Rashid Khalidi, historien : « Aux Etats-Unis, les élites pro-Israël ont perdu la bataille de la jeunesse

If you’ve spent any time walking through Morningside Heights lately, you can feel the static in the air. It’s not just the usual New York City hustle; it’s a deeper, more ideological friction that seems to emanate from the gates of Columbia University. When Rashid Khalidi, a titan of Middle Eastern history and a fixture at Columbia, speaks about the “battle for the youth,” he isn’t just talking about abstract polling data from a DC think tank. He’s talking about the incredibly students who are reshaping the political geography of Manhattan and beyond. The shift he’s describing—a precipitous drop in support for Israel among American youth—is playing out in real-time on our street corners, in our coffee shops, and across the diverse boroughs of this city.

The Morningside Heights Barometer and the Generational Rift

For decades, the consensus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the U.S. Was largely managed by a specific set of political and academic elites. But as Khalidi points out, that grip is slipping. The recent Pew Research Center data mentioned in his analysis is a wake-up call: seeing six out of ten Americans hold a negative view of Israel is a seismic shift. In a city like New York, where we have one of the largest Jewish populations in the world alongside a massive, politically active Arab and Muslim community, this isn’t just a trend—it’s a daily negotiation of space and identity.

The tension is particularly acute at institutions like Columbia University. As the holder of the Edward Said Chair, Khalidi occupies a unique vantage point. He sees the intersection of historical grievance and modern activism. The “battle” he refers to is essentially a clash between the geopolitical frameworks of the Cold War era and a new, Gen Z-driven understanding of human rights and colonization. For many young New Yorkers, the lens has shifted from “strategic alliance” to “systemic justice,” and that shift is happening faster than the city’s traditional power structures can keep up with.

The Ripple Effect Across the Five Boroughs

This isn’t just a “campus thing.” The ideological shift is leaking into the halls of the New York City Council and the community boards of Brooklyn and Queens. We’re seeing a growing divergence between the older Democratic establishment—which has historically maintained a staunchly pro-Israel line—and a younger, more progressive wing that views the situation through the prism of intersectionality. This creates a strange, fragmented political landscape where a representative in one district might be aligned with the old guard, while their constituents in the next block are organizing boycotts and demanding divestment.

When you look at the demographics of the city, the impact is amplified. New York is a global hub, and the presence of the United Nations Headquarters adds another layer of complexity. The discourse on the streets of Midtown is often a mirror of the debates happening in the General Assembly, but with a raw, local urgency. The “battle for the youth” is essentially a battle over who gets to define the moral vocabulary of the 21st century. Is it defined by state security and historical treaties, or by international law and grassroots resistance?

the socio-economic effects are starting to manifest. We’re seeing a rise in student-led activism that doesn’t stop at the campus gates but extends to local businesses and corporate sponsors. This is a new form of civic engagement that blends digital mobilization with physical occupation of space, a tactic that has become a hallmark of the New York protest culture. If you’ve followed our analysis of urban political shifts, you know that NYC has always been the testing ground for these movements before they hit the national stage.

Navigating the Friction: A Local Perspective

Living and working in New York during a period of such intense ideological polarization can be exhausting. Whether you’re a business owner in Upper Manhattan, a student at NYU, or a community leader in Astoria, the friction is palpable. The challenge now is moving from confrontation to a sustainable form of coexistence. The shift in opinion that Khalidi describes is an irreversible tide, but how the city manages that transition will determine whether this leads to a more inclusive dialogue or deeper communal fractures.

The reality is that the “elites” Khalidi mentions are realizing that the old playbook doesn’t work on a generation that has the entirety of the conflict’s history available in a 15-second clip on their phone. The democratization of information has stripped away the monopoly on the narrative. In a city as dense and diverse as ours, this means we are forced to confront these contradictions every time we step onto the subway.

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