The moment and the media: How Gen Z TikTokers shook the dominant Israeli narrative over its genocidal war on Gaza

Pro-Palestinian content dominated TikTok as Gen Z content creators engaged on this platform, challenging the dominant Pro-Israel narratives on Gaza genocide and Israel–Palestine issue. TikTokers, who grew up with digital technology and honed their skills as creators of fashion, lifestyle and social content, rose up when Israel began massacring Palestinians in Gaza. Their videos were powerful, personal and authentic and became the primary source of information and perspectives on Israel’s genocide and the resilience of Palestinians for millions of people throughout the world. In this auto-ethnographic essay, I discussed three themes emerging from select TikTok videos: political awakening, solidarity with Palestinians from the vantage points of Indigenous identities and humanizing Palestinians. Together, they merged in one overarching theme: a mass political awakening rejecting pro-Israel narratives propped up by western political and media elites and repositioning Israel as a settler colonial state that occupied Indigenous people’s lands and used routinized violence to sustain the occupation.