What did you do during the genocide in Gaza?

[ssd]

This is a brilliant article.

This will be taught in schools one day and our grandkids will ask us but what did you do when you knew this was happening?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/22/israel-gaza-genocide

That sounds like you are threatening some of the posters on here?

I wondered what specifically made Hamas’ slaughter of innocent young Jewish people such a popular cause and wondered if those people who endlessly banged on about Israel had ever examined their motives?
Wondered where their activism had come from (idly) and if they were protesting equally about other atrocities and if not, why not? What is the specific thing about Israel that has made them take to the streets?

What are we supposed to ‘do’ exactly?

And what is everyone doing about the conflict in Sudan? Look it up - far, far beyond the scale of what’s happening in Gaza yet no one seems to talk about it.

"I virtue signalled so hard I gave myself a hernia!"

I feel protesting is pointless. The media try to stir people into a frenzy but most of us know that the governments of the world will carry on with whatever plans they have regardless of public opinion. I just stop following the news and I’m happier for it

I came to know that some people have such irrational hatred and racism towards Palestinians, they even defend the starving and mass killing of Palestinian children.

I also researched and was shocked to discover the systematic oppression and abuse the Palestinians live under in the west bank, perpetuated on them by the state of Israel for many many years.

Netanyahu is one of the most evil leaders the world has right now and his actions and the actions of his government and the IDF have been the cause of Israel becoming a pariah state in 2025.

I taught my children to stand up against oppression however you can, even if it just your words.

I think there's a lot of virtue signalling going on, to be honest. What has any person, in a different country, ever done to influence the events of a war in a foreign country? Do we all feel so involved now because it's all over social media? Not going on marches or waving flags or attending vigils or boycotting brands doesn't mean we don't care or that we approve of widescale murder. I'm old enough to remember many other atrocities, this is unfortunately another one that I'm powerless to do much about. I do reflect on the harm that religion can cause though.

@BreezyBertha I have read some of your posts and you should know that racism is not OK. The things you say only reinforce the prejudice and hatred that the Palestinians are up against and have been up against for so long.

Attended protests. Waved flags. Sent money. Argued about it every single day and fought their corner. Still to no avail but at least I won’t stand back and say never again and be a complete hypocrite.

Most of the things people are doing are 'to no avail' - it may help them feel they are doing something, but ultimately they're mostly not. Money is a more practical option, provided it's posible to use it in a productive manner. With a cost of living crisis many folk ate struggling themselves though.

I am in the same boat as you.

What is the apporopiate answer that actuallly helps people there rather than ticking a box that they have done ''something''? over here

I don't believe it is really to no avail. Things are changing, governments are starting to push back against Netanyahu's evil after staying silent for so long. Public pressure would have played a role in that even if it was a minor one.

You're perfectly entitled to believe that, and if it makes you feel better then who is anyone to take that away.

Got annoyed at the use of the weaponsing of the word genocide.

It is a sad as described by all the respective large media outlets including the BBC. I see an Israel Gaza war tab....not genocide.

aerial war campaigns unfortunately do have civilian casualties e.g. the Blitz, Dresden, and of course Nagaski and Hiroshima. None of these aerial campaigns during ww2 has been described as genocide but there was a genocide during ww2 that defined
the word, the holocaust. To now label the people who suffered this event commiter s of genocide should give pause for thought for those capable of critical analysis.

genocide is the go to word for pundits wishing to shock with hyperbole which leads to a growing sense of anti-Semitism as well as being plain innacurate. Even if you wish to look at the legal definition of genocide nothing has been proven in any court of law and I doubt it will be .strange no one is asking about what we did during the genocide of rohinga Muslims in China as well......probably because it didn't involve Jews.

I wondered why there hasn’t been more pressure on Hamas to release the hostages. I wondered why Hamas aren’t acting in the interest of their own people. I wondered why in lots of the images we see the women and children look desperately thin but there are well fed and well groomed men just behind them. I’ve imagined the horror of being a Palestinian mother. I’ve wondered what our (or indeed any other) government would do in response to similar act of terrorism. I’ve wondered why people who say ‘what did you do’ don’t seem interested in other horrors around the world. I’ve wondered where the marches for other suffering people in conflicts are - in Yemen, Congo, Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar, DRC…. Over 5 million people have died due to conflict in Congo in recent years and it never even makes the news.

Dresden has been described more recently as a genocide by some folk, especially as it was a direct attack on civilians, some of which had fled from the chaos in the eastern parts of Germany. It was 'justified' at the time by hatred propaganda toward every and any German.

Protest, write letters, lobby my MP, give support to others protesting, give donations to Medical Aid For Palestinians.

Yes, me too.

I've also thought about this specific conflict as part of the wider rise of extreme right wing politics and the apparent swing towards nationalism.

I worry about the effect social media is having on the world- in the context of this conflict I believe it's causing a lot of people to over empathize with one side meaning they don't see the overall picture.

It makes me hate religion too.

I talk to my kids about it and try to make sure they know it's a story of 2 sides and neither is lily white but that war should be avoided at almost all costs.

Israel has a population of about 10 million - I would say their wealth and army are contributed hugely to by the US, probably Jewish Americans - allowing them to be able to do what they want. Go against Israel and you go against the US-with Trump in power that is dodgy. Look how they could slap tariffs on you at the least, and blame you for shootings in the US.
it’s a bit like saying why don’t you do more to stop Russia.

Well said.

I also came to know that for some of my friends who I'd previously considered liberal, well balanced professionals, religion trumps everything and they are willing to lose friends who don't agree with them. Their lack of critical thinking, along with some people on this thread, has astounded me.

About 30,000 of that number are Hamas terrorists.

I wondered how the IdF have killed 53000 innocent civilians and not one Hamas fighter according to some media outlets, surely there are a couple of Hamas fighters in that figure. Whoops no admission of large scale Hamas fighter casualties because it interferes with the genocide narrative.....sigh.

What happened on 7th October was a terrible massacre, totally indefensible... what has happened to the Palestinians since is potentially a Genocide, certainly mass murder.

Israel had and still has every right to defend itself, what it hasn't got the right to do is to drop 1000s of bombs into civilian areas.

You tell me if its a proportionate response to drop 100s of 2000lb bombs, no matter how guided, into a tented refugee camp? or are the images we see of starvation, bodies blown to bits and British and other Doc eye witness reports AI generated?

From what I know of the alleged refugee camps, is that they are fully developed areas that just kept the name of refugee camp from 50 years ago. No tented refugee camps have been bombed. That would be mass murder, and it has not happened.

The IDF have been clearly notifying everyone in the area by leafleting and dropping dud bombs onto the buildings before some time later dropping the real bombs.
This is why there is so much phone footage of the destruction of the buildings. Everyone knows where and when.
When Hamas are caught in the open, the IDF are using much smaller munitions and have to act fast. That’s not to say there have not been innocent casualties, but it’s not the egregious mass murder and genocide being parroted in social media.