I can't do this anymore

Acknowledge your pain, take a break, come back stronger and don’t give up.

Ireland is militarily neutral and is not involved in the arms trade- it has no vested interest in supporting Israel at a strategic geopolitical or economic level. Culturally the country is Christian The official Roman Catholic Church has distorted and abused these values and been pretty much abandoned. But the vast majority of the population believe that people are created equally, that we should feed the hungry, care for the sick and imprisoned, give people water, not kill etc etc Basic humanitarian values not unique to Ireland but definitely not what we’re seeing applied to Gaza. These values are part of our national identity. We condemn the Hamas atrocities and want to see the hostages freed, but it’s clear this can’t be done militarily. We find the slaughter in Gaza abhorrent. It is offensive to our moral compass as a nation.
Irish people understand the complexity of how peace and dialogue work. We find it frustrating that Israel keeps doing the same thing over and over and expects different outcome.The “what do you expect us to do argument” is irksome
There is also a huge diaspora and an outward looking aspect, with much intermarriage with non Irish. For instance, in our family we have an English Jewish cousin and one whose work involves preparing Iranian opposition for democracy
Anyway @Auvergne63 , I think some the debate over the last few hours was very close to a personal attack. Some of the individuals involved seem close to the victims of the 7/10 or have family in Israel so I assume hurting a lot. Take care💐

There is no point in teaching this in schools, unless they are going to be honest about Britain's involvement in what happened. It is like just teaching about how the British abolished slavery, while conveniently not mentioning how much wealth was created for this Country, including Royalty, and how they benefited from free labour of slaves. Tell the whole truth. The "famine" in Ireland, was caused by the British taking all the crops, to feed themselves, and leaving the Irish people to starve.

exactly. it WAS genocide. I recently read a few bits about the Irish famines and had to stop because of how awful it was. it should be compulsory teaching in schools in the UK.

the bengal famine which killed around 2 million people in the last century was also due to the brits (they diverted and stock piled food for the army while the farmers who had grown the rice starved. they even turned away ships of aid sent by other countries)

as they can clearly still remember the brutality of their own history. there are a lot of parallels here.
And famine which many Irish people consider was a genocide

I think it's only natural that Irish people feel more sympathy for the Palestinian cause as they can clearly still remember the brutality of their own history. there are a lot of parallels here. it's easy to forget how Irish people were seen as subhuman not too long ago in the uk.
we also see support for palestinians from other nations who have similar histories of colonial or racial oppression.

I'm on Irish forums with a large number of Irish posters too. It is very, very different to mumsnet, there are no excuses, there is no dehumanising, there is no talk of 'human shields'. Do you really think our taoiseach(prime minister) would say that the Irish people are 'repulsed' by Netanyahu and that our government would be intervening in South Africas genocide case, looking at recognising Palestine etc if the overwhelming majority of people didn't agree?

I don't think it is disinterest but there is little that most people can do about it. A good friend of mine has literally lost her mind over this conflict and on one hand it is admirable but on the other she is using it almost as a way to check out of her own life and is becoming a kind of mental breakdown.

Sometimes its better to switch off even for a few days and focus on your own life then you can come back to it and be able to do useful practical things rather than just lose your mind over a war you can't actually change.

I've seen and experienced horrible Islamophobia and seen people denying and even praising the actions of the IDF and the Israeli government, all on this site. I really don't think users are particularly pro-Palestinian or supportive of Muslims.

Mumsnet has a large number of posters...of course you will hear a variety of opinions. In real life it's quite unlikely that you'd be discussing something with so many people at once. But generally I think this board in particular is more pro Palestinian than pro Israel

It is so, so hard to see the hatred and the disinterest towards what Palestinians are going through. And so hard to even create a space to talk about it without people jumping in to say how terrible other terrible things are, or that it's their own fault for letting Hamas exist, or that Muslims are evil, etc etc.

It's so hard to find any hope when children are being shot by snipers, families wiped out by AI-targeted missiles, people are being starved...

What keeps me going is a belief that it is always right to stand up and be counted when people are being oppressed. It may not make a difference today, but small acts today can help create bigger changes in the future. And one thing we can do today, for that future, is bear witness to what is being done to innocent people. Part of the aim of oppression is to silence victims and erase them from the world. It's our job to make sure the voices of the innocent are not silenced.

(And yes, before anyone goes "but what about xyz?", I've also been and continue to be active in other human rights concerns, I just don't tend to talk about them on this board because that would be off-topic)

I wasn't talking about you? I was talking about posts I have seen on mumsnet over the past 6 months. You said that you think mumsnet is 'overwhelmingly pro Palestinian' I was explaining the things I have seen on mumsnet that are not part of the conversation in Ireland, that once I don't look at mumsnet I don't have to see or hear.

Did my post really deserve this response.

Yeah. People in Ireland don't make excuses for killing 1000s of children, don't make light of premature babies being left to die, don't make excuses for Israels brutal occupation, don't make excuses for the execution of children in the street, don't make excuses for the killing of aid workers, don't make excuses for settlers etc all of which I have seen on mumsnet.

I'm in Ireland and once I don't look at mumsnet all I see is overwhelming support for Palestinians

I'm surprised by this...I find most of the posts on this board to be overwhelmingly pro Palestinian.

So why are the IDF indiscriminately killing civilians and destroying infrastructure? And don't trot out that tired and absurd lie that Hamas are hiding in refugee playgrounds.

I feel for you. I'm in Ireland and once I don't look at mumsnet all I see is overwhelming support for Palestinians, Palestinian flags, a government that speaks out against Israel even though it makes Israel get their knickers in a twist, our taoiseach has been very clear that we find Netanyahus actions 'repulsive'. I can't imagine what it must be like to live under a government that condones war crimes.

All I can advise really is to take a break from social media for a while and surround yourself with good, loving people to recharge ❤️ Or maybe come to Ireland for a holiday!

I feel the same about the Israeli hostages, and the atrocities of October 7. I haven't slept properly since then, and have developed an autoimmune condition from worrying and friends and family who are under constant rocket fire from Gaza.

Our friend lost his 12-year-old twins on Kibbutz Beeri. Couldn't have a proper funeral for one of them because there weren't enough remains.

Yesterday I saw a video of civilian Palestinians dragging Yarden Bibas into Gaza, and it broke me.

I pray every day that Hamas will release the hostages and stand down so this war can be over.

A new low even for the IDF. I didn't think it was possible. Imagine blasting out the sound of distressed children to lure people out in order to kill them? There are no words for this level of depravity. And add it to the list of war crimes if there's room for any more.

I agree OP. I'm despairing too. I'm also not muslim but find the Islamophobia and dehumanisation of Palestinians appalling. I also find those who continue to support Israel's slaughter hard to be around here.

I live in a country with pretty much universal support for Palestine so this place is a shock to the system for sure.

Yep.

Thanks to OP for the post. x

Some of these posts are not appropriate for the muslim mumsnetters board and are better posted on the Conflict in the Middle East one.

There is such hate for Muslims, even for innocents being murdered in Gaza, that this board should provide respite from that.