Pew study finds threefold rise in past decade of millennials who say they’re more sympathetic to Palestinians than Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) – Democrats are more than four times as likely as Republicans to say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than with Israel, according to a survey published Thursday, and sympathy for the Palestinians among Americans overall is growing.
Sympathy for the Palestinians is up most sharply among the youngest American adults, growing threefold over the last decade, the new survey by the Pew Research Center shows. Some 27 percent of millennials say they are more sympathetic to the Palestinians than Israel; in 2006 the figure was 9 percent. The share of those favoring Israel has held steady at about 43 percent.
On Israel, the survey also shows one of the widest-ever gaps between the two main political parties.
While self-identified Democrats are more likely to favor Israel over the Palestinians (43 percent to 29 percent), they are far less sympathetic toward Israel than either Republicans or Independents. Among self-identified Republicans, 75 percent say they sympathize more with Israel compared to 7 percent sympathizing more for the Palestinians. Among Independents, the sympathies are 52 percent with Israel and 19 percent with the Palestinians.
The new data is part of a telephone survey of more than 4,000 American adults between April 4 and 24 in which Pew surveyors asked respondents a range of questions about how they view the US role in the world.
Among Americans overall, 54 percent say they sympathize more with Israel and 19 percent sympathize more with the Palestinians, with 13 percent saying with neither side and 3 percent with both. Compared to a similar survey conducted in July 2014, sympathy for Israel held steady while sympathy for the Palestinians jumped by one-third, to 19 percent today from 14 percent in the earlier survey.
Among liberal Democrats, the least pro-Israel grouping, more respondents say they are sympathetic toward the Palestinians than toward Israel: 40 percent vs. 33 percent. While the pro-Israel figure has held steady, the pro-Palestinian figure is the largest it has been in 15 years, suggesting that sympathy for the Palestinians is growing among these Americans who previously did not favor one side over the other.
Self-identified conservative Democrats and moderate Democrats favor Israel by a margin of 53 percent for Israel to 19 percent for the Palestinians.
Supporters of Hillary Clinton are more likely to favor Israel over the Palestinians (47 percent to 27 percent), while backers of Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent of Vermont, are more likely to favor the Palestinians (39 percent to 33 percent for Israel).
On the Republican side, conservative Republicans favor Israel somewhat more than moderate and liberal Republicans do (79 percent vs. 65 percent).
The survey shows older Americans overwhelmingly favoring Israel over the Palestinians by a 4-to-1 margin, and Gen-Xers sympathizing with Israel more by roughly a 3-to-1 margin.
There is more optimism among Americans that a two-state solution can be achieved by the Israelis and Palestinians than skepticism that it cannot: 50 percent compared to 42 percent. On this, Americans younger than 30 are more optimistic (60 percent believe in the two-state solution) than Americans over 65 (49 percent say it’s impossible). About 61 percent of Democrats say they believe a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully beside Israel, compared to 38 percent of Republicans.
Overall, Americans are more convinced now than they were in August 2014, in the wake of the last Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, that a two-state solution is possible.
On other issues in the survey, 57 percent of respondents say they want America to deal with its own problems and let other countries sort out their problems on their own, while 37 percent say America should help other countries. Respondents identified ISIS as the top global threat facing America, followed by cyber attacks from other countries, the rapid spread of infectious diseases and refugees from the Middle East.
The largest partisan gap on the threat matrix was on the issue of climate change: 77 percent of Democrats identified it as a leading global threat compared to 26 percent of Republicans.
There is a sharp partisan divide on the question of how best to defeat global terrorism: 70 percent of Republicans say overwhelming military force is the best approach, while 65 percent of Democrats say that just creates more hatred and terrorism.
bernard ross Said:
Bennet was given the eunuch ministry of education to keep him away from YS and Jewish settlement.. an old trick. However, what prevents Bennet from making sure that Israeli children are taught that “JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA SAMARIA IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE”
Would BB find a way to prevent it? We know the foreign paid moles would all argue against it AND the faux named party claiming to be Zionists as a cover to give the Jewish homeland to muslims to build their homes. What an oxymoron…. zionists building homes for muslims in the Jewsih homeland instead of Jews….. zionists in a mad rush to give the Jewish homeland to muslims instead of Jews…. have they no shame in claiming that title? The only thing they ever say is that its important to give them the land as quickly as possible… thats their only raison d’etre… instead of rushing to settle Jews like a zionist should they always push to withdraw…. and always want it done immediately…. as if that is their prime directive. Fool Jews should be ridiculing their zionist moniker….just like nazis in peyot would bring ridicule and shock.
9bernard ross Said:
Good point.!!!
Ted Belman Said:
what about my advocacy of passing severe laws against anti semitism as well as incitement? The last place on earth that anti semitism should be tolerated is in Israel… even the goyim can fathom that even if they want to prevent it. How can the muslims have nations banning other religions and Israel cannot do the same… or at least ban anti semitism.
Anti semitism has a unique legal position based on history. Anti semitism is recognized by its lies. The lies are the indication of the presence of anti semitism. The telling of such lies against Jews and Israel should be legally defined as anti semitic incitement. Anti semitic incitement has been a serial tool of anti semites for 2000 years. It should be declared legally that such incitement be regarded as intentionally seeking murder and genocide against Jews. The punishment for anti semitic incitement against Jews should be the deportation of the criminal and the deportation of the family because it should be assumed that the family trained the child to anti semitism Anti semitism which has proceeded to action should be a capital crime requiring the mandatory execution of the criminal only to be delayed by extracting information. In such a case there can never be arguments about when it is oK to kill an anti semitic terrorist attempting to kill Jews.
In social services law in western nations children may be taken from parents who are racist, etc. If that were applied in Israel they would all have to run out if they wanted to keep their children. Israel needs to think out of the box… to create the laws which are the same in other nations and which provide the legal basis for draining the swamp. Everyone will argue, but they all are already arguing.
furthermore, any institution found guilty of anti semitism should be closed and demolished and those responsible for its administration deported. In such a scenario the swamp will be drained of anti semites. Why are Jews so afraid to deport anti semites from their land, to have zero tolerance for anti semites? Of course, the euros who fund the jew killers will argue against it and so will their foreign paid Israeli moles. It is absurd that anti semitism which has led to so many pogroms and murders of Jews is allowed to flourish under BB netanyahu… he is the master enabler of muslim abuse of Jews in the Jewish homeland.
Punishing anti semites cannot be considered racist as it punishes a behavior like any other criminal act. A muslim arab anti semite does not need to be an anti semite, but if he is then he has chosen to be a criminal and a lunatic and must be given the proper justice for his crimes and lunacy.
Ted Belman Said:
If it is not yours then how can you also agree to give it away. IMO if Israel does not claim YS then it belongs to world Jewry and then israel does not have the right to give it to anyone. If Israel does not want it then Israel should protect it for Jewish settlement as the british were appointed to do at the LON mandate. All trustees who have administrated YS have been derelict in their obligatory legal duties to settle Jews. the state of Israel is no less culpable than Jordan and the UK… it does the same.
In fact the GOI appears to operate as a Judenrat administering the policies of its euro masters… how else can BB’s facilitation of the euro building be REASONABLY explained. Just like Britain the GOI sabotages Jewish rights to settle in their own homeland. I would like to see Shurat ha din take this case up against the GOI in Israel. the only argument the leftists can have is that the obstruction protects the Jews… and yet it does the opposite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9edV7ta-r-Y
@ woolymammoth:
U may have a point. The left may be smart enough to publish false info as scare tactic. Just plain old deception.
I do not believe these surveys. The survey questions are as suspect as the motives of the surveyors and their donors. In the same way public statements made by former Mossad Directors, one of whom is recently deceased seem to be highly political and antithetical to Israel’s interests.
When Peres ran for PM against Begin, the polls always indicated Peres by a landslide, that is, until the moment he lost.
Israel needs to win it’s wars, decisively. This is the only proven way to bring peace closer. There is too much pussyfooting around minefields and treading in dangerous waters.
Israel’s leaders, those who have forgotten their mandate and must resign. New elections need to be scheduled for 2017.
Martin Sherman in his last article wrote,
And that is why he insists on his plan to induce the Arabs to leave. I agree with him.
I also agree with Bernard when he lays the blame on Bibi for not claiming our right to the land. Either it is ours or we are thieves.
bernard ross Said:
That’s the problem with democracy’s under threat especially existential threats. Israel, however, cannot have two mutually exclusive policies. Under pro-expansion Israeli governments, even the Jews who do not want more territory for the Jewish state have to fight and die for it, as well as suffer economically from Israeli taxes that finance Arab-Israeli wars. Under conciliatory governments, Jewish biblical partisans watch helplessly as Israeli government gives the Eretz Israel away. In the long run, no Jews are happy with Israeli governments. Everyone, both Israeli groups, want coherent Jewish leadership that shares their vision of Jewish destiny. Their is a practical solution to this conflict among the Jews of Israel.
keelie Said:
If Israelis dont care then why should anyone else?
watsa46 Said:
there is no jewish anti semitism in america that we did not already hear, usually first, from jewish anti semites in Israel. I am tired of pointing to everyone else when the outsiders simply mirror what Israelis say… if the PM cant even say it why expect diaspora Jews to say it? Changing minds in foreign will be meaningless if Israel doesnt change its mind… it must start in Israel, which is why Israel must say these words or fugggedaboutit:
“JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN YS IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE”
If the PM cant say it then dont ask foreigners, jews or non jews to say it.
keelie Said:
they already do…. but what is the excuse for BB and the GOI NEVER in the last almost 10 years state those facts. Soon there will be no young children in Israel who do not beleive it is illegal and illegitimate for the jews to settle in YS. A 15 year old today probably never heard of the concept of legal and legitimate jewish settlement. Soon he will be asked to fight for lands that his gov taught him are illegally occupied.
can anyone give the real reason for demolishing and moving all these units?
keelie Said:
It is the Jews of Israel which do not know it because it is never mentioned by the PM and the GOI. they think that they stole the lands of the pals and are there illegally AND illegitimately. they hear every day in Israel and from the world that jews are illegal and no one in the GOI and the PM NEVER say differently.
The jews in Israel are brainwashed by their own gov and institutions.
If the PM repeats it every day then the Israelis will follow suit… after that it does not matter what anyone says…. it is Israel who beleives it to be illegal and illegitimate.
If the PM never disputes that or anyone else in Israel that is major then why expect the world to say differently? Trump had no problem saying to build.
This destruction of American youth by the liberals was paid with the Saudi petro$. The leftist academia, full of Jews, created the Middle East Studies Dept. which were known from the start, to be anti-Semitic!
No need to cry when we realize the depth of Jewish anti-Semitism in America. This has nothing to do with Muslims, but we should not be surprised if things get worst with an increase in Muslim population.
Sanctuary cities & no borders are other symptoms of socialist/liberal self-destruction.
With these kind of friends, America needs no more enemies. The worst are within.
The same goes for Israel.
@ bernard ross:
Nobody in the entire world cares about these words. Facts – legal or otherwise – have no bearing on a world against the Jews. “Feelings” are what count.
Why even the United Nations would find it suitable for their agenda to ignore mere legalities.
Stupidity knows no boundaries.
Trump is better than BB for Israel… if he gets in and supports settlement, condemns euro anti semitism and harassing of Israel, he would even have the gonads to go up against europe for Israel.
Trumps statement advising Jews to build in israel is a great opporunity to avert the Obama admins push to endorse the French UN proposal in the UNSC. Trump is the ONLY ONE public figure in Israel or the world to give an opportunity to reverse the paradigm currently accepted by the world community which BB never rebuts.
Israel, and/or Jewish groups,could use this opportunity to pressure Obama admin to back off his condemnation of settlements and realign to support them in the UN. Obama admin relies on the narrative that the US has always condemned the settlements but the potential of a future president supporting the settlements could render that narrative as being only a democratic party narrative which can hinder their election. Obama might be pressured by establishment dems to not ruin their chances… and if he does it after the election Trump can say like reagan did that he will reverse it making obama legacy look like crap.
There is only one person to blame for this travesty and the rise in sympathy for pals: BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
because in the almost 10 long years of his reign he has never uttered these simple true words to the liars and defamers:
JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA SAMARIA IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE
that is what a PM of Israel and a leader of the Jewish people should have been stating daily whenever the false canards are floated in the world.
How is it possible that a PM of Israel has NEVER uttered those simple true words?
Is it because he does not believe the words, is it because he wants to keep it a secret because the truth would unleash a revolution of Jews against the anti semites?
It cannot be because of pressure…. because even if you had to bow and give them everything you could at least state the truth while giving it away.
Perhaps BB wants to give it away but first needs to make sure that most Jews dont mind… in order to arrive at that psychological manipulation of the Israeli public he must first give the appearance that the foreigners are correct, then he must remove the discussion of new jewish settlements outside the major blocks from the minds of israel, then he must demonize settlers and nationalist jews in the minds of Israel, then he must incite attacks on Jews to make them want to get out of YS, then he must incarcerate dissenting Jews and nationalists and even soldiers, then he must give the enemy favors for killing jews like returning their bodies, then he must give the jew killers ports as a reward for firing rockets, then he must arrange covert trial balloons in the court of public opinion which touts fraudulent morality as a cover for his criminal obstruction of justice, and then he must have all his stooges talk about making life easier for the enemy…
but he does not drive the anti semites from the Jewish homeland AND he NEVER can utter these powerful words…. because he is afraid that a real Jewish and zionist leader….. who might utter these word into the face of the liars and anti semites …. might awaken the brainwashed Jews from their coma,….. rise up and depose those who lead Jews into ovens.
Imagine someone like trump in Israel who daily utters these words into the faces of the liars like spit in their faces whenever they lie about Jewish settlement, the powerful words which would unleash the Jewish spirit from its self imposed chains:
JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN JUDEA SAMARIA IS LEGAL AND LEGITIMATE
those words must be uttered by a real leader daily until it becomes a mantra such that no one will oppose it. If those words are not spoken then Jews throughout the world will continue to be slaughtered by muuslims and leftists for stealing land.
Trump has no problem telling Jews to build… it rolled of his tongue as if it was an obvious truth… not even worth thinking about…. like saying hello.