America


Israel Loses America’s Youth as TikTok Captures Young Minds


On anniversary of Oct. 7, deep generational divide is fueled by social media and podcaster.


I BY PAUL BOND


n the spring of 2025, turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was hearing a flurry of questions from young people that troubled


him deeply. Was Israel an apartheid state? Did


it control American politicians? Why send aid there when the money could be used at home? Kirk called the trend a “five-


alarm fire” and, in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- hu, he wrote that Israel was “getting CRUSHED on social media” and “los- ing younger generations of Americans, even among MAGA conservatives.” Four months later, Kirk was assas-


sinated, and his warning has only grown more urgent, as in the years


24 NEWSMAX | OCTOBER 2026


since the 2023 massacre of some 1,200 Israelis by Hamas, young people in the U.S. have viewed Israel more nega- tively than their elders — and the gap is widening across party lines. Pew Research Center’s spring 2026


data found overall favorable views of Israel at 37%, down sharply from 55% in 2022, with unfavorable views at 60%. Among adults ages 18-29, just 32%


held a favorable view of the Israeli people, compared with 58% for the Palestinian people. Young Democrats drove most of the


disparity — 26% favorable toward Israe- lis versus 72% favorable toward Pales- tinians, regardless of Hamas’ status as a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. But even young Republicans showed a sharp shift, with views of


the two peoples now roughly equal, a reversal from earlier years when they strongly favored Israelis. Gallup’s 2026 polling captured a


similar pivot as, for the first time in decades of tracking, more Americans overall sympathized with Palestinians (41%) than Israelis (36%). Among those ages 18-34, it was


53% who sided more with Palestin- ians, while only 23% favored Israelis, a record low for the age group. The findings come on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks in which Hamas terrorists stormed across the border into Israel from Gaza, kill- ing 1,200 people, many of them civil- ians, and seizing 251 hostages includ- ing babies, the elderly, and soldiers. Of the hostages, 168 were eventu-


ally returned alive and the bodies of 85 were repatriated to Israel over the following months. In the months after the attack,


SHUTTERSTOCK.AI


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108