The Twitter Generation: Understanding young Jewish attitudes towards Israel

By wayne sussman

​communal matters
[trends & prospects]

exploring the concerns of the south african jewish community

In this article, Wayne Sussman analyses the Kaplan Centre Survey of the Cape Town Jewish Community and looks to understand young Jewish attitudes towards Israel. 

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IN the past few weeks Joe Biden has stabilised his lead in the polls as the most likely candidate to win the Democratic nomination and challenge Donald Trump in 2020 for the presidency of the United States of America. If one were to spend a few hours on Twitter, it would seem most unlikely that a 77-year-old centrist would be favoured to win the nomination, especially considering there are progressive champions like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on the ballot. The reality is Biden has the backing of many older Democratic voters, voters who tend to vote in elections, and not spend hours on Twitter. 

"Whereas 60-65% of those who are older than fifty indicated that they are ‘very attached to Israel’, only 36% of respondents in the 16-30 cohort defined themselves as ‘very attached to Israel'."

​Now what does this have to do with the Kaplan Centre Survey of the Cape Town Jewish Community and its findings on the community’s shifting attitudes towards Israel and Zionism? I would argue that just as those in social media ivory towers tend to pay too much attention to the young, woke and sanctimonious on Twitter, the community has probably paid too much attention to the opinions and concerns of older community members when it comes to Israel. Rather, the community should start examining what is causing a generational deviation of the standard mainstream communal attitude towards Israel and Zionism. 

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