What do you understand from the chant 'Free Palestine'?

Well, if you go by the Talmud it would be after they conquered Jericho and put every man, woman and child to the sword and then proceeded to conquer the Canaanites. It is the “Promised Land” that Moses led them to out of Egypt (keep in mind Egypt technically ruled most of the area at the time), so they must have been just across the border of New Kingdom Egypt.

If you go by archaeologists’ DNA tests of unearthed skeletal remains of inhabitants from the Levant region compared to DNA of Jewish and Palestinian peoples, they arrived at the same time circa 1500 BC and are actually one ethnicity the only difference between them being that various segments adopted different new religions as they emerged- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The Jews have been driven out of countless ancestral homelands for millennia.

When do you think the Jews were first recorded as being in the land that is now known as Israel?

This is so ridiculous there isn't even a response.

Its not the country of people living there for centuries, but it is the country for people who grabbed it forcefully, violently and murderously because they felt they had a right to?

? The Palestinians were living there under Ottoman and then British rule, what do you mean it wasn’t their country? Are they serfs to be sold with the land from British to Zionist owners? Just like trees and donkeys that happen to be on the land?

It wasn’t their country. Palestinians were constantly attacking Israel over that time period. They are still firing rockets even now.

They did though, with the blessing of the US and U.K. They came and they forcibly removed Palestinians from the lands and homes. Over 400 villages that refused to flee were simply massacred.

Free Palestine from the river to the sea can happen even with Israel still being the nation state of the region- it is a call to end the apartheid and oppression on the Palestinians within the region.

And of course Palestinians can live in peace if they get rid of Hamas and stop attacking Israel.

History would tell you this would not happen. There was no peace for the Palestinians from 1948 to 2005 (when Hamas came to power). There is no indication that the solution for peace is to not have Hamas.

I've skimmed the thread but my reply to the OP is that;

"Free" could mean "able to exercise rights" (eg freedom of speech) or "not imprisoned" (eg "Free Nelson Mandela!") or "not ruled by anyone else" (eg "Free City")

"Palestine" could mean "Gaza and the West Bank" or "the whole geographical area once known as Palestine"

I genuinely believe that people chanting it could be using pretty much any combination of those. Some are much more problematic than others.

And of course Palestinians can live in peace if they get rid of Hamas and stop attacking Israel.

It’s particularly devastating that so many of the Israeli’s who were murdered and abducted on the 7th October were actively helping Gazans and wanted peace. I was struck by the footage of the funeral of one of the slaughtered Israeli children which had a Yusuf Islam song playing as the coffin was lowered.

The west has lost its mind when NYU students are chanting “we can’t wait for the caliphate” and “queers for Palestine” is a thing. I can’t imagine what those brave female protestors in Iran make of it all, I just dread to think as it must really destroy their hopes of achieving equality.

There is literally a British mandate that "gives" Palestine to the Jews to make a homeland, giving them authority to go in, be welcomed by Palestinians, and kick them out of their homes. It happened then, it happens now by settlers.

This can’t happen for Palestinians unless the State Of Israel no longer exists as “from the river to the sea” refers to Israel’s lands. You must know this.

I’ve been absolutely staggered to read that so many posters seem to be under the impression that the Jews simply came along and kicked Palestinians out of their country. That is not what happened.

I dont know how people can put "we want Israel and Israelis to be safe" and "why are people calling for Palestinians to be able to breathe freely" in the same sentence. Hypocrisy.

@Hippyhippybake

"I have no time for these people who mindlessly chant something so deeply offensive to the most persecuted minority group on earth."

Maybe River to Sea/Free Palestine means Palestinians want to be free to live in their homes, tend to their olive trees, raise their children in their ancestral lands, work, play, grow, enjoy life, as everyone else does, and not be caged, controlled, killed or imprisoned at will. Surely, how can calling for freedom hurt?

The Palestinian Territories are literally called ‘ Occupied Palestinian Territories’ - so freedom from the jackboot of the Israeli government.

@icechocs I may have misunderstood your post, and apologies if so, but why do Jews need to discuss other forms of hatred when talking about their own experiences? So if I say my grandparents were survivors, and that generational trauma is a thing for me and my people, that's just something we carry. It doesn't mean other atrocities matter less, but I feel the atrocities committed against my family more deeply. That's human and normal.

It's like you if you say that, as a woman, sexual discrimination and violence has a huge impact on your life, and then being expected to add other forms of violence also exist and are also really bad.

@Teddleshon thank you. I think that, as like most things, we show solidarity to others by listening to them and trying to understand. There is a lot of that on this thread, and I appreciate it x

Being who?

Thanks for replying.

I apologise for using the word tiresome. It was probably out of frustration at the whole situation which I understand isn't an excuse, but what I probably should have said is "problematic".

I absolutely wasn't referring to discussion around the Holocaust as tiresome. I know full well the importance , but I was replying to a pp and making a point about how setting aside the Holocaust as something "other" than any other genocide around the world is problematic. It is this consideration that a "superior evil" took place that I have a problem with. Not because I want to diminish in any way the evil that did occur, but that to believe that this was something so different gives the impression that it never happened prior, which is untrue, and can never happen again, also untrue.

I understand that it is also probably set apart due to the fact of it happening in the heart of Europe so near to us and the connection to the war and the countries that took part.

I know that there has been anti -semitism throughout history, and is on going throughout the world, and this is something that needs to be continually spoken about, but if we "other" the event holocaust, I don't think we are doing any favours to anyone because relationships between people are stronger when they feel free to criticise one another openly when they think something is wrong.

Oops - wrong thread 🙈

I have an hgv licence so know all about the blind spots. The four zones relate to overtaking and being too close to an hgv either at the side or behind, hence the specific dangers of tailgating an hgv or a cyclist being immediately beside them. It’s hard to see a slip road being that physically close to a motorway that traffic on it is invisible for the duration particularly as the hgv will be gaining in speed. In any case the onus is obviously on the hgv driver to check and give priority.

@icechocs what happened to the Armenians was beyond horrific , I once saw a small photographic exhibition recording their slaughter and I wish I hadn’t to be honest as those images have haunted me. I would find someone referring to hearing about what happened to the Armenians as “tiresome” deeply offensive.

@TopicalNameChange I wish there was a way people could show their solidarity with British Jews that doesn’t involve travelling to London.

@Hippyhippybake as a Jew it's really difficult for me to engage with, and I am full of admiration for the women on these threads who do.