The mainstream media in the United States has been and continues to be pro-Israel. Concerning Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza, it is trumpeting the position of the White House and the large majority of Democratic and Republican politicians in Congress.

The December 19 New York Times reported on a Times/Siena College poll  of registered voters that found “younger Americans far more critical than older voters of both Israel’s conduct and of the administration’s response to the war in Gaza.”

To the question asked by pollsters, “In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more?” there was a sharp generational gap.

Among 18 to 29 year olds, 46 percent said they sympathize more with the Palestinians, and 27 percent said with Israel. Nine percent said they sympathize with both, and 19 percent said they either didn’t know or refused to answer.

Among 30 to 44 years olds, 24 percent said they sympathized more with Palestinians and 36 percent with Israel. Among 45 to 64 year olds, 13 percent for Palestinians and 57 percent for Israel. Over 65, 11 percent for Palestinians and 63 percent for Israel.

“Most young voters, responded to question after question with answers showing that they see the worst in Israel,” the Times reported. “Few of them believe Israelis are serious about peace with the Palestinians. Nearly half say Israel is intentionally killing civilians. Nearly three fourths say Israel is not taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties. And a majority opposes additional economic and military aid to Israel.”

“One major challenge Biden and the Democratic Party establishment face is trying to counter narratives shared on social media about the war,” said Keesha Middlemass, an associate professor of political science at Howard University, in USA Today.

“Young people are finally seeing the impact of America’s war machine,” said Middlemass, adding that some are concerned about the government’s support of Israel. “That’s what students are so fearful of ‒ is this blind loyalty without consideration of the rights of Palestinians to exist?”

The Times article also discusses the impact on youth of social media:

“Those who identify as regular users of TikTok were the most adamant in their criticism. The social media platform, which is owned by a Chinese company, has come under heated criticism from both parties, but especially from Republicans, for an inflammatory stream of videos aimed at users who skew very young. Even when controlling for their age, TikTok users were more critical of the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel.

“ ‘It’s a lot of really violent imagery of civilian casualties and hospital bombings,’ [a young software engineer] said, citing TikTok and another another platform, Instagram. ‘I’m trying to take it at face value and acknowledge that this is social media and it could be anything, but it feels like these are on-the-ground perspectives into what is really happening.’ ’’

This is in the context of mainstream TV showing less and less, now almost nothing, of the impact of Israel’s genocidal war on the people in Gaza. What the Times says are an “inflammatory” stream of videos on TikTok are not Chinese inflammatory propaganda, but the truth, and young people see more of it than older people.

This division is also seen among American Jews. “Jewish American Families Confront a Generational Divide Over Israel” is a headline in the New York Times of December 20.

The subhead reads, “Gen Z and young Millennials often see Israel as an occupying power oppressing Palestinians — a shock to their parents and grandparents, who tend to see it as an essential haven fighting for survival.”

One case the article discusses is Louisa Kornblatt, originally from Madison, Wisconsin.

“Louisa Kornblatt grew up in Madison, spent summers at Jewish sleep-away camp, and shared her parents belief that the safety of Jewish people depended upon a Jewish state, the Times said. “That began to change when she started attending a graduate program in social work at U.C. Berkeley in 2017….

“At Berkeley, she read Audre Lorde, Mariame Kaba, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and other Black feminist thinkers, who prompted her to consider ‘questions around power, privilege and whiteness.’

“Ms. Kornblatt came to feel that her emotional ties to Jewish statehood undermined her vision for ‘collective liberation.’ Over the last year, she became increasingly involved in pro-Palestinian activism, including through Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist activist group. And the If Not Now movement.

“ ‘I don’t think the state of Israel should ever have been established,’ she said. ’It’s based on this idea of Jewish supremacy. And I’m not on board with that.’

When Democratic voters were asked the question ‘which side do you sympathize with more’, 34 percent said the Palestinians, and 31 percent said the Israelis.

In spite of this, ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden’s Democratic administration gives 100 percent support to Israel’s war, which is backed by almost all of the Democrats in Congress (there is a small group in the House opposed to the war).

Seventy-six percent of Republicans said Israel, with only 4 percent for Palestine.

A large part of the Republican base is made up of racist white nationalists. The Times reported “eighty percent of white evangelical Christians, whose theological emphasis on Israel is at the core of the GOP’s unquestioning support, said they sympathized with Israel over the Palestinians, even more than the 76 percent of Republicans who say that,” 

It is also interesting that “Given a choice between two courses of action, a narrow plurality of voters, 44 percent, said Israel should stop its military campaign to protect against civilian casualties…. A similar number, 39 percent, advised the opposite course; Israel should continue its military campaign even if it means that civilian casualties in Gaza mount.”

Without trying to parse out what all these numbers mean, it is clear that there is growing support for a permanent cease-fire to stop the genocide, and that young people are in the lead of the movement to fight for that to be the U.S. position. The ruling capitalist class in the U.S. is against this, but much of the world is with it.

Israel is determined to use mass terror to drive out Palestinians if they can. If they do that, it will be a defeat for all the world’s working people and for all those oppressed by imperialism.

It is a hard fight in the United States, but a necessary one that we can win and make a big contribution to the struggle of the Palestinian people.

Cease-fire now! Down with Israeli apartheid! For a secular, democratic Palestine with equal rights for all, Palestinians, Jews and all who live there!

Stop U.S. support of the racist Zionist regime!