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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Does anyone else feel like this about Gaza/Israel?

290 replies

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:19

I know it sounds awful, but I’m desperate for a break from Gaza. I feel like we’ve had 2 straight years of hearing about absolutely nothing else. It feels like you can’t switch the radio on, or open Facebook, or even pop to the shop without hearing chants of PALESTINE and having flags waved in your face. It’s been absolutely relentless, and wildly disproportionate compared to other conflicts and atrocities around the world.

Of course it’s hideous that so many civilians have been killed, in particular children. But it feels like Palestine truly believes it is the only population who suffered during the 1940s and is the only country to ever lose territory or be reshaped by global events. I feel like everyone else adjusted to their new normal, for the sake of peace, while Palestinians just continue what seems like an infinite grudge which is then met with harsher repressions by Israel as they have to defend themselves.

It’s utterly exhausting the globe and I have zero hope they will now smell the coffee and take the opportunity to kick Hamas out because ultimately they don’t want peace. Hamas did not drop out of the sky, they and Oct 7 had high support until they started losing, and I think it’s very unlikely they will ever be willing to move on from past events.

AIBU to think we now just need to leave them to it for the sake of all involved?

OP posts:
Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:48

nomas · 13/10/2025 10:47

YABU because:

  1. you think Palestinians personally care what you think. They care about not being bombed, of being able to go back to their homes, about not more of their land being stolen by Israeli settlers. Your ennui does not impinge on them. So if you're annoyed by the media coverage, be annoyed at the media, not Palestinians.

  2. You push the same old tropes and equate Palestinians with Hamas, so it's clear you're pro-Israel. Just say that, your platitudes are nauseating.

YABU because

  1. What?? 🤣 when did I even remotely allude to that? Insane
  2. Pro Israel isn’t the dirty word you want it to be.
OP posts:
Ionlymakejokestodistractmyself · 13/10/2025 10:47

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:25

I feel I should be able to keep some kind of awareness about the world around me without being utterly bombarded by 1 issue. And in any event, even trying to catch a train here means you can’t avoid it as there is a permanent protest outside the station.

Diddums.

Buy a (decent) newspaper instead of watching / scrolling the news.

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:47

CrossChecking · 13/10/2025 10:46

20,000 children taken from Ukraine to Russia but wall to wall coverage of 20 soldiers held in Gaza. Very odd indeed.

Melania Trump is the key negotiator there, I’ve been following this too (or trying to)

OP posts:
DashboardConfession · 13/10/2025 10:47

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:44

Probably because it’s not their Saturday morning hobby and they’re happy to let the negotiation now play out without interfering?

Oh yes, that's definitely the reason.

nomas · 13/10/2025 10:47

YABU because:

  1. you think Palestinians personally care what you think. They care about not being bombed, of being able to go back to their homes, about not more of their land being stolen by Israeli settlers. Your ennui does not impinge on them. So if you're annoyed by the media coverage, be annoyed at the media, not Palestinians.

  2. You push the same old tropes and equate Palestinians with Hamas, so it's clear you're pro-Israel. Just say that, your platitudes are nauseating.

Bundleflower · 13/10/2025 10:46

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:45

Instagram is awash with Hamas apologists. The trendy new line is ‘they’re the resistance!’ . I don’t even remember the IRA taking hostages but okay.

I don’t know what you interact with but I’ve not seen anything like that on social media. I think you’ll find that many people DO support normal everyday Palestinians and DON’T support Hamas. I’m one of them!

CrossChecking · 13/10/2025 10:46

Mealy82 · 13/10/2025 10:29

I find it very odd that there are several areas of the world, such as Nigeria, Sudan and China, where there are mass killings going on. Far more people have been killed in those countries than in Gaza. Apparently in two of those places they unequivocally meet the criteria for genocide.

And yet there is absolutely nothing on the BBC about this. Almost noone knows that these genocides are happening.

20,000 children taken from Ukraine to Russia but wall to wall coverage of 20 soldiers held in Gaza. Very odd indeed.

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:45

Bundleflower · 13/10/2025 10:44

Probably quite a few. I don’t know of anybody who supports terrorists. I hope that the innocent people of Palestine will one day be free of any oppression from anybody.

Instagram is awash with Hamas apologists. The trendy new line is ‘they’re the resistance!’ . I don’t even remember the IRA taking hostages but okay.

OP posts:
NikkiPotnick · 13/10/2025 10:45

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:43

And now Hamas have picked up the torch and are murdering Palestinians themselves, I wonder how many anti Hamas marches we can expect?

Quite.

So in a roundabout way, you might get your wish as a consequence of that.

Wainscot · 13/10/2025 10:44

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 13/10/2025 10:27

Hopefully you'll get the break you need soon. There has been loads of news coverage but weirdly none of it has focused on the real victim which turned out to be you.

😂

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:44

DashboardConfession · 13/10/2025 10:42

I've noticed that the people who want to stop hearing about it tend to fall on the pro-Israel side.

Probably because it’s not their Saturday morning hobby and they’re happy to let the negotiation now play out without interfering?

OP posts:
Bundleflower · 13/10/2025 10:44

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:43

And now Hamas have picked up the torch and are murdering Palestinians themselves, I wonder how many anti Hamas marches we can expect?

Probably quite a few. I don’t know of anybody who supports terrorists. I hope that the innocent people of Palestine will one day be free of any oppression from anybody.

notatinydancer · 13/10/2025 10:44

Wow. I feel for you.
I’ve been managing to ‘pop to the shop’ without anyone waving a flag in my face though.

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:43

Hoppinggreen · 13/10/2025 10:42

Thoughts and prayers OP
Unlike the people of Gaza you can avoid all of it by switching off the news and/or not starting a thread on MN about it

And people in Nigeria? Who can’t avoid their slaughter but have no coverage either?

OP posts:
Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:43

Paddington5 · 13/10/2025 10:39

Well 67,000 have been killed and not by some nutjob dictator with boy soldiers but by a westernised country fully supported (and wouldn’t manage without them) by the US and their peace prize demanding president.
I didn’t think we’d heard enough about the horror and cruelty and all we get in the news is the nutter killing at the synagogue -that is terrible but pales into significance to starving babies and 67,000 dead imv

And now Hamas have picked up the torch and are murdering Palestinians themselves, I wonder how many anti Hamas marches we can expect?

OP posts:
Hoppinggreen · 13/10/2025 10:42

Thoughts and prayers OP
Unlike the people of Gaza you can avoid all of it by switching off the news and/or not starting a thread on MN about it

DashboardConfession · 13/10/2025 10:42

I've noticed that the people who want to stop hearing about it tend to fall on the pro-Israel side.

Barnbrack · 13/10/2025 10:42

Just to check, you know the news you're watching current right? Not 1940s footage? I get the impression it's the current levelling of towns and cities and mass murder of civilians that 'gaza' is bothered by more than anything. Also when people talk about Gaza as if it's an entity. The news you're watching isn't some machine named Gaza, it's families like yours, settled in their home region with no hope for escape constantly treated like vermin to be exterminated rather than human beings with feelings and previously full lives

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:42

Bundleflower · 13/10/2025 10:39

I’ll be lighting a candle for you this evening, OP. Perhaps others will join me in a vigil?
The suffering of any Palestinian or Israeli caught up in this pales to the suffering you’ve endured.

It’s natural to want to hear about global events but to feel bombarded when 1 topic dominates the news. I remember similar threads about Covid and Ukraine, and they were much more relevant to the UK.

OP posts:
GarlicBreadStan · 13/10/2025 10:41

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 13/10/2025 10:27

Hopefully you'll get the break you need soon. There has been loads of news coverage but weirdly none of it has focused on the real victim which turned out to be you.

😂😂

redrattenchair · 13/10/2025 10:40

So bored of hearing about genocide! Snore...What a privileged life!

Paddington5 · 13/10/2025 10:40

Go on the world service on radio 4 or other foreign news providers for different news

NikkiPotnick · 13/10/2025 10:39

Rattanlamp · 13/10/2025 10:29

Does the supply of aid rely on radio coverage and my next door neighbours waving a Palestine flag at our local train station?

Well certainly not on the train station, but you'd have done better to make clear in your OP that you weren't talking about aid. Because that question is now going to be asked a dozen more times by people who've only read one post.

That said, it'll be interesting to see where the pro-Palestinian protest movements go from here, whether they give much thought to the possibility that some of their activism could piss people off or even just desensitise them enough to become counterproductive. I think it's unlikely that they'll turn their hand towards protesting about Palestinians being killed by Hamas.

Bundleflower · 13/10/2025 10:39

didntlikeanyofthesuggestions · 13/10/2025 10:27

Hopefully you'll get the break you need soon. There has been loads of news coverage but weirdly none of it has focused on the real victim which turned out to be you.

I’ll be lighting a candle for you this evening, OP. Perhaps others will join me in a vigil?
The suffering of any Palestinian or Israeli caught up in this pales to the suffering you’ve endured.

Paddington5 · 13/10/2025 10:39

Well 67,000 have been killed and not by some nutjob dictator with boy soldiers but by a westernised country fully supported (and wouldn’t manage without them) by the US and their peace prize demanding president.
I didn’t think we’d heard enough about the horror and cruelty and all we get in the news is the nutter killing at the synagogue -that is terrible but pales into significance to starving babies and 67,000 dead imv

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