Jungibaaz
RETIRED MOD
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- Joined
- Jul 4, 2010
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Gunning down protesters sounds like a novel idea, but it's not that surprising when you mention Israel (sadly). I am utterly baffled as to how Israelis can look on at the behaviour of their state and not demand immediate change. On one hand there's a hasbara campaign (it's not a conspiracy theory, mostly just PR) to push back against negative portrayal of Israel. There are many attempts to give the Israeli perspective on matters and all diplomatic victories, for Israel it seems, are hard fought.
Talking to Israelis and their supporters in Britain, I noticed strange beliefs among them. First of all, I know and understand why people are sensitive about Israel, and even some of those in the diaspora feel the need to defend it. However, when talking to them, I felt that there was a sense of siege among them. Everyone is out to get Israel it seems, the Palestinians according to them either don't exist or are violent terrorists or both, it seems to them Palestinians have zero credibility, in death too no credibility. Even if they've just seen footage of a few being gunned down, knowing nothing else they'll stretch to their utmost intellectual ability to reach for a justification as to how the protesters were actually terrorists, or the vids were fake etc. When mentioning the UN, they'll say absurd things about the UN being anti-Israel, critics of Israel are in some part anti-semitic and so on. If you really care that much about Israel, take a step back and evaluate the absurdity of some of what Israel does and how it is then justified.
I don't care if Israelis and their supporters say they don't care about outside perception. The truth is, they do care (at least the smart ones among them), and they should care. But what good is all that effort if Israel continues as it has done and as outside pressure mounts?
We're Muslims, some of Middle Easterners on this forum too and so we do probably have a bias towards the Palestinian perspective, as well as sympathy for their cause. But even to neutral onlookers now, here in the West and elsewhere, Israel's actions have become completely indefensible. If things continue I expect Israel's political image to become even more deeply unpopular in most of Europe.
If I were Israeli or a supporter of Israel, even if for purely selfish reasons, I would care quite a lot about the way Israel behaves and the effect this has on world opinion. I would be fully aware that shifts in opinion would be damaging to my state, and no amount of counter-narrative can convince someone to disregard what they already believe to be true. Israel isn't doing itself any favours, beyond being able to lobby any level of support from the US, it seems Israel's leaderless are tactless and lack basic common sense in diplomacy.
Talking to Israelis and their supporters in Britain, I noticed strange beliefs among them. First of all, I know and understand why people are sensitive about Israel, and even some of those in the diaspora feel the need to defend it. However, when talking to them, I felt that there was a sense of siege among them. Everyone is out to get Israel it seems, the Palestinians according to them either don't exist or are violent terrorists or both, it seems to them Palestinians have zero credibility, in death too no credibility. Even if they've just seen footage of a few being gunned down, knowing nothing else they'll stretch to their utmost intellectual ability to reach for a justification as to how the protesters were actually terrorists, or the vids were fake etc. When mentioning the UN, they'll say absurd things about the UN being anti-Israel, critics of Israel are in some part anti-semitic and so on. If you really care that much about Israel, take a step back and evaluate the absurdity of some of what Israel does and how it is then justified.
I don't care if Israelis and their supporters say they don't care about outside perception. The truth is, they do care (at least the smart ones among them), and they should care. But what good is all that effort if Israel continues as it has done and as outside pressure mounts?
We're Muslims, some of Middle Easterners on this forum too and so we do probably have a bias towards the Palestinian perspective, as well as sympathy for their cause. But even to neutral onlookers now, here in the West and elsewhere, Israel's actions have become completely indefensible. If things continue I expect Israel's political image to become even more deeply unpopular in most of Europe.
If I were Israeli or a supporter of Israel, even if for purely selfish reasons, I would care quite a lot about the way Israel behaves and the effect this has on world opinion. I would be fully aware that shifts in opinion would be damaging to my state, and no amount of counter-narrative can convince someone to disregard what they already believe to be true. Israel isn't doing itself any favours, beyond being able to lobby any level of support from the US, it seems Israel's leaderless are tactless and lack basic common sense in diplomacy.