Clinton on Gaza: Youth Getting Information on Social Media “Largely manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party”

By Daniel Rankin

QUB Chancellor and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on the panel of a podcast, “Unholy” in New York City on the 29th October [1]. Areas of discussion included the state of the modern Democratic Party, the second presidency of Donald Trump, and the state of affairs following ceasefire in Gaza.

The podcast describes itself as aiming to “dissect and debate current events shaping Israel, Jewish life – and the wider world”, and is hosted by Yonit Levi of Channel 12 News in Israel and The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland [2]. The panel event brought Hillary Clinton, as well as Keren Yarhi Milo – the Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University – to public discussion.

Clinton recounted her experiences as SofS in 2012, going continuously between Jerusalem, Ramallah and Cairo to negotiate – via “shuttle diplomacy” – a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, giving Trump mild credit as the 2012 ceasefire was the most recent prior to the current war (2023-).

The former SofS recounted an event she spoke at following Oct 7 2023, whereby in “real time” one could see students of both Palestinian and Israeli background speaking in an initially engaging manner:

“The students gave a standing ovation… three days later they were calling me a war criminal.”

Freedland asked about the younger generation of Democratic voters who feel less of an “instinctive attachment or empathy or understanding for Israel”, and asked if her position on Israel post-Oct 7 was one “slowly receding” in the Democratic Party.

Clinton responded:

“I don’t see it that way – I see it slightly differently. Because I think it’s a generational issue more than a political issue…”

“We have done a miserable job teaching young people history” was met by applause by the audience. Recounting her trips to Israel and support alongside her husband, she stated:

“It was astonishing to me – because I had so many conversations and frankly they often started as confrontations with students, not just at Columbia but elsewhere – where were they getting their information? They were getting it from social media. They were getting it most particularly from TikTok, which is governed by an algorithim – which until at least up till now – still largely manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Opining that, had the PLO’s Arafat accepted Bill Clinton and the Israeli government’s 2000 deal there would be a recognised Palestinian state, she stated that young people in confrontation would bluntly ask, “Who is Yasser Arafat?” She continued, “all those people chanting ‘from the river to the sea, when you ask them what river, what sea; they had no idea.” The Chancellor then compared this perceived ignorance about Gaza to the inversion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whereby Trump and his ideologues distort the truth of the invasion via non-reputable sources.

The Gaza war has seen more than 70,000 civilians dead, almost entirely on the Palestinian side. Israel has been accused of the crime of genocide by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, alongside a multitude of genocide scholars and human rights charities [3][4].

Hillary Clinton’s last visit to Queen’s saw significant protest from students, mostly against her support for Israel and reluctance to support a ceasefire. 3 were arrested. This area of massive controversy is unlikely to be one that fades out – Clinton and beyond – in a post-ceasefire world.

References

[1] “Unholy Live NYC: A conversation with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo”. Unholy Podcast, 31 Oct 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdPskPBd_78&t=2017s

[2] Unholy Podcast, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@Unholy-media

[3] Nader, E. “Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s leading experts say”. BBC News, 1 Sept 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cde3eyzdr63o

[4] OHCHR, “Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, UN Commission finds”. OHCHR Media Centre, 16 Sept 2025. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds