“We’re Not Friends Anymore Because I Support Israel”: Evolving Beliefs about Israel Politics from Elementary to Middle School

Drawing upon a longitudinal study tracking a group of Jewish children from the start of elementary school (ages 5–6) through the end of middle school (ages 13–14), this article examines how young Jews develop an initial understanding of Israeli politics. It outlines four distinct stages in the development of political understanding. First, in early elementary school, children develop an awareness of civic issues at a stage that might be understood as pre-political. Second, in the upper elementary grades, children develop new knowledge of political issues and political leaders in the USA, but their understanding of the parallels in Israel often lags behind their developmental capacities for understanding political systems. Next, in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, this gap in children’s understanding begins to narrow as tweens and young teens begin to make sense of politics in Israel and politics about Israel in the USA. Fourth, as children near the end of middle school, many begin to understand the ways that their own personal decisions can also be political, especially as they attempt to navigate how Israel functions in online, often hostile discourse.