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Only 1% of Young US Voters ‘Most Concerned’ About Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Poll
Students are seen at an anti-Israel protest encampment at Stanford University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Stanford, California, US, April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Americans aged 18-29 are overwhelmingly indifferent to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a new poll has found, casting doubt on conventional wisdom that the country’s youth are enraged over the Jewish state’s defensive military operations in Gaza.
When asked which issue concerned them most, a meager 1 percent of respondents within the youngest age bracket of eligible US voters answered the “Israel/Palestine conflict,” according to the poll by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
In contrast, young voters expressed far more interest in domestic issues such as the economy, inflation, and abortion.
The Democratic Party’s recent overtures to anti-Israel activists could potentially be wrongheaded, according to the polling data, which found that young voters are not likely to trust Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris more than Republican nominee Donald Trump to resolve the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Among voters aged 18-29, 28 percent said they “trust” Trump on the war in Gaza and 26 percent “trust” Harris. Harris performed far better against Trump among young voters on an array of domestic issues such as gun control, abortion, health care, and education.
Though activists have insisted that embracing an arms embargo on the Jewish state will help Harris consolidate youth support ahead of Election Day in November, Harvard’s polling data paints a more complicated picture. Among young voters, 32 percent indicated they support implementing an “arms embargo with Israel,” and 20 percent said they were opposed. A plurality, 44 percent, responded they “don’t know” if they support blocking weapons transfers to Israel.
The data calls into question whether Democrats actually benefit from seeking to placate the anti-Israel forces within their own ranks. In recent months, Harris has attempted to win over pro-Palestinian voters by adopting a more adversarial posture toward the Jewish state.The Democratic National Convention (DNC), where Harris officially became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, hosted a panel on “Palestinian Human Rights” for the first time in history, in which activists accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
While accepting the presidential nomination, Harris vowed to end the Israel-Hamas war and secure an elusive ceasefire deal, along with a new era of “dignity, security, freedom, and self determination” for Palestinians.
Despite the extensive focus of media outlets, lawmakers, and commentators on the anti-Israel campus protests at elite universities such as Harvard, the latest polling data suggests that the typical young voter in the US shows minimal engagement with foreign affairs.
The post Only 1% of Young US Voters ‘Most Concerned’ About Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Poll first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions
ILLUSTRATIVE: The Iranian flag waves in front of the IAEA headquarters before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Lisi Niesner
Iran’s currency fell on Saturday to a new all-time low against the US dollar after the country’s supreme leader rejected talks with the United States and President Donald Trump moved to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.
The rial plunged to 892,500 to the dollar on the unofficial market on Saturday, compared with 869,500 rials on Friday, according to the foreign exchange website alanchand.com. The bazar360.com website said the dollar was sold for 883,100 rials. Asr-e-no website reported the dollar trading at 891,000 rials.
Facing an official inflation rate of about 35%, Iranians seeking safe havens for their savings have been buying dollars, other hard currencies, gold or cryptocurrencies, suggesting further headwinds for the rial.
The dollar has been gaining against the rial since trading around 690,000 rials at the time of Trump’s re-election in November amid concerns that Trump would re-impose his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran with tougher sanctions and empower Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump in 2018 withdrew from a nuclear deal struck by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015 and re-imposed U.S. economic sanctions on Iran that had been relaxed. The deal had limited Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, a process that can yield fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Iran’s rial has lost more than 90% of its value since the sanctions were reimposed in 2018.
The post Iran Currency Plunges to Record Lows Amid Escalating US Tensions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media
Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun walks after being elected as the country’s president at the parliament building in Beirut, Lebanon, Jan. 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
i24 News – A photo showing US President Donald Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy donning a ring embellished with the Star of David to a meeting with Lebanon’s leader triggered outrage in Arabic social and broadcast media.
As Morgan Ortagus, who is Jewish, shook hands with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, her Star of David ring was visible in the frame, sparking accusations such as her being “more Zionist than her predecessors.”
Her direct superior, Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, is likewise Jewish-American, as is his predecessor Amos Hochstein, who was born in Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Ortagus is the first senior Trump admin official to visit Lebanon amid the fragile ceasefire agreed by Israel and the Lebanon-based Shiite jihadists of Hezbollah.
The post US Envoy’s ‘Zionist’ Ring Sends Shockwaves on Social Media first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing
Supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir at a pro-Hamas rally in London. Photo: Reuters/Martin Pope
i24 News – Anti-Israeli activists in Britain applied for a permit to stage a demonstration through London on the morning of October 7, 2023, as Gazan jihadists were rampaging through southern Israel and slaughtering civilians, the Daily Telegraph reported.
At 12:50 PM, as the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was still ongoing, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) notified the Metropolitan Police that they intended to hold a rally the following week.
Reports and videos of the Hamas-led onslaught began appearing on social media, and Israeli and then international broadcast media, several hours earlier.
“The Met was contacted on Saturday Oct 7 at approximately 12.50pm via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest,” a police spokesman was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. “The Met committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place seven days after notification.”
The group’s spokesperson defended the move, telling the Telegraph it was “clear” as early as Saturday noon that “the Israeli attacks on Gaza would be of an indiscriminate violence we had not witnessed before, and that 2.3 million people in Gaza – more than 50 percent of them children – were at severe risk.”
The post UK: Pro-Palestinian Activists Applied for a March Permit on Oct 7 as Massacre Was Ongoing first appeared on Algemeiner.com.