Does the CITME forum negatively affect your mental health?

[SomeoneSomewheree]

Personally, yes, it does.

To see people day in and day out try and justify a genocide does affect my mental health so I try to stay away at times.

I have also noticed it is the same handful of posters on both sides arguing, neither convincing the other.

I have unfortunately witnessed at times anti-semitic and anti-Palestinian comments, which are not pleasant to read.

Does it affect you? It is not always a pleasant place whatever your stance is on the conflict.

It is wrong as in any conflict to be overly virtuous about one side in the conflict and of course it is part of Hamas propaganda goals to promote media coverage of civilian death. To frame the Palestinians as the long suffering underdog fighting a courageous battle (even holy) battle against an evil oppressor is as disingenuous as it is wrong.

I read a statement from one the dead journalists and you could see his personal motivation and that of many Palestinians was not a two state solution but one of a 'free' Palestine which basically meant the eradication of Israel with a call to arms to do so. The Palestinian struggle is not one that they wish to continue amongst diplomats or in the UN but one on the battlefield or more likely through terrorist acts.

I think it would impact a lot of Israelis mental health knowing the mind set that instigated October 7th is alive and well in Gaza and the West seems to be rewarding this by increasingly recognising a Palestinian state when Gaza is still under control of a people supported terrorist group.

It is horrific isn't it all the conflicts, all the humanitarian crises. Yet so many on these citme threads only voice their concern about this one. I wonder why.

Look at Saudi and yemen! Terrible humanitarian crisis there and you just do not get people furious doing 25 c&p a day to condemn it and naming all the victims. It's like it's ok for the Saudis but not for Israel..

And before anyone trots out the yeah but we arm israel, the US and the UK supply military equipment to many countries not just Israel.

caat.org.uk/homepage/stop-arming-saudi-arabia/uk-arms-to-saudi-arabia/

'I read a statement from one the dead journalists and you could see his personal motivation and that of many Palestinians was not a two state solution but one of a 'free' Palestine which basically meant the eradication of Israel with a call to arms to do so'

Exactly. Israel is doing the world a favour getting rid of terrorists yet some people can't stop peddling the hamas rubbish.

Because it's exceptional Gloria.

Exceptional in the high percentage of women and children killed. Exceptional in the high percentage of population killed. Exceptional in the percentage of population displaced. Exceptional in the number of child amputees. Exceptional in that international journalists can't enter. Exceptional in the amount of bombing, the equivalent of 8 Hiroshimas in a space 3 times smaller. Exceptional in the percentage of homes destroyed. Exceptional in that middle aged Western women look at starving children and go look their fat mum instead of calling for the child to be fed. Exceptional in that the perpetrators of the killings of 20000+ children made clear from the very beginning that they were going to 'eliminate everything' and yet some people spend their lives online defending them, insisting that they are just misunderstood and actually it's the people who are appalled by their actions who are the horrible hatefilled people.

I could go on but you know all of this already, everybody does. Thats why the tide has turned on Israel. While Netanyahu is talking about his 'spiritual mission' and how he is 'very attached' to the idea of a Greater Israel the rest of the world, to quote the NZ prime minister, thinks he has 'lost the plot'.

2.3 million children at risk of starvation in Yemen.

120k civilian deaths in Iraq ( and our military actually fighting there )

Its exceptional, but every war is exceptional in one way or another.

You only have to have studied a few conflicts to know this.

It’s odd how “Release the hostages” keeps getting thrown around like Israel hasn’t had multiple chances to do exactly that without killing thousands more civilians. Nov ’23? Deal agreed, hostages released, more on the way… until Israel broke the ceasefire. Feb ’24? Another phased release plan: rejected. May ’24? Hamas accepted a deal that matched Israel’s own terms- Israel stalled. Jan ’25? Deal accepted… then Israel launched surprise attacks.

Even some hostage families in Israel say Netanyahu’s using them as political cover. As long as hostages remain in Gaza, he gets to keep the war going.

They’re actually incentivised not to bring their hostages back because then Netanyahu would lose power. Release the hostages is not a good faith argument, it’s a classic Israeli talking point to shift the blame to Palestinians and ignore the fact that Israel has had plenty of chances to get their hostages back without committing genocide.

Israel has had multiple chances to get the hostages home without continuing the slaughter- Nov 2023, Feb 2024, May 2024, Jan 2025- and either stalled, rejected, or broke the deals. Even hostage families in Israel say Netanyahu is using them as a political shield to prolong the war.

Over 100 children in Gaza have now died from starvation-related causes. “Release the hostages” is not a good faith argument when the record shows Israel has refused or sabotaged agreements that could have saved lives.

Every war is horrific. But not every war kills 20,000 children in under a year, displaces 90% of a population, blocks aid, and openly declares the intent to “eliminate everything.”

That scale and speed of destruction is not something you can flatten into just another conflict.

120k civilian deaths in Iraq ( and our military actually fighting there )

spread over two decades, not a single year like Gaza.

2.3 million children at risk of starvation in Yemen.

Have people been posting photos of their mums and talking about how 'well fed' they are too? Have they been diagnosing them via them the internet and deciding that it's not really that bad because it's only the disabled children who are skin and bone so far?

Classic whataboutism- trying to deflect criticism of Israel by pointing to other conflicts, without actually engaging with the scale, speed, or nature of what’s actually happening in Gaza

The reason you see more people speaking up about Gaza isn’t because they “don’t care” about Yemen or other crises-

it’s because Gaza is unfolding in real time, in front of our eyes, with no ambiguity about who is doing what.

We are seeing a trapped civilian population bombed daily, starved, and denied aid, with one of the highest child death rates in modern conflict history- all while our own governments actively fund and arm it.

Yemen’s crisis is also horrific, but it has been largely hidden from view, with far less live reporting and far less direct involvement from the UK public’s own government. When your country’s taxes are directly bankrolling bombs and blocking ceasefires, people have a moral obligation to speak up loudly and repeatedly.

My point is that other conflicts have other features that make them uniquely horrific.

Yemen for example. UNICEF estimates 9.8 million children at risk of starvation. That number is so massive I can't comprehend it. Way more than Gaza. And you could make a very strong argument that with our defense contracts with KSA we are complicit too.

I don't want to make it a suffering competition. I just wish to point out that humans all over the world are abusing in each in the name of ideology, land grab, resources, whatever. Theres much thats unique about Gaza but theres much thats unique about other conflicts too.

Israel isn't uniquely awful. Israel is as awful as all humans are capable of being. Theyre humans too.

One feature of the Israel / Gaza conflict is the media visibility to us here in the UK. I think that's part of the reason theres so many threads on here etc. It's right in front of our eyes, repeatedly. It concerns me that this is by Hamas' design. I think they glorify in their civilians deaths to bring the cause to our screens. Thats what I find unique in this conflict.

Your wording tries to frame it as neutral or reflective, but by comparing numbers of children at risk in Yemen vs. Gaza and highlighting “unique” aspects of other conflicts, you’re essentially ranking suffering: a classic suffering competition.

What’s your point? That we shouldn’t be outraged by what’s happening in Gaza because atrocities happen elsewhere?

“Israel isn't uniquely awful. Israel is as awful as all humans are capable of being. Theyre humans too.
One feature of the Israel / Gaza conflict is the media visibility to us here in the UK. I think that's part of the reason theres so many threads on here etc. It's right in front of our eyes, repeatedly. It concerns me that this is by Hamas' design. I think they glorify in their civilians deaths to bring the cause to our screens. “

I find it disturbing framing Israel as “just as awful as all humans” and then implying that the visibility of civilian deaths is somehow Hamas’ doing. That shifts responsibility away from the state deliberately bombing civilians and onto the victims themselves- and that’s a dangerous and misleading way to frame the conflict.

My point is that humans have always caused suffering to one another, always will, and that Israel isn't uniquely awful.

I'm honestly not ranking suffering and yes, feeling reflective.

Why the unique level of hatred for Israel?

I don't blame the innocent victims in Gaza for this war. I blame the party that started it, and the party that refuses to surrender in the face of massive suffering of its own people.

And I can't understand why many others on here apportion blame so differently.

I don’t have a unique level of animosity toward Israel- I condemn anyone who actively starves and bombs children, wherever they are.

And as I said on the last page of this very thread: Israel has had multiple chances to save the hostages without killing tens of thousands more civilians. Nov ’23? Deal agreed, hostages released, more on the way… until Israel broke the ceasefire. Feb ’24? Another phased release plan: rejected. May ’24? Hamas accepted a deal that matched Israel’s own terms- Israel stalled. Jan ’25? Deal accepted… then Israel launched surprise attacks.

OK then. Perhaps you could point me to all the posts you made about Assad during the Syrian war? The Houthis? The Russians? The RSF?

Again with the more blame for Israel than Hamas. You blame Israel for not getting hostages back more than you blame Hamas for taking them in the first place. Come on.

Who's fault is it that the hostages are trapped in Gaza? Israel for not prioritizing them? Or Hamas for putting them there in the first place?

I think that's another thing that's unique about this conflict. The people who said we are going to 'eliminate everything' then dropped the equivalent of 8 atomic bombs on a tiny strip of land are given a complete free pass by some. Pretending it's just a coincidence that they said were going to destroy everything then did just that, pretending that Hamas are hiding literally everywhere rather than just accepting that Israel said that they planned to destroy everything from the very beginning and that's what they've done.

Then the people who actually listened to what Israel said and have been warning that this is where the conflict would go from the very beginning are the ones who are called stupid. Make it make sense.

Would Israel have done any of the above had Hamas not commited the atrocity of 7 October? Would they have got this free pass you talk of if Hamas hadn't done that?

And in what sense does Israel have a free pass? What does that mean? Theres been huge international condemnation. Arrest warrants for war crimes. Increased antisemitism in lots of places. Do you mean a free pass in that no one has actually used military force to try to stop them? Is that what you think the world should do?

Yemen has been 'unfolding in real time in front of our eyes ' for years. Just because you dont look doesn't make it any less ' in front' of you. The reason its not reported is because there is little interest. If there were weekly marches, bulging inboxes, vast numbers of clicks, of course it would be top of the news agenda.

Of course there is ambiguity in Gaza. You don't want to see it in less black and white terms but the nature of guerilla warfare is complex. We dont avtuallu know how many og tbe drad were in fact killed by Hamas and other groups, for example. Of course there is lots of complicity of the UK in Yemen. We have been sucking up to the Saudis for years. Our arms sales to Saudi are vast and arms sales to Israel tiny and not very significant.

It’s not just releasing the hostages though is it? Netanyahu’s demand include Hamas disarming & leaving Gaza.

You know this … what is the point of rehashing the same points over & over again?

And we’re not shifting the blame to Palestinians. Palestinians are not Hamas.

Palestinian civilians have no power to end this war but Hamas do and they are supposed to have their best interests at heart. Is prolonging the war really doing that?

I mean a free pass from people like you.