NEW YORK — Students of major universities in the US state of New York increasingly identify the word “genocide” as their primary association with Israel, highlighting a shift in the nation’s standing among young Americans.
The military operations, seizures, and human rights violations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank have led many to question the nation’s international legitimacy.
Interviews conducted at Manhattan-based New York University (NYU) and Columbia University revealed consistent primary associations among the youth.
Samuel, a student at NYU, told Anadolu that his first thought is the genocide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committing against the Palestinian people. He listed his top three associations as “Netanyahu, genocide and Palestine.”
Another NYU student named Maddy, with a troubled expression reflecting on her face when the word Israel was mentioned, said the word that most strongly came to her mind was “genocide”.
She characterized the association as “scary,” explaining that her perception of Israel is that of a country utilizing its military power against those who are significantly weaker.
One group of students collecting aid for a university association declined to comment and withdrew from an interview once they learned the topic was Israel.
At Columbia University, a student named Rom responded to the question of what comes to mind with the phrase “Let’s save the world,” before adding: “Let’s maintain peace.”
The shifting perception follows a recent assessment by Naftali Bennett, former Israeli prime minister, regarding the country’s public image in the US.
“For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, among the American public, Israel has become a negative brand,” Bennett said in a recent interview.
“If you ask an American student, ‘Israel — what comes to mind?’ They say genocide. That’s the situation,” Bennett said.
Drawing a comparison with how countries are commonly associated with symbols, he added: “You say Italy — ‘pasta, spaghetti.’ You say Israel — ‘baby killers.’”
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 73,300 Palestinians have been killed and more than 174,200 injured since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also face arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
South Africa initiated legal proceedings against Israel at the ICJ on Dec. 29, 2023, alleging violations of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers disguised themselves as pro-Palestinian protesters to dupe students into talking with them as part of a propaganda operation across US university campuses.
Footage captured outside Columbia University in New York last week showed a student approaching a man who was wearing a keffiyeh and holding a Palestinian flag.
The student – who had found the soldier’s social media account on her phone – asked him to confirm he was a first sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The soldier, Adi Karni, said he was, and explained that the ruse was intended to get people to talk to him, since they would not usually want to listen to an Israel supporter.
“When I’m wearing a keffiyah, people listen to me more as a Palestinian, as a Hamas terrorist, instead of listening to the IDF,” he said.
Karni was part of a group working with Frontline Advocates, a pro-Israel propaganda organization that focuses on US university campuses where large numbers of students have protested the genocide in Gaza.
“We deploy trained Israeli advocates directly to the most hostile college campuses and public squares in America,” the group’s website says. It adds that it has “debated and engaged directly with thousands” of students “in the most hostile environments”.
Frontline Advocates says it has also sent delegations to Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington and Boston, as well as Canada and Ghana.
People in the US, and especially young people, hold increasingly negative views of Israel in the wake of its genocide in Gaza. Just 18% of people aged 18-29 hold a favourable view of the Israeli government, according to Pew Research. Overall, 62% of American adults have an unfavourable view.
Source: Saudi Gazette