Countering sympathy toward Hamas: The befuddling Jewish teen phenomenon - opinion

Israel and the Jewish people have a serious perception problem – that fact is known to all who care. Yet, in this case, the bigger and less-known problem is one of self-perception.

In the United States, a significant percentage of young Jews are sympathizing with Hamas. Some 37% aged 14-18 sympathize with an enemy actively working to murder as many Jews as possible and publicly vowing the destruction of Israel.

The phenomenon is so befuddling it takes time to set in. I had to read the headline several times because I thought it was a typo or an editorial mistake. I ran to the study commissioned by the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry.

How can young Jews come to such an obtuse conclusion? The issue further complicating this puzzling fact is that out of the 662 young people studied between June 16 and July 23, 2024, 80% of them had visited Israel at least once. The study reveals an even more troubling reality, specifically regarding 14-year-olds.

In the 14-year-old group, 60% felt sympathy for Hamas. As they get older the sympathy numbers drop. For 18-year-olds, the Hamas sympathy rating is 10%. According to the study, 60% of the youth sympathize with the Palestinian cause.

These are very significant findings. Maybe the study is wrong. If the findings are correct, the entire premise of focusing on Israel education has been mistaken – totally mistaken.

The working assumption was that a solution to the floundering future of young Jews was sending them to Israel: that seeing Israel with their own eyes was a solution. According to this study, however, it is not. Those studied saw the “real Israel” and they left prepped to criticize Israel. And they did not stop there but actually joined the Hamas side.

Some will retort that 94% of the teens “feel a connection to Israel,” and 94% want to foster a deeper connection to Israel through education.

Those youth who were studied in the US who sympathized with Hamas are casting their lot with the murderers of Jews and Israelis. It is absurd.

However, when you look at those who went on Birthright trips, the numbers tell a different story.

The Principle behind Birthright was to get Jewish youth to Israel. Once there, they cannot help but be moved into a transformative relationship with the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Sounds perfect.

Mega-donors Bronfman, Steinhardt, and Adelson, as well as the Israeli taxpayers, contributed tens of millions of dollars, all in the hope that bringing young Jews to Israel will help reinvigorate the Jewish people. They were investing in the future.

The very first trip took place in 1999. At first, the target group of Jewish youth was ages 18-26. They then raised the upper limit to 32.

Most studies on Birthright show that participants are 16% more likely to marry Jews than non-participants. And they are more committed to the Jewish community, Jewish learning, and Israel.

How do we make sense of this new study?

Maybe because these young people are more familiar with Israel, they are closer to Israel and hence more likely to criticize Israel.

Some might say that it is criticism out of love of Israel. Remember, that is how former US president Barack Obama would couch his scathing attacks against Israel – masquerading as a friend.

Or maybe it is a Haaretz-like style of criticism: that their hatred for a certain dimension of Israel is so vitriolic that it colors every aspect of how they view the Jewish state. Israel’s leaders are so bereft of morality that everything they do is tainted with evil.

They disagree with the policies of Israel. The study showed that more than 60% believe that Israel is perpetrating a genocide on the Palestinians.

So, how do we solve this critical issue?

• Start blasting out activities for 14-18 year olds. Create programs, games, activities, movies, music, computer games, shows, YouTube videos, and social media campaigns. Send emissaries, teams, acting, dancing, and singing troupes, sports teams, and exchanges.
• Hire hundreds, if not thousands, of people to make, produce, and curate material for the internet and social media geared at 14-18-year-olds.
• Hire hundreds of social media influencers to push and promote creative material. Keep producing and keep making new creative content.
• Aggressively campaign about Israel. Be cutting edge. This should primarily be fun, entertaining programming, but it should also have a nuanced educational objective.

What I am proposing is not easy, nor is it inexpensive. However, this is the only way that we can solve this problem by nipping it in the bud.

The writer is a columnist and a social and political commentator. Watch his TV show, Thinking Out Loud, on JBS.