For almost two years, Americans’ social media feeds have been saturated with harrowing images from Gaza: Palestinians escaping Israeli airstrikes, desperately searching for loved ones amidst rubble, and gazing upon their devastated cities.
However, a noticeable shift has occurred recently. As a growing number of Gazans face severe starvation, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X are now filled with videos of emaciated children pleading for food and seeking clean water. These raw depictions offer an unvarnished, intimate look at the devastating human cost of the ongoing conflict.
This evolution in online narratives has mirrored a significant shift in American public sentiment towards Israel. A recent poll from The New York Times and Siena University revealed that, for the first time since 1998, more Americans expressed sympathy for Palestinians than for Israelis.
This growing dissatisfaction with the conflict is largely attributed to a significant decrease in support among Democratic voters. While Republican support for Israel generally held steady, even they showed a slight dip in backing, according to the same poll.
While multiple factors contribute to this change, internet experts highlight social media’s crucial role, as discussions around the Israel-Gaza conflict have permeated online communities.
Emerson Brooking, director of strategy at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, noted that Israel’s narrative of a defensive war minimizing civilian casualties is increasingly undermined by daily online ‘documentary evidence.’
Contemporary conflicts are increasingly unfolding on social media platforms. From Ukraine to Myanmar and Sudan, individuals are documenting and sharing real-time footage from war zones. In Gaza, these videos and photographs have become a prolonged chronicle, punctuated by years of intermittent violence.
This digital landscape has transformed social media into a crucial battleground for public opinion for both Israelis and Palestinians. These efforts intensified dramatically after the Hamas cross-border attacks from Gaza on October 7, 2023, which resulted in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and at least 250 kidnappings, directly leading to the current conflict.
Online, Israel launched campaigns aimed at influencing Black and Democratic lawmakers, utilizing fake social media accounts to promote pro-Israeli viewpoints. Concurrently, Hamas militants released footage of the Oct. 7 attacks and even exploited the social media accounts of some Israeli hostages to instill fear and terror.
In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, polls conducted by The Times indicated a general favorability towards Israel among the U.S. public, with 47 percent supporting Israelis and 20 percent backing Palestinians.
Since that time, numerous Palestinians have leveraged Instagram and TikTok to share their personal narratives of the war. Photojournalists within Gaza have also consistently uploaded images and videos capturing the devastation left by Israeli airstrikes.
Documenting and verifying firsthand accounts from Gaza has become increasingly challenging due to the displacement of Palestinians and the deaths of dozens of journalists. Nevertheless, a dedicated network of Palestinian photographers and photojournalists continues to share daily images on their social media platforms.
Notable among these are Wissam Nassar, a photographer based in Gaza, and Motaz Azaiza, who, despite having left Gaza last year, regularly shares images from his family and friends remaining in the coastal strip. Both boast a substantial following on Instagram.
An accompanying image depicts Palestinians gathering outside a charity kitchen, their faces etched with anguish, as they reach out metal pots for free meals amidst severe economic hardship and widespread famine in the Gaza Strip.
Another image shows photojournalist Motaz Azaiza at Columbia University.
Tragically, on Tuesday, both Nassar and Azaiza honored Yahya Barzak, a renowned Palestinian photographer celebrated for his infant portraits, announcing that he had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza cafe.
Neither Mr. Nassar nor Mr. Azaiza could be reached for comment.
Instagram and TikTok are particularly popular with young Americans, a demographic that, according to The Times and Siena University poll, shows the strongest opposition to further economic or military aid for Israel. While some Israeli and U.S. lawmakers have accused TikTok of deliberately favoring pro-Palestinian content, the platform maintains neutrality and strictly enforces policies against antisemitic material.
Conversely, Israel’s efforts to engage online audiences have largely been unsuccessful, as noted by Mr. Brooking. He suggested that the Israeli government seems to have shifted away from direct persuasion, instead focusing on disrupting Palestinian social media by targeting Gaza’s cellular and internet infrastructure.
The public’s perception of the Israel-Gaza conflict is further complicated by sophisticated influence campaigns, alongside the proliferation of AI-generated imagery and automated bots that can push biased content.
Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, highlighted a direct correlation between increased polarization on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the constant reinforcement of zero-sum thinking and conspiracy theories prevalent on social media.
Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel emphasized social media’s power in the conflict. During a meeting with American influencers at Israel’s Consulate General in New York, he reportedly described social media platforms as his nation’s “most important weapon” for maintaining U.S. support, as documented in a video by attendee Debra Lea.
Netanyahu further alleged that various non-governmental organizations were deliberately disseminating anti-Israeli and antisemitic content to Americans via social media, singling out TikTok as the primary platform for shaping public opinion, with X (formerly Twitter) ranking as a close second.
Requests for comment from Mr. Netanyahu’s office were not returned.
The Times and Siena University poll indicated a near-even split in American sympathies, with 34 percent favoring Israelis and 35 percent favoring Palestinians, while 31 percent remained undecided or supported both equally.
Furthermore, a significant reversal in public sentiment has occurred: a majority of American voters now oppose providing additional economic and military aid to Israel, a stark contrast to views immediately following the Oct. 7 attacks. Notably, almost 70 percent of voters under 30, across all political affiliations, expressed opposition to such aid.