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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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Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7
Michelle Shalmiev was born in a village in the Caucasian mountains and immigrated to Israel and settled on a kibbutz when she was 14. Her series “Putting Your Stamp on History” […]
The post Treasure Trove: An Israeli stamp reflects the complex mix of emotions about Oct. 7 appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News
Printable obituaries of eight Canadian victims and more of our original coverage.
The post Download a special Oct. 7 print edition of The Canadian Jewish News appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is seen addressing supporters, in Beirut, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters.
JNS.org – This Oct. 7 will not only be an anniversary of tears, of pure contrition, even if the memory is burning as the people of Israel live. As to how, it wasn’t at all obvious. Our whole history is made of miracles—from the splitting of the sea to escape from the Egyptians to the Inquisition to the pogroms to the thousand other genocidal attacks to which the Jews have been subjected. In every case, the results are always incredible and surprising, especially for how we have emerged active, faithful to our Torah tradition and committed to the return to Jerusalem until we made it happen.
The War of Independence in 1948 was fought by concentration-camp veterans, yet we defeated all the Arab armies, united in hatred, who marched against us. Later, in 1967, 1973 wars were won by a hair’s breadth with miraculous strokes of imagination and leaders who gave birth to ideas that people would have expected. No one would have ever bet a euro, penny or shekel on the idea that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and his entire hierarchy could be eliminated, petrifying Iran, especially since we have already reduced its other favorite proxy, Hamas, to pieces. And now we have bombed Iran’s other proxy, the Houthis, some 2,000 kilometers away, destroying the airport from which they receive their weapons and aid from the ayatollahs. The Islamic Republic’s leader, Ali Khamenei, is reportedly hiding underground, the Iraqi and Syrian Shi’ites are waiting to see if they are next, and cities controlled by Tehran are shaking.
As President Joe Biden said, it is a measure of justice, but one that Israel has undertaken in an impossible fashion, defending its citizens amid a thousand prohibitions with determination and without fear. Only in this way can a 76-year-old young state, which has been attacked from all sides, defend itself. The country’s existence is the latest chapter in the history of a people born many millennia ago in the Land of Israel, who are finally back home and defending their state.
The war is certainly not over, as Hezbollah reportedly had 100,000 fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that he must see this fight through to the end, despite the international pressure to which Israel has been subjected for nearly a year. Israel’s leadership understands that its very existence is at definitive risk if there is no “new Middle East” in the aftermath of Oct. 7.
While previous generations and Israeli leaders hoped that peace agreements would establish peace in the region, today’s leaders know that there is also a need for battle to stop those who, dominated by absurd fanatical and religious beliefs, wish to kill you. (After all, what do the Houthi rebels in Yemen have to do with the Jews and Israel?)
This is the lesson of our time—not just for Israel and the Jewish people but for everyone. The Jewish people are writing a new page in history, one in which the free world must write and fight alongside them, as it is a battle for the survival of Western ideals. Israel has eliminated the two most dangerous terrorist groups in the world—Hamas and Hezbollah—with operations that will set a precedent for decades. And it challenges Iran. I would like to hear the applause, please.
The post The Jewish People Perform Another Miracle first appeared on Algemeiner.com.