Open letter: Mothers Appeal To Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts

I do hope you're taking the piss.

Yes my understanding is that Hamas actively welcome the deaths of their own citizens if it is towards their great aim of destroying Israel (based on detailed journalism and the words of Hamas themselves). They don't seek to avoid child or other civilian deaths, they think that civilians should rush to give their lives for the greater cause and that such deaths are not only justified but to be welcomed and noble / will result in heaven.

This is why they think using civilians as human shields is ok.

Western activism (by dim people - not all activists etc) usually fails to recognise this fundamental difference in mindset between Hamas and western activists, which is why it can be counterproductive and lead to a situation of MORE civilian deaths (that they purport to want to prevent).

If aid goes into Gaza and is stolen by Hamas who then use the money they gain from selling it to build more underground tunnels, get more weapons and store more weapons under civilian populations, that is putting those civilians at more rather than less risk of death. In multiple ways.

Any aid that goes towards strengthening Hamas is likely to make things worse for normal Palestinians as far as number of deaths goes as far as I can tell at this point. So asking that aid agencies demonstrate their safeguards against this happening really isn't unreasonable - not if you really want to prevent human suffering rather than aid Hamas in their goal of destroying Israel.

No they didn't; don't be so ignorant. The history of the Middle East is a history of successive empires; successive warlords and successive slaughters of populations.

Judaism pre-dates Islam by over a thousand years.

What you are calling Palestine was known as 'southern syria' to the arab populations. And jewish peoples from that area are as much Palestinians as any muslim arabs are.

You know that Hamas see children as nothing but potential martyrs for their cause. Why do you think that the population of Gaza has increased exponentially since Israel withdrew in 2005? Children are brought up and educated to hate jews and to wish for their death.

"Our women's wombs are our weapons"

Any yes Jewish people have had a significant presence in the middle east for many years Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in peace and harmony in Palestine prior to the state of Israel being created

Who has said the deaths of children is " fine"?

Yes, true. The letter is a joke.

I really meant in general the unthinking activism that doesn't recognise complexity in the situation.

Is anyone really wondering why the Israeli hardline have gained ground against that backdrop? I'm not.

The Israelites are mentioned in the bible. The kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel pre-date the British mandate by multiple hundreds of years. Learn some history.

So killing thousands of children is ok because they are helping a few ... Great logic.

Seems you are totally unaware that before October 7th Gazan children were regularly transported to hospitals in Tel Aviv for life saving surgery. You actually seem oblivious and totally unawarwe of many things; including the history of Jewish people isn the Middle East.

This sort of behaviour is more likely to harden Israel's stance than anything else and prevent access to those aligned with people slinging around antisemitic insults.

I'm pretty sure it will have absolutely zero impact on anyone outwith this site and some select bubbles, tbh. It's not a serious letter.

The Nazis wanted to kill all Jews. I think it's pretty clear who's on the side of the Nazis here. Hamas.

And the reason Israel have placed restrictions on aid groups in the first place is because Hamas are allegedly appropriating aid. So they think some western money is going directly to those who have the same aim as the Nazis - the killing of all Jews (and destruction of the state of Israel) and want to place safeguards in place to ensure it actually is used for its intended humanitarian purpose.

As PP have pointed out, if you cared about women and babies you wouldn't only be focused on Gaza . When it comes to Gaza it doesn't help Palestinian mothers and babies if aid can just be appropriated (stolen) by Hamas (or indeed other groups -there are militias opposing Hamas who have also been taking it according to the New York times).

I find the use of a Nazi slur against Mumsnetters in this context highly antisemitic

And also, the UK government HAS ALREADY and IS trying to ensure aid agencies can have access. There are plenty of resources to go in, it's a question of access in a war zone and slinging insults around won't help with that - in fact likely the opposite. This sort of behaviour is more likely to harden Israel's stance than anything else and prevent access to those aligned with people slinging around antisemitic insults.

learn more

Palestine has never existed as a sovereign Arab state.

The British Mandate of Palestine was a British administration that gained control of the Land of Israel after the Ottoman Empire's fall in 1917.

Jews lived in the Holy Land for centuries, including under Ottoman rule when they formed Jerusalem's majority.

Before 1909, Tel Aviv was desert land legally purchased by Jews, who transformed it into a prosperous city. No Arabs were displaced.

And antisemitism didn’t begin or end with the Holocaust.

This didn't start on October 7th. Israel was 'created' by the British. Britain decided hmmm where can we send Jews after the Germans murdered 6 million of them and realised maybe we shouldn't have done that. Maybe instead of Jews being moved to Palestine they should have been given Germany. The history of how this conflict started is so important but it's quite clear you started your history lesson on October 7th because that's what suits you. Like I said in my original post dead children whether Israeli or Palestinian is unacceptable. I can accept it shouldn't happen on both sides but you obviously only have an issue with one side. Learn more for the sake of your own kids.

Dead children under any circumstances is wrong

So tell Hamas to stop murdering children then.

Say their names:
Abigail Edan, Agam Goldstein-Almog, Aisha Zyadna, Aline Kafshiter, Alma Or, Ariel Bibas, Aviv Asher, Dafna Elyakim, Eitan Kafshiter, Eitan Yahalomi, Ella Elyakim, Emily Hand, Erez Calderon, Gal Goldstein-Almog, Gali Tarshansky, Hila Rotem, Kfir Bibas, Lior Tarshansky, Mila Cohen, Nave Shoham, Noam Avigdori, Noam Or, Noya Dan, Ohad Munder, Or Yaakov, Raz Asher, Sahar Calderon, Tal Goldstein-Almog, Uriya Brodetz, Yahel Shoham, Yagil Yaakov, Yuval Brodetz, and Yuval Engel.

Mumsnet is a wide ranging a diverse forum. Nobody can speak for everybody. The letter was a manipulative attempt to corral everyone, including the site owner, into adopting a personal political crusade against a very particular 'enemy'; using highly contested and emotive language - designed to provoke.

My meaning was clear. The use of lazy, adopted nazi analogies is shameful as well as invalid - based upon a lack of understanding of history and of what Nazism was actually about.

It's risible, as well as deeply offensive. The people of Gaza, as well as all the victims of Nazi atrocities, deserve more respect.

If there was ever a comment which has a lot of words but didn't actually have a message or say anything meaningful.... This would be it!

Based on your comment you would see someone on mum's net who was defending Ukraine against Russian aggression as a 'political crusader'. Hmm

The continual references to Nazis and concentration camps, is not only shameful but embarrassing. It is also totally mindless in the adoption cliched tropes which show no signs of actually understanding what the history of nazism and the concentration camps were predicated upon.

This is the politics of the 'group think' social media age totally devoid of critical thought or awareness of historical contexts - in which everyone believes they have to have a strongly held view on everything.

Shame on you for mindlessly using Nazi analogies in such a way. The fact that you have done so points to the actual reason why most people have an issue with somone's personal political crusade being forced upon a whole forum; being manipulative ( but also naive) in thinking that simply mentioning the suffering of women and children would win them brownie points, and that no-body would see the under-lying intent.

'These are the same sort of mums that would have excused Nazis' makes it pretty clear, tbh. It's just an attempt to smear.

So its not about dead women and children, its about Israel? Sigh. Of course it is. It always is. Dead women and children in Sudan don’t matter therefore. This is about politics not about supporting vulnerable people affected by genocide. And the obsession with Gaza over all other horrific situations tells its own story.

Then an open letter to either the foreign Secretary the prime minister or the chancellor of the exchequer would have been an absolutely reasonable thing to write and publish