62% of British adults are not taking a side in the Israel-Gaza conflict

[lavender2023]

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/10/16/b8bd3/1

Personally as a Jewish person (with family in Israel), I feel heartened by the results as it shows we are a compassionate country who can feel sympathy with both sides or are sensible enough to tick 'don't know' when they feel like they can't understand a complicated foreign conflict. I personally would probably tick 'both sides equally' or 'don't know' because i have such mixed feelings! I was reading some posts yesterday about Jewish people who want to move to Israel because apparently anti-semitism is worse than rockets. There are very valid concerns but we should at least take heart that the majority of people are far more nuanced and not taking sides like one would pick a football team, or are anti Israel . Social media isn't real life

There are regional variations but even in London, 56% of people are not taking sides. The one age group which is pro palestinian is the 18-24 group which is 39%, but at the same time, the combined numbers of 'don't know' and 'both sides' are 40%.

I just fell out with one of my longest friend over this - not taking a side . She is pro Palestine and have been very emotional over the conflict. She now refuses to speak to
me as I expressed compassion to the innocent people caught up on. It's sides . I'm just fed up of this to be honest .
My point is that I'm not not entirely convinced that not taking a side is even a safe stand in this conflict .

”Not taking a side” at this point is just supporting genocide without having the guts to actually say it out loud.
So I’m really not ”heartened by” this at all.

The price of apathy toward public affairs is to be ruled by evil men - Plato.

And what exactly can I do about it?

I don’t think it is necessarily true that people who aren’t taking sides don’t understand the conflict. I think a lot of people feel uncomfortable saying what they think because feelings are running so high. I won’t publicly say what I think as I have friends on both sides and I know everyone is very upset right now.

I am not apathetic at all. But Amos Oz was right.

The Israel/Palestine conflict is something infinitely more tragic: a clash of right v right. Two peoples with deep wounds, howling with grief, fated to share the same small piece of land.

I routinely struggle between love for my fellow Jews and sympathy for the Palestinians. So I would write I don't know because I don't want people to suffer unnecessarily. I want there to be a homeland for persecuted Jews. I want Muslims and Christians to live peacefully in Israel as well with equal rights. I want Hamas to be destroyed. And I don't want Hamas 2.0 to rise from the ashes of a traumatised generation. And most of all I want peace

And I don't know which side I should pick because I want all of that. I don't think it can be distilled down into two binary options.

I know the history but I still don't know what the right solution is or which side to pick. I am Jewish and I want a place for persecuted Jews to go (plus my family live in Israel so I want them to be safe as well) but I also don't want Palestinian children to be bombed.

I don't think picking a side actually distills what I want.

Both sides have lost innocent children. Hamas did barbaric things and anyone with an ounce of humanity wants them destroyed. Yet in the process of destroying them even more innocent children are dying.
What is the alternative? I think that if I was Netanyahu, I could possibly do something better than this , like getting Mossad to kill the Hamas leader currently living in Qatar. But having no access to Mossad intelligence means that I am not sure how viable or practical this is.

This is why this is so painful, there are no clear answers.

So many deaths and many more to come, the whole of Palestine has been wiped out and you and many others are still banging on about this.

it is. Genocide. Pure and simple and those who stay silent support it. And those who don’t support ceasefire support genocide too.

I agree that collective punishment is against international law BUT at the same time Hamas has food and 6 months worth of provisions in their tunnels (which are also bomb proof). They are not sharing this with the civilians of Gaza.

Israel is wrong for bombarding children but they are also unlucky to have a government who spends millions building tunnels and storing up 6 months of food without caring about what happens to the Palestinian people.

Why would someone fall out with you for not taking a side? It's a bit extreme. Is she Palestinian?

Another 300 people (and counting) have been killed today at the Jubalia (spelling) refugee camp.

Israeli tanks are outside Khan Younis which is not in the north.

If people don’t care shame on them. The people that do care will keep talking about this.

If by side you mean Israel v Hamas then i cant imagine anyone wanting to be on the side of Hamas and not on the side of Israel.
Its worth remembering that all this suffering can end immediately, the bombing, displacement and horrors of the Garzans if Hamas surrender and submit themselves to the law and release the hostages. If they cared about their people they would do this without delay.

No one is on the side of hamas i hope other than actual terrorists/terrorist sympathisers. I think it is probably whether you identify more with the 7 October tragedy where numerous Israeli civilians were raped, murdered, beheaded, killed, kidnapped etc as well as Israel's current goal of destroying Hamas (even at the expense of hurting Palestinian civilians); or you identify more with the current suffering of the Gazans, as well as their hopes and dreams of self determination.

hamas do not care about the palestinian people, thats why they are terrorists. But Israel is a sovereign state and as a Jewish person, I hold the Jewish homeland to a higher standard than murderous terrorists.

But like I say, Right vs Right. Both sides deserve to live with security and dignity, it is a total tragedy.

I agree with you OP, and I think the government is out of step with the .uK population in its support for Israel's actions against Gaza, which go far beyond punishing Hamas for the awful events of 7 October. Israeli and Palestinian civilians are suffering. I despair for humanity.

99.9999% of commentators, people pontificating on the Internet and people who take sides, have no knowledge or interest about the historical, geographical, political,, religious or any other factors at play, they’re only interested in giving off the correct virtue signals for their chosen identity tribe.

personally I have no real idea about those things either, but whatever they are, it’s always innocent people who suffer, on both sides.

It is incredibly complicated and nuanced. There is a reason why no US president has ever managed to successfully mediate . Keir starmer has volunteered his services to be a mediator (when he becomes PM). I wish him nothing but the best of luck.

I think 62% of people are probably quite sensible, it’s not a football match and it’s not straightforward.

It’s also not something many christians actually care about unless historical sites in Jerusalem get damaged.

The blame lies squarely at the feet of the UN for creating Israel and then the rest of the world for ignoring/enabling Israel’s subsequent behaviour.

Agree

No one is on the side of hamas

I've seen mumsnet posts calling them freedom fighters, saying that they were defending themselves during the massacre, talking about how nicely they've been treating the people they took hostage.

I'm glad the percentage is so high.

Ive commented elsewhere about the way it was talked about how the woman hostage shook someones hand. I dont know the details, read about it on here somewhere

As if it was a perfectly normal transaction and she just was going to forget all about it

My issue with the 'side' picking, is that people seem very careful to emphasise that Hamas are not 'the Palestinians' and vice versa.

Its uncomfortable to acknowledge that Im sure there are plenty of Palestinians who do support Hamas and if not Hamas, then they support what Hamas stand for. How do you square that with trying to work to the future? I dont know

I dont support Israel's current actions and Ive never supported the growing encroachment on Palestinian land and borders over the decades, but people fall over themselves to separate out Hamas from the general public in Palestine and I think its unlikely that there is that separation. And if there was before all this, there certainly wont be now.

if that statistic is true then it’s because 62% of British people are morons.

there is a genocide occurring in real time. 3400 children have been killed. 3400. That is the equivalent of all the children in 11 average sized British primary schools being killed. If this was happening on any other country on earth it would never be tolerated.

Shame on anyone who thinks this is “complicated”.

I wasn't sure what to think for a while but I am starting to feel as if I do support one side over the other, after reading about it and thinking about it this week.