OPINION: Caught in the Crossfire: What My Teenage Daughter Taught Me About the “Cult of Woke”

A panicked WhatsApp from your 16 year old daughter during the family chat is never a good thing.

It's especially “not good” when she's in town with non-Jewish college friends who, she says furiously, considered going to McDonald's for chips but then radically reconsidered because that the fast food chain “supports Israel.”

She is now in the middle of the street, whispering on her phone because she doesn't know what to do. How should she react? She tells me that they publish “All eyes on Rafah” on their social networks.

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Since the IDF targeted a military airstrike on two Hamas terrorists in Rafah on Sunday and secondary explosions killed dozens of Palestinians, the AI-generated image on Instagram (which looks nothing like Rafah) has been shared more than 40 million times.

Never mind that these secondary explosions were likely caused by a stockpile of Hamas weapons deliberately stored in the resettlement area, designed to cause maximum damage in terms of human lives. Never let the truth get in the way of a good excuse to condemn Israel for its alleged genocide.

These middle school students know that my daughter is Jewish. That she has Israeli family. It's a mixed group of communities and religious faiths and she tells me that while it's OK for them all to support causes like Black Lives Matter, Israel and Jews are a different matter entirely.

So what does she say? What is she doing? I know what I'd like to do, but it won't do him any good in the long run.

It was also the night of the pro-Palestinian rally in Westminster which saw 40 people arrested. So, within three minutes, my brother, who is overprotective at the best of times, is prepped and ready to run into town with me to take her home.

But she is adamant she will take care of it. She doesn't want to make a fuss or make things worse at college. She has one year left, she tells us.

“They behave like sheep,” she adds. “They just see a picture and assume. There is no thought in it. Why does everyone immediately oppose us? I'm really having a hard time understanding it. No matter what I say at school, it always gets back in my face.

“I tried to explain to them the meaning of the bloody red badge that Billie Eilish wore to the Oscars, and my friend said, 'But I know her.' She would never do such a thing. It's just a misunderstanding.

“And I was like, 'Bitch, please.' The power held by celebrities is so dangerous. It’s frightening to think how quickly people can turn against Jews when you consider what happened during the Holocaust.”

Back home, she speaks to our Israeli editor, Jotam, who does his best to distill October 7 and the subsequent Operation Iron Swords (the name given to the IDF's campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip) in small pieces suitable for consumption by a 16 year old.

This isn't the first episode sorry and it certainly won't be the last, but this one in particular made me think that for so long, ensuring our children feel “safe” has been about encouraging them to learn Krav Maga. Learn to defend yourself physically. That's what we focused on.

What we never prepared them for was an information war on an unprecedented scale. Where they are confronted is the adoption of the message “All eyes on Rafah” as the latest badge of woke honor. Never mind that those publishing it have little interest in finding out what really happened. And by the time the media reports what really happened, the damage has already been done.

The majority of our adolescents do not understand international politics. There are no educational initiatives for young Jewish children to learn how to defend themselves verbally and factually, especially those who do not attend Jewish schools.

So while we may say that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” I disagree. Yes. Yes, they will.

These are 15 and 16 year olds, proud to be Jewish, who may have toured Israel and loved the experience, but who feel completely intimidated when faced with so much propaganda and fake news. Every minute of every day. Meme by meme, minute by minute.

I challenge anyone to claim full control of the politics of the current war in Gaza. Our international media cannot. Hell, many of the politicians who are supposed to run this country can't either. So how can we expect this from Jewish teenagers, thrust into the big world with voices screaming at them that everything they stand for is wrong, evil and genocidal?

With all this in mind, I make a heartfelt appeal to our extraordinary educational community organisations, StandWithUs UK, Campaign Against Antisemitism, UJS, UJIA, Tribe and Etgar: consider how we can prepare the youth of today today that we protect so much, to enable them to defend themselves and their tribe in the future.

Obsessed with Marvel and always ready to have the last word, my daughter quotes Spiderman as saying, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

She adds: “Influencers can just brainwash people into thinking something. Just because you like a singer and their work doesn't mean everything they do is good. It's so barbaric. It's really crazy.

• In April 2024, McDonald's announced that it would purchase all of its Israeli restaurants. The fast-food hamburger chain's sales have suffered as customers boycotted the international brand over its perceived support for Israel. McDonald's also came under fire after branches of Israeli franchises offered thousands of free meals to members of the Israeli military.