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.

Apparently when it was founded the left were pro Israel and the right anti. Now most anti semites come from the left and the supporters of Israel are more commonly on the right.

As for why people care, it’s been going on so long, the fact it has its roots in a (largely) European War, the fact that there is a large Jewish population here, in part as a consequence of the same war. The influence of Jews in American politics.

There’s not one simple answer.

So it is the UK’s support that has caused the unique reaction to Palestine?

Nobody is bothered if anyone’s lying about anything in the other conflicts, because nobody cares.

50% of the population in Gaza were under 18 when this started. With such a young country the population was very online on social media like tiktok so the younger population in the UK has been watching live video from the children there showing exactly what's going on.

It's the first genocide where every day people in our country can watch and talk to the victims in real time which makes it all feel so much more real.

Its hard to not feel strongly about people being killed when you know their names and what they look like, their laughs and cries and dreams for the future. These kids are not nameless statistics this time.

The influence of Jews in American politics.

What influence is this?

It's the perfect internet argument topic because it's extremely long lived, there are two clear sides and proponents of each can claim they are the goodies and the others the baddies. Anyone subconsciously seeking out an online feedback loop whether positive (focusing on people who agree with them as they unite to argue for justice) or negative (confirming one's worst fears that the world really is full of wrong people supporting the wrong side ) can dive in to a discussion forum on the subject and feasibly stay there for twenty years because it's not going to be resolved any time soon. The longer they spend, the more they are personally invested.

The massacre in Israel and Russian invasion of Ukraine was also on social media, but I take your point about TikTok use leading to the conflict raising awareness in otherwise unengaged audiences. Thanks.

I think because it’s driven by the large Muslim population in the UK, some of who have connections there. I don’t think there’s too many white British who feel about it passionately.

In my (left wing and political) circles they definitely do.

They are very significant political donors, giving proportionally much more, this means their priorities are noticed. Much like the triple lock staying as pensioners vote.

This is interesting and rings true for me. Would you say that underlying it all is virtue signalling and an "us and them" mentality?

Nahhh, that's very obviously an excuse.

It boils down to: a demonically-led hatred of the Jews. How were Pharoah and Herod able to get away with the murdering of Hebrew boys, and of course you could add Hitler to that.. it is simply demonic.

Far more people killed this year Nigeria by Muslims and it is rarely if ever on the news. I haven't seen the numpty greta or any other celebrity idiots give off about it.

It's the combination of social media and it being mostly videos by children being watched by people not much older that makes it different.

Watching a scared thirty something posting a video from a war zone is sad. Watching a terrified 10 year old crying for her dead parents is a tragedy. We just care more when it's children and no other genocide has had such a young population.

This. This is why. Because we’re seeing the slaughter of civilians on an enormous scale happen almost live, in front of our eyes, in a way that - whether due to social media access or algorithms or something else - simply hasn’t been the case for these other conflicts. If I was watching Sudanese or Yemeni children being bombed to death on a daily basis then I would be shouting about that too. It is impossible to ignore, or to feel neutral about. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.

Not just the U.K, but also Australia and the U.S. And as I mentioned in my post, it's a combination of many things I mentioned, not just one thing.

This is dangerously close to suggesting undue influence and control.

For me I feel like Israel is one of the good guys (or should be), as a close ally of the UK and the US. They want to be at the table with western nations, get their support and money, but are committing war crimes on a daily basis and seem to have no empathy or care for normal Palestinians who have lost everything. The rhetoric from some of the government officials implying that they basically want to wipe them out is disturbing. I’ve no issue with them targeting terrorists and getting rid of them in which ever way they need to - but the death of civilians and particularly children just seem to be seen as justifiable by the Israeli government and it’s sickening.

I would feel just as angry if this was France, Germany, Canada (for example) committing these war crimes and denying what we can all see every day.

A lot of the other atrocities in the world today are as bad or worse than what is happening in Gaza, but are not directly being done by one of our allies (although I’m well aware that we arm many of them) - and many by countries with appalling human rights records. What is the point of protesting against their actions? They won’t be influenced by us or our opinions.

I don't think it's virtue signalling, no. Many people need to feel and do genuinely feel investment in and attachment to a cause/struggle.

I do think there's an "us and them" mentality. When Bush Jr said twenty five years ago, if you're not for us you're against us, many criticised and even mocked his simplistic polarising language. But this attitude is now normal in any place on the internet where politics is discussed. Plus outside the internet I think there's a lot more political emphasis on good guys/bad guys; oppressors and victims - eg left wing politics sprang from the observation of material conditions, now those material conditions are presented as almost just one of many types of oppression.

Ok op why don’t you give a shit about Palestine ?

This is an inexplicable statement. It requires you to completely ignore both the evidence of your own eyes, and the universally-held belief in the innocence of children and their right to life. The October 7th massacre was an atrocity, and nobody here is supporting it. But if you truly believe that people would be a-ok with Israel wiping out the Palestinian people if only they liked Jews a bit more, you are a monster.

I do give a shit. I hope Gaza’s terrorist government is removed permanently.

Again then, why Palestine? Children are being murdered in all of these conflicts mentioned in the OP.

Those are your words not mine. I’m generally sympathetic to Israel.

That’s good, but suggesting that Jews have influence over American politics is a common anti-Semitic trope.

As we keep explaining. Palestine has a uniquely young population. In most conflicts it's mostly adults being killed with some children caught in the crossfire. In this one more than half the population are children so many many many more are dying.

I am able to seek views from other posters. Thank you for yours.