Over the past 20 years, Israel’s detractors have managed to make anti-Israel sentiment trendy among Millennials and Gen Z. Social media makes it easier than ever to spread malicious or ignorant misinformation about Israel.
Now going into its 10th year, ISRAEL21c’s Digital Ambassadors Internship Program for college students has countered that trend through original, nonpolitical social-media content about Israeli people and their positive impact on our world. They seek to educate, inform and initiate meaningful conversations with their peers.
Can these efforts make a measurable difference in shifting perceptions from negative to positive?
In June, ISRAEL21c partnered with Research Success Technologies to find out.
We surveyed 1,000 18- to 25-year-old Americans who have never visited Israel and found that 63 percent of them can be persuaded to view Israel more positively through engaging, visually appealing social-media content.
This 63% comprises young adults holding “mid-range” emotions (curiosity, concern, confusion) and either no opinion (44%) or a negative opinion (19%) about Israel’s war in Gaza. (A quarter of respondents strongly disapprove of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and are unlikely to be persuaded otherwise, while 12% approve or strongly approve of Israel’s conduct.)
The persuadable majority do not closely follow Israel news and aren’t familiar with Israel. They express interest in seeing personal stories that offer context and cultural insights about Israeli society and traditions. References from respected news sources, including influencers they already trust, help validate the reliability of the information.
The study was designed to pick up more nuances than was a recent PEW Research study titled “Views of the Israel-Hamas War,” which focused on negative emotions. ISRAEL21c’s survey therefore showed different results.
“When you read the thoughtful, open-text responses from a majority of the respondents, you see a very different picture than what’s presented in the news or on social media,” said ISRAEL21c Executive Director Jason Harris.
“A majority of Gen Z can appreciate the complexity and nuance, but they need to be approached in an inviting manner that they find interesting. This proves that if we only try to engage the loudest voices in the room, we ignore the silent majority who need and desire engagement.”
Ezra Kopelowitz of Research Success says the study results support the theory that “there’s a big middle” population whose opinions about Israel are not binary. They may have a neutral or even negative opinion that is not fully formed and “are quite open to being engaged.”
The study indicates that ISRAEL21c’s vision of emotionally driven learning is effective, he adds.
“If you’re a Jewish educator, or anyone else reaching out on social media to people who are curious, good education is about addressing that curiosity without being overly moralistic. You’re showing a society where a lot of interesting things are happening even in the context of war. These stories are how to get to a place of education and positive messaging in the midst of trauma.”
One key insight from the responses, says Kopelowitz, is that “when people don’t know a lot about a topic, context is very important.”
Many people, for instance, don’t know there are non-Jews in Israel and are curious about minorities such as the Druze. The post below proved very impactful, according to Logan Schoen, an Ambassador team leader, who says the campaign “shed light on a positive story during the ongoing war in Gaza.”
“In emotionally driven learning, you need a hook they personally find interesting and then give them information to understand the context. ISRAEL21c Digital Ambassadors are generating content they themselves find interesting and are communicating it to someone not as engaged with the Jewish world. There’s more authenticity in this expression of emotion.”
How do the students accomplish that?
“Our Ambassadors learn from digital media experts and hit the ground running with creative content that resonates with their generation,” explains ISRAEL21c Marketing Operations & Program Manager Emily Averbukh.
“The challenge is clear: We know why Israel is important to us. How can we effectively share that with those who don’t yet feel the same? By equipping Gen Z with the tools to create engaging, informative content, our Ambassadors not only become skilled in social media but also master the art of storytelling in a relatable way.”
In the 2023/24 academic year, there were 28 ambassadors from 28 schools across the country and one from Israel. The program is even bigger numerically and geographically for the 2024/25 year, with 45 ambassadors from over 45 schools including Yale, Duke and Cornell, as well as three in Israel, two in Canada and one in South Africa.
Produced in association with ISRAEL21c