How Media and Generations Shape American Attitudes on Israel

Rally in support of Palestinians at the Colorado State Capital in Denver, 5 November 2023 [Jason Connolly/AFP]

There is a clear generational and media divide in the United States on perceptions of the Hamas-Israel war and how to cover it.  Some of this reaction and coverage is undoubtedly antisemitism but a lot of it is not and politicians, policymakers, and academics need to understand the shift that has taken place since it is what the future portends for media coverage and political attitudes in the US. 

The war has seen a clear generational divide as older Americans have sided with Israel and its narrative while the younger generation has called for a ceasefire and for a more even-handed American approach to the conflict.  This is a reflection of the changing demographics of the US for as the country becomes increasingly browner, political attitudes within the country on the Israel-Palestine issue are changing quite rapidly.  

Demographic Shift

This demographic shift is coming at a far greater speed than was envisaged even a decade ago. The US Census Bureau’s data shows how rapidly this shift has taken place from 2010 to 2021:

“Among children, the White alone population changed from 65.3% to 53%; the Black or African American alone population changed from 14.6% to 13.9%.

The percentages increased for children in all other groups, especially the Some Other Race alone (8.7% in 2010; 10.9% in 2020) and Multiracial (5.6% in 2010; 15.1% in 2020) populations

The percentages also increased for Hispanic or Latino children from 2010 to 2020 (23.1% to 25.7%).” 

What is more pertinent perhaps was the Census Bureau estimate that by 2022 fifty percent of the children in primary schools would be minorities—that figure was reached in 2019.  A browner America is, therefore, expressing different political attitudes than the previous generation, especially on foreign policy. 

In 2016 I wrote in an article that as American demographics changed, there would be shifts in foreign policy which included a normalization of the relationship with Israel.  By normalization I meant that the next generations, as surveys suggested, wanted a more even-handed approach to the Palestinian issue and with the current conflict this has come to pass.  To dismiss this as simply an expression of antisemitism is to misunderstand the shift in political attitudes that is taking place in the country.

Black Lives Matters leaders, for instance, have come out in support of Palestinians and even went as far as to describe Israel as an Apartheid State.  These political positions are not going to change for, as Peter Beinart presciently argued, “non-white populations with a history of second-class citizenship, African Americans, Latinos and Asians identify more strongly with Palestinians than do white Americans.”

This demographic shift, therefore, will slowly but surely change foreign policy and we are likely to see a more nuanced position emerging as a newer generation of politicians begin to replace their Boomer and Gen X colleagues in Congress. As Frances Vinall points out, “…by the time millennials began forming their understanding of global events…its idea of Israel (came) from reports of Palestinians denied access to water, freedom of movement and fair trials, under the military control of what was by then a relatively rich, nuclear-armed power.”  A younger generation that believes in, and strives for, social justice is, therefore, taking a different position from that of Generation X and the Baby Boomers who are more likely to be pro-Israel. 

The Shift in Media Consumption

The next generation does not get its news from mainstream media. Papers do not sell, the major networks have cut back their newsrooms, and the evening news does not have the same viewership it did two generations ago.  Even cable news shows do not get high levels of viewership except in times of crises or when it is a Trump related electoral story. 

Instead, it is YouTube, Tik-Tok, WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram that are filling this void for the younger generation by customizing the news for their interest and consumption.  To be sure, nontraditional media have been guilty of sensationalizing the war and carrying fake news. However, they are also democratizing the gathering and dissemination of news.

Once powerful media companies are now upstaged by semi-amateurish competitors who upload media content that the mainstream media would be unwilling to show in its broadcasts or its print editions. The fact is that we now have millions of citizen journalists who quite often do a better job of bringing out the unvarnished truth in their posts.  Minimizing their contribution is, therefore, a short-sighted view of their role in news gathering and their transformative role in shaping public opinion.

In the case of the Hamas-Israel war, the internet has been flooded with videos coming out of Gaza which have painted a different picture from what the mainstream media and Israeli spokespeople have sought to convey to the global press.  We have also seen commentators with different viewpoints get on YouTube and do shows which challenge the official narrative coming out of Jerusalem, Washington, and the major capitols of western Europe. 

This is a fundamentally healthy outcome since not only does it mean a balanced discussion of the conflict is taking place, if one screens out the virulently antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts, but both sides to the conflict now have to contend with a real time challenge to their behavior in combat. The mainstream media has also had to change its approach in an effort to appear fair and even-handed.  Thus, the death of Palestinian women and children is now being highlighted on network television and Israeli spokespeople are being asked questions about the efforts to limit civilian casualties.

It has also allowed voices that would otherwise have been lost in the chaos and confusion of the war to be heard and to potentially influence political leadership.  The pain and anguish of the families of the hostages taken by Hamas is a good example of this because even in the fog of war their identities have not been wiped out.  Instead, these families have been able to put considerable pressure on the Biden Administration and the Netanyahu government and Biden has made the return of hostages one of his top priorities.  Similarly, the plight of Palestinian civilians, whose voice had been drowned out in previous wars, has also been brought to the attention of the global community.

The Hamas-Israel war has not only brought out the generational divide in America but also given more strength and credibility to the nontraditional media.  The tools of the next generation, therefore, will shape how future conflicts are portrayed and understood.

Amit Gupta is a Senior Advisor at the Forum of Federations, Ottawa. The views in this article are personal.  He can be contacted at agupta1856@gmail.com.