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[Wemustonlytalkabout]

Gaza police 🎵

Seriously, on every thread where people are discussing something ‘trivial’ people come on with their whatabouterry. ‘What about Gaza?’ ‘Meanwhile in Gaza…’ etc etc

It’s as if these posters believe that the appalling situation over there renders us unable to hold another thought in our heads. Or worse, suggesting we shouldn’t be daring to discuss anything else.

By all means we should all be doing as much as we can to raise awareness and end the horrific situation but it absolutely does not mean we can’t discuss anything else. However trivial.

AIBU?

Yes.

I think it's just a response to the absolute hysteria over a woman not being seen in public due to surgery for the exact time she said she would not be seen in public due to having surgery

It's such a stupid thing to get worked up about - so I guess some posters are saying there might be real things worth being angry/posting about

UK is still currently sending arms to the idf and diplomatically providing support to the current govt in israel. so yes it is very much relevant to us today.

I'm full south Asian and as someone from an excolony I have seen even today how past injustices shape my country of birth

not to mention how ex colonial powers continue to feel entitled to go and attack other countries or control them to keep exploiting them

It isn't relevant to most ordinary people on the streets. I also think that all these 'Free Palestine' marches are very insensitive to the Jewish population, it is as if the 7th of October never happened. Whatever your views on it, using it to derail threads on Mumsnet is worse than pointless.

I agree OP, mentioning Gaza in every thread isn't going to change the situation over there. People just want to feel good about themselves and think that they can take the moral high ground.

Is that the case though, or areUK companies SELLING arms to Israel, which would be a totally different thing?

I think the ordinary people on the street and the many Jewish people on the marches would disagree with you. it is our democratic right to protest our governments actions as we are, every one of us, responsible for our actions and inactions if our government is involved in egregious actions even if it is far away in another country.

I am very sorry that many of our Jewish neighbours feel intimidated and I think a lot of that is to do with the coverage. they are peaceful protests calling for ceasefire. personally I feel the solution is for more Jewish people to join the marches and voice their concerns and bring more awareness re the hostages.

currently people in Israel are protesting against Netanyahus absurd approach which is further endangering the hostages.

protesting for the thousands dying in gaza doesn't cancel out the sadness for victims on 7 Oct or concern for hostages. but the sheer number that are dying every day now demand action as multiple 7th of octobers are happening over and over again - just to a different set of people.

either way, I imagine you and I will have to respectfully agree to disagree on this topic.

I personally don't go around derailing threads but starting a whole thread on other people making tangential comments feels a bit pointless. also to me multiple threads on one woman's post op recovery is extremely pointless and in some ways, very toxic. I havent been on any of them so maybe that's why I haven't noticed.

arms exports require licenses from the government. for example would you be happy for us to sell arms to Russia for example?

this article is an interesting read...
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/06/uk-government-faces-legal-challenge-over-arms-exports-to-israel

If by we, you mean Britain, then yes!

Why?

Yup still don’t care. It’s a legal challenge by a bunch of Palestinian supporters. Surprise surprise.

Arms exports are good for our economy. If selling arms overseas improves public services i have no problem with it. If Israel didn’t buy arms from the UK they’d buy them from elsewhere.

Thank you for your reasonable response. I can see your point of view and agree with some of it. I am also not a fan of all the Royal discussion, I just think that to shoehorn a conflict in to derail it is pointless: if people don't want to hear about the Royal family, they should just not read those threads.

I'm an ordinary person on the street, and it absolutely is relevant to me- perhaps you are less politically engaged than some of us 'ordinary people'?

Also, conflating anti-Israeli feeling with antisemitism is as lazy and illogical as saying anyone who disagrees with the regime in Saudi Arabia is Islamophobic. The government of one country does not represent an entire religion.

I am only politically engaged at the local level. I am of the opinion that we need to sort our own house out before we try to fix everyone else. I presume you mean 'anti-Israel' rather than 'anti-Israeli'. I honestly think that a lot of anti-Zionist feeling IS anti-Jewish, I have seen it personally. I am never going to agree with people who don't believe in Zion, which is why I would never campaign against Israel, even when I don't like what they are doing.

Historically, slavery was pretty good for our economy, too. Luckily, morality prevailed over economic growth.

@LovelyTheresa yep! hence I avoid them like the plague... I can see how ppl can find the whole "this discussion is pointless what about x issue" annoying as I also find the people who come on and say things like "nobody cares" very annoying.

it's always nice to have a respectful chat with someone who has a different point of view. I am tired of the rudeness/bashing that goes on

In a global society, that just isn't possible, I'm afraid. Good luck to you, though.

Same and same!

@Daffodilsdaftie tbf we are all entitled to care about whatever issues we care about
various EU countries have stopped arms sales to Israel. and if enough countries do it, its logical to say they will no longer be able to bomb gaza (and their own hostages)

I see you use "bunch of Palestine supporters" as a derogatory term. and that you support arms sales in general (although you didn't answer my question re exporting to russia). obviously we come from very different standpoints and approaches. i would rather we tighten our belts than fund it with blood money. so let's agree to disagree

Muslim here, i think the Saudi government are a bunch of immoral, despotic murderers

they are widely hated in the Muslim world and treat non Arab Muslims appallingly.

equally many Jewish people, including Jewish Israeli people dislike the current government very much. they were taking the country in a very worrying direction due to their ultra right allies.

so agree with you on the importance of not conflating governments in faith majority countries with that faith or the people of that faith.

You are correct, I did mean 'anti-Israel', not 'anti-Israeli'- the average citizen of Israel has as much control over the Israeli government as I do over ours.

However, I will have to strongly disagree that being anti-Israel is tantamount to being anti-semitic.

"I am never going to agree with people who don't believe in Zion"- not the words of someone only politically engaged at a local level!

I do feel derogatory towards Palestinian supporters due to the way they are intimidated Jews in their own country. If they stopped the marches they’d get a lot more sympathy!

I can't fathom a society where people don't care about the deprivation, poverty and suffering of people in their own towns and cities and country - but only care about well publicised crises in other nations. There's rape and sex trafficking and child abide happening in the UK and Europe but somehow that gets none of the same attention or funding. Probably because it's easier to talk about something far away enough you aren't expected to do anything other than post on social media, rather than invest time and energy into fixing your immediate community. It also amuses me how many of the people who talk about helping in the Middle East or supporting refugees are also the same people who would refuse to live somewhere in the UK with a large population from these regions and consider them 'rough areas'. Or how the same people, especially those who live in big diverse cities don't have a single close friend from these communities.

But as long the IG or MN post is on point...