Spyke

Hillary Clinton Joins in Blaming TikTok for Young Americans' View That Israel Is Committing Genocide

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39883667

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6931377

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/11379

Since Israel began bombarding Gaza and starving its population of more than 2 million Palestinians in October 2023, the consensus that the Israeli government is committing genocide has steadily grown to include international and Israeli human rights groups, a United Nations panel, Holocaust scholars, and nearly 40% of Jewish Americans, according to one striking recent survey.

But in 10 words, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday waved away the findings of respected groups like Amnesty International and renowned experts like Brown University professor Omer Bartov, when she commented on why young Americans are expressing support for Palestinians.

"They were getting their information from social media, particularly TikTok," said Clinton.

Without pointing to any evidence, the former secretary of state said young people in the US are "seeing short-form videos, some of them totally made up, some of them not at all representing what they claim to be showing, and that’s where they get their information" about Israel's attacks on Gaza.

She added that "it’s not just the usual suspects"—without naming who those pro-Palestinian "suspects" are.

"It’s a lot of young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand," she said. "A lot of the challenge is with younger people."

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.” https://t.co/rUVXRqK2rK pic.twitter.com/hAwG7Gbhwf
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) December 2, 2025

Her remarks echoed those of former Obama White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, who spoke recently about the challenges Zionists are presented with when they try to defend Israel to young Jewish people who have seen widely available, credible images and news out of Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians and is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid despite a ceasefire deal reached in October.

"Anything that we try to say to them, they’re hearing it through this wall of carnage," Hurwitz lamented last month, drawing condemnation.

Clinton was speaking at an event in New York City for Israel Hayom, the most widely read newspaper in Israel, which is run by billionaire Miriam Adelson, a megadonor to President Donald Trump. Adelson published an editorial in the Jewish Journal in November 2023 saying pro-Palestinian protesters "are dead to us," and her late husband, Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, said in 2014 that the Palestinians are "an invented people."

Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), pointed to the irony of Clinton attending an event associated with the Adelsons and then claiming that "the kids are being radicalized by anti-Israel propaganda."

— (@)

Clinton has frequently claimed that pro-Palestinian Americans, particularly students who took part in nationwide campus protests last year as they urged the Biden administration to comply with US law and stop funding Israel's attacks on Gaza, are simply misinformed about Palestine and ignorant of history, particularly pointing to the 2000 Camp David Summit hosted by former President Bill Clinton.

The former secretary of state has repeated the claim that the Palestinians were offered a "generous deal" at the meeting and "walked away"—a "myth" that Camp David negotiator Robert Malley has debunked, warning it's been used by Clinton and others to "justify Israel's genocide."

Robert Malley on the myth of “Palestinians walked away” at Camp David (July 2000):

➤ Malley says the popular story pushed since 2000 – that Arafat rejected a “generous offer” – is contradicted by the actual record. Israeli PM Barak sidelined the Palestinians for a year,… pic.twitter.com/3vlf1Rl4qj
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) November 28, 2025

"She’s the one getting the history wrong," including at the Israel Hayom event, said Drop Site News on Tuesday.

A number of observers took issue with Clinton's suggestion that anti-Israel sentiment in the US is being driven solely by young people, with Just Security executive editor Adil Haque issuing a "periodic reminder that the biggest shift in attitudes toward Israel and Palestine has been among older Democrats."

In 2022, 43% Democratic voters ages 50 and up had an unfavorable view of Israel. That percentage has risen sharply since Israel began its onslaught in Gaza, with 66% of those voters reporting an unfavorable view in a Pew Research Center poll this year.

Meanwhile, 71% of Democrats ages 49 and under opposed Israel in the same poll, and 62% of them had expressed opposition in 2022, denoting a less extreme shift in opinion.

"Democrats get their news from CNN more than other mainstream sources," said Haque, pointing to the network's recent investigation about Palestinian aid-seekers who were killed by Israeli forces. "If you're a 60-year-old with grandkids and you read or watch CNN's Gaza reporting, you don't need TikTok to know that what's happening is very, very wrong."

Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the Center for International Policy, also suggested Clinton has an inaccurate view of who opposes Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians.

"I’m nearly 50. I don’t use TikTok. I listen to NPR 'Morning Edition' and read the Financial Times daily," said Williams. "I’m a lawyer who has worked on Israel-Palestine issues for the last 20 years. The evidence I’ve seen that Israel committed atrocities including genocide in Gaza is overwhelming."

Author Jason Overstreet wondered how Clinton would explain the findings of human rights groups like Amnesty International and Israel-based B'Tselem, which pointed to testimonies by Israeli soldiers and the documented destruction of Gaza's food system when it concluded in a report in July that Israel is committing genocide in the exclave.

"I guess Hillary Clinton also thinks that Amnesty International called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide because they saw some videos on TikTok and just 'did not know history,'" said Overstreet. "Young people’s views on Israel are based on young people knowing that Israel has committed genocide."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Hillary Clinton Joins in Blaming TikTok for Young Americans' View That Israel Is Committing Genocidehttps://www.commondreams.org/news/hillary-clinton-and-israelOpen linkView original on lemmy.ml
leminal.space

Just to point out, Israel committing genocide is what makes people think Israel is committing genocide.

127
jimmy90reply
lemmy.world

who can we blame for arab terrorist groups literally having israeli genocide written into their constitution and arabs starting genocidal wars against israel?

-24

I'm guessing you're referencing the Hamas Charter. It has since been updated:

While the 1988 Hamas Charter had been widely criticized for its antisemitism, the 2017 document removed the antisemitic language and stated that Hamas' fight was not with Jews as such because of their religion but with the "Zionist project."[10][11][12][13][14][15] When asked, Hamas leaders explained that "The original charter has now become a historical document and part of an earlier stage in our evolution. It will remain in the movement's bookshelf as a record of our past."[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Hamas_charter

They haven't fully repudiated the old charter, though, so there's that. But I can't fault them for trying to push back against the "Zionist project." Anyone would fight for their right to continue living on their ancestral lands, if threatened.

13
lemmy.world

oh hey look the third most famous person to suck off Bill Clinton

89
cmbabulreply
lemmy.world

There is zero evidence or claim she ever blew him

68

Uhhh, Hillary is a grasping attention-seeker.. and corrupt.

Am not on tiktok, am not a kid and even I see what is happening in Gaza.

She needs to fuck off and STFU like her husband.

58
lemmy.zip

Hillary also tried to blame gang violence and school shootings on video games decades ago.

She was wrong then, she's wrong now.

58

People talk a lot about Hillary Clinton's infamous "Pokémon Go to the Polls" remark; but she also repeatedly suggested banning "violent" video games through her 2015-2016 campaign. That was undoubtedly a factor in GamerGate/ the alt-right shift among mainstream gaming and internet culture at that time. I found out that Hillary held this position from mainstream internet memes.

I don't think the significance of this issue can be understated, given Gen Z's rightward shift in 2024. Feminists are gonna vote Dem, Bible-Thumpers are gonna vote Republican; it's the politically-indifferent population that decide elections.

17
lemmy.world

People don't know/have forgotten that the Democrats really pushed the moral panic around violent video games and music. Both Joe Liberman (Al Gore's running mate and promenant senator) and Tipper Gore (wife of Al Gore) were leaders in pushing for music/video game censorship

20

They were also in on the whole Clipper Chip debacle. They tried to force a hardware level encryption backdoor into all computers back under President Clinton. This stuff isn't new for them, they're just less dictatory then the Conservatives who are founded on the restoration of the monarchy.

5
sh.itjust.works

Tipper Gore was part of a group of Evangelical Christian representative's spouses who did this. The driving force was her faith not her party.

5
lemmy.today

But her party supported her efforts, so while it may have started with some religious rationalization, the Dems took it on as well. Another shameful example of Democratic weakness, and willingness to abandon their principles for no good reason at all.

3
sh.itjust.works

Whose party? Tipper Gore was Al Gore's wife not a politician herself. The PMRC was a bipartisan group in terms of which party theor husbands were in.

0
lemmy.today

A politician's wife is an extension of the politician, and uses her voice to amplify their chosen issues. When the first or second lady start talking about an issue, it's because they have been cleared by the administration to talk about it.

Don't kid yourself, the 90s Democrats were trying to appease the pearl-clutching moralizing Republicans by voluntarily abusing the First Amendment because Republicans were offended by curse words on records, and Tipper Gore was the point man.

3

First, no the wife of someone is not an extension of their spouse nor vice versa as they are separate people.

Second, why are you talking about the 1990s? Were you alive when this was going on?

-2

The same Joe Lieberman that blocked the public option from the ACA. Guy was a real piece of shit.

3
lemmy.world

I don't need to ever hear from Hilary again.

I am not a young person and do not ever use TikTok. The reason I think there is a genocide is the sheer preponderance of evidence.

47
T00l_shedreply
lemmy.world

I am not a young person and do not ever use TikTok. The reason I think there is a genocide is the sheer preponderance of evidence.

Same

14
Corkyskogreply
sh.itjust.works

The average Lemmy user is going to be significantly more informed than the average person. If you only used cable news and Facebook to get your information you wouldn't have the facts to take an informed stance.

2

If you use cable news outside the US you will see what israel is doing and piece it together too.

2

Stop calling it a genocide, it's just a simple case of systematically eradicating a specific group of people. - Hillary Clinton (probably)

13
lemmy.world

I don't use TikTok. TikTok is garbage.

I believe Israel is committing a genocide because:

  1. People in Gaza tell us so

  2. Senators and House Reps in US Congress tell us so, namely Jewish Bernie Sanders, (though as Genocide is reason for war they can be censured and removed for using the exact word, he has used words like mass starvation, exodus, bombing of tens of thousands up to millions of people majority women and children, etc.)

  3. Pete Hegseth specifically said "Death or Exodus" of Palestinians

  4. Fucking Israel tells us so

She isn't even corrupt at this point she is very clearly senile.

31

"Death or Exodus," what a fucking chode. These idiots feel so smart and mystical using words from the bee eye bee ell eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

3
lemmy.world

I probably found out about it because of MSM like BBC news, or just word of mouth. It's funny that they think banning tiktok will change anything... Maybe we should let them.

Oh yeah and of course, point 4, Israel told us.

3

We should ban Tiktok. Tiktok should have been banned a long fucking time ago. Tiktok is a weapon developed to cause us harm.

1
apftwbreply
lemmy.world

though as Genocide is reason for war they can be censured and removed for using the exact word

Citation? How tf does Congress get the power to declare war yet cannot discuss reasons for war? Also isn't the discussing things on the floor of Congress give you extra free speech protections?

1

Genocide is listed as the primary justification for intervention and war under the United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948. LINK HERE

During the US Civil War, members of congress faced expulsion for advocating war against the USA and its allies. To date only 20 members of congress have ever been expelled. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was recently censured and threatened with expulsion for using this exact language.

Congress can discuss war, but discussing war against allies can get you expelled from congress.

Personally whether we call it a "genocide" or a "mass starvation of millions" or the "war on innocent people, killing of tens of thousands of women and children, expulsion from their homes and exile" is a difference without any distinction so I don't give a single flying fuck if they use the word genocide or not.

3

I’m fucking 40, stop calling me a young American, boomers are just ancient and in denial about their mortality

30

Blame Israel committing genocide for the view that people think Israel is committing genocide.

It's not just young Americans; it's also old Europeans and people from many other countries. It's genocide experts, human rights experts, and basically everybody who opposes genocide, who are all horrified and disgusted by what's been going on.

29

Look, Hillary - you're never going to make me like TikTok, even with glowing endorsements like this!

26

Shut the fuck up, Hilary.

We all know they’re paying you to say that.

We also all see what is happening in Gaza. Stop the fucking gaslighting and excuses. You lost to Trump in part because of this condescension and patronizing.

25
lemmy.world

Several European countries and Canada have cut off weapon supplies to Israel because of Israeli war crimes.
So are those countries governments and courts watching too much tiktok too?

It's very disappointing how far removed from reality American politicians with only a few exceptions are.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_embargoes_on_Israel_since_2023

Since 7 October 2023, several countries such as Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands and Belgium have ceased the sale of weapons to Israel.

This is yet another example of why many Europeans consider American politicians as extreme, often pandering American exceptionalism or outright denying reality.

23

It’s very disappointing how far removed from reality American politicians with only a few exceptions are.

They're not ignorant. She's not ignorant. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State under Obama, and occupying Israel ("America's greatest ally") was brutalizing Palestinians during that administration, too. She absolutely knows what's been going on.

Statements like Hillary Clinton's are meant to make Palestinian support seem infantile to the public, because pro-Israeli folks Know they've lost control of the narrative. Israel and its supporters can't beat the facts, so they're making absurdist claims like these to discredit their opposition. Don't get cocky, though. This is a page exactly out of the Trump campaign's playbook, And it worked for his campaign. Our fight doesn't end until Israel does.

24
Buffaloxreply
lemmy.world

That's actually worse, because that means she is straight up evil.

16

Good thing we have people who support her tireless effort to stop the Israel/Hamas war.

4
lemmy.today

usa is the most right wing western country, hence why the far rights survive here as a political party, and why they often migrate here from canada, australia, europe when the couldnt grift there.

4

Its important for Tankies and Republicans because they can use it to shame the DNC and decrease faith in the entire system.

0

Who gives a fuck what hillary clinton thinks or says. She never deserved anyone's attention in the first place. Her claim to fame: Married to a president.

20

Second claim to infamy? She doesn't suck cock as good as Donvict tRUMP.

1
lemmy.myserv.one

the DNC that she represents isn't the party that's winning elections. They can try, and they can fail the same way they've been failing for the past decade. She represents rich boomers and nobody else.

5
lemmy.world

From where I'm sitting they haven't been failing, the DNC has had 48 or less senators for over a decade.

0
lemmy.world

So, to recap for you, since it's been 2 days, you claimed 1) she is not the DNC, which I agree with, 2) the people she represents are failing

But the people she is representing in this case don't want the DNC to win at all.

1

1: She is not the DNC even if she was for a hot second. 2: She is a failure. 3: So is the DNC. But then thinking about it sober, it doesn't really matter because they're all failures and they deserve eachother.

0
lemmy.ca

I think what blows my mind is what am I missing that all these elite Americans are not? Why do they defend Israel so hard? Is it purely because of religious beliefs or something else?

16
ohlaphreply
lemmy.world

They are a surveillance state. I bet they have dirt on a lot of people.

11

Money. Israeli money is in every piece of American politics from the military industrial complex to the media. Hell, look at all the colleges that get funding from Israeli connections from the student protests the other year.

10

Hillary championed Universal Healthcare while she was First Lady. Somehow, she did a 180 on that during her subsequent runs for office. That is when I stopped being interested in Hillary.

15

Even back in the 90s, her plan was a private sector plan. "Third Way Democrats" wouldn't do anything unless it shoveled money to corporations.

7

"Used to be that young people just believed whatever propaganda we fed them! But now they've got actual video evidence of Isreal committing horrifying crimes against humanity and this has somehow convinced their barely formed minds that Isreal are, like, bad or something. Grumble grumble, oh shit my Depends are overflowing again!"

14
sh.itjust.works

Clinton thinks that Americans should back Israel because they are a historic ally. The youth are asking why they have been a historic ally given what the US claims to represent.

3
lemmy.today

Sorry, if one of my friends becomes a serial killer, I don't defend him, gaslight everyone around us, cover for him, give him money to keep operating ( but he promised he'd stop killing people!), etc. I'd stop defending and supporting him, and cooperate with any authorities that want to put a stop to his murderous rampage.

Why is that so hard?

1
lemmy.ml

Some real presidential insight there. She should run, it’s her turn!

11

She's been resurfacing every 3-6 months to give a bad take as well as ruining DNC electoral strategy for 30 years now.

She's respected in the DNC politic because of her "experience" but her experience is having the wrong take every time.

I guess she also has money and can keep quiet about the nefarious sexual exploits of her colleagues.

5

the reason to buy tiktok, was to mostly turn off the ANTI-zionist criticism against israel and its backers. it was one of the SC platforms not controlled by a us corporation which is pro-israel.

9

It was because Tiktok was very effective in preventing Trump from being reelected. The US authoritarian state cannot have a social media app they do not control.

1

Hey Hillary.

Genocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.

Words have meaning. The state of Israel is committing genocide.

8

Israel IS committing genocide. Maybe if Israel doesn't want people to think it's doing genocide, it should stop doing genocide. TikTok ain't got shit to do with it.

8

Yeah at this point, Hillary Clinton is just as fucked up as Donald Trump. The latter is a joker and an idiot, but both are equally evil

6
dan1101reply
lemmy.world

It was between Trump and Hilary, a steaming pile of shit and a turd.

3

True, but I'm talking about in the primaries.

We gotta remember that more dipshits literally voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders.

1

its kind of like being locked in a cage for your entire life, and you get fed a piece of human shit, every, single, day. and nothing else. except one day, they offer you the option of having your raw human shit placed in between two slices of bread.

its still a piece of shit, but you think its a sandwich. because you simply dont know any better.

1

Bill Clinton, politician which in line with Ronald Reagan ruined America by pushing the Democrats further right. And also he's a pedophile associated with Epstein. And his wife is the same but couldn't even beat Donald Trump.

4

I think TikTok is bad. But maybe the reason young Americans condemn Israel is because of Israel's actions (bombing Gaza, starving Gaza, withholding medicines from Gaza, trying to deny Palestinian statehood).

I think Hamas's attack on Israeli civilians in 2023 was not in any way justified. Civilians should not be attacked. But if we're going to say that, then it also means that Palestinian civilians should not be attacked.

4

I've never watched tiktok. I will have Zionism and think they should be removed from, well everything. Fuck them.

4

Tiktok gave many American kids access to non-Israeli sympathetic voices which in turn made them see the truth. Many older Americans will never understand this.

Many American never see anything resembling the truth of this situation because defense contractors frequently advertise in the media. NBC was owned by GE at one point amd now wants Microsoft advertising dollars. As those companies are involved in the defense sector and sell Israel tech they have a interest in maintaining this narrative. Thus our media never has anything other than a pro-Israel stance. Clinton is one of these folks.

4
lemmy.today

Yeah, because no Americans have even the most basic Critical Thinking Skills to look at the fundamental facts and conclude that there is an obvious genocide going on. TikTok must be tattling.

People like her is the reason I've been an Unaffiliated Independant since registering to vote in 1977. At first, I didn't register a party because I really didn't know the difference, but as I learned about politics, I realized I didn't want to part of either club.

I hate MAGA, and would never vote MAGA, until they clean up, revert back to being responsible Republicans (like that ever existed), which would take years, maybe decades. But that doesn't make me a Democrat, it's just they are all that's left, and they are the lesser of two evils by a significant amount.

Now that they are getting some Progressives like AOC and Max Frost, I'm even finding some Dems I actually like (a new experience), but I won't change. I will be an Unaffiliated Independent until I die, because I know that the Dems are still run by establishment, Republican-Lite creeps like the Clintons, Obamas, Jeffries, and that cowardly insipid loser Schmuck Schumer, who might as well flip MAGA and get it over with. He's clearly on their side.

4
lemmy.world

I don't think Hillary has those critical thinking skills you described, I think shes having senility problems.

1

"Anything that we try to say to them, they’re hearing it through this wall of carnage," Hurwitz lamented

Remind me, who built this wall? I'll wait.

3

Hey, if Israel can get away with annihilating cities and civilians then that gives us a free pass to commit extrajudicial killings in international waters. The bar has been moved.

2

If that can help remove TikTok and other similar short form algorithmic crack from people with developing brains, I'll support any of Hillary's theories.

1