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%.

Yes, this

We have got to support striving for a peaceful solution, as otherwise both sides will continue to try to wipe each other out.

Al Qassem brigades (fighting wings of Hamas) have said that 85% of their fighters had a parent killed by Israel.

Let that sink in when 8000 Palestinians have been killed, thousands are missing and almost 20,000 are injured, including kids with amputated limbs, who are blinded of have the horrific to the bone burns by white phosphorus. None of this includes the people who will die because they can't get cancer treatment or from infections caused by lack of sterility. Nor does it account for those who will inevitably die of dehydration as diarrhoea takes hold and there's no clean water to drink. Nor does it take into consideration those with lung infections caused by the huge amounts of dust, or diabetics who cannot control their insulin levels.

For people who love Israel and want their families there to be safe so are accepting of the genocide in Palestine (where 800 entire families have been wiped out over 3 weeks), it may be prudent to re-examine how that goal can actually be achieved. If you think this will wipe out haters of Israel, then you're suggesting extermination of all Palestinians - NONE will be living Israel right now. And there are millions of Palestinians abroad who have loved ones in Gaza and the West Bank who see what's happening, feel helpless and some of whom will want revenge. Israel and the US can't go bombing and starving them all.

The ramifications of Israel's revenge will be huge. And it is revenge. Unless their army is utterly useless and has little intelligence on Gaza (laughable) they shouldn't have needed to wipe entire families out in order to get the hostages back.

Thank you, OP, for that. I wish more people would just focus on the innocent people on both sides. Today, I read that a few Latin American countries have taken steps to recall ambassadors and even cease diplomatic relations with Israel. When even entire countries start picking sides, it gives me WW3 vibes. And if that happens, most of the planet would be unsafe. I wish more people would remember what's at stake, calm down the rhetoric, and focus on the innocents on both sides, as well as pressuring our governments to de-escalate and find solutions. I hope your family is safe and well.

But it is complicated. And simply but recognising it is complicated does not make one an advocate for what some are calling genocide.

We are probably witnessing the beginnings of world war 3. I don't feel apathy. I feel anger that religion and political dogma could cause the destruction of millions.

It's pathetic that as a human race with so much potential that this is what we become. Both sides fighting on behalf of their God! What God? Where is he when children are being massacred? It's pathetic!

Also, I'd suggest some look into the history of the term genocide before we fling it about wildly.

Israel is wrong for bombarding children but

Shocked to see

Posted too soon..

Shocked to see anyone add a "but" in that sentence. There is no justification for killing children indiscriminately.

Many have used the term genocide. It is a fitting term.

the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
"a campaign of genocide"

I’d say it fits the situation perfectly. Israel are murdering the Palestinian population deliberately.

I really don’t think they are, they wouldn’t have bothered to tell them to move out the way if they were. I think they are trying to destroy Hamas and because of where Hamas is civilian casualties are inevitable. They are risking their own people (hostages) in a ground invasion, I imagine a calculation about how many were likely to returned alive was also made. (I’m increasingly thinking that hostage survival is regarded as a bonus rather than an aim). I genuinely think they have started seeing Hamas as an existential threat rather than an annoyance.

I imagine the IDF has a higher acceptable civilian casualty rate than it did in the past. Apparently all militaries have a calculation for how many civilian casualties are acceptable for a strike which is a grim thought.

I respectfully disagree. I chatted with a friend yesterday who didn't even know if Hamas are Israeli or Palestinian! She's lovely, but just very ignorant about current affairs etc. She obviously hasn't picked a side, as she doesn't know which side is which. She certainly doesn't support genocide

Genocide has a very specific meaning. If Israel actually tried to push Gazans into Egypt I would agree it is ethnic cleansing. While the deaths in Gaza are awful it isn’t a genocide.

A hundred years? Israel has only been in existence for 70 years and many of the new arrivals were holocaust refugees who had nowhere else to go?

Actually the Haganah was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv’s prescence in the region so 100 years is about right.
In 1948 they were the core force integrated into the Israeli defence force.

I haven't picked a side, in the sense that I am equally sympathetic and empathetic to the innocents on both sides.
I strongly condemn both Hamas and Netanyahu.
So that's my side picking - with all innocents, regardless of religion or nationality. Opposed to all terrorists and aggressors, regardless of religion or nationality.

Thank you for posting this - really interesting and helpful. Its interesting that when you're in thick of debate, as we have been on MN, this is an issue that, apparently everyone has to take a side, but these polls suggest it is a minority interest still!

This is closest to my thoughts. I support negotiations to bring about peace and an equitable solution. That said, I’m not confident it can be achieved because the conflict has long roots and much bloodshed. I think we are in for dark times.

As is clear from this thread, people are putting their emotions ahead of their rational mind, which is understandable on one level because the situation in the ground is so absolutely horrific.

The flag waving marching for Palestine in the streets achieves little. It’s much more effective to write to your MP if you are serious about a solution.

Except that it has & it does happen in other countries and there is barely a murmur. Yemen is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis. Over 150,000 people have been killed in Yemen, as well as estimates of more than 227,000 who have died as a result of famine, malnutrition, cholera etc. Saudi Arabia, which is directly involved, has just been announced as host of the World Cup. Where are the protests?

Syria? Iran? Kurds? Uigyurs? Yazidis? Darfur (up to 5000 civilians murdered earlier this year alone)?

more whataboutery to distract from the issue actually being discussed - Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

yes, the humanitarian crisis in yemen is appalling. Perhaps you should start a thread about it and we can comment there ?

@lavender2023 People "not taking sides" in a Genocide is extremely depressing - it is not something you should feel heartened about. What do you think about people who "didn't want to take sides" in the Holocaust?

For those Israel apologists who argue that the use of the term genocide is not fitting - I would suggest that you google some of the rhetoric coming from Israel’s government, both during this current conflict and before. The mass killings coupled with this racist rhetoric make it very clearly a genocide.

examples include government ministers referring to Palestinians as “human animals”, “children of darkness”. There are plenty of others.

the Director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commision for Human Rights has just resigned, in disgust, calling what is happening “a textbook case of genocide”.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/un-official-resigns-israel-hamas-war-palestine-new-york

@Desertrose2023 @SharonEllis Israel is a European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project. As Biden famously said, "If Israel wasn't created, we'd have to create an Israel". Our governments are part of the problem. That's why we should all care.

@Draconis Evil prevails when good people do nothing. The evidence is in front of us all. Wake up.

Because Israel is a European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project

And yet about 70% of the population isn't European.