The Roll Up: September 9, 2025TL;DR: As the conflict in Gaza enters its 24th month, public sentiment on social media is starkly drawn again Israel and its role in the ongoing conflict. Sentiments across all social media platforms monitored by Rolli IQ social media intelligence show very little support for Israel in the conflict. Here's what we know: |
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© 2025 UNRWA Photo by Ashraf Amra |
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After the initial assaults on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, including the killing of nearly 1200 people and the abduction of around 250 hostages, social media support for Israel was abundant. Political leaders and celebrities were quick to put out statements sympathetic to the civilian victims in Israel and standing with the country. Looking at social media posts on October 7 and 8, 2023, Rolli IQ analysis shows Israel was top of mind for literally millions on social media. |
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It's important to note the 60% negative sentiment shown that day was almost entirely focused on negativity toward Hamas and the attacks, meaning most of that portion of responses could be lumped with the 26% positive responses.
Prominent People Post Pro-IsraelRolli IQ pulled up some of the most engaged posts at that time, spanning the worlds of business, entertainment and politics. All were in support of Israel and looking for a quick end to the conflict. |
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Another sign the sentiments at the time were genuine is the complete lack of coordination of posts, meaning Rolli IQ analysis shows no suspicious patterns that might indicate bot posting or coordinated social media campaigns. |
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Social Media Mood Shifts Now, approaching two years into the war and having been saturated with images and stories of the suffering of the civilians in Gaza, social media posting has turned decidedly negative against Israel. A Rolli IQ analysis covering the last month shows one of the most negative sentiment scores the system has ever produced. |
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As it was with the negative sentiments that were actually pro-Israel at the beginning of the conflict, some of that negative score this time is aimed at Hamas, though it is a fraction of the negative sentiment toward Israel. The Rolli IQ Sentiment AI summary shows some of the wording used in posts that is strongly anti-Israel, including "genocide," "atrocities" and "starvation." |
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These accusations of war crimes against Israel are common enough to earn their own category in the Rolli IQ Topic Tree with subsections including "Genocide accusations" and "War crimes." |
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The red lines indicating negative sentiments would be expected with those topics, but they are present even for those users posting support of Palestine. Most in the Rolli IQ Topic Tree show that support by condemning Israel's actions. Note the green lines leading to the topic "Support for Palestine," but then the red lines leading from that topic to individual posts criticizing Israel. |
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One last look that gives a real sense of the magnitude of negative feelings toward Israel's ongoing attacks in Gaza shows up in Rolli IQ's Sentiment Mapping capabilities. The red lines leading out to a circle of post clusters on the right are negative responses to the way, while the isolated green lines on the left show support. This is perhaps the most lopsided sentiment map Rolli IQ has ever produced. |
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The bottom line is that the analysis using Rolli IQ to look at social media posts around Israel and Gaza shows Israel's contention it is justifiably targeting Hamas with its attacks has fallen mostly flat among social media posters--a far cry from the strong support Israel felt online after the initial attacks against its citizens in October 2023. |
