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Conflict in the Middle East

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza?

1000 replies

ssd · 22/05/2025 22:05

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

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza? | Arwa Mahdawi

When future generations read about Gaza with horror and wonder how we allowed a livestreamed genocide to happen, what will you say?

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

OP posts:
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17
ComeAsYouAreAsAFriend · 24/05/2025 11:12

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 11:09

Just because Netanyahu was wrong on this occasion (I believe he was, I believe he's wrong on most things) doesnt mean all accusations of antisemitism are disingenous. False accusations of course are wromg and counterproductive, but don't pretend your average antisemite is actually capable of caring about the difference.

My point was Netanyahu isn't just an everyday joe soap is he? What he says and claims has far wider implications, and accusing other states leaders of antisemitism is serious and not something to be shrugged off as immaterial

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 11:20

ComeAsYouAreAsAFriend · 24/05/2025 11:12

My point was Netanyahu isn't just an everyday joe soap is he? What he says and claims has far wider implications, and accusing other states leaders of antisemitism is serious and not something to be shrugged off as immaterial

I wasn't aware that anyone had shrugged it off. I saw Lord Levy (Jewish) condemn it on the news ths week.

Ferretedaway · 24/05/2025 11:22

I accepted that the truth was obscured by propaganda by both sides.
I accepted that while Hamas want Jews wiped off the planet and Israel do not want to live alongside PalestIndians, there will be no resolution.
I learned that as a British Jew, I am despised.
i learned that other than to treat everyone around me of any race, colour and religion with respect and kindness, I cannot stop this conflict or any other from continuing.
I learned that individuals of any country are not their government and should not be punished for actions taken by their leaders.
I learned that virtue signalling is often carried out by those with the least knowledge or experience of the situation they are objecting to.
I didn’t learn that the majority of those who die and suffer in war are completely powerless and innocent, because it was ever thus.
I accepted the fact we are a violent, territorial species, doomed to fight over resources, boundaries and beliefs.

Alexandra2001 · 24/05/2025 11:23

Israel now say the aim is to get all Palestinians into the south of Gaza, then make the living conditions so terrible that they will leave of their own accord...

Yet that is defended by sooo many.

I don't know what anyone can do, other than write to their MP and remember it at the next GE, Israel is backed by Trump/USA, they can do as they wish and they are.
The Europeans etc wont push back at Trump as they are all afraid of him and he knows it too.

My respect for the Israelis is now non existent.

Reonie · 24/05/2025 11:45

I've felt entirely powerless. Of course there is propaganda on both sides. I think I've learned just how crazily successful it's been from the point of view of the Israeli state. As someone who's been aware of this conflict all my adult life (I'm in my fifties) obviously I can see that there has been Palestinian aggression, but then you look at living conditions and you think, of course there is going to be aggression. Israel is so rich and has been as a state so incredibly cruel at times. Everyone is a real person and nobody should live in fear. What is the solution? None of it works.

And then we get to this genocide. It's all very well the Guardian publishing that, a year and a half into what was obviously a genocide from the start. I stopped paying for their news app in the first November. They are as complicit as any other news outlet in initially reporting Israeli lies and I have no doubt Hamas lies as well - it's just that we can see the mass destruction, the dead babies, the child amputees. The videos of IDF soldiers gloating. There is no argument for this response, none whatsoever.

But what have I done? Protested. (to no avail). Refused to vote Labour. (who cares?) Boycotted. (was already doing that, nobody cares) Talked to people. Talked with my Jewish neighbours, who are horrified btw, and discussed very real examples of anti-Semitism, which I don't condone and have pushed back on when I've heard people skirting around some awful stereotype. Donated to aid for Palestinians. (early on I hope it made a difference, obviously very little is working currently to help)

I think when my grandchildren ask I will be able to see that I knew early on that this was wrong, while others were hedging their bets and hoping Israel would not go further. I didn't vote for any party that supported this. But what did I do? Precious little, same as most people here, except to bear some form of witness.

dairydebris · 24/05/2025 11:48

EasyTouch · 24/05/2025 11:02

Have you ever typed on a thread that quiet Muslims make Islamophobia worse by not protesting against their Islamist co religionists?

Or that Black underclass criminals overrepresented in specific crime statistics feed into anti Black racism or stereotypes?

Or that English people who can go back twenty or more generations without finding an ancestor not born in England, by brandishing an England flag outside of there being an international football tournament have to be overt or closeted racists and feed into that middle class liberal/leftisy suspicion?

I'm saying it with my full chest: YOU by designation of what you so casually typed are an anti Semite.

A dunce one, but one nevertheless.
Being a bigot is not contingent upon effort/ thought or grand gesture.

That is why the majority of anti Semites get really cross. When it comes to Israel, Jewish people and Judaism, they will have to think before they type , write or speak if they want to be as covert as possible. Because Jewish people , after women have the longest history of being hated by at least most institutions not Jewish, much less people all over.

It is that very, very long cultural awareness of tropes that the average Jewish person is aware of that the anti Semite is up against.
And most know, deep down that most of the world , no matter how much the Jewish person contributes, assimilates, strives, provides, grins and bears.....when push comes to shove, too many of us today and in living memory, much less their millennia of experience .....find the lives of Jews perfectly expendable if it serves any "greater good".

But instead of self examination , bigoted liberals expect Jewish people to be cheek turners supreme because of the Holocaust.

Just like bigoted liberals weirdly expect Black people to be first in line advocates for/understanders of every minority (except Jews) , even to the detriment of their own determination and group determination and even with the knowledge that non Black POC anti Blackness makes White Western anti Blackness, (yes including the convenient Boogeyman U.S) look like a Summer skip through cornfields.

Most casual anti Semites are too thick to see that the evidence of their anti Semitism is in what they have typed/said.

Wrong and strong as my Jamaican grandparents would have said after seeing your zealous exclamation mark, punctuating what you thought was a "gotcha", but is a self reveal of a typical DARVOesque anti Semitic thought pattern.
Just like with homophobia, it is never too late to unpick one's motivations for being a racist bigot.

You even fit in some triangulation, which is a typically racist 101 move.

And while I'm at it. I, as a Black person have never met an anti Semite who cannot be revealed to be anti Black.

And every Black anti Semite that I know is either a self hater/ racial "divestor" in intimate relationships / is of a religion where the religion comes before race (in theory).

None are comfortable with being Black in and of itself.

So selfishly, anti Semitism acts like a canary in a coalmine for me and mine.

Thankyou. Sometimes I start to doubt myself on these threads, and am grateful for those more eloquent than me.

Bellahadthese · 24/05/2025 11:50

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SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 11:52

Abit of 'Palestinian aggression'. No mention of 7 October, no mention of hostages, no mention of constant rocket fire, terrorist attacks, bombs, stabbings of innocent people in Israel, no mention of the times the Palestinians have walked away from a deal on their own state, no mention of the unspeakable cruelty of Hamas to their own people and their responsibility for the conditions of their people, the spending of their huge wealth on tunnels and terror infrastructure.

Its not Israeli propaganda that is looking very successful is it?

quantumbutterfly · 24/05/2025 11:53

Ferretedaway · 24/05/2025 11:22

I accepted that the truth was obscured by propaganda by both sides.
I accepted that while Hamas want Jews wiped off the planet and Israel do not want to live alongside PalestIndians, there will be no resolution.
I learned that as a British Jew, I am despised.
i learned that other than to treat everyone around me of any race, colour and religion with respect and kindness, I cannot stop this conflict or any other from continuing.
I learned that individuals of any country are not their government and should not be punished for actions taken by their leaders.
I learned that virtue signalling is often carried out by those with the least knowledge or experience of the situation they are objecting to.
I didn’t learn that the majority of those who die and suffer in war are completely powerless and innocent, because it was ever thus.
I accepted the fact we are a violent, territorial species, doomed to fight over resources, boundaries and beliefs.

Reonie · 24/05/2025 11:59

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 11:52

Abit of 'Palestinian aggression'. No mention of 7 October, no mention of hostages, no mention of constant rocket fire, terrorist attacks, bombs, stabbings of innocent people in Israel, no mention of the times the Palestinians have walked away from a deal on their own state, no mention of the unspeakable cruelty of Hamas to their own people and their responsibility for the conditions of their people, the spending of their huge wealth on tunnels and terror infrastructure.

Its not Israeli propaganda that is looking very successful is it?

I guess this is in response to my post.

I notice you added "a bit of" which was not in my post and certainly changes the tenor to my detriment.

I mentioned no instances of aggression pre-genocide from either side.

I see you.

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:12

Reonie · 24/05/2025 11:59

I guess this is in response to my post.

I notice you added "a bit of" which was not in my post and certainly changes the tenor to my detriment.

I mentioned no instances of aggression pre-genocide from either side.

I see you.

'I see you' sounds a bit threatening - what do you mean?

Your mention of Palestinian aggression was in the context of saying you had been observing the issue all your life and you are in your 50s. You then went on to justify Palestinian aggression as a reasonable response to their living conditions.

It was later you said ' AND THEN we get to the genocide'.

What is the explanation for not mentioning 7 October, an explicitly genocidal attack? For which Israel was entirely justified in retaliating. You said their response was genocie from the start. How on earth could it be classified as genocide at the start? Regardless of how tje war has been prosecuted more recently.

Jujujudo · 24/05/2025 12:18

monktasmic · 23/05/2025 01:36

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?

Jews. Demonising Jews. Having a reason to be openly antisemitic. Waiting in the wings to say what they really think. Jews. That’s all.

Jujujudo · 24/05/2025 12:22

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SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:24

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You are right. Its terrifying.

Reonie · 24/05/2025 12:26

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:12

'I see you' sounds a bit threatening - what do you mean?

Your mention of Palestinian aggression was in the context of saying you had been observing the issue all your life and you are in your 50s. You then went on to justify Palestinian aggression as a reasonable response to their living conditions.

It was later you said ' AND THEN we get to the genocide'.

What is the explanation for not mentioning 7 October, an explicitly genocidal attack? For which Israel was entirely justified in retaliating. You said their response was genocie from the start. How on earth could it be classified as genocide at the start? Regardless of how tje war has been prosecuted more recently.

I meant I see your use of subtle but meaningful shifts in how you represent what others have said, paraphrasing using vocabulary that alters the semantics, bringing up omissions which never were in fact omitted, thus attempting to imply an intent that was not expressed.

As I see it in the rest of your post.

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 24/05/2025 12:26

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Parky04 · 24/05/2025 12:27

FKAT · 24/05/2025 10:00

Absolutely nothing because I'm not responsible for a war that's been going on for long before I was born and will go on for long after I'm dead in a place I've never been to.

Pretty much my take on it!

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:30

Reonie · 24/05/2025 12:26

I meant I see your use of subtle but meaningful shifts in how you represent what others have said, paraphrasing using vocabulary that alters the semantics, bringing up omissions which never were in fact omitted, thus attempting to imply an intent that was not expressed.

As I see it in the rest of your post.

But completely avoiding the issues I brought up. I added the 'a bit' because it absolutely and accurately summed up tbe tenor of your post.

quantumbutterfly · 24/05/2025 12:34

I wondered why all the marchers didn't condemn the openly genocidal hamas and call for return of the hostages, and I wondered how they got away with calling for jihad, globalising the intifada and support for proscribed terrorist groups on the streets of London.

Reonie · 24/05/2025 12:35

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:30

But completely avoiding the issues I brought up. I added the 'a bit' because it absolutely and accurately summed up tbe tenor of your post.

The tenor of my post as interpreted by you? I mean, knock yourself out, but you're wrong here, you got caught out manipulating my words and as far as I'm concerned that's an end to it. Go and try it with someone else.

SharonEllis · 24/05/2025 12:38

Reonie · 24/05/2025 12:35

The tenor of my post as interpreted by you? I mean, knock yourself out, but you're wrong here, you got caught out manipulating my words and as far as I'm concerned that's an end to it. Go and try it with someone else.

Of course it was interpreted by me. Who else do you suggest I speak for? I wasn't caugbt out in any way. Your highly selective post speaks for itself.

Jujujudo · 24/05/2025 12:38

All my posts calling out antisemites are being deleted. Why?

MrsSkylerWhite · 24/05/2025 12:38

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 23/05/2025 09:21

Are you joking 😱 "Netanyahua a great and genuine leader" wtaf!!
Bet he never leaves Israel ever again.
The Hague is awaiting him!!

Absolutely this ^

How can anyone be so deluded?!

DoNoTakeNo · 24/05/2025 12:42

Donated to IRC & UNICEF.

Jujujudo · 24/05/2025 12:45

This thread is the very reason two innocent people were gunned down in America. It’s the reason Jewish people all over the world are terrified to admit that they’re Jewish. It’s the reason every single Jewish school, synagogue and community centre in the world has armed security. Just like in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, just like Europe in the 1930s and 40s, just like in the Middle East and North Africa in the 1940s, the world has found yet another reason to demonise us, vilify us, group us all together as some kind of evil, inhuman caste deserving of a special kind of hatred. There is no justification for propaganda. Germany successfully convinced an entire nation that exterminating all the Jews was the right thing to do, and it’s happening again. The only difference today is that Israel exists, Jews can fight back and we are aware and prepared that at any moment, our very existence is under threat.
Delete this if you want. It won’t change facts or the lived experiences of 15million people who deserve much better.

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