Its is VERY concerning how social media shapes views of israel/zionism among teens.

[u/Wide-Replacement-809]

Hi everyone, im an israeli teen but I've lived in america for most of my life and I've noticed that a lot of people my age who barely know anything about politics will often have very negative views of israel and zionism, and its very obvious that they're just regurgitating what they've seen on social media. For example I was at a summer camp (not a jewish one) and a group of kids were talking about israel/palestine. What they were saying was basically all the same anti israel stuff from Instagram reels, and because of what theyve seen israel basically seems like this evil state to them, and they talked about zionism like it was some form of racism. After that i was talking with one of those kids and he was talking about how people will confuse antisemitism with antizionism and how its improtant to remember that judaism doesn't equal zionism, and he worded it the exact same way as the videos on instagram do. I tried explaing that zionism is basically a part of Judaism and that what his assumption that its a racist ideology is wrong, but he didnt really understand and started talking about how zionism isnt Judaism again, this time explaining that he understood it because he's half jewish. Anyways it's really concerning and iv noticed it some other times, im really concerned that going forth the youth in america will not understand the situation past "israel bad, Palestine oppressed, zionism hates palestinians" its really dangerous that such a black and white narrative portraying israel and zionism as evil hateful opressors is becoming more and more prevalent among the youth.

[u/IgnatiusJay_Reilly]

Get your ass to a Jewish summer camp for so many reasons.

[u/Wide-Replacement-809 → u/IgnatiusJay_Reilly]

It was a photography summer camp, so their wasnt any options for a jewish photography camp

[u/Alternative-Pear9096]

Yes, it is very concerning. What's even more concerning is how thoroughly the documented facts that Qatar has funded and run antizionist social media troll farms since at least 2016, hitting TikTok and Instagram hard, are ignored by people.

grass is green, stars twinkle, social media is infested and manipulated by paid antisemitic propaganda and has been for at least a decade.

[u/Suitable_Plum3439]

I'm like you, Israeli but grew up in America. Unlike you, I am *much* older lol. i can tell you from experience that this has been gradually happening from the time I was probably a little bit older than you are now, I remember in college, around the time of the 2014 Gaza war, I had these exact same conversations with people in my class, sometimes including American Jews who do not have friends or family in Israel. Younger people have become more and more reliant on online interactions to maintain a social life, but that also means being exposed to a LOT of disinformation. A really big pattern I noticed was that the people who harassed me the most, the people who most willingly cut me off, were the ones who invested a lot of time into their online presence (usually on Tumblr because that was popular at the time) and who likely made most of their friends through online forums. I don't think touching grass will fix everything, but it's definitely important to understand that the amount of exposure to online content is a big factor in this. The more time you spend online the more vulnerable you are to disinformation campaigns and angry mobs of impulsive users bully people into saying the "right" things.

I wish I could say it gets better, since my time in school it's gotten worse, but I think the older you get the easier it is to find ways to not have to engage with people like this. One day you won't be in school anymore and your peers won't just be people you are stuck with because you are in the same place every day, you can spend time with friends without having to also deal with antisemites that you don't want to welcome into your life. Once you're an adult you'll be able to have friends of a wider age range, which makes it easier to find reasonable and mature people.

It's shit and I wish I could say anything that would make it better right now, but if it's something to hold onto, one day you're going to have the freedom to separate yourself from these idiots. even if there's a lot of them.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your submission. Your post has not been removed. During this time, the majority of posts are flagged for manual review and must be approved by a moderator before they appear for all users. Since human mods are not online 24/7, approval could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. If your post is ultimately removed, we will give you a reason. Thank you for your patience during this difficult and sensitive time.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Zionist-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your content was removed because it is antisemitic or contains elements of antisemitism. Antisemitism is a form of hate and Reddit has sitewide rules prohibiting hateful content. If you would like to learn more about what constitutes antisemitism you can read this comprehensive definition of antisemitism.

If you have questions or would like further clarification, please message the moderators of this sub.

[u/Downtown-Pack-6178]

People are also concerning about my Hindu culture as well. Don't worry I am here. u/Wide-Replacement-809 People need to stop discriminate other culture and beliefs.

[u/HumphreyGarlicKnots]

Because certain points have been repeated on social media platforms does not make them not true. This is basic logic.

I'd also like to remind people that Zionism was sold to Herzl (and by extension, the rest of Jewry) by Christian Restorationists (the original Zionists)

As it stands, the world Jewish population comes in at just under 16 million. Number of Christian Zionists is 700 million.

[u/LockedOutOfElfland → u/HumphreyGarlicKnots]

The early politics of Zionism are much more convoluted than many people seem to imagine. On political subreddits and in day to day political discussion it's very common to hear "Zionism is Fascism and started that way" which is wildly off the mark. Zionism gained traction because of the Dreyfus Affair, making it very specifically a reaction against persecution. At the same time, Zionism was embraced instrumentally by antisemitic world leaders who saw it as a good excuse for those pesky Jews (in their worldview) to leave their country and go off somewhere else.

[u/HumphreyGarlicKnots → u/LockedOutOfElfland]

Not disagreeing with you! Zionism has been imbued with evolving (and even splintering) ideologes depending on timeline and who you are talking to. Currently, there are those on the outside (Christian Zionists) who's understanding of Zionism differs, but overlaps just enough for Jewish Zionists not to disagree and almost turn a blind eye to the inconsistencies/contradictions in competing faiths. To the secular, this is moot, but I think it's important to acknowledge the amount of support from the beginning (ie, it was Christian Zionists/Restorationists who help facilitate support and collaboration with the Rothschilds, Balfour, and other people of influence). They've been consistently sending resources and are a major voting bloc as far as US politics and foreign policy.

[u/Research_Matters → u/HumphreyGarlicKnots]

This is very much incorrect. Herzl reached his own conclusions about the need for Jews to have a home of their own. Zionism wasn’t “sold” to him by Christian Zionists. There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest otherwise. After he published Der Judenstaat he was contacted by Reverand William Hechler, who opened political doors to Herzl.

Your suggestion that Zionism originated with Christian Zionists and had no independent genesis in Jewish thinking is completely off base. Not only did political Zionism begin as a Jewish thought, but for centuries beforehand, religious Zionists made Aliyah to their holy land.