What Gen Z Thinks About Israel — Thoughts From Our SAS Focus Group
There's a lot of commotion about Israel online, but how does Gen Z really feel about one of the most heated issues online, in media, and amongst the next generation? Charlie and Andrew sat down with different groups of students at TPUSA's Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida to ask them about Gaza, AIPAC, US involvement in Israel, and more. Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com! Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here live from the Bitcoin dot com studio.
What do young people think about Israel?
Israel has a disproportionate amount of time and attention in our media.
So I thought we'd go straight to our Turning Point USA students and ask them what they think about Israel?
Are they supportive?
Are they against?
What do they think of all this rise in this disgusting, repulsive Jew hate?
We moderate a focus group at our Turning Point USA event in Tampa, Florida.
I think you'll love it.
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We go.
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See, we're going to play a word association test.
What's the first word that comes to mind when you hear Israel?
Judy is aid Aid.
Netanyahu.
Tax dollars.
Liability.
Sacred.
Tax dollars.
Conflict.
Complex.
Controversial.
Scary.
Strategic.
Mossad.
So Mossad, of all the different things that would come to mind, why does their intelligence service come to mind?
Reminds me of the CIA.
You know, it has the CIA, you have the CIA involved with RFK.
I mean, there's rumors going around.
Maybe Mossad was a part of the EFSA files.
Maybe Mossad was a part of things that we don't know about.
And they're a, just like the Central Intelligence Agency, they are out there doing things that none of us know about.
So to say Mossad first, that would basically imply your first impression is one of doubt.
Is that fair to say?
Yes.
Okay.
When you hear like Epstein, right, do you connect the Epstein issue initially, like immediately, like first connection in your mind, that's also connected to Mossad and Israel, or is they feel separate in your mind?
I think there's a growing consensus that there's a connection there among Gen Z. Yeah, I think that's definitely gaining velocity.
Who used the word aid?
You did.
Why did that come to mind first?
We're sending a lot of money over there, not really getting, in my opinion, a huge return on investment.
And so that's like the first thing that comes to mind, because when people talk about their distrust or disappointment with Israel, that's the first thing that usually comes up, all the money that we're sending them.
I think we have a lot bigger issues at home.
I think we should be spending most of our tax dollars on securing our border, keeping our home people safe, rather than, I mean, we've seen illegal immigration that Joe Biden let through our southern border come in and we've seen thousands of Americans die because of it.
I think we have a much bigger problem on the home front rather than sending money to foreign countries.
I think it's critical that we remain friends with them.
They remain our ally.
I just don't think we should be subsidizing them as much as we are.
When you talk about return on investment, I think that's an interesting way to frame it.
The supporters of Israel will say they're doing a lot of America's dirty work from intelligence gathering, things like that.
Within the Middle East, is that convincing to you?
Are you persuaded by that argument?
The reason why I'm not super persuaded is especially it's mostly because of here recently, we were kind of droughed into it.
We were negotiating, we were having negotiations and then they struck, they killed the people we were negotiating with and it kind of derailed everything and sped up the conflict a little bit.
It was the State Department's declared goal that we were working on negotiations with Iran.
You can say they wouldn't have panned out.
You can say that maybe they were imminently about to collapse, but we were still in active negotiation, and yet Israel launches Operation Rising Lion to go in and strike Iran while we are mid-negotiation.
How many of you guys would say you think Israel got us into that conflict?
You would say yes.
You would not say so much?
I think we were willing to join that conflict.
I don't think we were pulled in unwantingly as if we were dragged by a leash, you know, in more uncertain terms.
I think we have the authority and the say of whether or not we want to be involved in that conflict.
And I think we saw the prosperity that we would unleash if we joined the conflict.
When you think about Israel's history in the region and even with Hamas or Iran, these nations have sworn to destroy and annihilate the nation of Israel, right?
At what point does it become, given the context, at what point are you going to be okay or would you never be okay with the U.S. defending Israel's right to exist and essentially saving the country?
I think they absolutely, I mean, first and foremost, they have a right to exist.
They have a right to defend themselves.
That's not my issue with it.
I can kind of give an analogy is that our house is burning down.
And so is our neighbors, and we're trying to put their fire out before we put ours out.
That's kind of how I view it.
So when you guys find out, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but when you find out that we're basically every year we send about almost $4 billion to Israel, does that make you upset, or do you understand it given that they're under sort of crisis?
ongoing.
I would say upset and the amount over since 1948, it amounts to $319 billion adjusted to inflation.
And I'd say that I can think of multiple things that we could have spent at home that would have been a better allocation of our taxpayer dollars.
And I feel like this money could have been well spent in supporting an economy that would support our generation being able to afford homes rather than military strikes for Israel.
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What else?
What would you want to see from their government?
If their government came out and said, we have a five-year plan to decouple.
from USAID.
Would that help people's view of Israel if they said, hey, we want to be self-reliant?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Do you think that would help?
Yes.
If they're like, thank you for the help since 1948.
We're a rich country.
We've balanced our budget.
We have money in our sovereign wealth fund, which they actually do.
Thank you.
We're now going to decouple over the next five years and basically transition.
Do you think that people would think higher of Israel?
At least we stopped talking about it so much.
Would you put that like as a primary?
Yes.
Yeah.
I would say like that can kind of follow up with a lot of other things.
Like a lot of other like even European nations, like I feel like they were kind of like even Trump had to like kind of even out NATO so that everyone was kind of paying the same, not the same amount, obviously, five percent.
Yeah.
But it just because like nobody wants a, no, a lot of Americans do not want people freeloading off the United States.
And as you said, 319 billion being sent to Israel over all these years, that's comparable to the amount we've sent to Ukraine.
And there's been a lot of controversy over that, and yet not as much over Israel.
And people are judged very heavily if they critique that aid that is given to Israel.
I think I'm pro Israel, I support them.
I believe Israel has a right to exist.
I believe that they are the only state in that region with the right to exist.
But why are we treating them differently than any other ally?
Shouldn't we be judging them, holding them to the same standard.
Your view is articulated by a lot of young people and held by a lot of young people.
Because let's now take a step back and let's now broaden it.
How many of you guys think when a lawmaker and a man I respect like Ted Cruz uses the Bible to justify aid to Israel doesn't even know the verse, do you guys think that's like not the best way to approach this?
Raise your hand.
Okay.
I think Ted Cruz used Genesis 12:3.
I think a lot of people see that as off-putting when you look at the New Testament.
Why?
Because I think a lot of people, they look especially at the writings of Paul where he talks about how the new flesh is not the same as the people in the old covenant.
The new flesh is everybody, is everyone thinking about Romans 9.
Yes.
96.
Are you Catholic?
Converting to Catholic from that point of view.
This is my next question.
Oh, from Judaism?
Yes.
Oh, wow.
So you're Jew, you're ethnically Jewish.
Ethnically Jewish, yes.
And you have concerns about APAC.
Yes, I do.
I'm told that by some people, that if I criticize APAC, I'm anti-Semitic.
I think it's ridiculous.
I feel like it's great to have a concern for your country.
Do you think that APAC represents Again, I'm not saying I believe this, but I think this is what you're saying, that it represents a kind of cutting in line of prioritization away from the American people.
Yes.
Would you guys say that's a fair summary?
100%.
Meaning that, like, okay, we vote, we're citizens, but a separate group gets higher priority because of whatever reasons.
You look like you want to chime in.
That the entirety of the idea of a PAC is to represent a group, but the fact that we're having, we're allowing a group that doesn't even represent American interests to influence the people who are supposed to be representing us, I have a huge problem with.
And that's why I've said this before, and a lot of people don't like when I say it.
I actually think there's probably like twenty representatives between Senate and House who I think are actually fully doing the work of the American people and don't have the interests of some group holding their side.
But when you hear that lots of other countries also are lobbying, do you think, I mean, that you probably don't know the names of those countries, but it's happening.
Does that upset you equally or is APAC just getting all the press because it's so top of mind?
If those other ones are doing the same thing, of course, I do not think that other countries should be telling us how to spend, you know, the telling our representatives and people who are here to represent all of us that they should be focusing outside of the United States.
America first.
Thank you.
I find prophecy as policy generally to be the to be theologically problematic.
I mean, there's plenty of things that the Bible says that have been done throughout parts of history that certainly a nation state doing today, we would see as a bit of a problem.
When it comes to sending these, what you said, $300 billion to any foreign country, all I can think about is across our own southern border, we have a real military in the form of the cartel that kill thousands of people, and that's leaving out the hundreds of thousands of Americans that have died to drug overdoses due to drugs that have come across our southern border.
And it's insulting that that money goes anywhere else because we have such a huge problem here.
Yeah, I want to kind of flip this word association game around just slightly because we haven't done it yet.
When I bring up Gaza, Gazans, Hamas, let's just keep Hamas out of it.
Gaza and Gaza.
What comes to mind?
Complicated.
Life.
Destruction.
I'd say differences.
Parish.
Parish.
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forward slash charlie.
What is the impression that you guys have of what's been happening in Gaza?
It doesn't have to be a singular word.
I would say like a severe loss of life.
I feel like that's always a bad thing, no matter which way you look at it, no matter who's, I mean, yeah, basically no matter who's dying, it's never really a good thing.
It's not good.
It's not good.
It's good.
or death and destruction, you're...
Is that getting fed into your algorithms a lot?
Yes.
And actually on our school's campus, they'll have these little missing kid posters and in those posters, they, you'll read about these kids who have died, to, You know, they try to have us to have more sympathy for them.
And it's like, at the end of the day, as you had mentioned, you know, they are humans.
We already have sympathy for them.
So on campus, now let's do something we haven't done.
Has there been any awareness for the Israeli hostages?
Is that no.
I think that's also important to talk about, right?
Or the 1200 plus that were massacred that day.
Yeah, the 1200, I mean, nearly 1300.
So that's a factor because I think we need to have a balanced conversation about it.
Word Association game.
One issue you wish we were focused on instead of Israel, what would it be?
I have to say, continue on the border.
Border.
Deportations.
Housing.
Families.
How many of you guys at least get the impression that Israel matters more than having young people be able to own homes?
Raise your hand.
It's divide and conquer.
We can do a lot of things.
This is why there's so many cabinet secretaries.
This is why we have a government that can do a lot of things.
It's because we can focus on foreign stuff and we can also focus on domestic stuff.
I personally am pretty all right with a lot of what we have been doing, but I do understand where a lot of Gen Z is coming from with a lot of this because, like I said, we can't buy homes.
We can't afford anything.
We can't really afford anything.
Do you guys see Jew hate increasing amongst your generation?
I think that there's a lot of collusion between criticism and hate.
I think that there is legitimate hate out there, but a lot of criticism is being framed as hatred or you don't support this because you're criticizing it.
And that's like, I think that's a little inseparable from what the Jewish hate is.
Do you guys think it's anti Semitic to say you don't like BB Netanyahu?
No.
No, I don't believe so.
There is a rise of Jew hate, but it's not the majority mover.
I think the majority mover of Gen Z and Gen Z conservatives is exhaustion.
Precisely.
Would you guys think that's a fair categorization?
Yes, for sure.
Again, there is like an isolated, like, weirdo, I hate Jews.
We don't like that.
No one in decent society wants that.
But instead, it's kind of like, can we just, I don't know, make it so I can buy a home?
Or like, deport people?
Yeah.
Does that resonate with you?
Oh, yeah, exactly.
You're not anti-Israel.
You don't wish them harm.
You're not, you know, like cheering on Iran.
No, I support Israel.
I think they're our ally.
I want them.
But you would be called an anti-Semite by some people for saying this.
And I think that's ridiculous.
I don't hate Jews because I think a nation should defend themselves.
Exactly.
Like, I think that's the most becoming like the word racism.
Like we just disagree with them, so we just have to call them a name.
I don't think they're actually anti-Semitic.
I think people just can't agree with them and they can't prove them wrong.
So they just throw a word out and be like, you're anti-Semitic because you think that we should stop sending our money there.
Something that I see amongst the people around, I do see more like general disdain towards, I mean, just being honest, Jewish people.
That's correct.
Just because...
And it's like, fine.
If you're going to say I hate Jews over and over and over again, like if I'm going to be convicted of the crime, I might as well do the crime.
I fear the same thing happens with all the talk of race.
The more we talk about it, the more racism actually happens.
This is like I try to tell.
Thank you for saying this.
Because like this is I try to tell these people and they're like, we must get more aggressive.
And so, like, let me ask a question.
If we were to say if we were to remove like if people said what Tucker said is anti-Semitic, I don't hold that view.
But it's like a lot of people on Twitter are like calling us out and like whatever.
That's not going to happen.
um if we were to cancel tucker would antisemitism increase or decrease?
I think increase because that means any supporter of Tucker Carlson's statement therefore makes them antisemitic.
It is.
I said, like, I said, association, 100%.
But the binary that's presented is that if you don't passionately talk about it, you are a hater.
That's probably destructive for everybody involved.
So for me, I'm trying to find this new path, which is I love Israel.
I visited there.
My wife and I had the best experiences ever.
I saw where Jesus rose from the dead and he walked on water.
But also, I'm an American and I represent a generation that can't afford anything and that we are like flooded with illegals and no one speaks English and our hospitals are clogged.
I think we need to have the prudence to reject the Jew hate like okay we're not going to put up with that that's dumb but also if you call everyone an antisemite if they don't take a puritanical view of the Netanyahu government then I think that's it's bad for everybody If you guys have private student loan debt, this is the best way out.
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So would you guys all basically safe to say, wel, welcome us not talking about Israel nearly as much.
Yeah, 100%.
100%.
A cope that is often found in broken institutions.
And I've found this now over thirteen years.
It's a great truism.
You guys will learn it for the rest of your life.
Anyone that tells you we have a messaging problem, you should go a step deeper and ask another question.
Being like, what are you actually doing something wrong or are you bad at messaging it?
Because people that are doing bad stuff will sometimes be like, well, we're just not presenting it correctly.
Sometimes that's true.
Or sometimes there actually might be something beneath the surface that you're not doing well.
So do you guys think that it's a messaging problem?
problem or that it's a like an actual material concept problem it's a values and priorities problem yeah it's definitely a messaging problem these politicians they don't need to be car salesmen you know we need we need the truth we need the direct truth and nothing but the truth but these politicians they're not they're not truthful you know they're digging gen z down in the dirt who represents you best outside of trump Well, thank you.
That's great.
And I don't do that just for the sake of it either.
I mean, you're here involving us for a reason because we are the important group.
We're going to inherit all of these issues.
So.
No, again, again, the reason I'm doing this is that the reason we're doing this focus group, and Andrew will attest., I have been trying to tell them that there is an earthquake coming on this issue and in the country, and they don't believe me.
So I'm like, why don't you just hear it from people themselves?
If we don't get young conservatives in, we're going to end up losing to the Democratic Party because they're starting to get the younger generation involved within their representation.
And it's just, if we don't start getting these young people from our generation or the next generation above us into Congress, then we're going to start losing.
When this debate pops up on your social media feed or on campus, what is the most persuasive pro-Israel point that you have seen or heard.
Talk about more about how they help us with intelligence, especially with this new conflict with Iran.
If you want to use that, say like, Hey, Israel is very helpful in us deflecting with Iran and giving us influence over them because we can have more intelligence.
Do you find it persuasive when the Israeli tourism board is bragging about how many gay pride parades they have in Tel Aviv?
No.
Does that make you more pro-Israel?
No.
So what else is persuasive for you?
I would try to educate about Islamic terrorism.
I think that's major, especially with the fact that we lived through 911, I think a lot of people in my generation don't understand how big of a situation it was.
We know nothing about it, for the most part.
I think maybe one other point maybe is about the Holy Land as well.
You could make a point going to the Holy Land, filming videos and saying, Israel is a better protector of the Holy Land than if there was a Palestinian state.
The argument I make more than anything else.
You're going to follow up on that.
That's my biggest argument.
Keep on.
When the United States is like a mostly Christian country, not all Christian obviously, but a mostly Christian country, a lot of people can sympathize that that is the Holy Land.
That is where Jesus Christ lived and was crucified.
And rose from the dead.
Yes, sir.
Islamic terrorism is that's a better messaging because it kind of connects Israel.
It's a threat to Israel and the United States together at the same time.
So it brings it home to people.
One of the conversations we've had is that this holy land thing, there is a hunger for the holy land, for the old things.
the old things, the ancient things.
I think so much of modern life feels very transient, new.
And also just the stability of it for being there for two thousand years.
And also the fact that it's really just been the bedrock of traditionalism.
And I think you talked about in your speech about how there's a lot of liberal evangelical churches.
So it's like, how can I get to a more traditional style of life?
I mean, I'm Catholic tooholic.
And one of the biggest things that I do like is that Israel holds the roots of a lot of Western religion.
And that it is critical for us as Americans to keep them.
So this is very important, and we're going to have to close here, is that American evangelicals tend to be very pro-Israel.
Younger Catholics tend to not be.
But what you're both doing, you know, soon to be Catholic, current Catholic, you're saying that, hey, if you talked more about the Holy Land, the place.
reality, the artefacts, right, the discoveries, the where Christ our Lord bled on, you know, on, you know, in the Catholic Church, the Villa de la Rosa is a big deal, right?
It's huge.
The Stations of the Cross, Catholicism is a very tactile religion.
You would think that that actually is more persuasive than any theological argument being like, this holy land must be protected so that we can access it, that we can worship it, that we can prove, and we don't want a bunch of Muslims taking this place over like they did with Bethlehem.
Do you think that is a winning argument for evangelicals, for Christians, more so than gay pride parades in Haifa?
