Terrifying: Young Americans Want To Eliminate Israel And Replace It With Hamas
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz/Israel 365 NewsDecember 20, 2023
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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.