To feel sorry for Ed Sheeran.....

I hope you don’t really think that is the solution Ophelia.

“ force them to become refugees in some godforsaken hellhole”
At the moment Palestinians can’t find refuge in Egypt/ Jordan etc. so they are forced to stay in Gaza.
I think many Palestinians might welcome the chance of a safer future for their children. Some might be willing to establish a home elsewhere, , as countless refugees from conflict- torn regions have done for millennia.

If Israel succeeds in bribing a country to take the Palestinian population and force them to become refugees in some godforsaken hellhole, in terms of activism, to quote Ronald Reagan, you ain't seen nothing yet. Even right wing Israeli politicians like Naftali Bennett have expressed concerns about the Disengagement 710 plan, not because it is immoral or inhumane, but rather the realisaton that such a policy will do catastrophic, irreversible damage to Israel's already severely frayed international PR and diplomatic standing.

I don’t think the phrase should be shut down at all. But the “remove Israel” meaning isn’t some minor niche version.

All people chanting ‘from the river to the see, Palestine will be free’: what do you think they are calling for? Free of what?

I don’t think the phrase should be shut down at all. But the “remove Israel” meaning isn’t some minor niche version.

All people chanting ‘from the river to the see, Palestine will be free’: what do you think they are calling for? Free of what?

“..the start of the war due to October 7th”

Seriously, if that is where your knowledge of the conflict begins, you have zero understanding of it, at all. And having zero understanding of it, your perception of this conflict will be necessarily incorrect/uneducated. Ie your opinion doesn’t matter, because you don’t have the background. (Really, no offence).

Please do read up on it as extensively as you can. Watch a documentary, see what the charities on the ground are ALL saying.

I have been protesting for Palestine since 2002 - back then the treatment was beyond the realms of human cruelty (a friend of a uni friend that year was bulldozed to death for trying to protect a Palestinian home from being taken), since 1948 the treatment of those indigenous people has been abhorrent and obviously since 2023 it’s been outright genocide.

Don’t feel sorry for Ed, he’ll be fine.

Think how you’d feel if people rolled up and took your house with violence and oppression.

We have to stand for humanity,

There was a lot of activism before Oct 7th. The most shocking thing was that even the atrocities of Oct 7th made no difference. The Israelis were still the perpetual villains and the Palestinians the victims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pro-Palestinian_protests_in_the_United_Kingdom

Yes - the pro pal movement has given carte blanche to a lot of bullying behaviour.

Before Oct 7th, the majority of people knew nothing about the conflict. If you mentioned the word Palestinian, they would have thought terrorists, nothing more. If you went into a pub and mentioned the Nakba or talked about Deir Yassin, they would have looked at you with a blank face. A consequence of Oct 7th and Israel's response is a lot more knowledge about the conflict. I agree that the activism happened very soon after but Israel was already shouting Amalek which people very quickly understood the meaning of. My question is though, what is so offensive about Free Palestine. I can see how from the River to the Sea could be misconstrued, although I don't agree. People seem to forget it is in the 1977 Likud party charter. Why is it so wrong to want freedom for the Palestinians?

Yes some Jewish people (and only some certainly not all) interpret "free Palestine" as meaning "Israel can no longer exist" but I wonder if its convenient to portray it as meaning that? Because that way an argument is constructed to try and shut that phrase down.

"Few of us had Ed Sheeran being accused of genocide denial on our 2026 bingo cards. But such is the vicious conformism of the pro-Palestine mob, even Britain’s most inoffensive, syrupy-sweet of musical exports cannot be left to perform to his audience in peace."

Like the TRA trans cult. You must conform. You must do as told or the mob call you a supporter of killing children. With trans it was you must affirm and use preferred pronouns and other rules otherwise you might commit literal murder of trans people

"Few of us had Ed Sheeran being accused of genocide denial on our 2026 bingo cards. But such is the vicious conformism of the pro-Palestine mob, even Britain’s most inoffensive, syrupy-sweet of musical exports cannot be left to perform to his audience in peace."

Like the TRA trans cult. You must conform. You must do as told or the mob call you a supporter of killing children. With trans it was you must affirm and use preferred pronouns and other rules otherwise you might commit literal murder of trans people

It's interesting isn't it. To me "free Palestine" means go back to the legally agreed borders. Two state solution. Settlers out the West Bank which legally they are not supposed to be occupying, etc. Stop shelling Gaza.

But I saw an Israeli Jew on TV the other day saying that when people say "free Palestine" they mean kick all Jews out of the whole of Israel.

I really don't think their interpretation is correct. I don't know. Maybe some people mean that but not anyone I've ever spoken to.

It's interesting isn't it. To me "free Palestine" means go back to the legally agreed borders. Two state solution. Settlers out the West Bank which legally they are not supposed to be occupying, etc. Stop shelling Gaza.

But I saw an Israeli Jew on TV the other day saying that when people say "free Palestine" they mean kick all Jews out of the whole of Israel.

I really don't think their interpretation is correct. I don't know. Maybe some people mean that but not anyone I've ever spoken to.

In my opinion… It’s not so much contentious as ambiguous ( free Palestine from Hamas? The influence of Iran? )

Its ambiguity and ubiquity has turned it into an empty cliche used by those who want to signal their political correctness. Greta Thunberg types in keffiyehs etc But obviously that just my opinion.

I appreciate lots of posters here , rightly, care deeply about the suffering of innocent civilians. I think it’s right to highlight their plight and to criticise the actions of Netanyahu but the fact that so much of the activism in support of Gaza sprang into action the day after October 7th made it seem more anti Israeli than humanitarian.

It's interesting isn't it. To me "free Palestine" means go back to the legally agreed borders. Two state solution. Settlers out the West Bank which legally they are not supposed to be occupying, etc. Stop shelling Gaza.

But I saw an Israeli Jew on TV the other day saying that when people say "free Palestine" they mean kick all Jews out of the whole of Israel.

I really don't think their interpretation is correct. I don't know. Maybe some people mean that but not anyone I've ever spoken to.

did he say he hates Jews? Or did he say he’s against genocide , apartheid and Israeli occupation and aggression?

I still haven't heard a viable explanation as to why Free Palestine is such a contentious thing to say. I've heard people say it makes me scared. Why? I get Bob Vylan were aggressive and that could make people feel threatened but asking for freedom? How is that wrong?

I still haven't heard a viable explanation as to why Free Palestine is such a contentious thing to say. I've heard people say it makes me scared. Why? I get Bob Vylan were aggressive and that could make people feel threatened but asking for freedom? How is that wrong?

What an odd thing to say. Do you really think a reporter able to hear weapons being used and observe/listen to multiple first hand witnesses and victims is so poorly placed to give relevant information?

Or are you trying to suggest the whole Gaza thing is made up?

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/6/24/northeast-nigeria-conflict-killed-more-than-300000-children-un

https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2026/06/01/the-unreported-dimensions-of-nigerias-christian-genocide/

The suffering in many parts of the world is unimaginable.
I do wish that the plight of Christian communities in Northern Nigeria got a fraction of the attention given to Gaza.

I'm not being disingenuous at all. If 320,000 Israelis were killed by American bombs in 2 years no one standing on stage would be fired for having the audacity to talk about it. I would bet my house on it.

I think that it is disingenuous to compare an awful terrorist attack(and it was really, really awful) to 2.5years of constant killing, purposeful starvation of a million children, an entire population displaced and entire cities bulldozed to the ground and an open wish to ethnically cleanse the population to where ever will take them. It isn't like for like.