Nearly as many college students back Hamas as Israel: poll

Nearly as many college students support Hamas as they do Israel amid the raging Middle East war, a new survey claims.

The online poll of 609 college students by Intelligent.com found that 22% of respondents sympathize with Hamas while 26% side with the Israeli government.

That means about 1 in 5 of college students back a militia group designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union for its warfare against the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, 82% said they sympathize with Palestinian civilians, while 72% feel for Israeli civilians, the poll found.

The findings help explain the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests sweeping across many college campuses, despite the fact that Hamas started the war with Israel with an Oct. 7 sneak invasion, killing about 1,200 people and taking scores of hostages.

One law professor at Cornell University — where a student was recently arrested for making online threats against Jewish students — said he wasn’t surprised at the startling pro-Hamas support among college students.  

“Hamas student support is a direct result of years of misleading and pervasively dehumanizing anti-Israel campus indoctrination by thousands of activist faculty and administrators under the banner of BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel]. Students do not hear both sides, they only hear that Jews are oppressors,”  said William Jacobson, founder of EqualProtect.org.

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“The campus war on Israel driven by BDS creates and feeds off of antisemitism fueled by the racialization of the conflict falsely portraying Jews as white oppressors. Racial doctrines such as ‘critical race theory’ and ‘intersectionality’ are the mother’s milk of antisemitism on campuses, force fed to students under the euphemism of ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.'”

He also noted that Cornell’s graduate students who are employed on campus just voted to join the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union — a labor group that passed a resolution in 2015 endorsing the BDS movement against Israel.

The survey asked, “How much do you sympathize with [a lot, a little]”: Israeli civilians, Palestinian civilians, Israeli government, Hamas.

The poll, which allowed people to pick more than one answer, found 82% sympathized with Palestinian civilians, 72% Israeli civilians, 26% also said the Israeli government and 22% said Hamas.

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Follow along with The Post’s live blog for the latest on Hamas’ attack on Israel

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Meanwhile, the survey found that 86% of college students say they learned about the Hamas-Israel war on social media, 62% through news articles, 52% talking directly to others, 58% from watching television and 17% from podcasts.

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While misinformation is common on social media, one-third of students say they don’t fact-check information they’re reading or listening to about these issues very often, the survey found

“With the vast amount of information accessible online, there’s always a risk of misinformation or bias, which can skew perceptions,” Eric Eng, a college admission expert and the founder and CEO of Admission, said of the findings.

Nearly three-quarters of the students surveyed said they were somewhat or very knowledgeable about the recent Palestinian-Israel conflict, while one-quarter said they were not very informed about it.

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Ten percent of students say they have attended protests or rallies related to the Hamas-Israel war, while 14% say they have made a public statement.

Nearly half of students — 45% — said they feel pressure to speak out on the conflict.

But 70% of students say they are worried about potential consequences of speaking out about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — with 34% saying they are either “extremely” or “very” worried.

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Follow along with The Post’s coverage of Israel’s war with Hamas

• Hamas chief says a ‘truce agreement’ and hostage exchange with Israel is close
• Hamas captives spill secrets about operating from hospitals: ‘We became their human shields’
• How many aid groups knew Hamas was hiding in a hospital and lied about it?
• Israel war live updates: Follow along for The Post’s latest coverage

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They fear being verbally assaulted, losing friends, being “canceled” and getting physically assaulted, the survey found.

Overall, 1 in 5 students or 19% say they feel less safe on campus since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s response.

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While a small sample in the survey, 78% of Jewish students say they feel less safe on campus since the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war, as do 7% of Muslim students.

Fifty-six percent of Jewish students also say their mental health has worsened, as do 21% of Muslim students.

The survey of 609 college students was commissioned by Intelligent.com and conducted online by the survey platform Pollfish from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.