American Tide Turning: Youth Reject Israel as Public Support for Iran and Middle East Strengthens

As social media dismantles decades of propaganda, younger Americans revolt against Israel, oppose war with Iran—and brace for disaster under Trump’s reckless leadership.

American foreign policy has for decades marched in lockstep with Israel. So too, has public sentiment across the US largely echoed Washington’s narrative—Israel the ally and Iran as the axis of evil. But now however, that tide is turning.

The unfiltered realm of social media, especially platforms like X, is where a new narrative is emerging. And it’s shaking the foundations of a decades-old alliance.

Last night in bed, I spent four hours on X, scrolling, immersed in the commentary of awareness and social change – X was ablaze. Video after video, post after post, exposed scenes of horror from Gaza, from Iran, from Lebanon, and beyond.

In between the chaos, Americans—many of them young, politically conscious, and deeply disillusioned—were commenting not with support for their government’s rhetoric, but with open disgust. Not at Iran, but at Israel. Not at Palestinians, but at the US administration. It was a digital bonfire of the vanities of US foreign policy, and it revealed something profound – mass hatred is underway.

A once love affair with Israel, cemented by political lobbying and decades of bipartisan consensus, has given way to an unprecedented wave of vile hatred. Equally striking is the shift in perception about Iran. Long caricatured in American media as evil, Iran is now being reframed—as a sovereign nation defending itself against Israeli aggression and American imperialism. The seismic shift in public sentiment isn’t just a ripple. It’s a generational rupture.

The dramatic reversal hasn’t been driven by cable news or editorial pages, but by social media. Unlike legacy media—which has long lied and parroted official lines and treated criticism of Israel as political heresy—platforms like X are showing raw, unfiltered truth.

Videos of wounded children pulled from rubble in Gaza. Leaked footage of airstrikes in Syria. Scenes of mourning in Iran following targeted assassinations. Users are stitching together a counter-narrative, one clearly showing Israel not as a defender, but as an aggressor. And it’s resonating.

For many American users and people around the world, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, the hypocrisy has become too glaring to ignore. "The same administration that condemned Russia while arming Ukraine’s military aggression is now backing Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza." Those same leaders who preach human rights are silent on collective punishment, on starvation, on carpet bombing. The contradiction is fuelling not just criticism, but a deeper kind of rage.

It’s not just that the truth is on show, but that it reveals how the world has been lied to for decades.

That sentiment is now translating into real political pressure. Student protests across college campuses have erupted in support of Palestine and against any military aggression toward Iran. Public support once favourable to Israel—has shifted dramatically.

Iran now has growing support among the US public—particularly its younger generations—while Israel faces an unprecedented generational revolt. Longtime assumptions about who the aggressor is and who has the right to defend themselves are being upended in real time, and that change is playing out most visibly online.

The possibility of an uprising if the US were to launch an attack on Iran is no longer fringe speculation. Among young Americans, it’s seen as inevitable.

Fuelling the urgency is the spectre of a wider war. The march toward a third world war, driven by reckless alliances and military overreach, is no longer a distant threat.

The danger is compounded by the leadership vacuum in Washington. Under Donald Trump, the US isn’t just politically divided, but adrift. Trump’s return to power has exposed a president visibly out of his depth—one whose displays of deceit, erraticism, and ignorance are no longer simply embarrassing, but globally dangerous.

Trump’s leadership has been marked by incoherence and contradiction. While presenting himself as anti-war, his administration continues to escalate military tensions. His blind loyalty to Israeli interests—cheered by the far-right and evangelical base—risks dragging the US and the world into a catastrophic conflict.

Trump postures tough with little strategic sense. His foreign policy has no consistency, only impulses, and now he threatens assassinations on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Trump is an unhinged bully.

US credibility has unravelled. Trump’s ignorance of history, international law, and diplomacy is more than a meme—it’s a threat. Allies no longer trust Washington. Adversaries no longer fear it. And the world’s youth, particularly in the US, are openly rejecting the machinery of empire their government has long represented.

Israel’s attack against Iran—backed by the US—has brought the region dangerously close to a wider war. America’s political and financial elite—largely insulated in Washington or Hollywood donor circles—remain isolated from potential domestic fallout.

Across social media, there’s a growing chorus warning US complicity in another foreign conflict could ignite unrest at home. America’s youth are watching, scrolling, organising, with many now believing war abroad may be met with resistance in the streets of America.

The sense of betrayal is also domestic. Many young Americans see their country struggling—skyrocketing healthcare costs, unaffordable housing, mass shootings—and question why billions continue to be funnelled into foreign wars.

The “forever war” fatigue that began with Afghanistan has metastasised. And the idea the US is now at war with Iran—to serve Israeli hegemonic ambitions in the Middle East—is fuelling a moral and political rebellion.

Young Americans see their nation as an empire collapsing, propping up outdated alliances at the expense of global peace and domestic prosperity. Israel is seen as a relic of this imperial mindset—a regional bully enabled by Washington and a veto pen. Iran is now viewed as standing against that imperial project.

The US is also losing its war at home too.