People tearing down posters of Israeli hostages - what is this supposed to convey?

[WilmaWonka]

Just seen another article about someone tearing down posters of kidnapped Israelis.

This time an apparently well known ‘feminist’ artist who stated that she was ‘getting rid of the shit’.

Posters of civilian women and children, many who’ve seen family members murdered horrifically in front of them and are being held captive by the very people who carried out those atrocities, experiencing god knows what horrors in captivity. There can’t be a logical expectation that a government that carried out brutal murders, gang rapes, mutilation, and burnt babies and children alive would be treating them humanely!

Obviously that’s her reason for doing so and there’s been many other videos and reports of people in the UK and other countries doing the same quite openly. I’m quite old and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life before.

Would this be happening if they weren’t Israelis?

Do these people not understand that the barbaric murders and kidnapping of Israelis was the reason this war started in the first place, do they think these kidnappings are fake news?

Are they trying to convey that these kidnappings don’t matter as the Palestinians have been held in an ‘open air prison’, in total ignorance of why Israel had to blockade itself from them for the protection of its civilians?

Really can’t get my head around it.

I was replying to NmeChngeFail as you know .

Pls don't derail this thread any further with your hate.

I still fail to see how your response is anything to do with the question. Government reaction is neither here nor there. It would be unacceptable to vilify kidnapped children in any other conceivable situation except for this one. And it's crytal clear why this is so.

The same names pop up again and again. I’m guessing they must be long standing antisemites MNers as they’ve not been banned despite numerous deletions.

OP I've seen so many videos of this and wonder why some people think ripping down posters of innocent people - babies and children included - makes them anything other than a moron

I'd love it if any mumsnetters who have done this would come on and explain.

There are a few Twitter accounts that expose the people dojng this and quite a few resultant termination of contracts which is quite reassuring

Best not to engage with a couple of posters.

I think they spend all day on these boards posting the same thing. Never relates to the OPs though, always derailing and whatabouting. Life would be easier if we had an automatic cut and paste for every thread. Then they could go and do something else with their time

👍🏻.

I'm sorry you are not understanding. Someone said this is only happening because they are Israelis. I said the Israeli government don't seem to care. The connection is that the Israeli government don't seem to care about the Israeli hostages. That's the message I got when I saw the families of the hostages speaking.
And who on earth is vilifying kidnapped children? You have arrived at this conclusion yourself.

IMO the only possible reason is because they're anti-Semitic scum.

I don’t go around tearing down posters but I do feel very uncomfortable that they’re being put up outside Israel. It feels part of the Israeli public relations narrative that it matters when Israelis suffer but doesn’t matter when Palestinians do. Israel has routinely been committing war crimes such as collective punishment of Palestinans villages for decades, Israeli soldiers routinely abduct and interrogate Palestinans who they know are innocent (Israeli soliders say this is routine and frequent). Israel has killed thousands of children this month and displaced many times that number, yet they want the world to focus on the relatively tiny number of hostages. That is difficult to observe.

I don’t want posters up in the UK supporting Israel - or Palestine. Let Middle East wars stay in the Middle East, putting up posters and tearing them down and waving flags about a far away conflict can only cause it to spread. Both sides have done horrific things.

I also think it’s because they won’t want anyone looking at pictures, especially of small children and feeling sorry for them, it doesn’t support the narrative that only Palestinians have been victims here. It reminds people of what happened on the 7th October.

Many are just anti-semites and endorse the actions of Hamas, I don’t see how you can’t be a Hamas supporter if you are ripping down pictures of the victims of Hamas’s actions.

This.

Even talking about it brings out people imbibed with anti-semitism, as on this thread. With their whataboutery, barely disguised ‘they asked for it! No one should feel sorry for them’ , and non- arguments like ‘ I don’t understand why you don’t care about the Palestinians’ which is an argument so without merit it has to motivated by unconscious anti-semitism as it’s certainly not motivated by reason ( hint to posters who say this, objecting to people who tear down posters of hostages does not mean you support Palestinians being killed, or don’t care that they are being killed. Why would you even think that it does? That is not a rhetorical question. You really need to investigate why you are motivated to think this).

The posters aren't about how great the Israei government is, they're posters of missing people. I'm sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable.

I wonder if the posters are in response to the anti semitic marches, flag waving and all round unpleasantness that has been going on our towns and cities. A reminder that there are kidnapped children who have been taken away from their family and might even have seen their family murdered.

Little ones

I agreed with you until I can't see how you can't be a Hamas supporter if you are ripping posters down

Really? Antisemitism is much older than Hamas.

I think the breezy tone you use to dismiss the plight of the child hostages is pretty jarring given the context . ( “I’ve no idea… can’t say for sure … assume any country “) Suggests you don’t give a shit.

Explain to me, again, how Israelis government alleged failure to "care enough" about hostages justifies people tearing posters down. Because I can't see the connection. Or does this, in your mind, makes the hostages not important? Hamas, the elected government of Gaza, does not give a flying fuck about Gazans. Does it mean we should not care, also?
Actually, don't answer. I feel like I should stop engaging in these discussions, for the sake of my own sanity.

You need to read the posts before coming to your bizarre conclusions. I never said there was a connection between the government not caring and the posters being ripped down. And the Israeli government's sentiments towards the hostages bears no relation to how I feel about them. Maybe you need to take a break from the threads 💐

It’s hard not to engage with people who are attempting to defend the indefensible but I agree it’s definitely not good for mental health.
on the other hand its helpful to know that some people on here ARE appalled by the tearing down of the posters of kidnapped children.

You mean an exchange for Palestinian prisoners? As opposed to the actual hostages who were not only taken hostage but witnessed the brutal massacre and rape of their families?

How can you compare the two?

The prisoners are administrative detainees - held indefinitely without charge. Legally they are more akin to hostages. It's very likely that they've been abused and tortured, Israel's track record is horrendous.

Once again I am surprised by the black and white thinking of some Mumsnetters on this issue. Of course it is disgusting what happened on 7th October. Of course everyone feels distraught at the idea of the Israeli hostages and the Israelis who were murdered. That's not in question.

I think I can also see why people with connections in Palestine might feel incensed about these posters in London (because what are they for, really?) when - I'm not 100% certain about the numbers - but it's approximately 10 times the number of Palestinians have died. Half of them children.

Imagine searching your brain for justification for people tearing down posters showing kidnapped babies and children.

people living in safe modern democratic pluralist societies so consumed with self-righteousness that they actually try to do this.

Of course everyone feels distraught at the idea of the Israeli hostages and the Israelis who were murdered. That's not in question.

I don't think the people tearing down the posters do.

Ok - so you can see why Palestinians are “incensed “ ( strong word) about posters of kidnapped children. Can you also see why Jews might object ( less strong word ) to the use of slogans they interpret as anti semitic during pro Palestinian marches?
You ask what the posters are for. The posters are an attempt to keep the focus on getting the hostages released and to show solidarity with grieving families. Why is that a problem for you? If it was my relative or friend I’d be out there putting posters up everywhere. It must be incredibly painful to see those posters ripped and torn down.
Final question- what makes you so sure you’re not guilty of “black and white thinking?”🙄

It's atrocious and the police rip down these posters too.