Sympathies for Hamas: Why Younger People Are More Critical of Israel

What is also clear from the representative survey by the opinion research institute Sotomo: The majority of the Swiss population has empathy for the Israeli population. However, it appears that young people in particular (18 to 25 years old) have more understanding for the Palestinians.

Boy more for Hamas

Political geographer Michael Hermann, 52, whose institute conducted the research, said: “Boys between the ages of 18 and 25 are the only age group in which there is any sympathy for Hamas.”

The Hamas terrorists entered Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds. Their programmatic goal: the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic state of Palestine.

15 percent of young people say they have very or somewhat positive feelings towards the radical Islamic Hamas. This agreement is significantly lower among older respondents. It is lowest among people over 65 years old. Only two percent there have sympathy for Hamas. However, anti-Semitic stereotypes are no more widespread than among older age groups.

Moreover, support for a ban on demonstrations is much lower among 18 to 25-year-olds than among older people. 51 percent want demonstrations to be banned in Switzerland if anti-Semitic slogans are expected there. Among those over 35, more than 60 percent want an end to such demonstrations.

Influenced by social media

The boys between the ages of 18 and 25 are not necessarily anti-Israel, but they have more sympathy for Palestine, are more critical of Israel and above all, they have disproportionately high approval ratings for a terrorist group. What are the reasons?

“The story of Hamas as a freedom fighter seems to appeal to younger people,” says Hermann. In addition, there is the transfer of the conflict, he emphasizes. “Tiktok is full of emotional images from the Gaza Strip. Younger people show greater solidarity with the so-called oppressed,” says Hermann. At the same time, historical awareness also seems to be less. Greta Thunberg symbolizes this attitude, according to the director of Sotomo.

Monika Waldis (56), head of the Center for Political Education and History Didactics at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), also believes that information habits – especially on social media – are likely to have an influence. But she also says that there is no empirical data about this yet.

Are today’s young people less sensitive to the Holocaust than previous generations?

“It may be that younger people distinguish between what they learn at school and what flickers on their screen. Poverty, barriers – the images from the Gaza Strip are sometimes disturbing and can seem overwhelming,” she says. The present is closer to them. The reports and images currently arouse great empathy for the Palestinians.

Dealing with the Holocaust in the curriculum

But Waldis also makes it clear that the history of Israel is still intensively discussed in schools today. Many teachers would also do this very well.

A look at Curriculum 21 shows that the Holocaust is certainly being addressed. Mainly in two fields: “Ethics, Religions, Community” and “Spaces, Times, Societies”. Different curricula are taught in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, but these topics are also covered there.

In principle, however, so many factors influence a young person’s attitudes and attitudes, both in school and outside, that the influence of a curriculum is unmeasurable and at the same time marginal, according to the office of the regional conferences. of the educational authorities of German-speaking Switzerland.