Tipsheet

Here's the Good News, and the Scary News, About Polling on Israel and Hamas

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  October 24, 2023 1:00 PM

Let's start with the good news.  A little over a week ago -- and just a week removed from the heinous slaughter of Israeli civilians by terrorists -- I cited a number of national surveys showing that a large majority of the American people were siding with Israel in its defensive war against Hamas.  Despite the appalling pro-Hamas hate rallies that sprouted up across the country, and the explosion of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic social media vitriol, voters lopsidedly told pollsters that Israel's war to protect itself against Hamas was justified.  They also said, overwhelmingly, that the US government's support of Israel was either appropriate or insufficiently strong.  Less than one-in-five said the opposite.

In a polarized era, these were dramatic numbers:

Roughly a week later, amid a growing global, misinformation-fueled chorus vilifying Israel and Jews, a major polling series has found America's pro-Israel sentiment is deepening, not abating:

Support for Israel has grown among Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike.  The overtly and effectively pro-Hamas element is highly visible in the streets and online, but in real life, America stands strongly with Israel.  That being said, there are very concerning pockets of pro-Hamas -- yes, pro-Hamas, not 'pro-Palestine' -- sympathy among two groups in particular.  Here's one of them:


We've been treated to lots of knee-jerk lectures about 'Islamophobia' over the last several days, including a non-sequitur deflection from the White House Press Secretary just yesterday. Smearing broad groups of people is wrong, of course, and any manifestation of bigotry should be condemned unequivocally.  When a Palestinian-American child was murdered in Illinois last week in a demented, reprisal-minded hate crime, virtually every pro-Israel person in the country denounced it.  Local rabbis attended the funeral in solidarity.  Civilized people reacted properly to that horrible killing.  Contrast that with the throngs of people publicly celebrating the butchering of hundreds and hundreds of Jews, including many children.  It's an object lesson.  Which brings us back to 'Islamophobia.'  It seems like it would be a very good idea for people who profess to be worried about that phenomenon to vocally reject the mass murder of Jews by genocidal, Islamist extremist terrorists.  

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But according to this Cygnal poll, while a large supermajority of Americans say Hamas was not justified in their slaughter of civilians overall, a majority of American Muslims say the opposite.  They endorse the Hamas slaughter as justified.  The same poll finds a plurality of American Muslims holding a favorable view of the terrorist group's leader.  It's not a phobia -- an irrational fear -- for people to be alarmed by anyone who holds these affirmatively pro-terrorism, pro-Jew-murder stances.  Younger Americans are much likelier than older generations to hold such repugnant views:

It's the same pattern with younger Brits:

Maybe many of these people will age out of this horrifying ignorance (at best).  Or maybe the most social media-addicted generation will be uniquely susceptible to insane, immoral misinformation.  Some elected Democrats are very concerned by what they're seeing among the youngest generation within the party:

Other elected Democrats are actively fueling the misinformation and bigotry:

She's evidently got allies in elite newsrooms:

Perhaps a third group should be added to the aforementioned groups of concern on this front, joining Muslims and Gen Z -- journalists. I'll leave you with the astounding ignorance spouted by a random 22-year-old in Brooklyn:

This avowedly pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism "progressive" fool asserts that Palestinians have "exhausted all other options except for violence," evidently totally unaware that the Palestinians have rejected every single peace deal ever offered, including very generous ones.  He probably doesn't care.  If you're willing to defend baby murder and rape in pursuit of a political cause, you're not likely to be persuaded by reason or facts.  And that's the mentality that leads to scenes like this.  Not over there. Here: