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%.

Any reasonable person wants to see the violent conflict stop. We are a network of Mums. Who can bear to see children suffering like this?

The difficulty is the how - what steps are needed to achieve peace and stability in the longer term for the region. I am fairly well versed in the history of the conflict but I don’t have an evidenced, informed answer around strategy.

My heart says there must be an immediate ceasefire. It will call a halt to the bloodshed, but for for how long? My head says, what is the strategy beyond that? Because if there isn’t a carefully evidenced pathway of steps beyond, the fighting and suffering will likely return or even get worse.

I have been unimpressed by Sunak and the rest, underwhelmed by the foreign office response. I want them to show more leadership and commit more resources - use more of our taxes to pay for a multidisciplinary team of the UK’s best experts to contribute in the fullest way possible towards the international effort for peace.

I think there can be a lot of overlap, as they're two different questions. Many people would say they'd like a cease fire because they'd like people to stop dying. But if you ask them what Israel ought to do, they'll be much less certain.

I would be relieved if I heard that there was a cease fire. That would mean that Israel felt they should stop killing people. Great. But I'm much less comfortable telling Israel to stop firing because I don't know what they ought to do, instead.

If you asked, "Does Israel have the right to defend itself?" I'd say, "of course." A lot of people would agree, and another lot say "no" because they're complete pacifists or because they think that Israel is an illegitimate state.

I don't think you can conclude much from the answers to one yes/no question.

There's a certain amount of wishful thinking around this topic. The German people didn't support the Nazis and didn't know about the Holocaust - clearly, some of them did. Everybody in Northern Ireland denies supporting terrorism, and yet 20 years after the peace deal was signed the place is covered in wall murals glorifying paramilitary organisations, something like 100 'punishment' beatings carried out each year, and former members' funerals get a massive turn out 🙄 unfortunately, criminals offer the poor and desperate a sense of empowerment and purpose that they aren't offered by more distant, legitimate governments.

I am one of the people who would say that i sympathise with both sides equally. My heart says 'ceasefire' so i may even tick that I want a ceasefire though my head tells me that I am not sure it is an option that is even on the table no matter how desperately I want it. Hamas doesn't want it and who knows what plans Hezbollah has. We shall see at 3 pm today.

@CatsArePawesome and when Israel agree to a ceasefire then what happens?
Do you think Hamas will stop?
Or let it's people leave?
And Hezbollah?

For those who believe that Israel has a right to defend itself militarily in any way it wishes and without constraints, can you please tell me what right do the Palestinian people have to self-defense against Israel? Israel has been bombing the people of Gaza for decades - well before the Hamas attack on October 7th. Israel has taken Palestinian land, displaced Palestinians into the most densely populated strip in the world, occupied them, and put them under siege. The world has done nothing about it. Do Palestinians have a right to self-defense, or is this right only reserved for Israelis?

@Ecdysiast Hamas has equally been bombing Israel from Gaza though. It is generally them that break the ceasefires. It's just that their weaponry isn't as high-tech.
They're still happy to fire rockets at civilian areas though.

@SomeCatFromJapan Has Hamas subjected Israeli civilians to a military occupation for the past 75 years? Does Hamas control Israel's access to water, fuel, and electricity?
Also, rockets are not the same as bombs. Israel is receiving $14 BILLION in military aid from the US and has nuclear weapons.
And my question remains: do Palestinians have the right to self-defense or is this just an Israeli privilege?

Israel's behaviour since the attack seems worryingly lacking in strategy and quite reckless. Our own governments have been hopeless at responding to the humanitarian disaster unfolding, and made almost no effort to get humanitarian aid to Gaza or negotiate safe places for civilians to flee.

However, what Hamas did on 7 October was absolutely nothing to do with self-defence at all. Absolutely no military targets were attacked - and, unlike Hamas, the Israeli army doesn't blend in with civilians or put rockets on hospitals or schools, so they shouldn't have been hard to hit if that was what Hamas was aiming at!

@Itllbefine6 How do you suggest Hamas should separate itself from civilians in the most densely populated strip on Earth? Is this physically possible?

Are you seriously asking me to give advice on military strategy to a bunch of fanatical, jew-hating, jihadist nutters with a death-wish for themselves and every man, woman, and child living in Palestine????!!!??? Obviously, I think they should call an immediate ceasefire, and call on the international community to help them work out a two-state solution, which they promise to stick to, but I don't think they're seeking my advice!!????!!

(Sorry for my really inappropriate username, BTW, it was for another thread).

And my question remains: do Palestinians have the right to self-defense or is this just an Israeli privilege?

As I said, both sides are bombing each other. Perhaps Hamas should spend more of the cash from their Iranian backers on an Iron Dome to protect their citizenry rather than embezzling it. But that might detract from their PR which primarily consists of getting as many of their own civilians as possible killed.

Do you think Israel would allow that? They bombed the shit out of their airport, they destroy schools, healthcare facilities, and infrastructure on the regular, they control the amount of water people can have, the number of imports and exports etc etc. Do you think Israel would just sit back and let Gaza have an Iron dome?

Agree with all of that.

No, I'm not asking you to be their military strategist @Itllbefine6 . I'm simply sick of hearing the same "Hamas uses civilians as shields" bullshit to justify Israel's killing of thousands of civilians. The vast majority of Palestinians from Gaza live there because they were driven out of their lands in Israel. Israel drove them out, confined them to a narrow strip of land, occupied them and put them under siege. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy calls Gaza's experience over the last several decades "an experiment in human beings". Those circumstances were bound to lead to the emergence of "nutters" as you call them. But Israel had an active role to play in all of it. And Hamas is fighting the most powerful military in the world from the most densely populated strip of land in the world, so I don't think it's possible to expect them to be able to separate from civilians. That is not the same as "using civilians as shields".

Netanyahu knew quite well that the pot was bubbling and about to explode
Partly due to more and more right wing ministers being given a open voice and shaping policy that would continue to suppress the Palestinians.
He endorsed it or in some cases turned a blind eye only to save his own seat in power knowing full well that when the pot finally explodes it will be at the expense of innocent Israelis.
To suggest he doesn't have a role to play in this whole mess would be naive
Thankfully more and more people including Israelis are seeing him for what he is.
A corrupt power grabbing reckless human who has very little regard for the safety of his own people let alone the Palestinians

@Stomacharmeleon Maybe you should watch the video, which outlines facts on the ground, and then decide for yourself if you think it's apartheid. Even Desmond Tutu, the noted civil rights leader who became the first black archbishop of Cape Town, compared Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to the apartheid.

If you imagine the leaders of Hamas care in the least for the Palestinian people, I can't help you. They don't even live in Palestine!

@Itllbefine6 Whatever you think of Hamas, they are fighting a Palestinian nationalist struggle because their land was taken from them. Even if they receive a trickle of support from outside, it is nothing compared to the $14 BILLION Israel gets from the US. If you're brainwashed, no amount of sense can help you.

I don't think we're going to get anywhere with this conversation, SomeCatFromJapan.
Hamas supporters: 'Israel are the aggressors, they're bombing hospitals and schools'
People with a brain: 'Hamas put rockets on hospitals and schools'
Hamas supporters: 'That's Israel's fault. There's so little space in Gaza that there's just no space for Hamas to put their rockets except on hospitals and schools. If the Israelis just gave them a little more space, they would change their ways and wear military uniform and put their rockets in sensible places, and stuff'
People with a brain: ??????

I am picking a side because I feel that one side is in a much more powerful position, has experienced far fewer deaths and is not living in an open air prison, waiting to die. Kids make up 50% of the population of Gaza!

I still think what Hamas did was brutal and dreadful but the Israeli government have been horrendous. I still feel extremely sorry for Jewish people who are experiencing anti-semitism in the UK though.

Yes, I'm the one that's brain washed, that's the problem here.😄

Whatever you think of Hamas, they are fighting a Palestinian nationalist struggle because their land was taken from them. Even if they receive a trickle of support from outside

They're fighting a genocidal struggle to oblitorate Israel and every Jewish person in it and they get vast amounts of funding.

I don't like the way Israel behave either, but they're in an impossible position. Why would you give land back to people whose express wish is to obliterate you? Next time they might do it properly! And the same people chanting 'From the river to the sea' complain that Israel won't be reasonable.