Why does Palestine bring out such strong feelings?

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I really don’t want this to become about individuals’ feelings about the conflict. There are plenty of threads for that.

I am interested in why Palestine provokes such a strong feelings about civilian in Britain. We didn’t see weekly marches and such intense, passionate feelings regarding any other conflicts over in, say, the past ten years (Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Congo, Somalia, and, of course, Ukraine). These all involve thousands of civilian casualties caused by conflict.

What is it about Palestine in particular that causes British people to feel so passionately about it?

Someone said to me today that, for them, it was the most pressing political issue. They have never even mentioned any of the other conflicts above. It got me thinking about it. If you care greatly about what happens in Palestine, why Palestine and not the other conflicts?

Please don’t come on and say you care about them all. It might be true but there is no doubt that the reaction to what’s happening in Palestine in Britain is much greater than the rest, which barely cause a murmur.

I don't think anybody here has stated that as an aim? I'm sure there are some elsewhere who do, we know antisemitism exists, but I don't think everyone who is appalled at what Israel has done in Palestine is anti-semetic.

@Ballfish ”huge scale” compared to what? Certainly not Ukraine, Syria, Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and many more.

Yeah, it’s really not some vague call for Palestinian rights. It’s a rallying cry to wipe away Israel and Jews.

If it is not the aim of a person, why would a person use that particular loaded phrase?

Because while the meaning that you apply to it might be used by some it isn't the case for all.

I don't think any of the people you're discussing this with here have?

No. Because that would be calling for the destruction of Israel.

Sorry, I mean to say I don’t think they exist. I think they know they’re chanting for the obliteration of Israel.

The BBC’s reporting on Syria. They gave a figure of 181,000 missing from Assad’s brutality.

No endless marches about that. Or about the horrendous killing in Myanmar. Or in Iran.

Assad was himself sanctioned by the UK; there were also sanctions and other international pressure on Syria to stop committing atrocities on its own civilians.

What would you be hoping that a march woulr call for the UK government to do now?

Could it partly be due to the fact that a large reason for the conflict was the establishment of the State of Israel which took land from others. This was created as a result of their suffering during the Holocaust. And people are horrified that a nation born from suffering is causing so much suffering to others.

@UniversityofWarwick I presume you’re familiar with the long history of Jews in what is now Israel.

Aside from that, Jews have had land taken from them and have been ethnically cleansed from many many countries, including (obviously) Arab nations.

Ah..so.Israel is different and must be treated differently and we must judge them more harshly now because of their past suffering.

Anti-Israel marches don’t call on the government to do anything. They just chant anti-Israel slogans and call for the end of Israel.

Why didn’t protestors get out week after week and call for the end of Assad?

people are horrified that a nation born from suffering is causing so much suffering to others

That is a textbook example of antisemitism: “Jews should know better”.

They do actually call on the UK go to do something. Perhaps you have never protested about anything? Maybe you don’t understand it?

Syria is a terrible example to be honest. The west was already against Assad.

Yemen would have been a better example really.

Ah. You’re saying that anti-Israel protests are only some sort of expression of opposition to government policy. Like the poll tax demonstrations or the Countryside Alliance march.

I think that’s obvious bollocks. The chants and placards have nothing to do with calls to change policy. They just demonise Israel. Their purpose is to harden opinion against Israel.

We’d also disagree about the motive behind that. You’d presumably say it was concern for Palestinians. To me and most other people it’s plain that what’s behind the protests is nothing to do with ending suffering but actually just yet another eruption of antisemitism.

The reason nobody marches about suffering anywhere else in the world, including Syria, is because there are no Jews to shout against.

@Dagda the first marches took place before Israel had launched any sort of military response post October 7 I e when it was simply a country who was the victim of one of the most grotesque acts of terrorism in history.

The purpose of the marches is to protest against government policy. Every protest movement has a purpose and usually, when feet get on the streets, the purpose is to pressure the government to do something. We don’t have to guess or debate the overall call of the marches, they are clear on the Palestine solidarity campaign website? of course within the crowds people will be there for various reasons including antisemitism. But the overall purpose of marches is made clear from the organisers.

Why do you think people marched against the war in Iraq? There was also a protest against selling arms to Saudi? A march in solidarity with Ukraine.

The purpose of these hate marches is to intimidate the Jewish population and call for an end to Israel. That's why they kicked off as the massacre was happening. It was a show of approval and joy. And anyone who goes on these marches are part of that. No escaping it. It would be like marching with the BNP. You might not be a member but you're showing solidarity with them.

There seemed to be people celebrating the attacks on the 7th. Which is horrific and I don’t agree with this. However the first organised protests by stop the war seemed to happen on the 9th.

But on the 7th Air strikes were ordered immediately and from the types of weapons used and the indiscriminate nature of the strikes in that very first week, it was obvious that civilians, 50% of whom were children, would be paying the price for the Hamas atrocities. Genocidal talk from the Israeli government was quite clear from early on, yet Israel’s allies instead of calling for the protection of civilian life, were saying that they unequivocally stood with them.

There is absolutely real antisemitism happening but there is also confusion where legitimate Palestinian solidarity is mis read as anti semitism. Then there are those who are mixing political criticism with hateful stuff about Israel.

It’s a very difficult complicated situation and I have much sympathy with Jewish people all over Europe who are absolutely not responsible for the Israeli government’s actions: It’s so tangled and divisive now that it seems impossible to solve. The protest movement needs to be much more conscious of displaying solidarity with Palestinians without fuelling anti semitism. But then you have people accused of being anti semitic because they are wearing a keffiyeh or calling it a genocide.

I have been on marches and at solidarity events with my children.

I have worked for years in humanitarian aid. I have been involved in anti war and other movements for human rights and justice for all of my adult life. I can assure you that I would not attend a hate march.

I’m not in the UK mind so I can’t be sure of the atmosphere at those matches.

Do you honestly think that the 2 million Italians who were striking, for example, are just motivated by hate of Jewish people?

My child made friendship bracelets and sold them for a charity that works in Gaza. Do you think she did it because she hates Jewish people?

I'm talking about the weekly London hate marches. I have no knowledge of and am not interested in Italian marches.

Think your timeline is slightly out. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign asked police in London to approve a march the following week as the massacre was still being carried out.

And they had that march on the 9th?? Which I said. And for the reasons that I mentioned.

Also, the Israeli government have a history of war crimes and indiscriminate attacks on civilians from their previous attacks on Gaza. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that large scale airstrikes on a population that is pinned into a small area is going to result in an unacceptable amount of civilian death.

So you aren’t sure about the millions protesting in other countries? . It’s only the British marching that you have issues with?