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 believe people only care about Gaza because of antisemitism. That might be the most comfortable explanation for some, but it’s certainly not the full picture. It doesn’t explain why so many Jewish organisations and individuals have themselves spoken out against what’s happening in Gaza.

People care because they’re witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. Which seems more likely- that the world’s highest number of child amputees and other horrifying outcomes have captured people’s attention, or that millions of people across the world all secretly hate Jews?

Unfortunately Hamas chose to attack a neighbour that was far stronger than them and are losing badly. At the expense of their population. As mentioned it would be like us declaring war on China and then complaining when we got flattened.

I don't take the word of Hamas about casualties. I do take the word of the only democracy in the region about how they are conducting the war over all.

There is no evidence of this though:
“I think Israel have made huge efforts to avoid civilian casualties”

Oh I don’t take the word of Hamas either. The lancet gave a (much higher) estimate of the death toll.

You seem to be conflating all Palestinians with terrorists there.

Do you think it is worth having international law at all? Perhaps you don’t think civilian life should be protected ?

We have no way of knowing this. It’s essentially disinformation. The casualty figures are given by the Gaza Health Ministry. They’re propaganda. None of the NGOs have any better figures.

The Guardian ran a disgraceful article making this claim, all based on Hamas figures. 18 months ago the UN - which itself is complicit in defending Hamas - halved its estimates of casualties because it became too embarrassing to rely on Hamas figures.

https://www.cfr.org/blog/un-halves-its-estimate-women-and-children-killed-gaza

There's no evidence they haven't.

I think if Labour declared war on China in thr name of the UK we'd all be on the hook. As has happened in all wars since the dawn of time.

You seem to see this particular war as different and special. Why? Is it because there are Jews involved?

So you think Israel and China are similar when it comes to upholding international law? Is that what you are trying to say?

I’ve already explained my points and my reasoning.

There’s actually a great deal of evidence that Israel’s actions have not consistently minimised civilian harm.

Under international humanitarian law, issuing warnings doesn’t absolve responsibility if the attacks themselves are disproportionate or indiscriminate.

The UN, ICC, and multiple NGOs have documented evidence that Israeli strikes repeatedly failed to distinguish between civilians and combatants, targeted essential infrastructure, and used starvation as a weapon.

Israel’s own officials and military actions provide evidence that contradicts the idea of “every effort to avoid civilian casualties.”

• Israeli leaders have publicly said things like “no one in Gaza is innocent” and have labelled entire neighbourhoods as “terrorist zones,” effectively removing any civilian distinction.

• Israel has cut off food, water, and fuel to an entire population- that’s collective punishment, not a precision tactic.

• The numbers themselves tell a story: tens of thousands of civilians killed, half of them children, and whole families wiped out.

• Even the US has paused shipments of some weapons and expressed “deep concern” about indiscriminate bombing and humanitarian blockages.

That is evidence Israel has not consistently taken feasible precautions to protect civilians

So have I. I disagree with you. You disagree with me. So we can leave it there.

All we can hope is that Jews might now begin to acknowledge their sin

WTAF

God, I can't inagine what the context of that post was.