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but a slight majority of Americans aged 18-24 said that Israel is primarily responsible for endangering Gazans.

Overall, 73% of respondents said the Hamas onslaught was genocide, and similarly, 73% believed it to be unjustified.

57% of American Muslims said they believed Hamas' attack against Israel was justified.

58% of the young Americans acknowledged that Hamas wanted to commit genocide against the Jews in Israel, but 60% of them also accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza in its war against Hamas. Only 37% of Americans overall believed Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. 63% of all respondents believed that Israel's military offensive was aimed at defending by eliminating Hamas, but 60% of the younger demographic believed that Israel's motivation was committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Only 37% of Americans overall believed Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. 

In a contradictory manner, 69% of Americans said that they believe Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. The percentage of Americans between the ages of 18-24 who thought the same was higher than the national average of 70%.

81% overall and 80% of young Americans said that Israel has a right to defend itself against terror attacks by launching airstrikes on targets in heavily populated Palestinian areas with warnings to those citizens". 

Overall, 64% of respondents said a ceasefire should be agreed to only after the release of hostages and Hamas being removed from power. 67% of 18- to 24-year-olds favored an unconditional deal that would leave things as they are with the Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza and Hamas staying in power in Gaza.

Additionally, 53% of the young Americans said that students should have the right to call for the "genocide of Jews" without facing any consequences even though 70% said such calls constituted hate speech.

Overall,  74% answered that those who make the calls should face disciplinary action, while 79% said the calls were hate speech.  63% of 18-24-year-old respondents acknowledged that antisemitism is prevalent on university campuses. Overall, 24% said that Jew hatred was always present on campus. 20% of respondents blamed students, 18% blamed left-wing political movements, 11% claimed university presidents and administrators were to blame for Jew hatred, 11% pointed at foreign funding of universities and student groups, 7% university professors, and 8% answered none of the above.

The poll also showed that 67% of the 18-24 age group believed that Jews should be seen as oppressors. 73% of Americans rejected this as a "false ideology."

Overall, 69% of Americans said they were paying "very close" or "somewhat close" attention to the war in Israel. 81% of the 18-24 age group are paying "very close" or "somewhat close" attention to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

While more than 80% of Americans overall sided with Israel, the 18-24 age group was evenly split at 50-50.

Mark Penn, the chairman of the Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, was shocked to  discover that two-thirds of the youngest voters view Jewish people as oppressors after 6 million Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust "stands out as representative of [Generation] Z's attitude towards Jews and Israelis." 

The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey was conducted from Dec. 13 to 14 and surveyed 2,034 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.

Originally published at Israel 365 News - reposted with permission.