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Hamas/Israel conflict: news and discussion

I genuinely think most people aren’t falling into hard line on either side. Ignoring maniacs on Twitter. Social media. Which is toxic in any case. The politicians backing Israel is largely theatre to placate domestic concerns and not look weak. likely similar is happening in the Muslim/Arab world I don’t know. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable enough to check. What actually matters is what Israel are going to do, are doing. and what flows, unfolds from that. Sorry a bit waffly. Let’s not confuse ourselves with our leaders. Are you hard line on one side or the other? I don’t think so. Nor are are most people on here. or in real life.
But where is that backing leading to. And why are they all so 'unequivocal' across the board as they like to present themselves. Not even disagreeing I don't know.
 

US state department diplomats warned not to call for 'ceasefire' or 'end to violence' - report​

The US state department has sent emails to diplomats advising them against making public statements that suggest the US wants to see less violence amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, according to a HuffPost report.

High-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm”, the report says.

The emails were sent hours after Israel issued mass evacuation orders to the more than one million residents of northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion of the region.
 

US state department diplomats warned not to call for 'ceasefire' or 'end to violence' - report​

The US state department has sent emails to diplomats advising them against making public statements that suggest the US wants to see less violence amid the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, according to a HuffPost report.

High-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: “de-escalation/ceasefire,” “end to violence/bloodshed” and “restoring calm”, the report says.

The emails were sent hours after Israel issued mass evacuation orders to the more than one million residents of northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion of the region.
Jesus…
 
But where is that backing leading to. And why are they all so 'unequivocal' across the board as they like to present themselves. Not even disagreeing I don't know.

No I don’t think we are disagreeing. But I see it as mainly theatre for domestic audiences. Well and the continuing realpolitik of aligning with a regional ally.
 
No I don’t think we are disagreeing. But I see it as mainly theatre for domestic audiences. Well and the continuing realpolitik of aligning with a regional ally.
In the US, perhaps. But in the UK or France, is clamping down on pro-Palestinian voices in this blatantly two-faced, hypocritical way playing to the domestic audience? I'm not so sure. If anything, it comes across to me as an attempt to discipline and police domestic audiences. Not so much 'we're saying what you want to hear' as 'we're telling you what you are allowed to think'. It's about control, no?
 
In the US, perhaps. But in the UK or France, is clamping down on pro-Palestinian voices in this blatantly two-faced, hypocritical way playing to the domestic audience? I'm not so sure. If anything, it comes across to me as an attempt to discipline and police domestic audiences. Not so much 'we're saying what you want to hear' as 'we're telling you what you are allowed to think'. It's about control, no?

Here it’s of a piece with Hard line on immigrants, boats, the woke, all that shit. all the rhetoric about pro Palestine protesters it’s just hot air. if you wave a Palestininion flag outside a synagogue tomorrow of course you’re going to be having your collar felt. But generally no. Not to say policing on the ground won’t necessarily be overzealous of course but that’s the hard of thinking thin blue line for you. I mean are you being told what to think? Is anyone here feeling under pressure about what to think?
 
Here it’s of a piece with Hard line on immigrants, boats, the woke, all that shit. all the rhetoric about pro Palestine protesters it’s just hot air. if you wave a Palestininion flag outside a synagogue tomorrow of course you’re going to be having your collar felt. But generally no. Not to say policing on the ground won’t necessarily be overzealous of course but that’s the hard of thinking thin blue line for you. I mean are you being told what to think? Is anyone here feeling under pressure about what to think?

The line of the UK govt and authorities is 100% support for Israel. Personally, with the narrative being pushed by the most-consumed, generally right-wing media, I don't feel particularly comfortable sharing out "pro-Palestinian" stuff on social media. I think there are probably enough people (including distant friends) out there who consume news in only tiny bites and might see support for Palestinians as support for terrorism. Or am I being paranoid?
 
The line of the UK govt and authorities is 100% support for Israel. Personally, with the narrative being pushed by the most-consumed, generally right-wing media, I don't feel particularly comfortable sharing out "pro-Palestinian" stuff on social media. I think there are probably enough people (including distant friends) out there who consume news in only tiny bites and might see support for Palestinians as support for terrorism. Or am I being paranoid?

Well yeah, a lot of people on Facebook etc are morons. But that didn’t start as of last weekend. neither did the venality and paucity of our government. if you were expecting them to urged the Israelis to have restraint, you have been deluding yourself.
 
In the US, perhaps. But in the UK or France, is clamping down on pro-Palestinian voices in this blatantly two-faced, hypocritical way playing to the domestic audience? I'm not so sure. If anything, it comes across to me as an attempt to discipline and police domestic audiences. Not so much 'we're saying what you want to hear' as 'we're telling you what you are allowed to think'. It's about control, no?

It's really no different in the USA. The MSM may be fervently Zionist, but the populace certainly isn't. At moments like this the divergence becomes clear.
 
It's really no different in the USA. The MSM may be fervently Zionist, but the populace certainly isn't. At moments like this the divergence becomes clear.

I dunno, my impression is that Americans are way more likely to be Israeli-biased than Brits, and that's from experience and what I hear of the quality of their news. We have the gammon media in the UK, but we also have ch4, The Guardian and even the BBC which all probably portray the conflict in a reasonably balanced way. My mum and stepdad stay in the US half the year and say the news channels there are uniformly awful.
 
I dunno, my impression is that Americans are way more likely to be Israeli-biased than Brits, and that's from experience and what I hear of the quality of their news. We have the gammon media in the UK, but we also have ch4, The Guardian and even the BBC which all probably portray the conflict in a reasonably balanced way. My mum and stepdad stay in the US half the year and say the news channels there are uniformly awful.

Well you can't deduce anything about the American people's opinion from the MSM, which is designed to dictate opinion not reflect it. Apart from the obvious Zionist enclaves, I'd say public opinion is broadly similar to the UK, and probably more sympathetic to Palestine in radical quarters. Of course it depends where you go...
 
Well you can't deduce anything about the American people's opinion from the MSM, which is designed to dictate opinion not reflect it. Apart from the obvious Zionist enclaves, I'd say public opinion is broadly similar to the UK, and probably more sympathetic to Palestine in radical quarters. Of course it depends where you go...

I'm referring to Americans I have met and am friends with and who are generally politically reasonable. I honestly think they are fed even more shite than we are with regards to the long-running situation in the middle east. It's almost as if they don't stand a chance...
 
I'm referring to Americans I have met and am friends with and who are generally politically reasonable. I honestly think they are fed even more shite than we are with regards to the long-running situation in the middle east. It's almost as if they don't stand a chance...

Yes but it's easy to get the wrong impression. There probably aren't more than a couple of million ultra-Zionist fanatics in the whole world, but that's not the impression you'd get from the MSM...
 
The politicians backing Israel is largely theatre to placate domestic concerns and not look weak. likely similar is happening in the Muslim/Arab world I don’t know. I am not sufficiently knowledgeable enough to check.
As alluded to up thread, I think western leaders have doubled down on supporting Israel because of a concern for a global realignment against the west. Russia and its allies are looking for avenues to create fissures in the American-backed system and the Arab world asserting itself would be some cause of concern. I can only see Britain and the US sending warships to the region in this context. This, unfortunately, has given Israel carte blanche to operate freely.

As someone not in the UK, I am getting the impression there is a massive disconnect between the politicians and the media on one-side and populace on the other. If this is the case, one hopes that there is a moral awakening after what awful events are about to transpire. Unfortunately, its very difficult to take any positives from this situation; perhaps now the mask as slipped, Israel will go back to being the pariah of the world.
 

Yougov polling is broadly in line with what I experience in daily life which is very different to the intense bias of the political class and media.

Most people say they don't know who they support or that they don't support either side (almost 2 thirds of people are neutral). However supporters of Palestine significantly outnumber supporters of Israel (24% to 10%).


All the western European countries surveyed are more sympathetic to Palestine than to Israel with most people neutral or undecided apart from Germany with a slight preference for Israel. However Americans are around twice as likely to sympathise with Israel as they are Palestine (15% to 29%) and also with most people neutral.
 
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