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AIBU?

To wonder why the Corbynite left is so obsessed with Palestine?

278 replies

Antigony · 26/02/2019 17:29

To be clear - I don't agree with everything the Israeli government is doing.

But there are vast numbers of governments around the world who are doing terrible things. There's the Chinese government's treatment of the Uighur Muslims, the Australian government's offshore internment of asylum seekers for years driving some to suicide, the Saudi Arabian government's warmongering and bombing in Yemen, Maduro in Venezuela stopping food aid from reaching his starving people, the Iranian government hanging gay people etc.

Why have so many people on the British left seized on and fetishised this one injustice? Why do they all put Palestinian flags in their twitter bios and jump on every opportunity to criticise Israel, but don't do the same for these other countries?

OP posts:

Report

hyacynthia · 26/02/2019 17:38

Because it's fashionable and makes them seem "woke". I think antisemitism plays a role in it too.

Desdemonie · 26/02/2019 17:42

I've wondered about this for quite a while really.

Yesterday or the day before, a Conservative MP posted on twitter that it was 10 years since the death of her son. One person posted a really vile reply, accusing her of being responsible for the deaths of disabled children - and, surprise, surprise, this person had the hashtag Free Palestine in their bio. As this person has no ability to feel empathy for a grieving mother, I don't really buy their claim of empathy for Palestinians.

DGRossetti · 26/02/2019 17:45

But there are vast numbers of governments around the world who are doing terrible things.

Which began after the Palestinians were kicked out of their homeland ....

oilLovesChuck · 26/02/2019 17:47

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Grumpelstilskin · 26/02/2019 17:52

Personally, I find the failure to condemn Palestinian terrorism and unwillingness to insist on accepting Israel’s sovereignty a huge hypocrisy. I find it deeply offensive that brutal terrorist organisations are fêted without distinction between the civilian population and corrupt brutal leadership. Millions of European funds are sent to aid Palestinians but are siphoned off, by first the PLO and now Hamas. The level of skewered and one-sided reporting is as revolting as Israeli propaganda on the other side of the coin. Neither are innocent. For every brutalised kid, woman and other so-called innocent is the stark reality that young kids actually get sent into crowded spaces wearing explosives. I am sick of the staged and fake propaganda. My sympathies are limited due to Palestinians exporting their terrorism to Europe, kidnapping innocent civilians, supporting and training for example members of the brutal Red Army Fraction and being a major contributing force to igniting brutal civil war in the Lebanon. I will not support any Palestinian cause until it condemns its brutal thugs, instead of glorifying people like Dalal Mughrabi, Leila Khaled and turning them into poster girls that get invited to give speeches.

ZacharyQuacks · 26/02/2019 17:53

YABU.

They don't, they aren't and it isn't a binary choice. Can't I be opposed to the Netanyahu government's treatment of the Palestinians and be opposed to Saudi actions in Yemen (funded and supported by the Conservative Government, who recently lobbied Germany to lift sanctions against SA)?

Desdemonie · 26/02/2019 17:55

Can't I be opposed to the Netanyahu government's treatment of the Palestinians and be opposed to Saudi actions in Yemen (funded and supported by the Conservative Government, who recently lobbied Germany to lift sanctions against SA)?

You're missing the OP's point - she's asking exactly that.

Why aren't all these Corbynites on twitter equally as angry about Saudi actions in Yemen as they are about Israel/Palestine?

MaxNormal · 26/02/2019 17:55

Because the 2014 images of dead children in pieces has stayed with me.
I'm equally incensed by our cosying up to the Saudis.

ZacharyQuacks · 26/02/2019 18:00

"If there are 2 things Corbyn hates, it's Jews and the EU".

Total nonsense. Can you not understand that Zionists are not always Jews and Jews are not always Zionists (although many are). This is the classic pro-Netanyahu conflation of Jews and Israel, so that anyone who criticises the actions of the Israeli government can be smeared with the label of "anti-Semite". Corbyn really can't win can he? You might as well say he has a gambling addiction, and the more he denies it, the more it is proof that he has one.

There are many legitimate reasons to criticise the man, but "hates Jews" is not one of them.

Bluesmartiesarebest · 26/02/2019 18:03

Op, I completely agree with you.

It’s a weird mindset that demonises the only democracy in the Middle East yet says nothing about the rest of the region that has no equal rights for women and kills people for being gay.

Tomtontom · 26/02/2019 18:05

Why aren't all these Corbynites on twitter equally as angry about Saudi actions in Yemen as they are about Israel/Palestine?

They largely are, but as the Israeli issue is more prominent in the media it follows that it will be more prominent on social media.

I truly hope the issue of Israel's apartheid treatment of the Palestinian people is also an issue for everyone, not just the Labour Party. If not, why not?

ZacharyQuacks · 26/02/2019 18:05

@Des - I'm really not. I'm a left leaning, Corbyn supporting, Momentum member and have been active in campaigns against the Saudis, Chinese human right abuses etc since long before Corbyn became leader. That seems to be the same for most of the party members I know.

Does the OP know all the Corbynites on Twitter and know what they do and don't support?!

noraclavicle · 26/02/2019 18:06

But there are vast numbers of governments around the world who are doing terrible things.

Which began after the Palestinians were kicked out of their homeland ....

Woah, hold on there DGRossetti— are you seriously trying to suggest that every bad thing around the globe is as a result of Israel? Or is that firmly tongue-in-cheek?

PinguDance · 26/02/2019 18:06

Think this is a legit question although I would also say that most of the ‘left’ I know but a lot of effort into raising awareness of injustices other than those relating to Palestine.

However I’d argue the British involvement in the formation of Israel is one of the main reasons it’s a cause taken to heart by the ‘British left’ - though I don’t see why it’s a particularly leftish issue.

Iggly · 26/02/2019 18:08

YABU - I’m sure they’re bothered about other things too.

Although Britain played a significant part in the removal of Palestine from the map in the aftermath of WWII. Which may be why?

The British empire has a lot to answer for!!

Bluesmartiesarebest · 26/02/2019 18:08

@DGRosetti more Jewish people were kicked out of the countries surrounding Israel than Palestinians who left Israel.

ZacharyQuacks · 26/02/2019 18:09

@Blue

Not the old "only democracy in the Middle East" line. It's NOT a democracy when you exclude 6 million people from voting for the only government of the nation, capable of action on a federal and international level. If you excluded the population of Northern Ireland from voting in the UK general election and only allowed them to vote in local/regional elections no one would think that was democracy, so please stop the lies.

Desdemonie · 26/02/2019 18:10

Which began after the Palestinians were kicked out of their homeland

The father of my dd's best friend is a Jew whose family was kicked out of Iraq - where they had lived for centuries - when he was a baby.

I don't hear anyone getting too worked up about them.

OdeToDiazepam · 26/02/2019 18:10

Maybe it's because Britain sends significant funds and weapons to Israel?

ZacharyQuacks · 26/02/2019 18:12

@nora suspect that poster meant the Palestinian situation has been one of the longest running issues, rather than every bad thing in the world is a causative effect of the Palestinians being kicked out of their homeland.

Antigony · 26/02/2019 18:12

Maybe it's because Britain sends significant funds and weapons to Israel?

We do the same for Saudi Arabia...

OP posts:

Iggly · 26/02/2019 18:14

It’s worth reading up on the history of Palestine and Israel if you’re not familiar with it.

I’m sure the fact that the US and Israel have strong ties and the UK is “special friend” to the US has something to do with it.

But, OP, your post sounds a bit “whatabouttery”.

DGRossetti · 26/02/2019 18:15

Woah, hold on there DGRossetti— are you seriously trying to suggest that every bad thing around the globe is as a result of Israel? Or is that firmly tongue-in-cheek?

No. (damn MN and it's pisspoor lack of quoting).

My - admittedly Anglocentric and limited - understanding of Palestine is that way back when (just after WW2) the British kicked a load of Palestinians out of the land they had lived in for centuries to help create Israel. So "the Palestinian situation" - whatever it's rights and wrongs (probably a lot of wrongs ) predates all the other issues the PP mentioned.

... is what I was trying (badly) to say ...

DGRossetti · 26/02/2019 18:16

as I said, limited (but hopefully ever growing) understanding.

JellySlice · 26/02/2019 18:18

Israel was a very socialist society from before it was even a state. Perhaps Labour see its change towards capitalism as a betrayal?

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