The outrage about the use of starvation is completely justified and it obviously shouldn't be used in this modern day.
But it is ignorant and concerning how many people leap from “Israel's government is wrong” to “Israel shouldn’t exist” or “Just give it back.”
That’s a dangerous oversimplification and erases centuries of Jewish history in the region.
Jews have lived in the Middle East and North Africa for over 2500 years. In places like Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon — long before the modern state of Israel was created in 1948.
In the years following Israel’s creation, over 850,000 Jews were expelled and fled from Arab countries (between 1948 and the 1970s). Many of them had lived in these places for generations, some even for over a millennium. Their property was confiscated, their citizenship revoked, and they were never offered the “right of return.”
These Jewish refugees didn’t have international attention. The vast majority of them were just absorbed into Israel, despite it being a tiny and struggling new state.
So Israel isn't composed of European Jews (“Ashkenazim”) who came after the Holocaust. In fact, about half of Israeli Jews are Mizrahi Jews from Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds. Many of them have no ancestral link to Europe at all.
When people say “give it back,” where are they suggesting these Jews go? Should someone with Iraqi or Lebanese Jewish heritage abandon their home and identity and move to Sheffield?
The current Israeli government is committing inexcusable war crimes. And Hamas is a violent, authoritarian force that brutalizes its own people. In fact, Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting Hamas and been killed for it but you dont see this covered in mainstream media.
This is not a simple case of white colonialism. It's not a black-and-white “oppressor vs. oppressed” story. It is a long, painful, and politically manipulated conflict from BOTH perspectives.
Antisemitism has been weaponized across the region, not just in Europe.
Criticise Israel’s policies? Absolutely. Oppose occupation and collective punishment? Please do. But slogans like "from the river to the sea" or calls to dismantle Israel entirely erase the histories of millions of non-European Jews.
It is basically calling for a group of people to just disappear. People who have never lived in Europe and have no familial links. And if you think those Arab countries have now changed their minds and would welcome those Jews back, you are utterly delusional.
We can acknowledge and hold space for the Palestinian people whilst not denying that Hamas are terrorists and there's a history of Jewish people actually in that region for thousands of years.
The normal Jews and Palestinians have made it clear they don't want a one state solution. There obviously needs to be something done to ensure human rights on both sides, but just dismantling the Israeli government and opening the borders would just mean (as PP said) a bloodbath.