UK government - sanctions against Israeli cabinet members

The size of a poll isn’t important in working out the reliability of the results it’s the sampling methodology that’s most important. You can have a large poll with poor sampling methodology or a small one (even smaller than the one quoted sometimes) that is representative of the population and the smaller one will be the more reliable every time.

I don’t know enough about the sampling quoted or the company that carried it out to comment, but repeatedly referring to the sample size isn’t really relevant.

Am I not speaking clearly? I don’t care who they interviewed.. taking the opinions of 0.01% of ANY population then using the results to justify the demonisation of that population is ridiculous. Please. You seem like an intelligent person, enough now.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/05/labour-muslim-mps-councillors-survey-disquiet-gaza-israel

Remember policy should reflect the majority view in a democracy and not th at of a religious minority.

Israel will always need arms for is existence, history and geography can't be ignored. Another reason for the arms is obviously 'never again', the Jews didn't have a state in Europe or. a means of defence and it lead to the most horrific genocide in history.

We also never have surveys of Palestinians asking if Jews should be ethnically cleansed from their land. I am guessing if you asked the question a very high proportion of Palestinians would simply want Jews expelled from Israel yet this questions seems now to be politically incorrect to ask leading to a bias in media portrayal of views on the region.

Importantly in the world allies are important and Israel are an ally of the UK. Iran and by extension Hamas simply aren't. We may have disagreements with our friends but the fundamentals remain the same.

I think we should accept this and go forward knowing we have to support Israel and threats of economy wide sanctions or complete shut down of the arms trade will simply be a signal we don't want Israel to be defensible as a state and that would be anti Semitic as well as a historical wrong.

The US are supportive of Israel and we have always had a special relationship with the US so we should look at the bigger global picture and set ourselves in the right place geopolitoally.

If it’s a tiny proportion then it’s not representative.
Also, over 1000 Gazan citizens (not militants) took part in the rape, burning, murder, pillaging kidnapping pogrom of Oct 7. How many Israeli citizens have indiscriminately targeted Gazans?

@Jujujudo What do you mean? I don’t know who that person is but you clearly seem to know. So do you have any evidence to call this person a terrorist? Or is it the mere fact that he’s in prison that makes him a terrorist?

“I promise you that more Israelis want to live peacefully alongside the Palestinians than don’t. Despite their fear and horror of what was done and the hostages etc. I only hope there are enough like minded Gazans, to help make this a reality.”

Why would you think most Israelis think this and then only hope that Palestinians do? Is that not a racist generalisation?

Here is a poll of West Bank Arabs and Jews, and Gazans. No- just for clarification - they didn’t interview everybody, only a tiny proportion, and so- your friends might not have been interviewed.

https://pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Joint%20poll%2012%20Sept%202024%20English.pdf

Are you taking the piss?

Barghouti is serving 5 life sentences for murdering Israelis. So if he’s not a terrorist, he’s at least a murderer.

@Jujujudo What do you mean? I don’t know who that person is but you clearly seem to know. So do you have any evidence to call this person a terrorist? Or is it the mere fact that he’s in prison that makes him a terrorist?

If he’s in jail he’s a terrorist

Mahmoud Abbas is apparently in his 19th year of a 4 year term and occasionally pulled up on his government's human rights record and treatment of hamasniks under his jurisdiction- those scamps do like to defy authority - but he's the best option so far. @quantumbutterfly

No he's not.

Marwan Barghouti is by far the better option, check him out. Currently in an Israeli Jail, but offered secure borders to Israel and has popular backing from Palestinians in both WB and Gaza as he has in the past fought bravely.

Now this could be an example of a racist generalisation. Do you have a poll to back it up? 🙁

The way sampling works is to be able to statistically infer things about a much bigger population - if the small sample is carefully chosen to represent that bigger population.

Insurance companies work on this premise too- eg younger people are more likely to have car accidents, older people health problems etc. These ideas seem like common sense - but are simple examples.

The statistical sampling technique itself is not racist. The way questions are worded may be difficult and not encourage neutral responses or depth in understanding.

Of course Trump is not supported by all Americans- but you could use a poll of a tiny but representative sample of who of US to infer what most Americans think of him and what segments of the population think eg by gender, age.

I think what Israelis think is absolutely paramount to what happens next- it is a democratic country and there are left wing parties they could vote for. I think this may play an important role at this juncture.

The polls of what people think are not the cause of division but make it much clearer how hard the task is to promote peace is. I do think there are systemic biases within Israeli society that makes peace more difficult- for example the ways laws apply differentially to Palestinians and Israeli Jews. Also legalising building on the WB, differential policing. I have also seen clips of the way Gazans and the war are spoken about on some Israeli TV programmes. It’s not neutral- which maybe understandable but doesn’t help.

I am focusing on Israel as they have the upper hand at present to change things.

I promise you that more Israelis want to live peacefully alongside the Palestinians than don’t. Despite their fear and horror of what was done and the hostages etc. I only hope there are enough like minded Gazans, to help make this a reality.

I just think that generalisations are not an accurate way of assessing opinion. That’s basically what racism is no? People/parties in power are voted in based on their personal propaganda to garner votes, not really for the benefit of the general public. I mean just because Trump is supported by a large number of Americans, doesn’t mean it’s possible to make sweeping statements about ALL Americans. I also don’t think discussing what Israelis or Jews support or think or don’t think is even relevant to anything. It is a war, conducted by rich, powerful men, controlling the narrative and actions of their citizens and military.
Discussing what Jews or Israelis believe, think, support is moot. Because it just fuels hatred and marginalisation and tries to use those opinions to justify racism or demonisation,
I am not crazy about pro-Palestinian marches. Of course I stand up for their rights of freedom of speech and to protest. But if I started making comments about polls, or opinions then I could say: 67% of protesters support Oct 7th. Or the protesters are all terror sympathisers, etc etc. That would be wrong.

@Jujujudo Views can change. Peace obviously seems impossible right now. But if we look at the history Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, even Germany and France. There are so many examples of where hearts and minds change over time and through a reconciliation process. This isn’t about demonising ordinary people.

It’s obviously not representative of the people you know. And I do hope the poll itself is flawed.