Do people fully support Palestine?

[Dawk]

I read this article and the scales fell from my eyes a bit: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/amid-the-ceasefire-wrangling-how-popular-is-hamas-in-gaza-now

I hadn’t realised that a majority of Gazans want a conservative Islamist state and the complete destruction of Israel to create an Islamic state covering the whole country (from the river to the sea I guess). They also support violence and even the sacrifice of their own lives.

I am appalled by the destruction and loss of life in Gaza, but having read this article I can’t understand why support for Palestine isn’t more caveated. Why are people waving flags and supporting Gaza so unconditionally? When you look at the polling described in the article it seems fairly clear that many/most don’t actually want peace unless it follows the complete destruction of Israel.

For me it’s a bit like supporting Iran. I would never wave the Iranian flag around because of what the country stands for. In this case I am horrified by the scale of destruction wrought by the IDF so support Palestine completely in that respect but I’d never wave the flag or chant the slogans.

If you consider yourself ‘pro-Palestine’, what do you think of the ideology described in the article?

What a weird post....what on earth was going through your head?

I've got a friend who says this all the time.....never sure how to respond

Yes, I was thinking that.

It is news to many supporters of Hamas and those who march whenever the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign organises one of their frequent demos in London. Probably also to some posters on these threads too.

Resistance like what?

Raping and murdering?

Speaking as a Marxist, I am very capable of nuanced thinking and critical conceptualisation, thank you. As are the majority of Marxists I know. You do not understand Marxists or Marxism, and have fallen into the trap that you accuse us of - reductionism.

Qatar is only just above Israel followed by UAE and then Saudi. A tiny democratic state in the middle of oil rich autocracies is the second most prosperous in the Middle East.

Depends what measure you look at. The one I looked at UAE and Qatar above Israel.

Nevertheless Israel without the huge oil revenues of ME autocracies is extremely prosperous through its own initiatives.

I'm sure the three billion in aid that Israel recieves annually from the US must go a long way.

Israel's GDP was over 500billion dollars in 2023....so the answer is the same as your username

Just as the billions of aid to Hamas goes a long way into their leaders pockets living the good life in Qatar and Turkey as well as buying rockets etc with which to bombard Israel. It certainly doesn't go on the defense of the population of Gaza while Israel spends $$$ on the defense of its citizens with the Iron Dome, for example.

What a ridiculous statement. You'd "truly love" to be occupied. Would you really? Surely not.

Yes, I fully support Palestinians and their dream to have their land and freedom back. No caveats. No other people in the world would accept to have their land, their homes and their rights stolen from them. If a group colonised the UK, stole our land, displaced us and put us all in refugee camps, I'd expect the British to fight for their freedom by any means necessary. Wouldn't you?

I bet you wouldn't dare say "go back to where they came from" about any other demographic would you?

Another goady thread.

Wow. Really saying the quiet part out loud here.

Please please please look up a little bit of Jewish / Israeli / Palestinian history and then you can start to understand a bit more about the region. It's clear you know not much at all right now. Happy to recommend neutral sources if you wish, let me know.

I'd always had a distinction in my mind between Hamas, who are clearly murderous extremists, and 'Palestine', but I'm realising that that's artificial really. As I said in the OP, while I'm still pro-Palestine in respect of wanting the destruction and death to end, I could not wave their flag or anything like that.

To me it seems like pro-Palestinian campaigners either agree with the violent destruction of Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state, or are campaigning for something (peaceful co-existence) that the Gazans themselves don't want. Or is it that they're campaigning for something they think the Gazans should want, even if they don't?

I mean this is clearly racist!

In any case, over half the Israeli population is ancestrally from the Middle-East. How do you think they'd get on trying to 'go back' to Egypt, Iran, Iraq etc?

@Sixpence39

T"hey are supposed to go back to where they came from. The country was created 80 years ago and is populated by people from the US and Europe."

Well firstly thank you for being honest in your views on wishing to see the end of the State of Israel and the removal of Israelis to the US and Europe. In much the same way that Trump has been honest on suggesting the removal of Gazans.

I think it's important there is clear honesty in what different each side want so that either a negotiated solution or a fought for outcome can be reached.

My own position and of many in the West is for a two state solution but trying to achieve this is pointless if neither the Palestinian Gazans or Israelis actually want it.

Openly so. I wonder if the poster would also like to suggest Indians and Nigerians in this country go back where they came from? I hope the post stays so everyone can see.

I think the ignorance displayed by the poster is that all Israeli people came from overseas. Many were born there, or born in the region and kicked out of those countries.

The UK is made of people from all over, it is racist to say send them back to where they came from just like it is racist for the poster to say send back any of the Israeli people who originally came from elsewhere (many didn't). Many many were born there few left from the original people who move many decades ago. In any event they also have ancestral links.

@dairydebris

"Wow. Really saying the quiet part out loud here."

Actually I appreciate the honesty even if I strongly disagree with the view.

There are many more who share the same opinion but dress it up as either "there should be just one state where Palestinians and Israelis get along in peace and harmony toasting marshmallows around the campfire" or "there should be a peaceful two state solution where everyone gets on despite neither the Palestinians or the Israelis wanting it " etc etc.

That poster also appears to be ignorant of the fact that the majority of Jewish ( and Palestinian ) have genetic links to the area going back thousands of years. So it is actually where they came from.

Sometimes I think people should have to pass a basic history lesson to post here.