A YEAR OF CAMPUS CONFLICT AND GROWTH An Over-Time Study of the Impact of the Israel-Hamas War on U.S. College Students

Key Findings:

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of shifting attitudes among Jewish and non-Jewish college students in the U.S. from 2022 to 2024, focusing on the effects of the Israel-Hamas war on these perspectives.

Jewish students have increasingly emphasized the importance of their Jewish identity over the three years. By 2024, around half of the Jewish students indicated that their identity is “very important” to them, reflecting a significant rise from previous years. Simultaneously, fear of antisemitism has grown, with more students reporting exposure to antisemitic slurs, especially in classrooms.

Jewish students face persistent social pressures to conceal their Jewish identity to fit in. Many report negative judgments from peers for participating in Jewish activities, and a substantial number pay a social cost for expressing support for Israel. This trend intensified in 2023, with agreement to these statements rising by 50-100% compared to 2022, and remaining high throughout the 2023-2024 school year. In addition to feeling pressure from non-Jewish peers, many Jewish students reported feeling the need to hide their opinions even in Jewish spaces on campus. This phenomenon was especially pronounced among students with less robust Jewish backgrounds, who were more likely to feel uncomfortable expressing their views at Jewish campus activities.

Jewish students showed little interest in programs directly related to the Israel-Hamas war. Even students from stronger Jewish backgrounds preferred attending Shabbat, holiday, or social events rather than political or conflict-related programming, suggesting a disconnect between Jewish organizational efforts and students’ priorities. In the immediate aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, there were temporary spikes in Jewish students feeling close to their communities and attending Jewish events. However, by spring 2024, these attitudes reverted to pre-war levels, indicating that the heightened engagement with Jewish communities was short-lived.

Despite the war, the percentage of Jewish students who oppose the existence of Israel as a Jewish state remained relatively stable, at around 10-15% over the three years. While most Jewish students support Israel’s existence, a significant number of students who had no opinion in 2022 shifted towards supporting a Jewish state by the end of 2023. However, about a quarter of Jewish students were uncertain about Israel’s future as a Jewish state.

Political ideology, sexuality, Jewish background, and socioeconomic status strongly correlated with Jewish students' views on Israel. Students from wealthier families were more likely to support Israel as a Jewish state, a pattern that was consistent across both Jewish and non-Jewish students. This socioeconomic divide was most evident among students with less robust Jewish backgrounds. Non-Jewish students from upper-middle and upper-class backgrounds were more likely to personally know Israelis and have Jewish friends. These students were also more likely to blame Hamas for the war, in contrast to lower- and working-class non-Jewish students, who were less likely to have Jewish friends or any connection to Israelis and tended to blame Israel for the conflict.

Jewish students overwhelmingly blamed Hamas for the war, while non-Jewish students, particularly those who were very liberal, tended to blame Israel. Among very liberal Jewish students, while there was also blame directed at Israel, the level was not as extreme as among their non-Jewish liberal peers. This suggests a spectrum of opinion among Jewish students, with very liberal Jewish students falling between more centrist Jewish peers and non-Jewish students. Non-Jewish students overwhelmingly sympathized with Palestinians, while Jewish students mainly sympathized with Israelis. Both groups, however, believed their campus community was more sympathetic toward Palestinians. This sympathy gap was especially pronounced at elite institutions such as Ivy League schools.

Jewish students who opposed a Jewish state and attended pro-Palestinian events during the school year typically came from less robust Jewish backgrounds, identified as LGBTQ+, and were lower or working class. Conversely, Jewish students who supported Israel and attended pro-Israel events were more likely to come from wealthier, more Jewishly engaged families and identified as heterosexual and politically moderate or conservative.

Most non-Jewish students lacked an opinion on whether Jews are indigenous to Israel. Among those who had an opinion, more students believed that Jews were not indigenous. Christian students, however, were more likely to view Jews as indigenous to Israel compared to students of other religious backgrounds, though Christians made up a minority of the non-Jewish student population.

Between fall and spring 2023-2024, there was a marked increase in non-Jewish students believing it would be difficult for pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students to maintain friendships. Around one-third of Jewish students reported losing friends over differing views on the conflict, a figure that rose to almost half at elite campuses. One in five non-Jewish students reported they would not want to be friends with someone who supported Israel as a Jewish state. This ostracization was particularly pronounced among very liberal, LGBTQ+, Muslim, and students of color.

Many non-Jewish students intentionally ostracized Jewish peers who supported Israel, viewing them as holding harmful or hateful views. Jewish students recognized this exclusion and largely attributed it to the toxic culture of social media and political polarization on campus.

Jewish and non-Jewish students held sharply different perceptions of their campuses’ political orientation. Jewish students saw their schools as largely aligned against Israel, based on the views of faculty, staff, and students, whereas non-Jewish students felt their institutions were overwhelmingly pro-Israel, often citing the statements made by senior leadership.