Is TikTok the new battleground for the Israel-Palestine conflict?
In the TikTok video, a little Gazan girl covered in ash asks for her mother. It’s one of millions of videos about the Israel-Hamas conflict gripping users on the social platform.
The heartbreaking stories and harrowing images pouring out of the conflict zone have set emotions boiling thousands of miles away on the streets of London – and turned social media into a battleground.
Millions of TikToks are uploaded every day giving differing perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war, as a new generation engages with this latest iteration of the long-running conflict. For many, it’s now a primary source of news.
The platform is known for short, snappy video clips that can gain colossal reach as they are shared and reshared.
“When anger is stirred up things tend to go viral much more quickly,” says Dr Christine Cheng, a senior lecturer in war studies at King’s College London.
In the US, Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley has even claimed that TikTok makes people “17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas” every 30 minutes – without any clear evidence to back it up.
Prominent UK TikTok creators – aligned on both sides of the conflict – say the platform offers an opportunity to promote conversation across the divide and highlight stories missed by mainstream media.
TikTok itself says it is “rapidly and robustly” responding to the Israel-Hamas war and has accelerated efforts to remove fake accounts and engagement.
Just looking at the numbers it would seem that TikTok’s content leans pro-Palestine, but the platform argues that this reflects wider trends on social media and among younger audiences generally.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to London’s streets in support of Palestine
“Any time you have a strong emotional response you’re much more likely to engage,” Dr Cheng says. “Social media platforms love that and of course we then tend to spread it and provoke it even more.”
As a result, we end up with increased polarisation and it becomes difficult to have calm conversations, she says.
Short video clips about specific events in the conflict struggle to encapsulate all the relevant context, she adds. “It’s very easy to take that particular incident and then it goes viral, and then the conversation stops.”
Dr Martin Farr, senior lecturer in contemporary British history at Newcastle University, said people have seen things on their phones in the last few months that they will never forget and may shape their perspectives on the conflict.
“It’s been so extraordinary, the extent of the violence, the extent of the loss of life and the sense that people could have that one side is to blame rather than a more complicated and more necessarily nuanced appreciation of the situation,” he says.
“There’s an impulse in all these things to be more provocative.”
Dr Farr also pointed to what he calls the “deflating” of the Hamas attack on Israel as numbers of people killed in Gaza have soared.
Asked if social media has fuelled divisions over Israel-Palestine, he says: “I don’t think it’s necessarily exacerbated it, I think it has damaged understanding.”
Benny Greenstein asks people about Israel-Palestine. Pic: bennyjeeee
What do prominent UK TikTok creators say?
Unmissable with his distinctive short, colourful hair, 25-year-old Benny Greenstein has nearly 70,000 followers on TikTok and his “do you have to pick a side?” videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
From a Jewish family and raised in Manchester with lots of Muslim friends, Benny says his background gives him a well-rounded view on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“It’s just stuck in this toxic place and all we can do is promote peace and diplomacy.”
Many of his videos see him approaching people on the streets of London to talk about Israel-Palestine, asking them: Do you have to pick a side?
“Conversation and diplomacy is what gets you places. Rocket firing and antisemitism and islamophobia gets you nowhere.”
Some people in Benny’s TikToks are clear supporters of one side or another, while others are less sure or say there should be a humanitarian approach.
The comments are busy with users posting in support of Israel and Palestine or calling out “genocide”.
Benny says he is inspired by his grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, and is determined to use his platform to promote peace and love.
Isobel Dye, 22, is currently studying for a master’s degree at LSE and has also been posting on TikTok for several years, amassing more than 164,000 followers.
Her interest in the Israel-Palestine conflict, in particular the plight of Palestinians, was sparked after she attended a pro-Palestine rally in 2021.
Isobel Dye says she reached one million people in a week on TikTok
“I try and speak about things not picked up by the mainstream media,” she says. “British people are deeply complicit [in the conflict], we can’t not have an opinion on this.”
Her TikToks usually feature news clips and stories with her speaking to the camera overlaid on top. In the last week she has reached around a million people, she says.
Isobel’s audience during that time was heavily female (80%), with 66% aged between 18 and 24. It’s a good example of TikTok’s reach with the younger demographic – just 28% of people aged 16-24 read newspapers in print or online, according to Ofcom.
Asked if TikTok is a good place for people engaging with the conflict, she says yes, so long as you have the right voices out there. “I try and centre Palestinian voices,” she adds.
A pro-Israel demonstration in London
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Debra Barnes, 59, is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who goes into UK schools to talk about antisemitism. In search of a new audience, she started posting TikToks about her family’s story too.
“I’m not exactly a TikTok prime audience,” she says. “My mission is to spread the stories of the Holocaust in the hope that it will educate people and something like that will never happen again.”
In the aftermath of the horrors of the Hamas attack on Israel, she started using TikTok to amplify calls for the safe return of the hostages.
“I feel like a tiny voice, David and Goliath almost… among this massive anti-Israel, antisemitic thing it has now grown into on social media,” she says.
“I don’t post about the conflict because there are so many people who are much more knowledgeable and do it much better than me… I’m just trying to do my bit to help the cause.”
TikTok has tried to explain how its algorithm works
Amid discussion about how it decides what content to show its users, TikTok published a lengthy blog post saying its recommendation algorithm does not take sides.
“The content people see on TikTok is generated by our community and recommendations are based on the content people have previously engaged with.
“TikTok does not ‘promote’ one side of an issue over another,” it said.
Videos are ranked using prediction scores based on what TikToks users have viewed and engaged with previously.
On the Israel-Hamas war specifically, TikTok said it is responding “rapidly and robustly” and has removed more than 925,000 videos for violating policies around things like violence and hate speech.
It added: “TikTok does not allow inaccurate, misleading, or false content that may cause significant harm to individuals or society, regardless of intent.”
The platform said that between 7 October and 31 October it removed more than 50,000 videos that it said contained “harmful misinformation”.
While it might not be an app that’s popular with politicians – indeed it’s banned on UK government devices – it’s clear that TikTok is a huge part of the discussion about Israel and Palestine.
The attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing invasion of Gaza have energised a new generation to engage with the struggle for peace in the Middle East. And it’s places like TikTok where that conversation is happening.
Watch Crossing the Divide, a Sky News documentary looking at how the Israel-Hamas war has divided people in the UK, Saturday 23 December at 9pm.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
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The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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