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?

In my initial post I said ‘What about the hundreds of ‘ordinary innocent people’ gathered at the release of hostages’ bodies yesterday?’, to which you replied ‘You put ordinary innocent Palestinians in inverted commas though, suggesting you believe there are no innocent Palestinians’.
It’s clear that I was referring to the people gathered at the gruesome spectacle yesterday.
And again, I never said these people represented each and every Gazan, but if ten thousand in the UK happily celebrated at the sight of children’s coffins (and nobody was stopping them) I would be very concerned about the state of the society as a whole.

I would also be very concerned about a country who supports a war criminal like Netanyahu, who has consistently broken International Law and at one stage even supported Hamas itself! But it seems a lot of posters on here think that's perfectly reasonable

That's still a lot of support. Elections are won on that level of support.

Ironically, the Israelis who would have been most likely to speak up to defend Palestinians were the ones who Hamas targeted and murdered.
The coffin of an 84 Israeli peace activist was placed in front of a poster of Netanyahu as a vampire . And the coffins of the tiny Bibas babies.. So blame Hamas for your concern about a country that supports Netanyahu. Hamas actions will not have made Israelis more sympathetic to Gaza.

Exactly! I don't know how anyone can continue to minimise the amount of support hamas still have

I'm well aware one of them was a peace activist, I'm also well aware Netanyahu supported Hamas when it suited him, and yet the Israeli people voted him back into power long before Oct 7, they literally voted for a man who supported a terrorist organisation, in fact he publicly supported Qatar funding them!

Exactly. Hamas don’t seem to be particularly interested in peace.

Blaming Israelis for supporting Netanyahu is a bit rich when you’ve shown no such concern about Palestinian support for Hamas

What a vile antisemitic twitter account. Is it yours?

If so you might want to see about getting some of those comments deleted, jfc.

Oh so you think it was OK then that the Israeli people voted in a man who supported a terrorist organisation? Not showing much concern for his own people then was he?

I didn’t say that. Don’t twist my words.
This is a terrible day for Israelis and you want to focus on Netanyahu.
Hamas also wants us to focus on Netanyahu - That picture of the vampire etc - but most people’s attention ( unlike yours) was on the coffins not the vampire picture.

The reason I'm talking about Netanyahu is because someone mentioned upthread they would be concerned for a country if they saw a few million people cheering and parading coffins around, I mentioned I would also be concerned for a country with a head of state who supported war crimes and has broken International Law, works both ways doesn't it? I also saw the coffins so please don't twist my words either

I think your response is pretty disturbing.

Because I see both sides?

Because you have the nerve to suggest that the murder of tiny children needs a response that looks at “both sides”
Thats just sick

The murder of tiny children is never justified, Israeli or Palestinian, plenty of people on here have little to no sympathy for the hundreds of tiny children still buried beneath the rubble, still waiting for a proper burial, that's also sick

The situation is completely dire. Everything that happened on 7/10 - the killing, rape and kidnapping of the hostages was appalling.

What has happened to Palestinian children and babies in Gaza is also absolutely appalling. Why stating this makes me or anyone a “Hamas apologist” - I cannot understand. I believe comments like this and “useful idiots” which is another one I read - are only to shut down criticisms of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Belittle the person as you don’t like what they say.

Babies both in Israel and Gaza have a right to life that has not been respected by either side.

I feel desperately sorry for the Bibas family and they are truly brave and honourable when they request not revenge but the return of the mother and wife Shiri.

I truly fear what recent events mean for innocent Palestinians as Netanyahu speaks of revenge.

“They remind us just how deadly the conflict in Gaza has been for Palestinian children. According to UNICEF, more than 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war: that’s more than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars worldwide. 25,000 children have been injured: Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world. 17,000 children have been separated from their parents as a result of the conflict, or find themselves unaccompanied following the death of their parents. Over a million children have been displaced. These are terrible figures. The war has destroyed almost all essential infrastructure.”

onu.delegfrance.org/the-conflict-in-gaza-has-been-particularly-deadly-for-palestinian-children

Do you think it could happen here? Celebrating the deaths of children? Even if we were at war I can't imagine that level of hatred being normalised. Even the Nazis didn't openly flaunt the bodies of children in this way. There's no context in which you can make this less shocking, tbh.

And to answer the OP's question, I would fully support a two-state solution if there was any realistic prospect of Palestinians accepting that. As things currently are, I feel sorry for the children and the people who genuinely do want to be reasonable. Maybe one day things will change but I'm not particularly hopeful about it, sadly.

Just awful, some people choose not to believe this though, very disturbing

@Liv999
Of course the suffering of the Palestinian children is terrible . They are also victims of Hamas.
Hamas don’t care about them any more than they care about Israeli children.
Why don’t you just put the blame where it properly lies? Instead you only want to criticise Israel.

The suffering of the Palestinian children is on Israel, Hamas did not flatten Gaza, Israel did, I'm aware Hamas does not care about them either, nobody does that's the problem

I won't be looking at any of those because believe it or not I would not sleep a wink if I did, the only cause I support is peace and equality for the Palestinian people, I don't know why that has found me on the "wrong" side of decency and humanity