U.S. public opinion has become more sympathetic toward Palestinians in recent years, but experts say attitudes could shift again amid the reignited conflict.

The newly launched war between Hamas and the Israeli government, which is now bombarding the Gaza Strip, could also mark a turning point for U.S. public opinion. Recent polling suggests that Americans’ perceptions of Israelis and Palestinians had been evolving and turning less one-sided, but analysts say more change is likely on the way in the wake of the recent bloodshed.

Historically, support for Israel has remained strong, but more Americans – especially young people and Democrats – have become sympathetic to Palestinians in recent years.

The polling outfit Gallup found in March 2023 that 49% of Democratic Party supporters were more sympathetic toward the Palestinian people – a high for the 21st century – while 38% sided with Israelis. Millennials polled in that same survey also became more supportive of Palestinians than Israelis for the first time this century. And while a majority of all Americans surveyed by Gallup still sympathized more with Israelis, the percentage support for Palestinians grew for the fifth consecutive year, up to 31% in 2023.

The nonpartisan Pew Research Center has published similar results in recent years. In a survey from May 2022, the organization found that while Americans are overall more supportive of Israel, U.S. adult respondents under the age of 30 viewed the Palestinian people at least as warmly as the Israeli people. The trend was similar for Democratic respondents, while Republicans have remained steadfastly more supportive of the Israeli people.

“The polls show that, in comparison to the past decades, more Americans are at least exposed to the perspective and experiences of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and the diaspora that has family in Palestine,” says Sahar Aziz, a distinguished professor at Rutgers Law School. “And those experiences are miserable.”

She explains that the “lens through which people center the experiences and perspectives of those who are the weaker people in a system – that lends itself to empathy toward Palestinians.”

But overall, Americans’ opinions have actually become more positive toward both sides of the conflict, according to Pew. At the same time, American respondents to a March 2023 Pew survey viewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more negatively than positively. (Netanyahu’s approval ratings have dipped in Israel as well, and recent polls conducted after the Hamas attacks suggest it has soured ever further.)

Indeed, critiques aimed at the policies of the Israeli government had been growing prior to the recent Hamas attacks and the “debate was expanding,” says Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a U.S.-based pro-Israel organization that advocates for diplomacy. But now, he says, “nothing will be the same.”

“One of the things about horrific tragedies like this is that it can harden people's minds again, harden people's hearts,” Ben-Ami adds. “Our perspective as an organization is that the only resolution to this horrific conflict between Jews and Palestinians is through diplomacy and compromise.

 “Ultimately, there will have to be independence and freedom and self-determination for both peoples, or they won't stop killing each other,” he says. “But that message is going to be very hard for people to hear in the immediate aftermath, and violence, unfortunately, begets violence.”

Ben-Ami describes the invasion and attacks by Hamas as “the worst experience that most of us have actually ever had in our lives,” referencing stories from people in Israel who found themselves in the middle of mortar explosions and gunfire. In the days following, onlookers have been retreating “to their corners” and “nuance is not particularly at a premium.”

Aziz, who is also the author of “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom,” worries what the lack of nuance could mean for Americans’ growing support for Palestinians, and whether that empathy was temporary. The poll numbers referenced above – which marked a “shift in mentality,” especially among young people – “are being tested now,” she adds.

In remarks Tuesday about the crisis, U.S. President Joe Biden separated the human rights struggles of Palestinians from the actions of Hamas, saying the organization “does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination.”

The president’s speech “struck the right tone,” says Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nonprofit that works to strengthen Jewish community relations. She says he spoke with the type of “moral clarity” that’s needed right now, where Hamas’ attack must be condemned unequivocally while also advocating for the “need for a Palestinian state” and Palestinian rights.

“That's going to be challenging in a conversation that has been so polarized and so black and white,” Spitalnick says. “And it makes it all the more urgent because there will be very real efforts by some to fuel further division and hate and disinformation.”

Source: USNEWS