A new generation, outraged over Gaza, rejects Washington’s reflexive support

[marmar]

(Salon) It might seem counterintuitive to make the argument that Israel should no longer count on U.S. support for its policies as assuredly it has in the past. After all, hasn’t the Senate just passed not one but now two resolutions by unanimous consent declaring its backing of Israel’s deadly attacks on and invasion of Gaza?

In the first – Resolution 498 – the Senate “reaffirms its support for Israel’s right to defend its citizens and ensure the survival of the State of Israel; condemns the unprovoked rocket fire at Israel; calls on Hamas to immediately cease all rocket and other attacks against Israel; and calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve the unity governing arrangement with Hamas and condemn the attacks on Israel.” The second — Resolution 526, passed again by unanimous consent on July 29 — restates the Senate’s support for Israel and adds a criticism of a United Nations report on the violence. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said that the U.N. report “was ‘disgusting’ and failed to recognize that Israel is defending itself from attacks started by Hamas, a terrorist organization.”

Yet even with these unambiguous resolutions emanating from the Senate, we find more and more evidence that support for Israel from the American public is slipping. A recent report in the Washington Post noted that “A new Pew Research Center poll is the second in the past week to show a huge generational split on the current conflict in Gaza. While all age groups north of 30 years old clearly blame Hamas more than Israel for the current violence, young adults buck the trend in a big way. Among 18 to 29-year olds, 29 percent blame Israel more for the current wave of violence, while 21 percent blame Hamas.”

Clearly there are a number of possible explanations for this; here are three that come to mind.

Recent polls show a growing divide between a younger generation that’s “over Israel” and their elders who, according to Salon writer David Palumbo-Liu, still view the recent conflict in the context of the Holocaust among other reasons. But can we wait for Generation Y to address the “tremendous humanitarian crisis” taking place in Gaza? .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2014/08/01/millennials_are_so_over_israel_a_new_generation_is_outraged_over_gaza_demands_change/

[tularetom]

1. 20 year olds don't remember the Holocaust

So they feel no guilt over it. And it will only get worse for Israel as time goes by.

[kelliekat44]

3. Ummm...Hamas is being aligned with the Holocaust???? Give me a break!! nt

[starroute]

4. 70 year olds don't remember the Holocaust either

So there's got to be some better explanation.

Like maybe that the Gen Y-ers have concluded in the wake of the Iraq debacle that there needs to be a sense of morality in foreign policy and not just Realpolitik.

[sabrina 1]

10. Or maybe they are just more informed that previous generations. The propaganda used

to get us into war with Iraq has been thoroughly exposed, and younger generations don't get their news from the Corporate Media. They have access now to so many other viewpoints. Most young people I know are very informed and not at all influenced by the Corporate Media which to them is simply not a source of information.

When the people are informed, things change, which is why they BOUGHT to MEDIA. But they had not counted on the back door known as the internet. While they were hi-fiving themselves on having 'taken control of the message', that older generation was totally unaware of what was going on online. I know, I was working for some of them, those who make policies, and I remember trying to talk to them about the internet. They laughed, called me 'ms internet' and though the internet was just for 'college students to play games'.

NOW they know, but too late imo. People are informed now, we don't blindly accept the Corporate Media pov. Which is why I think we are seeing the Corporate Media actually cover, however minutely, the plight of the Palestinian people for the first time, to the point where the Israeli press is 'outraged' by CNN. Lol.

[Fred Sanders]

11. I never forget the propaganda march to war in Iraq, this is scary similar, dissent is not

tolerated, the Dixie Chicks, the musical victims of mass propaganda and dissent, need to make a comeback using social media.

[Uncle Joe]

12. I agree with your analysis, sabrina.

[sabrina 1]

13. Thank you Uncle Joe, that means a lot coming from you!

[Uncle Joe]

15. Thank you, I feel the same way about you.

Peace to you sabrina.

[oberliner]

18. Only 23% of 18-29-year olds surveyed said they are following the crisis closely

That's the lowest percentage out of all of the age groups in the survey.

[sabrina 1]

19. I'm not really talking about the US. I'm talking about the rest of the world's

young people. The US will never resolve this situation, we know that. And our Corporate Media is nothing more than a propaganda machine. I don't even believe polls in this country to be honest. Every young person I know is way more informed on just about all issues, than their parents, nor are they particularly aligned with any particular party.

However, any solution to this problem will not come from the US which is going to continue to back Israel no matter what they do, no matter how many war crimes they commit, even if the PEOPLE were opposed to such support.

It's clear now that the solution will have to come from elsewhere. A good start is Latin American nations withdrawing their diplomats in protest. Hopefully others will follow. The Western Colonial Nations are beginning to decline, with the US of course.

We are a small part of the world's population, VERY small. There are billions of people outside this bubble we live in who are way, way more informed than the average American who is kept igonrant as much as possible by their own media.

However, young people, even here, are more informed than their parents and grandparents. I doubt that poll, btw. We learned about polls during the stolen elections. This is a very corrupt nation so I wouldn't believe much of anything run by any Corporation or influenced by them.

Boycotts work, world wide boycotts are beginning, and here also. This has to stop, period, enough is enough.

[oberliner]

21. "It's clear now that the solution will have to come from elsewhere."

What about China? Some say they on the ascent as the Western Colonial Nations continue to decline.

For what it's worth:

China FM urges cease-fire in Gaza with five-point proposal

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-08/04/c_133528898_2.htm

Seems more likely that they would take the lead here rather than Latin America.

I do agree with your point about Americans being in a bubble.

[sabrina 1]

27. If China has any influence in Israel it is a good thing imo. They seem to

be quietly going about the business of building up their power, economically, not wasting lives and money on useless wars and invasions, weakening their economic power as we are .

I doubt Israel would listen to any Latin American leader, but they are a huge economic region of the world.

What do you think regarding China's proposal? I read your link, it seems reasonable to me. They are proposing a lifting of the blockade. That has always been a sticking point, no? Not sure if the US has ever made that proposal, have they?

I am surprised they have chosen to try to intervene, but it seems like a good thing IF they can succeed where the US has failed so miserably for so long.

Thank you for the link. I was not aware of China's interest in the situation. Frankly, as a supporter of the State of Israel I believe Netanyahu maybe be causing irreparable harm to that country as Bush did to this one. But it seems the people there want him. So what can be done?

[oberliner]

28. Interesting observations

I must confess I don't really know enough about China to speak intelligently on this subject. I just saw that article and thought it was worth sharing. The proposal seems a bit vague to me.

Regarding Netanyahu, I would point out that 75 percent of Israelis voted for candidates other than him in the last election.

[magical thyme]

31. agreed. nt

[malaise]

32. In a sense the internet facilitates the truth and not just the

narrative of the powerful. Additionally Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice et al lied America and the world into an illegal war and occupation leading to the slaughter of a million Iraqis.
Eventually people identify evil for themselves.

[JI7]

5. palestinians/arabs/muslims aren't responsible for the holocaust

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. I'm not entirely sure what the Holocaust has to do with Gaza.

Nor am I entirely sure what the Holocaust has to do with Israel's continued violations of international law and illegal expansion of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.

The Holocaust was one of history's greatest crimes. But the undeniable fact that the Jewish people suffered terribly does't excuse Israel from its obligations under the UN charter. It's fundamentally dishonest to pretend that Palestinian nationalism (or for that matter Hamas' crude and largely ineffective rockets) represents an "existential threat" to Israel.

[Aerows]

20. Me either.

People keep invoking these emotional moments in history that have nothing to do with what is going on in the present. The Holocaust was horrible. It doesn't mean that everyone that suffered under it gets a free pass for vengeance as they see fit.

You are free to cry about your past - you are not free to kill in the present because of it.

[kath]

29. Exactly. the Holocaust should not be used in any way to give Israel a Get Out of Jail Free Card.

[malaise]

33. Great post but remember

the 'permanent victim' narrative has been very successful to this point.
Israel has overplayed her hand and the abused is now the abuser.

[seveneyes]

2. Crime and punishment in the Gaza strip

[JI7]

6. the internet has a lot to do with this , people can communicate with those around the world

and of course there are the images that the media doesn't want to show.

younger generations are also more likely to grow up knowing people of different backgrounds .

[gaspee]

7. It's because they have

access to the source material (if they are interested) and do not only see things through what the big media tells them. The web makes other people human, while at the same time doing the exact opposite. This is the first generation that is getting first hand witness testimony from Palastinians themselves. It's easy to believe what you're told and that they are all terrorists when it's all you see, but when you can see and hear and feel what people are going through via social media - I think it makes a difference.

[Fred Sanders]

9. This may be the first true test of social media to cut through the propaganda crap and the complicit

politicians and reach for the truth through all the shitpiles thrown down in front of us.

If it existed when the media and politicians lied about Iraq as they now lie about the war crimes of the IDF and softly accept the death of thousands of innocents, one side in a prison with three locked exits.

[sabrina 1]

14. One thing is for sure, the US and/or Israel will never resolve this. They have had decades

to do and have failed miserably either by design or sheer incompetence, it doesn't matter anymore, WE don't matter anymore. The world will eventually intervene as it cannot continue and the parties who have kept control over it, have failed spectacularly. Netanyahu eg, feels perfectly entitled to order around the US Govt. But he CANNOT order anyone else around.

So, it's time to 'move forward'. The US should be sidelined as they are COMPLICIT for whatever reason, it really doesn't matter anymore.

So now, who CAN take control of this out of control situation? Latin America now free of US backed dictators, is a possibility. At least two countries there have withdrawn their diplomats in protest of Israel's actions. THAT is what WE SHOULD HAVE DONE. But now others are beginning to take action.

The people of the world are a powerful force, even if Americans do not join them. We are a small population. Boycotts can work, they worked in S. Africa. And people need to remember that it was the WORLD that ended Apartheid. The US was supportive of it, at least many of our leaders.

I think we are at a turning point. The US is inept, compromised, failed, call it what you will, but definitely not who anyone should look to end this. Just let's move forward and start looking elsewhere.

[goldent]

25. I agree that the US will never solve it

but I think no-one will solve it, at least in my lifetime. I don't think there is much appetite for compromise, and don't see the motivation for most of the world to push it.

[oberliner]

16. Only 23% of 18-29-year olds surveyed said they are following the crisis closely

32% of the total sample replied as such.

47% of those 65 and older described themselves as paying very close attention

[Aerows]

22. It depends upon what poll

you follow, and what poll you believe.

Even so, the next generation is not comfortable with what is happening in Gaza and to the people of Gaza.

[oberliner]

23. The same poll cited in the article

I also think a big part of it has to do with the greater degree of ethnic diversity among that age group as non-whites were much more likely to place the blame for the conflict on Israel than whites.

[Aerows]

24. Well that is an interesting take on things

"non-whites were much more likely to place the blame for the conflict on Israel than whites"

Let's just make it racist world wide.

[oberliner]

26. Huh?

It's the data from the survey cited in the article.

They break it down by age, race, political party, etc.

Among whites of all age groups, the majority says Hamas deserves more blame for the conflict.

Among African-Americans and Latinos of all age groups, the majority says Israel deserves more blame for the conflict.

[jonjensen]

17. ask jon voight ashamed

Someone should ask jon voight how many dead israeli children have been killed by hamas. Also why isn't he ashamed of israel killing 400 dead palestinian children.

[woo me with science]

30. I sure hope so.

K&R

[jwirr]

34. Thank you for this thread. This is the most hopeful thead I have read on this issue so far. We are

actually discussing how this can be ended. Thank everyone who has participated.