Gaza. Another example of how Muslims are seen as vermin, to be eradicated.

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Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Gaza. whole cities, towns, villages, communities razed to the ground. The number of deaths are staggering. Mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, children, dead, destroyed.

Apparently "we" asked for it so it's justified. We are rats. We are terrorists, we are backward, we are rubbish, better off dead.

I don't know why I'm posting this really.

Just. So. Tired. Of. It.

Alhumdulliah that’s good news.

I’m not Muslim so I hope you don’t mind my posting in this space. The thread just appeared in ‘active’ and I took some time to read some of the comments. What was really apparent to me is the fear, and sadness and alienation that so many of you feel.

But also, how this is exactly how I and my Jewish friends all feel too.

We all feel totally misunderstood and disregarded and dehumanised.

It just really hit me how similar it is and how much I don’t wish that for any Muslim people and want you to know I see your humanity and care just as much for you and the people in Gaza as I do for those who I might otherwise identify with more on first blush.

It just occurred to me that the way this whole thing has played out in the media feels deliberately set up to divide us and provoke fear across communities.

The dehumanisation on both sides is just awful and feels like we have all played into the hands of some much bigger and much darker forces.

I never understood why 7/10 didn’t unite Palestinians and Israelis against Hamas but perhaps that was my ignorance and lack of knowledge about the wider context. I can understand why those directly affected may be too traumatised to see each others humanity right now; but really hope that those of us further removed from the conflict can find a way back from the constant fighting and the sadness that trying to make ourselves be heard causes. All I’ve ever wanted as a Jewish person is for my trauma and fear to be acknowledged; so when I see you all sharing the same feeling it gives me pause and makes me wonder if there’s not a different way for us all to engage around this that unites us rather than breeds the fear and isolation so many are experiencing now.

Thank you, @Muthaofcats .

It's a terrible situation for everyone, Jews, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians, everyone with loved ones affected.

I look at my DC, who looks so like the little children in Gaza and in Israel, and I'm so scared for what this world will do to them.

Feel so frightened for my babies too. I agree the children in Gaza and Israel look so like my own, and indistinguishable from each other to my eyes. The suffering is unbearable; and I realise I’ve spent so much time incensed at the injustice that no one seems to care about the lives lost on 7/1” or the hostages raped and brutalised, that it has numbed my focus on Gaza and I’ve too often been swept into a divisive conversation rather than remember that we aren’t here to advocate on behalf of Hamas or Netanyahu. Both of whom do not stand for me, and I assume not for you either. I just realised we are all being used as pawns on both sides and I’m sick of it. I don’t want any more blood shed and i don’t want anyone to live in fear in western countries that pride themselves on tolerance and celebrating diversity and enjoying each others difference and the richness we can bring to each others lives. I feel like many fled to the Jewish or Muslim threads as a way to feel safe and understood during this frightening time but I wish we could return to common ground where we focus on what unites us, like just wanting our children to grow up safe and happy and free, rather than our differences. I really can’t see that we are that different.

Thank you @Muthaofcats. The media definitely has a big part to play in dividing both the Muslim and a Jewish community.

We really aren't that different at all, @Muthaofcats . There's far more that unites us than divides us.

I think of the hostages and the innocent people who were murdered on October 7th every day, just as I do the innocent people dying in Gaza. All innocents, dying and suffering for (mostly) men's hate.

I've worked in bad circumstances before, and I feel so guilty that I haven't volunteered to go now. But the chance of not coming home would be high, and I can't do that to my DC. I can't add them to the list of children who lose a parent to this.

So true what you say about this being about male hate. This isn’t a war driven by women and children; we are just the ones who suffer.