AIBU to say that graduation ceremonies are not the place to make political statements?

Who do you think you are to minimise a Jewish person's experience and truth, and tell them they're being 'daft'? Who t f do you think you are!?? See this is the problem, smug people like you calling Jewish people liars! Telling them they are wrong about their life and their experience. Many Jewish people have been attacked on the last 2 years on campuses in the US and UK. This is a known fact if you had paid any attention to the news. Don't even dare dismiss a Jewish person's experience and call them liars! This, is why people are turning against Palestine and their vile activists.

Nothing more than it makes than it makes the rest of us feel I expect ie, uncomfortable and frustrated that we can’t do anything to stop what’s happening and glad people are speaking up.

Being Jewish and being pro-Israeli genocide are not the same thing. And if it makes pro-Israeli genocide people feel bad, that’s a good thing.

When it's waved and worn by people who abuse Jewish students, draw swastikas on synagogues and set fire to synagogues, then yes it is.

And of course there's food in Gaza...this has been going on for nearly 21 months,..there wouldn't be a single person left if there wasn't food there.

But whatever, when your grandchildren ask you what you did when the Palestinian genocide was taking place, you can tell them you started a thought provoking thread on Mumsnet, questioning whether political protest at university graduation is quite the done thing

Whether it's a genocide or not is debatable...but even if it is, no one will ask that anyway. Do children nowadays ask their parents and grandparents what they were doing during the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s? They really don't. And there hasn't been a single point in history where some war/conflict hasn't been going on.

The term virtue signalling implies the gestures were insincere or empty and I'm not sure how you can know that, or why you seem to think the worst of their motives.

The reason people are compelled to show support and solidarity for Palestine at the moment is because of what we are seeing EVERY DAY and the fact these atrocities are continuing without any challenge from anyone in leadership. Not because it's "trendy".

But whatever, when your grandchildren ask you what you did when the Palestinian genocide was taking place, you can tell them you started a thought provoking thread on Mumsnet, questioning whether political protest at university graduation is quite the done thing.

Let's counter these lies with some independent reporting on the facts:

https://www.unicef.org.uk/donate/children-in-gaza-crisis-appeal/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20650843857&gclid=CjwKCAjwyb3DBhBlEiwAqZLe5BRGnvADQX3YzZBZGjjtSXkFvCo1Z3vEpSAwX5u4Wo9Krh67LQw60xoC4egQAvD_BwE

https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/disasters-and-emergencies/world/whats-happening-in-gaza-humanitarian-crisis-grows

https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/disasters-and-emergencies/world/how-is-aid-getting-into-gaza

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/04/1162471

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ep17gyzrzo.amp

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/24/at-least-40-more-palestinians-killed-seeking-aid-in-gaza-say-medics-and-officials

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164846

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/05/theyre-skin-and-bones-doctors-in-gaza-warn-babies-at-risk-of-death-from-lack-of-formula

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna215699

Don't be so absolutely absurd.

Are you trying to claim children haven't been killed by the IDF? Are you trying to conflate the state of Israel with Jewish people? Are you hoping to frighten people into complicity with genocide by suggesting that those who disagree that children are an acceptable casualty of war are anti-Semitic? It won't work.

I spend plenty of time thinking about mascara and clothes and anything more fun and frivolous to take my mind off the anger and hopelessness I feel about the way this world is.

But yes, to be honest when I'm not at work or busy at home, or worrying about my own kids, I'm desperately trying to conceive of a way to help or change things. The images from Gaza absolutely haunt me. I appreciate not everyone feels this way but it seems particularly petty to disapprove of young people trying to show they care instead of directing that judgement towards the people who are killing hundreds of innocent people every single day.

I’m glad the younger generation are more political
for so long we as a nation there was political apathy

and what is happening in Gaza is genocide no one should be expected to not show their support

https://x.com/imshin/status/1943331727692190067?s=61&t=_cKTNp_TyAyzDViEOCJDFQ]]

Imshin reposts original Gazan posts.

There are the videos made for the GoFundMes then there are the videos for domestic use to advertise shops/restaurants/cafes etc. There are 000s of people experiencing malnutrition but there are also people being dismissive of the food aid they’ve received as it’s not to their tastes. Lots of it has also been chucked on the ground and not taken as it’s not wanted (cooking oil has been though as the price for that is high at the moment so a few people have been stock piling it to make a profit). There are also lots and lots of people making and consuming a good range of food, as they have done throughout the war.

I'm not sure what the point of your thread is then?

You don't agree with students making a particular (or any?) political statement and/or holding up a particular (or any?) flag at a graduation, but you accept that it's hardly a shocking thing for a kid on a stage in front of their friends to do?

It's not hurting anyone and if you ban it, a bunch of them will do it anyway and cause even more disruption. They're young and idealistic, leave them to it.

How far do you take this?

Can anyone recommend a decent mascara? Omg, how can you think about mascara when there's a genocide....

Where's your news source for this statement:

'You do realise that there are people in Gaza with food? There are cafes and restaurants open and advertising there delicious Nutella soaked crepes.'

Oh, I'm well up for discussion about how we can collectively create a world where human beings do not inflict misery upon one another and about how and why we have reached the point we are at now.

What I cannot take seriously is that anyone can seriously expend mental energy pondering whether it is "right" for students to unfurl flags at a graduation ceremony while we are collectively witnessing a genocide.

Blood libel, delightful

.

You do realise that there are people in Gaza with food? There are cafes and restaurants open and advertising there delicious Nutella soaked crepes. The situation is absolutely dire, but there is not mass starvation (it’s vile that these points have to even be debated but here we are). Hamas is regularly killing and torturing Gazans for stealing aid. Hamas are shooting at people at aid sites to stop people getting free aid (I know you won’t believe that but someone else might). If people get free aid then Hamas lose an income stream.

By international laws, if Russia used schools & hospitals as military sites then yes Ukraine could target them. If Russia didn’t remove civilians first then they are as evil as Hamas.

I mean if this is your thought process, may as well never discuss anything..

So it's fine for countries to kill children by the thousand as long as another country started the conflict? Does that mean Ukraine can indiscriminately bomb Russian schools and hospitals? Or is it only Arab children who are fit to be casualties of war?

Do the children's lives not matter to you at all? Are you comfortable with their deaths because Hamas did something evil?

If every Palestinian child is murdered, is that ok because of Hamas? There are babies starving to death in Gaza as we speak because Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from entering the country and they have no formula. Do you feel ok with that because it's retribution for Hamas?

How many is too many for you? Or are you happy for every single child in Palestine to die because you can call them human shields and shrug your shoulders and pretend they're not human?

Jesus, maybe watch the news once in a while. If a few students holding up flags during their graduation bothers you more than the senseless butchering and starvation of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom are tiny children, then you could do with reflecting.

Think yourself lucky that you were able to watch your precious darling graduate without experiencing a fraction of the terror, desperation and pain that a Palestinian mum must feel at the moment, not knowing if her children will be obliterated any moment, starve to death, or be left orphaned amongst the rubble.

Good on those students. At least they are trying to do something, rather than sit there comfortably pursing their lips at peaceful protest FFS.

If you find the phrase 'slaughtering children' unpalatable, what phrase would you prefer? Collective punishment? Collateral damage?