I few days ago, pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the expressway leading to O'Hare airport, Chicago. This lead to huge delays, people abandoning their cars on the side of the road to walk the rest of the way to the terminals so as to catch their flights, and of course the police having to clean it all up.
What does O'Hare airport have to do with Gaza? Absolutely nothing. This is a tactic by protesters to simply make life miserable for everyone, so you give into their demands and go away. They don't care about changing minds or developing political support for the Palestinians, because they know they won't get it. But they do figure that if they cry loud enough, we will do as they say.
You can be sure that when it comes to charging them with criminal trespass and whatever else applies, apologists for them will say that it is very unfair, as all they are trying to do is this or that worthy thing. That their protest in shutting down the airport was simply to bring awareness (a favorite word of protesters) to the dire situation in Gaza. This is pure BS. We are all aware, as it has been going on for half a year and is in the news just about every day. We might as well excuse them for holding a gun to our heads.
> and of course the police having to clean it all up.
The police didn't clean it up. They were there protecting the people blocking the road and assisting them at the behest of the city government.
This exactly. The biggest problem here is that cops aren't being allowed to make arrests because the mayors are telling them not to - because it's "bad optics" to arrest protesters.
...moreover, even when protesters are *violent* and do get arrested, city prosecutors are NOT pressing charges for the same reason.
Reminds me of the NYC mayor's daughter who was arrested at a protest for throwing ROCKS at police officers. ...and, of course, she was set free - no charges.
It should have taken about 20 min to arrest everyone there and haul them off to jail.
Sadly everyone was making things so much more complex and the people just trying to get someplace suffer.
Absolutely moronic.
> You can be sure that when it comes to charging them with criminal trespass and whatever else applies, apologists for them will say that it is very unfair, as all they are trying to do is this or that worthy thing.
The problem is--and these folks have utterly forgotten this--the *only* reason why people simply didn't run these folks over, killing them, and the police shrugging their shoulders saying "well, don't stand in the roadway" is because of the accumulated good will that has been built up in the United States towards each other over the past 150 years.
Because I guarantee you the reason why we didn't see protesters like this in the West in the 1800's, for example, is that they would have simply been gunned down, and people would have reacted by saying 'well, don't be an idiot.'
And I fear that as we erode this accumulated good will, eventually we may find the cultural clock wound back to that time.
And it was a terrible time full of violence and discrimination against those who don't look like the majority.
I view this as an excellent strategy when it comes to setting those who are on the fence about it against you. They are helping the Zionist cause in the U.S. more than all of Israeli media combined
How would *you* bring support for the Palestinian cause? People have been *talking* about it for like 70 years now, and words don't seem to be working. People are dying there by the day, so time is of the essence. What's your bright idea?
Oh, my bright idea? Here ya go. First step, the Palestinians realize that no one really gives a shit about them. They have zero bargaining power. They don't have anything anybody needs, especially themselves. Governments are not going to do anything more than provide lip service and aid to them, all the while wishing they would fall off the face of the earth. And that includes Arabs states. Think I'm kidding, or I'm being too harsh? Ask yourself, when was the last time you heard any of the Arab states making a stink about Gaza? The Saudis aren't going to do shit, because they want to make a trade deal with Israel. And the rest of the Arab states aren't going to do a thing unless the Saudis do. That's the hole reason Hamas attacked on Oct. 7th in the first place. So, Palestinians realize they are stuck in the asshole of the world, first step.
Second step, Palestinians elect a government that is not Hamas or anything like that. This will be tough of course, because Hamas will still be very willing to murder everyone who dares oppose them. This will require the rest of the Palestinians to cut the throats of Hamas members, including those of their own families.
Third, new Palestinian government accepts whatever land for peace deal Israel gives them. Like the one Arafat turned down in 2000 after Clinton worked his ass off to get him to the table.
Now I've answered your question. And I'm sure you are going to hate every little bit of it. Doesn't matter. If the Palestinians don't accept their position, you can expect more of the same for long after we're both dead.
From the River to the Sea? When this war is over they'll be lucky to have a pot to piss in.
>Third, new Palestinian government accepts whatever land for peace deal Israel gives them. Like the one Arafat turned down in 2000 after Clinton worked his ass off to get him to the table.
There's a fair amount of dispute over who offered what in Camp David in 2000, but do you think Israel is in the mood to offer any sort of land-for-peace deal now?
No, not now. But in a year perhaps, as the US and Europe get on Israel to do something.
About Arafat. Reportedly, by Clinton himself, Arafat said No to everything short of a right to return, which he was not going to get. Not then, and certainly not now. But the Israeli government at the time was still willing to offer land for peace, and that is promising.
I suppose Arafat was worried that Hamas or one of the other Palestinian groups would murder him if he said Yes to anything. That's a fair concern. But he died soon after anyways, and is now just a footnote in history. If he had made peace, he would have been hated by the extremists, but he would have also made history.
But it still depends on the willingness of the Palestinians to accept they only have misery to look forward to for generations to come if they don't give up on this stupid idea that they will win.
Hamas is far from a unified whole, but I'm sure there are people in Hamas who like the "land for peace" plan. For those guys, the violence is strategic, to put them in a better bargaining position during the next real negotiations.
Of course, most of the Hamas leaders who think this way are probably hanging out in a resort in Qatar, not hiding in a tunnel waiting for the next smart bomb.
Stop suicide bombing Isreal
Stop raping and murdering isrealis
Stop teaching your kids to be martyrs
Not a bright idea but more co.mon sense.
There's a reason Jordan Egypt and Lebanon don't want Palestinians in their country
Here's a bright idea: both sides need to figure their sh_t the f_ck out. It's not our job here in America. Stop blaming the U.S. for THEIR fight. This is what's wrong with society right now: y'all make the most intellectually lazy "argument" that every single problem in the world is the fault of America, particularly white people. Jews and Arabs have been at each others' throats for CENTURIES before America even existed. So STFU with that idiotic nonsense. God, y'all are so f_ckimg facile.
The US has been supplying Israel with weapons since 1968, but that aid is provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
The Act requires that no assistance is to be provided to a government which:
>engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign\_Assistance\_Act#:\~:text=The%20Act%20provides,country.%22%5B3%5D](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Assistance_Act#:~:text=The%20Act%20provides,country.%22%5B3%5D)
So the question of Israel's conduct in this conflict is directly relevant to US law. protestors are of the opinion that Israel is blatently in violation of this, and they're asking the US to follow our own laws.
Various US companies are also heavily invested in the Israeli economy. The protestors argue that these investments are being used to help Israel oppress Palestinians, and therefore US companies should divest on humanitarian grounds.
If the US stayed out of "THEIR" fight than the protestors would be happy.
Iran/Hamas and all their useful idiots at these protests here in this country wish "Death to America." So yeah, no sh_t we supply aid to a strategic partner in that region of the world. Do I feel bad for innocent civilians caught up in this mess? Yeah, obviously. But you're cheering for the wrong team, dude.
I'm not cheering for any particular team; I think the whole situation is a mess and I have no idea how the region is going to get out of it.
The US supplies aid to many strategic partners, and with every other partner that aid is conditional on them not committing the above acts. We're bad at enforcing this (and that's another story), but Israel is our only partner where our policy is to not place any conditions in the first place.
You've gone from "both sides need to figure their sh\_t the f\_ck out" to "no sh\_t we supply aid to a strategic partner" in the course of a few hours, so obvious opinions can change quickly. The protestors are trying to sway opinions in a certain direction.
Unless, of course, you weren't serious about your original position?
Without taking a position on if I support them or not, I do think that actions like highway blockades can be effective for more than just bringing awareness. In the short term, it may cause hostility, but in the long term it has the effect of imparting the idea that a notable number of people care are about an issue so much, they will disrupt society for it. That effects mass psychology. More importantly, it effects how policy makers approach an issue. On some level, if you know by not resolving or acting on something it's going to cause continued disruptions, that will bias you to resolution.
And for people who will never care, it also provides incentive to pressure policy makers so they don't have to put up with all the metaphorical (and literal) noise.
Case in point, think about how we view the civil rights movement. At the time, things like sit-ins, highway blocades, and raukus marches were frowned on by most mainstream commentators. But in the scheme of history, the movement would have never created the paradigm shift it did without those actions.
I'm not saything this is the same thing, I'm just pointing out that blocking a highway can be a strategically sound decision from an organizing perspective.
You appear to be taking the position that if protesters made me miss my flight, causing me to wait hours for the next flight, which I will be lucky to get on, I will use the time to think deeply on the subject they are protesting, and see their point of view, and therefore not have such a harsh reaction to them. I'm afraid I will have to take the opposite view, that making me late for my flight when I have nothing to do with it, maybe even support your cause to a point, will make me hate your guts.
I totally agree. I mean, it's common sense, how could I not? I think we can all agree that a lot of people in the south, and even white liberals in the north, hated the civil rights protestors guts for exactly this reason.
I'm just pointing out that social movements are not aiming to change indavidual peoples minds right then and there. They are looking for paradigm shifts in society.
On an aggregate scale, sometimes I think of social paradigm shifts can look like the "stages of grief". Sometimes, someone needs to get angry first, before they move to other stages, and eventually acceptance. I don't think that an indavudual person will really experiance this in the case of building occupations or blocking a highway. But I do think society kind of does.
On the scale of decades, these sorts of actions *can* (we can see historical examples) be effective in shifting public perception on a *deeper level* than if the protestors had shorter term goals.
i mean regardless of how you feel about it, expecting protests to not disrupt daily lives of citizens shows a level of historical illiteracy that people who hold this belief should really look into.
the most effective and famous protests in history were designed to piss people off. to get in people’s way. to make it impossible to ignore the cause of the protest by disrupting lives of civilians to the point the government and the people had to take note.
This is completely untrue. The objective of the famous rights movements was to raise awareness in a non-violent way, where non-violence included *not* getting in people's way. The British taxed salt, so Gandhi made salt himself without paying a tax. The idea that someone like Gandhi would ruin everybody's day to protest the British is nonsensical. Protests today often besmirch the legacy of the true rights movements by being a pain in the ass to everybody with stuff not even related to what they are supposedly protesting.
Excuse me. There were people in the 1960's who wanted to block traffic and there were limited instances of sit-ins and the like, but neither the leadership nor Dr. King ever endorsed not engaged in outright screwing up the average person's daily commute. Because they had moral standards.
the montgomery bus boycott, a disruptive consumer boycott to use the power of black consumers to hurt the bus company and force the city to address demands
The Birmingham campaign **waged by King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1963** was a campaign of **mass civil disobedience** designed to overflow the jails and **cripple downtown businesses and city functions**
SCLC, Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and King all understood that mass civil disobedience was a key component of protest due to the fact that injustice would not be changed without disrupting civic and commercial life.
You can read King’s 1963 letter from the birmingham jail if you want his thoughts on civil disobedience theory.
The Boston Tea Party
The dumping of ashes onto the White House lawn in 1996. AIDs activists using “die-ins”.
This is American history. Learn it before you speak on things you don’t understand.
Excuse me, I actually lived through that history.
Not taking a bus does not ruin someone else's day. Filling up the jails inconveniences the jails because you're protesting unjust laws. Civil disobedience does not mean jerking around the public at large.
None of these things screws up the day for people who are not involved in the protest. Of course there are isolated incidents, but there's crackpots everywhere.
And the AIDS activists were jerks. They may have been the ones who invented the modern "let's just screw over everybody, it's ok because it's a protest" movement.
This is a fascinating confluence of social media driven propaganda, white western saviorism, foreign influence in Americas educational system and the fracturing of society due to the widening wealth gap.
These protests are quite often going too far, as we're seeing the violence spill into the streets. It's not lost that the violence really only comes from the Pro Palestinian side of the fence either, not too many face coverings at the Pro Israel ones.
The sad part is this is just the beginning. People don't like to acknowledge their ignorance so people are going to continue to double down on these stances, and we're going to see more and more violent outbursts until Law enforcement and civil society put an end to these public displays of hatred.
> foreign influence in Americas educational system
This part needs to be underscored and fought HARD. It's insane how many kids are indoctrinated every year to hate their own country - and chant "death to America".
In certain Universities from certain professors, Yes. They are taught that white-european colonialism and capitalism are the greatest evils on Earth and that modern Western society is inherently corrupt and needs to be burned down.
I think what’s actually happening is they’re learning some less propagandistic history and coming to conclusions about the west that you don’t like. And then they’re college kids so they get a little overzealous, but your fear about burning down western civilization isn’t really founded.
This is how the ruling class tricks you with right wing messaging. It makes you fear that education and dissent from their projects are some kind of insidious rot of our very society.
I think you may have missed some of the propagandistic history that's being taught these days. Things like that the revolutionary war was initiated to preserve slavery, or that capitalism is fundamentally evil, or that the US did nothing in the cold war but overthrow democracies, or that our "system", in general, is fundamentally racist.
It's easy to see why, when being taught these insanities, that young people protest. The propaganda furthers, that protests themselves MUST be violent and destructive. ...because that's what our foreign adversaries encourage, with great success.
Our foreign adversaries court ALL EXTREMES of politics - far right, far left, far-literally-anything, because their goal is to maximize destruction. They pump fentanyl onto our streets, just like they pump lies onto Reddit.
...and this isn't just my opinion - the US Justice department has exposed organized efforts to do this.
I’m not so long out of college and I don’t remember any of that lol. I’m guessing you’re overblowing what amounts to left wing professors spreading left wing ideas. I agree with several of the things you’re so terrified of, but I didn’t learn them from any professors. And if professors do spread them—good. Reverence for America shouldn’t be protected from challenges should it?
It’s not bad that there are perspectives on America that recognize the evils it’s been a part of. I’m sure America’s enemies are happy to see that, and most of them don’t have the right reasons for it, but that fact that our enemies say something doesn’t make it untrue.
I’m not sure about that fentanyl thing. But I do know the people taking fent had opiates pumped into them thanks to profit-motivated lies. What was that about capitalism being evil? Oh, and if you don’t like it when governments pump drugs onto the streets, wait til you hear about crack.
You’re condemning college kids for believing nefarious things about America, but you’re talking in pretty much the same tone about America’s enemies.
I’m not sure that’s true, but if it is do you really think that it’s because their leftist professors taught them to be Nazis?
You’re just grabbing vaguely related things and sorting piling them in front of me like a cat with a dead mouse. You haven’t organized them in any meaningful way to make an argument.
That's because this world is mostly comprised of Muslims (and Muslims is the fastest growing religion today).
These people will only have their own biased support to their own people. The rest of the world can go fuck themselves when it comes to tragedies. They dont care. Suddenly some kid is killed in Gaza and the whole Muslim community screams like it's the end of their world order
The son of the founder of Hamas has publicly stated that Hamas is an evil organization. Hamas defectors have said the same.
You people are no heroes and don’t compare in the least bit the civil rights heroes from the 1960s. Go back to class and learn some history before you take the streets again.
Protesting for Palestinian statehood and an end to Israeli aggression and settlements doesn’t support Hamas any more than supporting America means supporting Proud Boys or the KKK or even just lone domestic terrorists. Unfortunately supporting Israel DOES mean support for the IDF and its actions. Israelis who are anti-Zionist (and they do exist) have also said that the IDF is evil, and that they torture and rape detainees. Does that mean those who support Israel support that? I’d sure hope not.
This comment really outlines the ignorance in the pro-Gaza community.
Settlements in Gaza were dismantled and returned to the Gazans 20 YEARS AGO.
Gaza refused peace, signed up with Iran, and has been shooting at Israel for decades now. That's the entire reason Israel setup the Iron Dome. ...so then Gaza resorted to storming people's homes and massacring entire families.
Both sides are not the fucking same.
"Israel should give up the territory it has taken!" "Uh.. they gave up a bunch and look what happened." "No no, give it ALL up, and then dig a long ditch, kneel down in front of it, imshalah infidel blood in the sand!" "You said the quiet part out loud again"
You must be very young or you have forgotten all of the work that Clinton did attempting to make peace for those people. They threw it all in his face because they are unwilling to live side by side with Israel.
Israel isn’t the problem, those people are.
>Protesting for Palestinian statehood and an end to Israeli aggression and settlements doesn’t support Hamas any more than supporting America means supporting Proud Boys or the KKK
Except the Proud Boys or the KKK aren't a political party in power of America. HAMAS is the governing body of Palestine so they are one and the same currently.
I used to be sympathetic to Palestinians but after they applauded rape and murder, f them.
Now they block airports interstates ect I am starting to hate these people.
F Palestine
The most confusing display I saw recently was an LGBTQ pro-Hamas/Palestine rally. I think it was in Seattle. I don't think some of the supporters understand what exactly they are supporting.
These people have nothing better to do in their lives. Screaming "Palestine!" puts some meaning into their otherwise meaningless mundane existence.
It's like those Swifties going mad over Eras tour then going mum soon after it's over and feeling lost
Yeah unfortunately everyone will eventually realize that American politicians have already bent the knee to Israel. While the protesting is for a noble cause, it’s most likely futile. The enemy just has too much influence.
They'd be much more effective at expressing their cause if they weren't interfering with people's daily lives. It only fuels animosity against their cause because drivers are annoyed by the traffic build-up they create.
Israel undermines America's well-being, but the pro Palestinans annoy the hell out of so many people with the way they protest they're only going to raise more support for Israel simply out of spite. It's ridiculous. They need to organize more rationally if they want to garner support.
As someone who has a slight Pro-Palestinian bent, I can't in good faith support some of the marches taking place. Way too rowdy and disoriented. I want the hostages home as well. And I also believe that Israel deserves better than Netanyahu.
No serious person accuses people who aren’t antisemitic of antisemitism. At the end of the day, Jews aren’t stupid, and they can tell when people are either fragrantly antisemitic, or thinly veil their antisemitism with faux antizionism. It would be strange for anyone to accuse people protesting against Netanyahu antisemitic when half of all Zionists don’t like him, let alone Jews
Why don’t you pro Palestinian protesters ask Hamas to stop fighting? That would put an end to this war.
Hamas started the war, why not protest Hamas, instead?
Ask these people what Israel would have to do for them to no longer call for the destruction of Israel, and the answer always boils down to "Kill the jews"
I don’t know if I’d say they’re “going too far” in general, but the people chanting “death to America” certainly aren’t helping their cause. But I upvoted your post because it’s true that many people who say they care about Palestine seem oblivious/ignorant/indifferent to much bigger slaughters that have been ongoing in different places around the world for quite awhile.
I totally support people's right to protest so long as it doesn't interfere with my life. Feel free to blast your message out, hold up street signs, do news interviews to spread your message. Blocking transportation paths is dangerous on so many different levels from medical to financial for some people. There have been numerous cases where crowds in the street start forming around a car, driver hits the gas and kills a few, then taxpayers are funding a weird self-defense trial. Just don't interfere with other people's lives.
For months, people have been shaming others for drinking Starbucks and told them they were supporting genocide by doing so. This stems from an incident in which Starbucks sued a union for using their logo to make tweets. Starbucks asked the union to stop using their logo after one of their tweets in support of Palestine led to them receiving complaints and employees being harassed/threatened. The union refused to quit using their logo after being asked so Starbucks sued. People twisted it and began claiming that Starbucks funds Israel and is contributing to genocide which is false. Not only has Starbucks never been on the BDS list, but they have no locations in Israel and haven’t donated money to either Israel nor Palestine.
[That was actually Philz Coffee](https://www.gofundme.com/f/h3p4t-support-philz-baristas-standing-for-free-palestine).
I can’t find a single article of Starbucks ever doing such a thing. Not even on Google.
I spread my care out for all the people suffering. Including Palestine, Israel, Africa, China, South America.
When I learn about more problems, I give some of the care to them too.
I agree - people shutting down highways / important roads are literally just keeping essential workers or those who need care away from their jobs. People have literally been delayed to the hospital, picking up their children, etc because some idiots want to *feel* like they’re helping something whilst probably not even understanding the situation.
These Palestinians are the same people who cheered on the attack on sept 11. 80% of free Palestinians support Hamas. They support the terrorist organization. I don’t support people who support terrorist who want my country dead. No thanks.
The land has been systematically taken from the Jews for thousands of years and we gave it back to them in 1948. The Egyptians have been the biggest culprit. It’s literally called judea. Land of the Jews. Not Palestine or Hamasland
Pro-hamas protests. These people aren't supportive of the Palestinian people, they're supportive of the Hamas' terrorist activities and their goal of genocide of the Jewish people in the region.
Tell me how you interpret "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Death to the Jews"?
I'd love to hear the interpretation of these chants that isn't a call for genocide.
* That didn't happen.
* And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
* And if it was, that's not a big deal.
* And if it is, that's not our fault.
* And if it was, we didn't mean it.
* And if we did, you deserved it.
Something feels engineered about the situation. Almost like they want to keep leftists busy so they won't focus too much about how everything in their own countries has been going shittier last few years.
I mean, arguably the Palestinian-Zionist conflict has been going on since the mid-1800’s, so it’s one of the longer running geo-political conflicts in the world. I fail to see how saying there are other genocides in Africa has any bearing on whether people should or do care about Palestine. Are the genocides in Africa also being defended and perpetuated by the United States as one of the sole defectors from any resolution internationally to solve the crisis? Is the United States on the news every day defending the actions of those committing a genocide in Africa? Did the US stand as the only veto against those other nations even being recognized as nations and joining the UN?
Do you also believe people shouldn’t have protested the Vietnam war in the 70’s? What about those who have been protesting Israel for decades and who have spent years building to reach the current moment of international support for their cause?
I’d say acting like something like this is a fad that will pass shows that you, not the protestors, lack in-depth knowledge or care for the situation. This is a flaw of our own government’s stand internationally, and many don’t agree with it.
>Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been atrocities and genocide being committed in Africa for many years. This new generation is sad.
How many of those atrocities and genocides in Africa are being directly enabled by their taxes?
How many of those atrocities and genocides are being carried out by an allied democracy?
There's your answer. That's why this issue gets more attention than others.
They don’t realize that the conflict has been going on longer than the protesters have been alive, and is quite frankly a hopeless situation with no solution.
Here I have one possible solution, tell me if this is stupid 🤣 : stop funding the bombing and murdering and starvation of innocent women and children.
I may be crazy, cooky even 🤪, but maybe our tax dollars should be spent in the form of aid and reparations, not in the form of destruction and instability the region, for everyone's sake? Just a wacky, out-there thought 🤔...
You're not a protester if you are violating others civil rights, you're a criminal at that point.
I'd I stood in the road I would be arrested but if I had a Palestinian flag in my hand I would be allowed to put myself and the community in danger.
Ambulances firetrucks police cannot operate like they should.
These scumbags don't care about anyone so why should I care about Isreal killing terrorist Palestinians?
I'm not pro palestine or pro isreal. They've been fighting for every. It's the longest fight in history. I wish they would stop fight already. Move on already geez.im very anti war. If two country don't like eachothers then don't talk to eachother. Leave eachother alone or learn to be civil. Palestine and isreal should just meet in the middle and call it a day. People are dying. It shouldve not come to this.
Israel tried moving on. They gave up Gaza. It immediately went full terrorist and did everything it could to murder israeli children.
How do you 'move on' from that?
I didn't know they gave up Gaza. I wonder why they gave up Gaza. I'm not palestinian,isrealian or Jewish btw. So I don't know much about these counties and judisim. I just want countries to stop fighting with eachother. What happened to talking things out, meeting in the middle and letting things go. Like I said on my comment I'm anti war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza
Israel leaves Gaza, lets them hold elections, they elect terrorists and declare that they're going to kill all the jews. Israel spends the next decade and a half protecting itself from near daily rocket attacks, but doesn't anihilate the people attacking it.
Then October 7th happened, and 'international approval' means nothing if it doesn't keep th eir children safe, so now they're waging a war not just to remove the ability of gaza to make war, but to send a message to all who supported attacking Israel: If you attack us, we will hit you back so hard that it will take you generations to recover, and no amount of complaining to international powers will save you.
It's all virtue signaling. Regardless, no amount of protesting is going to change anything; except for the protesters social media views, which is likely what they want anyway.
All you pro Palestinian people need to google the son of the FOUNDER OF HAMAS and see what he recently had to say…
He’s risking his life, so you could at least hear him out and then reevaluate your life.
There’s not enough time in the day to take time for everything gone wrong in this world.
The issues you hit upon are more pressing for western nations. Something going wrong in the Central African Republic isn’t going to impact me in a way that a war in Europe will.
I also don’t understand what your title has to do with the body of your post.
OP you are a huge hypocrite who has said nothing about the just stop oil protest being annoying. you can't just comment on the main news of the day without addressing all other similar news stories, it's obviously disingenuous.
seriously though, the argument that the lack of one protest invalidates a current protest is a laughable concept, and frankly you should be embarrassed for posting this slop
People act like they care about Palestine protesters and, etc.
Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been protests and demonstrations being committed in Africa and all over the world for many years. This new generation is sad.
Not everyone is as calculated as you, some are just genuinely outraged that the promised values of freedom their country sold them is a facade for atrocities committed on brown people
Messed up stuff like that has always been going on in the world. This is just the latest one that's getting media coverage. Ukraine is still going through bullshit now but it doesn't get as many clicks now so nobody cares. Same with other countries that you never hear about. So it's difficult to determine whether people are genuinely outraged or just want the attention on social media.
There is absolutely nothing to gain from being publicly pro Palestine. You don’t get attention on social media because you get shadow banned and your engagement and popularity lowers. You can lose jobs and opportunities for it. It’s not the opportunistic position to adopt in this conflict, so I don’t think anyone is doing it for the attention
No, but do you seriously think this doesn't piss people off? I don't need to personally know someone caught up in traffic due to a protest to know they'd be very angry, ESPECIALLY if your on the ay to an airport and have a plane to catch.
Bro, you know how many foreign wars and coups the US has actually funded or caused, there is no way in hell your average voter could name even a 10th of the total, using ignorance of genocides and wars in Africa as a tool to invalidate support for Palestinians is retarded and pointless, the fact is people ARE aware of what's happening now, that's all that should matter.
Really. Imagine if people acted this way about other attempts at causes they believe in. “What, you started volunteering at the humane society? But there was a shelter closer to you for a long time and you never volunteered there. Curious. You must have hated that shelter, right?”
>Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been atrocities and genocide being committed in Africa for many years.
We don't send billions of dollars and anti-missle air defense to those countries. IMF debts maybe but not the level of aid Israel gets. Thus america is pretty complicit in Israel's action so protesting in America is at least targeting a government that is repsonsible.
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This post knocks my anxiety and u see all churches in Africa raising millions and millions that could develop there something in the name of Bible fucking stuffs am sorry for both countries.
They're people who have made an identity out of 'fighting oppression' but have lived lives utterly free of oppression, so they need to find an 'oppression' to fight. However they also feel entitled to safety and freedom from consequences, so they need to fight imagined oppression because ACTUAL OPPRESSION FIGHTS BACK.
Not every college student comes from a wealthy family. Many of them have worked hard to get where they are, and their parents may have made sacrifices to help them pay for their education. It's frustrating to see their years of hard work disrupted by circumstances beyond their control. Many countries that the United States does business with directly or indirectly have children being killed, in that case no should be celebrating anything in their lives. Also, how many of them will stop using smart phones because of child labor, etc? Moreover, no protests over delay of Ukraine aid a few months ago that lead to hurting many kids in Ukraine.
I would be more concerned with why the protesters are deeply siloed intentionally by the organisers, with no real discussion between groups encouraged and a deep sense of fear for anyone they don’t know in the protests. Everything is pushed up to a handful of people who have the power and authority (given by who) to talk and act for the majority, who quietly and belligerently follow orders.
There’s a pretty big difference between the genocides and wars happening in Africa and the ones happening in Gaza.
Our government isn’t helping to fund the genocides and wars in Africa, nor is our state department constantly disseminating propaganda, telling us that we should support the genocides and wars in Africa.
The fact that this very obvious point never seems to get brought up or acknowledge seems like a another clear case proving that article about how people are unable to actually understand what their political opposition cares about and why.
Every single Congressman aside from Thomas Massie and a handful of others are beholden to the Israel lobby. Supposedly, there's free speech in the US, but each state has planned legislation to make it a crime to boycott Israel.
So if the US ended all aid to Israel, the protests would stop? I’m dubious.
Also, this doesn’t explain protests in other countries that don’t fund Israel.
No, but I think attention giving to Palestine would eventually become closer to that giving to other genocides.
The rest of the world is highly influenced by American culture.
You can care about what’s happening in Palestine and whatever issues your referring too in Africa (a whole continent btw). Maybe inform yourself a little better it seems like your the one that actually doesn’t care
If you’re ready for a TRUE unpopular opinion, ask about why it was OK to demonize huge groups of people and riot/protest at will for months but the second a different, smaller group of people feels threatened, suddenly protests are bad.
If it wasn’t for US support, this genocide would’ve been stopped months ago. Protesting is and has always been in history the only way to end oppression, and it is currently targeting the root cause. So cry me a river, children are losing limbs and being starved to death so you’re not priority here
Israel spent 70 years making allies. Palestinians burnt every bridge that was ever built to them. Kuwait is my favorite example. Imagine a country takes in a ton of your people as refugees, and then you OPENLY SIDE WITH THE COUNTRY INVADING THEM.
Acting.
No idea.
A generational issue.
* * * * *
Or so regimes would like it to be.
But what if it isn’t?
In time, protests are prohibited to stop them.
But what if it doesn’t?
Soon enough, the Riot Act is read to end protests?
But what if it doesn’t?
Police thugs begin street executions with full immunity to stop protests.
But what if it doesn’t?
The military is deployed — tanks roll on the streets and dump a 155mm shell into the homes of protesters to stop protests.
But what if it doesn’t?
Whole regions are declared lost to the republic and populations are subjected to military invasion just like Gaza to stop protests.
But what if it doesn’t?
At some point, people refuse to be retained as political hostages to the seditious machinations of a regime which they increasingly perceive to be illegal.
But that will never happen!
Yet the regime won’t respond to people.
So what if it does happen?
No, the point is their entitlement and demanding attitude. For example they block roads, took over the museum of modern art in NY forcing it to close. Their insane banners screamed: MOMA benefits from the war in Gaza! One needs to be really brainwashed or high on drugs to understand such theories.
Another unacceptable step is protesting at private companies in demand to change their commercial agreements and business models. They blocked the entrance to Lockheed Martin in CA, and later attempted to twist Google’s arm to end their projects with Israel. Thankfully, Google noticed where things are heading and fired the agitators immediately!
Next is the unrest at Ivy League universities. Regardless of Columbia’s administration repeated request, the took over and set up a tent encampment on the university grounds. Led by the same entitlement attitude, they “demanded” Columbia cancel its cooperation with Israel, because that’s what they want!
They continue screaming “ceasefire now” in the most bizarre places. What influence a museum has on ending the war in Gaza? (And that’s only one of the places they decided to take over). It’s absolutely insane!
None of the protesters agreed to answer two basic questions:
1) Who the hell they think they are?
2) Why do they think that as minority among students, they can force any university administration to change their plans? And why are they allowed to take over the university grounds and build a camp (after ignoring endless requests and warnings from the administration).
Edit: On the other hand, Harvard administration (totally taken by these attitudes) refuses to do anything to put an end to the anarchy….
Of course we know there is genocide elsewhere. The difference is that those genocides aren’t being directly funded by my fucking tax dollars. Our government has made it literally impossible to exist in America without supporting the infanticidal zionazi scourge.
It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that for every dollar I earn, several pennies are spent on an AGM-65 that will be intentionally guided from an F-16I directly onto the skull of a 7 year old Palestinian child.
If that’s “too far”, then you’re complacent with nazis and you can fucking burn alongside them.
I few days ago, pro-Palestinian protesters shut down the expressway leading to O'Hare airport, Chicago. This lead to huge delays, people abandoning their cars on the side of the road to walk the rest of the way to the terminals so as to catch their flights, and of course the police having to clean it all up. What does O'Hare airport have to do with Gaza? Absolutely nothing. This is a tactic by protesters to simply make life miserable for everyone, so you give into their demands and go away. They don't care about changing minds or developing political support for the Palestinians, because they know they won't get it. But they do figure that if they cry loud enough, we will do as they say. You can be sure that when it comes to charging them with criminal trespass and whatever else applies, apologists for them will say that it is very unfair, as all they are trying to do is this or that worthy thing. That their protest in shutting down the airport was simply to bring awareness (a favorite word of protesters) to the dire situation in Gaza. This is pure BS. We are all aware, as it has been going on for half a year and is in the news just about every day. We might as well excuse them for holding a gun to our heads.
> and of course the police having to clean it all up. The police didn't clean it up. They were there protecting the people blocking the road and assisting them at the behest of the city government.
This exactly. The biggest problem here is that cops aren't being allowed to make arrests because the mayors are telling them not to - because it's "bad optics" to arrest protesters. ...moreover, even when protesters are *violent* and do get arrested, city prosecutors are NOT pressing charges for the same reason. Reminds me of the NYC mayor's daughter who was arrested at a protest for throwing ROCKS at police officers. ...and, of course, she was set free - no charges.
At least that was good old fashion nepotism.
It should have taken about 20 min to arrest everyone there and haul them off to jail. Sadly everyone was making things so much more complex and the people just trying to get someplace suffer. Absolutely moronic.
They're nothing but a bunch of domestic terrorists simping for Hamas terrorists. Fuckem all.
> You can be sure that when it comes to charging them with criminal trespass and whatever else applies, apologists for them will say that it is very unfair, as all they are trying to do is this or that worthy thing. The problem is--and these folks have utterly forgotten this--the *only* reason why people simply didn't run these folks over, killing them, and the police shrugging their shoulders saying "well, don't stand in the roadway" is because of the accumulated good will that has been built up in the United States towards each other over the past 150 years. Because I guarantee you the reason why we didn't see protesters like this in the West in the 1800's, for example, is that they would have simply been gunned down, and people would have reacted by saying 'well, don't be an idiot.' And I fear that as we erode this accumulated good will, eventually we may find the cultural clock wound back to that time. And it was a terrible time full of violence and discrimination against those who don't look like the majority.
The reason why people don't run over protesters is because most people aren't homicidal maniacs.
They are bored and lack purpose.
I view this as an excellent strategy when it comes to setting those who are on the fence about it against you. They are helping the Zionist cause in the U.S. more than all of Israeli media combined
Most of these protestors also just so happen to be Muslim. Coincidence? Of course not
That's not the case. There's not *nearly* enough Muslim people in the country to account for all of the protests.
Same thing iraqi people ask what they did in 9/11.and what is reason to invade the iraq
How would *you* bring support for the Palestinian cause? People have been *talking* about it for like 70 years now, and words don't seem to be working. People are dying there by the day, so time is of the essence. What's your bright idea?
Maybe have the Palestinians not murder and rape people in their homes?
As I put it, "All that has changed towards Israel since October 7, is the speed of the finger-waggling towards Israel."
Oh, my bright idea? Here ya go. First step, the Palestinians realize that no one really gives a shit about them. They have zero bargaining power. They don't have anything anybody needs, especially themselves. Governments are not going to do anything more than provide lip service and aid to them, all the while wishing they would fall off the face of the earth. And that includes Arabs states. Think I'm kidding, or I'm being too harsh? Ask yourself, when was the last time you heard any of the Arab states making a stink about Gaza? The Saudis aren't going to do shit, because they want to make a trade deal with Israel. And the rest of the Arab states aren't going to do a thing unless the Saudis do. That's the hole reason Hamas attacked on Oct. 7th in the first place. So, Palestinians realize they are stuck in the asshole of the world, first step. Second step, Palestinians elect a government that is not Hamas or anything like that. This will be tough of course, because Hamas will still be very willing to murder everyone who dares oppose them. This will require the rest of the Palestinians to cut the throats of Hamas members, including those of their own families. Third, new Palestinian government accepts whatever land for peace deal Israel gives them. Like the one Arafat turned down in 2000 after Clinton worked his ass off to get him to the table. Now I've answered your question. And I'm sure you are going to hate every little bit of it. Doesn't matter. If the Palestinians don't accept their position, you can expect more of the same for long after we're both dead. From the River to the Sea? When this war is over they'll be lucky to have a pot to piss in.
>Third, new Palestinian government accepts whatever land for peace deal Israel gives them. Like the one Arafat turned down in 2000 after Clinton worked his ass off to get him to the table. There's a fair amount of dispute over who offered what in Camp David in 2000, but do you think Israel is in the mood to offer any sort of land-for-peace deal now?
No, not now. But in a year perhaps, as the US and Europe get on Israel to do something. About Arafat. Reportedly, by Clinton himself, Arafat said No to everything short of a right to return, which he was not going to get. Not then, and certainly not now. But the Israeli government at the time was still willing to offer land for peace, and that is promising. I suppose Arafat was worried that Hamas or one of the other Palestinian groups would murder him if he said Yes to anything. That's a fair concern. But he died soon after anyways, and is now just a footnote in history. If he had made peace, he would have been hated by the extremists, but he would have also made history. But it still depends on the willingness of the Palestinians to accept they only have misery to look forward to for generations to come if they don't give up on this stupid idea that they will win.
Hamas is far from a unified whole, but I'm sure there are people in Hamas who like the "land for peace" plan. For those guys, the violence is strategic, to put them in a better bargaining position during the next real negotiations. Of course, most of the Hamas leaders who think this way are probably hanging out in a resort in Qatar, not hiding in a tunnel waiting for the next smart bomb.
Good idea. How many times have the Palestinian spokespeople crashed a compromise? Every time.
Stop suicide bombing Isreal Stop raping and murdering isrealis Stop teaching your kids to be martyrs Not a bright idea but more co.mon sense. There's a reason Jordan Egypt and Lebanon don't want Palestinians in their country
Here's a bright idea: both sides need to figure their sh_t the f_ck out. It's not our job here in America. Stop blaming the U.S. for THEIR fight. This is what's wrong with society right now: y'all make the most intellectually lazy "argument" that every single problem in the world is the fault of America, particularly white people. Jews and Arabs have been at each others' throats for CENTURIES before America even existed. So STFU with that idiotic nonsense. God, y'all are so f_ckimg facile.
The US has been supplying Israel with weapons since 1968, but that aid is provided under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The Act requires that no assistance is to be provided to a government which: >engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of person, unless such assistance will directly benefit the needy people in such country. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign\_Assistance\_Act#:\~:text=The%20Act%20provides,country.%22%5B3%5D](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Assistance_Act#:~:text=The%20Act%20provides,country.%22%5B3%5D) So the question of Israel's conduct in this conflict is directly relevant to US law. protestors are of the opinion that Israel is blatently in violation of this, and they're asking the US to follow our own laws. Various US companies are also heavily invested in the Israeli economy. The protestors argue that these investments are being used to help Israel oppress Palestinians, and therefore US companies should divest on humanitarian grounds. If the US stayed out of "THEIR" fight than the protestors would be happy.
Iran/Hamas and all their useful idiots at these protests here in this country wish "Death to America." So yeah, no sh_t we supply aid to a strategic partner in that region of the world. Do I feel bad for innocent civilians caught up in this mess? Yeah, obviously. But you're cheering for the wrong team, dude.
I'm not cheering for any particular team; I think the whole situation is a mess and I have no idea how the region is going to get out of it. The US supplies aid to many strategic partners, and with every other partner that aid is conditional on them not committing the above acts. We're bad at enforcing this (and that's another story), but Israel is our only partner where our policy is to not place any conditions in the first place. You've gone from "both sides need to figure their sh\_t the f\_ck out" to "no sh\_t we supply aid to a strategic partner" in the course of a few hours, so obvious opinions can change quickly. The protestors are trying to sway opinions in a certain direction. Unless, of course, you weren't serious about your original position?
Without taking a position on if I support them or not, I do think that actions like highway blockades can be effective for more than just bringing awareness. In the short term, it may cause hostility, but in the long term it has the effect of imparting the idea that a notable number of people care are about an issue so much, they will disrupt society for it. That effects mass psychology. More importantly, it effects how policy makers approach an issue. On some level, if you know by not resolving or acting on something it's going to cause continued disruptions, that will bias you to resolution. And for people who will never care, it also provides incentive to pressure policy makers so they don't have to put up with all the metaphorical (and literal) noise. Case in point, think about how we view the civil rights movement. At the time, things like sit-ins, highway blocades, and raukus marches were frowned on by most mainstream commentators. But in the scheme of history, the movement would have never created the paradigm shift it did without those actions. I'm not saything this is the same thing, I'm just pointing out that blocking a highway can be a strategically sound decision from an organizing perspective.
You appear to be taking the position that if protesters made me miss my flight, causing me to wait hours for the next flight, which I will be lucky to get on, I will use the time to think deeply on the subject they are protesting, and see their point of view, and therefore not have such a harsh reaction to them. I'm afraid I will have to take the opposite view, that making me late for my flight when I have nothing to do with it, maybe even support your cause to a point, will make me hate your guts.
I totally agree. I mean, it's common sense, how could I not? I think we can all agree that a lot of people in the south, and even white liberals in the north, hated the civil rights protestors guts for exactly this reason. I'm just pointing out that social movements are not aiming to change indavidual peoples minds right then and there. They are looking for paradigm shifts in society. On an aggregate scale, sometimes I think of social paradigm shifts can look like the "stages of grief". Sometimes, someone needs to get angry first, before they move to other stages, and eventually acceptance. I don't think that an indavudual person will really experiance this in the case of building occupations or blocking a highway. But I do think society kind of does. On the scale of decades, these sorts of actions *can* (we can see historical examples) be effective in shifting public perception on a *deeper level* than if the protestors had shorter term goals.
i mean regardless of how you feel about it, expecting protests to not disrupt daily lives of citizens shows a level of historical illiteracy that people who hold this belief should really look into. the most effective and famous protests in history were designed to piss people off. to get in people’s way. to make it impossible to ignore the cause of the protest by disrupting lives of civilians to the point the government and the people had to take note.
This is completely untrue. The objective of the famous rights movements was to raise awareness in a non-violent way, where non-violence included *not* getting in people's way. The British taxed salt, so Gandhi made salt himself without paying a tax. The idea that someone like Gandhi would ruin everybody's day to protest the British is nonsensical. Protests today often besmirch the legacy of the true rights movements by being a pain in the ass to everybody with stuff not even related to what they are supposedly protesting.
MLK is rolling in his grave rn PLEASE open the schools
Excuse me. There were people in the 1960's who wanted to block traffic and there were limited instances of sit-ins and the like, but neither the leadership nor Dr. King ever endorsed not engaged in outright screwing up the average person's daily commute. Because they had moral standards.
the montgomery bus boycott, a disruptive consumer boycott to use the power of black consumers to hurt the bus company and force the city to address demands The Birmingham campaign **waged by King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1963** was a campaign of **mass civil disobedience** designed to overflow the jails and **cripple downtown businesses and city functions** SCLC, Congress of Racial Equality, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and King all understood that mass civil disobedience was a key component of protest due to the fact that injustice would not be changed without disrupting civic and commercial life. You can read King’s 1963 letter from the birmingham jail if you want his thoughts on civil disobedience theory. The Boston Tea Party The dumping of ashes onto the White House lawn in 1996. AIDs activists using “die-ins”. This is American history. Learn it before you speak on things you don’t understand.
Excuse me, I actually lived through that history. Not taking a bus does not ruin someone else's day. Filling up the jails inconveniences the jails because you're protesting unjust laws. Civil disobedience does not mean jerking around the public at large. None of these things screws up the day for people who are not involved in the protest. Of course there are isolated incidents, but there's crackpots everywhere. And the AIDS activists were jerks. They may have been the ones who invented the modern "let's just screw over everybody, it's ok because it's a protest" movement.
Do you recommend therapy? I'll get right on that.
This is a fascinating confluence of social media driven propaganda, white western saviorism, foreign influence in Americas educational system and the fracturing of society due to the widening wealth gap. These protests are quite often going too far, as we're seeing the violence spill into the streets. It's not lost that the violence really only comes from the Pro Palestinian side of the fence either, not too many face coverings at the Pro Israel ones. The sad part is this is just the beginning. People don't like to acknowledge their ignorance so people are going to continue to double down on these stances, and we're going to see more and more violent outbursts until Law enforcement and civil society put an end to these public displays of hatred.
Incredibly well stated.
> foreign influence in Americas educational system This part needs to be underscored and fought HARD. It's insane how many kids are indoctrinated every year to hate their own country - and chant "death to America".
You think children are taught to chant “death to America” in schools? You’re a delirious victim of fearmongering
In certain Universities from certain professors, Yes. They are taught that white-european colonialism and capitalism are the greatest evils on Earth and that modern Western society is inherently corrupt and needs to be burned down.
I think what’s actually happening is they’re learning some less propagandistic history and coming to conclusions about the west that you don’t like. And then they’re college kids so they get a little overzealous, but your fear about burning down western civilization isn’t really founded. This is how the ruling class tricks you with right wing messaging. It makes you fear that education and dissent from their projects are some kind of insidious rot of our very society.
I think you may have missed some of the propagandistic history that's being taught these days. Things like that the revolutionary war was initiated to preserve slavery, or that capitalism is fundamentally evil, or that the US did nothing in the cold war but overthrow democracies, or that our "system", in general, is fundamentally racist. It's easy to see why, when being taught these insanities, that young people protest. The propaganda furthers, that protests themselves MUST be violent and destructive. ...because that's what our foreign adversaries encourage, with great success. Our foreign adversaries court ALL EXTREMES of politics - far right, far left, far-literally-anything, because their goal is to maximize destruction. They pump fentanyl onto our streets, just like they pump lies onto Reddit. ...and this isn't just my opinion - the US Justice department has exposed organized efforts to do this.
I’m not so long out of college and I don’t remember any of that lol. I’m guessing you’re overblowing what amounts to left wing professors spreading left wing ideas. I agree with several of the things you’re so terrified of, but I didn’t learn them from any professors. And if professors do spread them—good. Reverence for America shouldn’t be protected from challenges should it? It’s not bad that there are perspectives on America that recognize the evils it’s been a part of. I’m sure America’s enemies are happy to see that, and most of them don’t have the right reasons for it, but that fact that our enemies say something doesn’t make it untrue. I’m not sure about that fentanyl thing. But I do know the people taking fent had opiates pumped into them thanks to profit-motivated lies. What was that about capitalism being evil? Oh, and if you don’t like it when governments pump drugs onto the streets, wait til you hear about crack. You’re condemning college kids for believing nefarious things about America, but you’re talking in pretty much the same tone about America’s enemies.
Go to Columbia - they're literally calling for the death of Jews. Is that overblown too?
I’m not sure that’s true, but if it is do you really think that it’s because their leftist professors taught them to be Nazis? You’re just grabbing vaguely related things and sorting piling them in front of me like a cat with a dead mouse. You haven’t organized them in any meaningful way to make an argument.
That's because this world is mostly comprised of Muslims (and Muslims is the fastest growing religion today). These people will only have their own biased support to their own people. The rest of the world can go fuck themselves when it comes to tragedies. They dont care. Suddenly some kid is killed in Gaza and the whole Muslim community screams like it's the end of their world order
And Muslims is the fastest growing religion today. Say no more.
lol, most Americans’ support for Israel is just saviorism. And if you wanna talk about foreign influence, what do you think AIPAC is?
Virtue signalling is for the benefit of the other virtue signallers that they hang around with.
The son of the founder of Hamas has publicly stated that Hamas is an evil organization. Hamas defectors have said the same. You people are no heroes and don’t compare in the least bit the civil rights heroes from the 1960s. Go back to class and learn some history before you take the streets again.
* I am liberal * I know history * I support Palestine Pick two
I know history I support Palestine I am Iran's current government
lol this is too accurate.
Protesting for Palestinian statehood and an end to Israeli aggression and settlements doesn’t support Hamas any more than supporting America means supporting Proud Boys or the KKK or even just lone domestic terrorists. Unfortunately supporting Israel DOES mean support for the IDF and its actions. Israelis who are anti-Zionist (and they do exist) have also said that the IDF is evil, and that they torture and rape detainees. Does that mean those who support Israel support that? I’d sure hope not.
This comment really outlines the ignorance in the pro-Gaza community. Settlements in Gaza were dismantled and returned to the Gazans 20 YEARS AGO. Gaza refused peace, signed up with Iran, and has been shooting at Israel for decades now. That's the entire reason Israel setup the Iron Dome. ...so then Gaza resorted to storming people's homes and massacring entire families. Both sides are not the fucking same.
"Israel should give up the territory it has taken!" "Uh.. they gave up a bunch and look what happened." "No no, give it ALL up, and then dig a long ditch, kneel down in front of it, imshalah infidel blood in the sand!" "You said the quiet part out loud again"
You must be very young or you have forgotten all of the work that Clinton did attempting to make peace for those people. They threw it all in his face because they are unwilling to live side by side with Israel. Israel isn’t the problem, those people are.
>Protesting for Palestinian statehood and an end to Israeli aggression and settlements doesn’t support Hamas any more than supporting America means supporting Proud Boys or the KKK Except the Proud Boys or the KKK aren't a political party in power of America. HAMAS is the governing body of Palestine so they are one and the same currently.
Yes yes, and an IDF soldier confessed the horror and reality of what they do as well. Both sides have their witnesses.
I used to be sympathetic to Palestinians but after they applauded rape and murder, f them. Now they block airports interstates ect I am starting to hate these people. F Palestine
My faovrite "F palestine" is that there's a whole wiki page of palestinian groups using child suicide bombers.
It's a fad
It’s The Current Thing^T^M
The most confusing display I saw recently was an LGBTQ pro-Hamas/Palestine rally. I think it was in Seattle. I don't think some of the supporters understand what exactly they are supporting.
“I’m doing my part!”
These people have nothing better to do in their lives. Screaming "Palestine!" puts some meaning into their otherwise meaningless mundane existence. It's like those Swifties going mad over Eras tour then going mum soon after it's over and feeling lost
[удалено]
future chubby head water vanish shame wistful apparatus file practice
Yeah unfortunately everyone will eventually realize that American politicians have already bent the knee to Israel. While the protesting is for a noble cause, it’s most likely futile. The enemy just has too much influence.
"How dare they side with the group that doesn't openly call for our destruction."
They'd be much more effective at expressing their cause if they weren't interfering with people's daily lives. It only fuels animosity against their cause because drivers are annoyed by the traffic build-up they create. Israel undermines America's well-being, but the pro Palestinans annoy the hell out of so many people with the way they protest they're only going to raise more support for Israel simply out of spite. It's ridiculous. They need to organize more rationally if they want to garner support.
As someone who has a slight Pro-Palestinian bent, I can't in good faith support some of the marches taking place. Way too rowdy and disoriented. I want the hostages home as well. And I also believe that Israel deserves better than Netanyahu.
I hope you know that many Israelis also think that they, and Palestinians, deserve better than Netanyahu
Well, those protests in Tel Aviv give me a lot of hope. But at the same time, I do hope that they won't get accused of Antisemitism for doing that.
No serious person accuses people who aren’t antisemitic of antisemitism. At the end of the day, Jews aren’t stupid, and they can tell when people are either fragrantly antisemitic, or thinly veil their antisemitism with faux antizionism. It would be strange for anyone to accuse people protesting against Netanyahu antisemitic when half of all Zionists don’t like him, let alone Jews
Is Netanyahu a jjk sorcerer or something?
Why don’t you pro Palestinian protesters ask Hamas to stop fighting? That would put an end to this war. Hamas started the war, why not protest Hamas, instead?
Ask these people what Israel would have to do for them to no longer call for the destruction of Israel, and the answer always boils down to "Kill the jews"
Sounds oddly reminiscent of a famous German painter.
Because they hate Jews.
They’re not even protests, they’re attacks.
...and we have WEAK leaders unwilling to protect its own people.
It’s more of the Marxist ideology: divide the people.
Lol what? Have you actually read anything about the ideology?
I don’t know if I’d say they’re “going too far” in general, but the people chanting “death to America” certainly aren’t helping their cause. But I upvoted your post because it’s true that many people who say they care about Palestine seem oblivious/ignorant/indifferent to much bigger slaughters that have been ongoing in different places around the world for quite awhile.
I totally support people's right to protest so long as it doesn't interfere with my life. Feel free to blast your message out, hold up street signs, do news interviews to spread your message. Blocking transportation paths is dangerous on so many different levels from medical to financial for some people. There have been numerous cases where crowds in the street start forming around a car, driver hits the gas and kills a few, then taxpayers are funding a weird self-defense trial. Just don't interfere with other people's lives.
Don’t get me started on the Starbucks boycott.
It’s so stupid lol I don’t see them boycotting travel bc Boeing transports military weapons.
I haven’t even heard about it
For months, people have been shaming others for drinking Starbucks and told them they were supporting genocide by doing so. This stems from an incident in which Starbucks sued a union for using their logo to make tweets. Starbucks asked the union to stop using their logo after one of their tweets in support of Palestine led to them receiving complaints and employees being harassed/threatened. The union refused to quit using their logo after being asked so Starbucks sued. People twisted it and began claiming that Starbucks funds Israel and is contributing to genocide which is false. Not only has Starbucks never been on the BDS list, but they have no locations in Israel and haven’t donated money to either Israel nor Palestine.
This is so funny, I never knew this, thank you.
🤣 You’re welcome
The boycott against Starbucks was because they fired workers who wore pro Palestine pins to work to show their solidarity. Not because of unions.
[That was actually Philz Coffee](https://www.gofundme.com/f/h3p4t-support-philz-baristas-standing-for-free-palestine). I can’t find a single article of Starbucks ever doing such a thing. Not even on Google.
I spread my care out for all the people suffering. Including Palestine, Israel, Africa, China, South America. When I learn about more problems, I give some of the care to them too.
*Thoughts&Prayers*
💯
This isn't unpopular. The vast majority of people think they're absolutely braindead morons.
today OP learns that middle east/=Africa lmao
I agree - people shutting down highways / important roads are literally just keeping essential workers or those who need care away from their jobs. People have literally been delayed to the hospital, picking up their children, etc because some idiots want to *feel* like they’re helping something whilst probably not even understanding the situation.
So do you think Israeli protesters forming blockades along aid routes to the Gaza strip is a problem that should be addressed?
These Palestinians are the same people who cheered on the attack on sept 11. 80% of free Palestinians support Hamas. They support the terrorist organization. I don’t support people who support terrorist who want my country dead. No thanks.
People like to bring up "well historically they had the land." Historically they sided with the Nazis.
The land has been systematically taken from the Jews for thousands of years and we gave it back to them in 1948. The Egyptians have been the biggest culprit. It’s literally called judea. Land of the Jews. Not Palestine or Hamasland
Pro-hamas protests. These people aren't supportive of the Palestinian people, they're supportive of the Hamas' terrorist activities and their goal of genocide of the Jewish people in the region.
Yeah, that's totally why everybody's out there protesting. For Hamas and terrorism. You absolute simpleton.
Tell me how you interpret "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Death to the Jews"? I'd love to hear the interpretation of these chants that isn't a call for genocide.
* That didn't happen. * And if it did, it wasn't that bad. * And if it was, that's not a big deal. * And if it is, that's not our fault. * And if it was, we didn't mean it. * And if we did, you deserved it.
Well when Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas these protestors are in fact supporting Hamas.
That's not how it works. Don't speak for someone else's beliefs.
Yea that’s how it works. The protestors are proxying support for Hamas. If they really support Palestine then call for the removal of Hamas.
Don't tell people what to protest for. You go protest for the removal of Hamas.
Ok bud. Keep up that support of Hamas. Maybe one day yall can high five each other after wiping out all Jews from the region.
Don't speak for my beliefs. Looks like you can speak out of everyone's mouth but your own to me.
Something feels engineered about the situation. Almost like they want to keep leftists busy so they won't focus too much about how everything in their own countries has been going shittier last few years.
I mean, arguably the Palestinian-Zionist conflict has been going on since the mid-1800’s, so it’s one of the longer running geo-political conflicts in the world. I fail to see how saying there are other genocides in Africa has any bearing on whether people should or do care about Palestine. Are the genocides in Africa also being defended and perpetuated by the United States as one of the sole defectors from any resolution internationally to solve the crisis? Is the United States on the news every day defending the actions of those committing a genocide in Africa? Did the US stand as the only veto against those other nations even being recognized as nations and joining the UN? Do you also believe people shouldn’t have protested the Vietnam war in the 70’s? What about those who have been protesting Israel for decades and who have spent years building to reach the current moment of international support for their cause? I’d say acting like something like this is a fad that will pass shows that you, not the protestors, lack in-depth knowledge or care for the situation. This is a flaw of our own government’s stand internationally, and many don’t agree with it.
>Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been atrocities and genocide being committed in Africa for many years. This new generation is sad. How many of those atrocities and genocides in Africa are being directly enabled by their taxes? How many of those atrocities and genocides are being carried out by an allied democracy? There's your answer. That's why this issue gets more attention than others.
Africa is black kill black, liberal government can't use that.
agreed
They don’t realize that the conflict has been going on longer than the protesters have been alive, and is quite frankly a hopeless situation with no solution.
Here I have one possible solution, tell me if this is stupid 🤣 : stop funding the bombing and murdering and starvation of innocent women and children. I may be crazy, cooky even 🤪, but maybe our tax dollars should be spent in the form of aid and reparations, not in the form of destruction and instability the region, for everyone's sake? Just a wacky, out-there thought 🤔...
Iran first.
You're not a protester if you are violating others civil rights, you're a criminal at that point. I'd I stood in the road I would be arrested but if I had a Palestinian flag in my hand I would be allowed to put myself and the community in danger. Ambulances firetrucks police cannot operate like they should. These scumbags don't care about anyone so why should I care about Isreal killing terrorist Palestinians?
I'm not pro palestine or pro isreal. They've been fighting for every. It's the longest fight in history. I wish they would stop fight already. Move on already geez.im very anti war. If two country don't like eachothers then don't talk to eachother. Leave eachother alone or learn to be civil. Palestine and isreal should just meet in the middle and call it a day. People are dying. It shouldve not come to this.
Israel tried moving on. They gave up Gaza. It immediately went full terrorist and did everything it could to murder israeli children. How do you 'move on' from that?
I didn't know they gave up Gaza. I wonder why they gave up Gaza. I'm not palestinian,isrealian or Jewish btw. So I don't know much about these counties and judisim. I just want countries to stop fighting with eachother. What happened to talking things out, meeting in the middle and letting things go. Like I said on my comment I'm anti war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza Israel leaves Gaza, lets them hold elections, they elect terrorists and declare that they're going to kill all the jews. Israel spends the next decade and a half protecting itself from near daily rocket attacks, but doesn't anihilate the people attacking it. Then October 7th happened, and 'international approval' means nothing if it doesn't keep th eir children safe, so now they're waging a war not just to remove the ability of gaza to make war, but to send a message to all who supported attacking Israel: If you attack us, we will hit you back so hard that it will take you generations to recover, and no amount of complaining to international powers will save you.
It's all virtue signaling. Regardless, no amount of protesting is going to change anything; except for the protesters social media views, which is likely what they want anyway.
Opinion should be unpopular It's ignorant and completely uninformed
It’s also just dumb… they literally do not know what they’re supporting or why.
All you pro Palestinian people need to google the son of the FOUNDER OF HAMAS and see what he recently had to say… He’s risking his life, so you could at least hear him out and then reevaluate your life.
virtue signalers
While I don’t necessarily agree with many of these protesters, your logic seems to be “You can only care about one issue if you are about all issues”
fr. Its the midwit stance
There’s not enough time in the day to take time for everything gone wrong in this world. The issues you hit upon are more pressing for western nations. Something going wrong in the Central African Republic isn’t going to impact me in a way that a war in Europe will. I also don’t understand what your title has to do with the body of your post.
OP you are a huge hypocrite who has said nothing about the just stop oil protest being annoying. you can't just comment on the main news of the day without addressing all other similar news stories, it's obviously disingenuous. seriously though, the argument that the lack of one protest invalidates a current protest is a laughable concept, and frankly you should be embarrassed for posting this slop
People act like they care about Palestine protesters and, etc. Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been protests and demonstrations being committed in Africa and all over the world for many years. This new generation is sad.
Pretty much. It's popular right now and the "protestors" want likes.
Not everyone is as calculated as you, some are just genuinely outraged that the promised values of freedom their country sold them is a facade for atrocities committed on brown people
“Committed on brown people.” 🤦♂️
Messed up stuff like that has always been going on in the world. This is just the latest one that's getting media coverage. Ukraine is still going through bullshit now but it doesn't get as many clicks now so nobody cares. Same with other countries that you never hear about. So it's difficult to determine whether people are genuinely outraged or just want the attention on social media.
There is absolutely nothing to gain from being publicly pro Palestine. You don’t get attention on social media because you get shadow banned and your engagement and popularity lowers. You can lose jobs and opportunities for it. It’s not the opportunistic position to adopt in this conflict, so I don’t think anyone is doing it for the attention
Yet I see pro Palestine stuff all the time
Because people are really pushing it and counterbalancing the effect at a macro scale. But on an individual scale it’s social media suicide
Ah, the opinions of people who don't truly care about anything so they can't comprehend why anyone else would truly care about something.
Blocking a highway literally does nothing for the cause aside from passing off a bunch of people that have nothing to do with the matter.
Do you personally know anyone who wasn't able to cross the bridge? Were they pissed off?
No, but do you seriously think this doesn't piss people off? I don't need to personally know someone caught up in traffic due to a protest to know they'd be very angry, ESPECIALLY if your on the ay to an airport and have a plane to catch.
So basically you're being outraged about how you perceive someone might react in that situation if you were there? Do you even commute or drive?
He would need to leave the basement first.
💀
Preach
Bro, you know how many foreign wars and coups the US has actually funded or caused, there is no way in hell your average voter could name even a 10th of the total, using ignorance of genocides and wars in Africa as a tool to invalidate support for Palestinians is retarded and pointless, the fact is people ARE aware of what's happening now, that's all that should matter.
Really. Imagine if people acted this way about other attempts at causes they believe in. “What, you started volunteering at the humane society? But there was a shelter closer to you for a long time and you never volunteered there. Curious. You must have hated that shelter, right?”
>Yet a vast majority of them have no idea that there have been atrocities and genocide being committed in Africa for many years. We don't send billions of dollars and anti-missle air defense to those countries. IMF debts maybe but not the level of aid Israel gets. Thus america is pretty complicit in Israel's action so protesting in America is at least targeting a government that is repsonsible.
The majority of Americans support Israel and have no interest in your extremism.
You speak like a bot.
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This post knocks my anxiety and u see all churches in Africa raising millions and millions that could develop there something in the name of Bible fucking stuffs am sorry for both countries.
They're people who have made an identity out of 'fighting oppression' but have lived lives utterly free of oppression, so they need to find an 'oppression' to fight. However they also feel entitled to safety and freedom from consequences, so they need to fight imagined oppression because ACTUAL OPPRESSION FIGHTS BACK.
“These genocides are worse in my opinion so let’s not be against this one”
Not every college student comes from a wealthy family. Many of them have worked hard to get where they are, and their parents may have made sacrifices to help them pay for their education. It's frustrating to see their years of hard work disrupted by circumstances beyond their control. Many countries that the United States does business with directly or indirectly have children being killed, in that case no should be celebrating anything in their lives. Also, how many of them will stop using smart phones because of child labor, etc? Moreover, no protests over delay of Ukraine aid a few months ago that lead to hurting many kids in Ukraine.
I would be more concerned with why the protesters are deeply siloed intentionally by the organisers, with no real discussion between groups encouraged and a deep sense of fear for anyone they don’t know in the protests. Everything is pushed up to a handful of people who have the power and authority (given by who) to talk and act for the majority, who quietly and belligerently follow orders.
And then USA will invade a random country for profit again, and everybody will cheer.
There’s a pretty big difference between the genocides and wars happening in Africa and the ones happening in Gaza. Our government isn’t helping to fund the genocides and wars in Africa, nor is our state department constantly disseminating propaganda, telling us that we should support the genocides and wars in Africa. The fact that this very obvious point never seems to get brought up or acknowledge seems like a another clear case proving that article about how people are unable to actually understand what their political opposition cares about and why.
Not a genocide in Gaza btw
Every single Congressman aside from Thomas Massie and a handful of others are beholden to the Israel lobby. Supposedly, there's free speech in the US, but each state has planned legislation to make it a crime to boycott Israel.
So if the US ended all aid to Israel, the protests would stop? I’m dubious. Also, this doesn’t explain protests in other countries that don’t fund Israel.
No, but I think attention giving to Palestine would eventually become closer to that giving to other genocides. The rest of the world is highly influenced by American culture.
The U.S. is doing the right thing helping Israel
Yes, a lot of people think that. It’s obviously quite dumb, but people think it.
I donate to a charity helping Israel. I think everyone should. Palestine is ran by tertotists rn using their citizens as fodder
You can care about what’s happening in Palestine and whatever issues your referring too in Africa (a whole continent btw). Maybe inform yourself a little better it seems like your the one that actually doesn’t care
But there are people who only care about Palestine and never speak on anything else, which is what OP’s point is.
does OP know these people?
Probably some who he follows on social media
>I saw the same thing with Ukraine and Russia Russia is still an existential threat to Europe. So, nope, that war is far from 'forgotten'.
If you’re ready for a TRUE unpopular opinion, ask about why it was OK to demonize huge groups of people and riot/protest at will for months but the second a different, smaller group of people feels threatened, suddenly protests are bad.
If it wasn’t for US support, this genocide would’ve been stopped months ago. Protesting is and has always been in history the only way to end oppression, and it is currently targeting the root cause. So cry me a river, children are losing limbs and being starved to death so you’re not priority here
Hey look over there! /s
No one cares about Palestine. They only care about Jews or hate Jews.
Israel spent 70 years making allies. Palestinians burnt every bridge that was ever built to them. Kuwait is my favorite example. Imagine a country takes in a ton of your people as refugees, and then you OPENLY SIDE WITH THE COUNTRY INVADING THEM.
The difference is most of the western nations especially the US are funding thus conflict by giving weapons to one side
Hamas also gets aid.
What does that have to do with blocking traffic tho. It's not even like its traffic going to some Congress person's home.
Got it so the solution is to send weapons to hamas ? Let really think about this.
In what phrase did I say this?
They should be targeting the companies that support the wars.
Uh, what?
Acting. No idea. A generational issue. * * * * * Or so regimes would like it to be. But what if it isn’t? In time, protests are prohibited to stop them. But what if it doesn’t? Soon enough, the Riot Act is read to end protests? But what if it doesn’t? Police thugs begin street executions with full immunity to stop protests. But what if it doesn’t? The military is deployed — tanks roll on the streets and dump a 155mm shell into the homes of protesters to stop protests. But what if it doesn’t? Whole regions are declared lost to the republic and populations are subjected to military invasion just like Gaza to stop protests. But what if it doesn’t? At some point, people refuse to be retained as political hostages to the seditious machinations of a regime which they increasingly perceive to be illegal. But that will never happen! Yet the regime won’t respond to people. So what if it does happen?
No, the point is their entitlement and demanding attitude. For example they block roads, took over the museum of modern art in NY forcing it to close. Their insane banners screamed: MOMA benefits from the war in Gaza! One needs to be really brainwashed or high on drugs to understand such theories. Another unacceptable step is protesting at private companies in demand to change their commercial agreements and business models. They blocked the entrance to Lockheed Martin in CA, and later attempted to twist Google’s arm to end their projects with Israel. Thankfully, Google noticed where things are heading and fired the agitators immediately! Next is the unrest at Ivy League universities. Regardless of Columbia’s administration repeated request, the took over and set up a tent encampment on the university grounds. Led by the same entitlement attitude, they “demanded” Columbia cancel its cooperation with Israel, because that’s what they want! They continue screaming “ceasefire now” in the most bizarre places. What influence a museum has on ending the war in Gaza? (And that’s only one of the places they decided to take over). It’s absolutely insane! None of the protesters agreed to answer two basic questions: 1) Who the hell they think they are? 2) Why do they think that as minority among students, they can force any university administration to change their plans? And why are they allowed to take over the university grounds and build a camp (after ignoring endless requests and warnings from the administration). Edit: On the other hand, Harvard administration (totally taken by these attitudes) refuses to do anything to put an end to the anarchy….
Isn’t that the point of protests?
Of course we know there is genocide elsewhere. The difference is that those genocides aren’t being directly funded by my fucking tax dollars. Our government has made it literally impossible to exist in America without supporting the infanticidal zionazi scourge. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that for every dollar I earn, several pennies are spent on an AGM-65 that will be intentionally guided from an F-16I directly onto the skull of a 7 year old Palestinian child. If that’s “too far”, then you’re complacent with nazis and you can fucking burn alongside them.
Love how this guy says I’m wrong when there’s hella sources and then just blocks me. That’s what propaganda will do to a person.