Australian attitudes to Israel are stable on average, but there are pockets of sharp change

Australian attitudes towards Jews have, on average, not changed much as a result of the war in Gaza and neither have feelings about Israel.

But at either end of the age range there has been a dramatic change. Young people have become significantly more sympathetic to Palestinians, while older people have increased their sympathy for Israel. Among those aged 18 to 24, pro-Palestinian sympathy increased by 76%. Among those aged 65 to 74, support for Israel doubled.

Clear evidence of Australian attitudes over time emerges from a comparison of the Crossroads21 and Crossroads21 surveys published by The Jewish Independent.

Four distinct trends can be identified over this period, which includes the two years since Hamas’ October 7 attack and the prolonged Israel-Hamas war.

To measure antisemitism, both surveys used a six-question Judeophobic scale developed in the UK, addressing topics including Jewish friends, trusting Jews, Jews chasing money, etc. Strongly negative responses were virtually unchanged (3.8% in 2021, 4% in 2025) while milder negative opinions were lower (13.5% in 2021, 8.5% in 2025).