Hey everyone! π
I’ve noticed something interesting (and honestly, a bit concerning) at some public demonstrations advocating for a free Palestine. There seems to be a noticeable presence of pro-Hamas rhetoric at these protests. π€ This brings us to the question: why doesn’t the pro-Palestine movement actively shut this down?
Here are a few thoughts:
- Complexity of the Issue: The situation in Palestine is incredibly multifaceted and polarized. Many supporters genuinely want to voice **anti-occupation sentiments**, while some feel a connection to Hamas as a symbol of resistance.
- Fear of Division: Shutting down pro-Hamas rhetoric could risk fracturing the movement. Activists may worry that confronting this rhetoric might lead to splits, making it harder to unite for a common cause.
- Lack of Clear Messaging: Without a consistent and clear message from pro-Palestine leaders distinguishing their stance from Hamas, it can create confusion. Many people might not know how to articulate that difference.
For those of us who try to draw a line between supporting Palestinian rights and endorsing militant groups, this can be really frustrating. π© It feels like trying to separate oil and water, and honestly, it affects how we share our perspectives, advocate, and mobilize for change.
Possible Solutions:
- Clear Communication: Itβs crucial for pro-Palestine leaders to actively communicate their stance against violence and terrorism while promoting human rights.
- Education and Awareness: Facilitating workshops or discussion forums could help clarify the differences and encourage discourse on peaceful methods of advocacy.
- Grassroots Action: Regularly organized initiatives can help redirect the narrative towards non-violence and constructive dialogue.
π¬ Now, Iβd love to hear your thoughts! Do you think the presence of pro-Hamas rhetoric at these demonstrations is a barrier to achieving the goals of the free Palestine movement? How have you navigated these conversations? Share your experiences, tips, or any resources you think could help! π
Let’s keep this conversation going and find ways to promote not just a free Palestine but a peaceful one!
#FreePalestine #PeaceNotWar #HumanRights #Activism #SocialJustice
Because most of Palestine does support Hamas.
Some certainly don’t and want Palestine to be free from Israel control and free elections again. But Hamas wouldn’t be in power in Palestine if most of the Palestinians didn’t support them.
Because a lot of these protestors do support Hamas or don’t know enough about Hamas to realize that they’re a terrorist organization.
I have been asking the same thing about Republicans and magas for years. I just figured they have the same goals even if they disagree with the methods, and they would rather sacrifice their humanity for a chance at getting what they want rather than sacrifice their pride for dignity. It’s very human behavior, even if not humane.
You are giving too much credit to the protestors. Most of them in the West don’t understand the situation and the ones who do understand mostly support Hamas.
Because they are hamas supporters
“Arf arf!” barked the sea lion.
Why separate them? It is the same group
Why did they stage Anti-Israel protests instead of Anti-War protests?
The same reason: their consciousnesses have been colonized.
Idk, but we donβt have any power over what Hamas does, unlike us funding/giving weapons to Israel.
Because a material number of these protestors are Hamas supporters.
Don’t forget that Hamas is more complicated than we see. In the US press, you only hear about the ‘military’ actions of Hamas. But Hamas has a history of being one of the main charitable and spiritual organizations for Palestinians, as well. So you might imagine if the “Salvation Army” in the USA actually had rifles and tanks and set land mines on the Mexican border in order to prevent immigration. My older family would fondly remember them not as militants, but nice people with Bibles and a Brass Band playing Christmas Carols.
βI am in the unenviable position of being for the war, but against the troops.β
Bill Hicks.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this.
Because these protesters don’t understand the proper way to protest. In an age where everyone is heard, protesters think they need to be the loudest and most seen as opposed to getting involved and actually disrupting the system.
This whole thread is counter productive and just plain bait lol
Because they’re idiots with many supporting something for which advocates to removal of the rights of people they feel strongly for. These people support Hamas but also likely support the LGBT, but Hamas are Islamic Fundamentalist whom advocate for the extermination of homosexuals with throwing them off roofs, Hamas also advocates for bringing death or harm to nonbelievers especially to those who converted out of their religion. These people don’t understand what Hamas stands for, and they are also giving Ammo to right-wing factions by desecrating statues and raising Palestinian flags. These people call Joe Biden “Genocide Joe” but yet Trump is a bigger supporter of Israel than Biden ever was.
Let me make it clear, you can be against the war and advocate for freedom of Palestine without ever supporting Hamas, to support Hamas is to support the oppression of nonbelievers and the LGBT.
For the most part I think the pro-Hamas rhetoric does get shutdown in the free Palestine movement. The media loves to highlight anything remotely pro-Hamas and paint the entire free Palestine movement in the West as being pro-Hamas.
All that considered, imagine you’re a Palestinian and living in Gaza. For years you watched other organizations take a less confrontational approach. Israel continues to expand settlements, infringe on your human rights, starve, imprison, torture, and murder those around you. Now along comes Hamas saying “we will fight back against the people who have killed your friends and family and are keeping you in chains”. A lot of people in Gaza will pick the group that will fight back after seeing no change from the alternative.
Hamas has absolutely done some terrible things, and they are far from an ideal government in Gaza. They are also fighting to resist military occupation by an apartheid regime committing genocide. Is it that hard to believe that violent resistance to genocide will garner support around the world?
Because many people who are pro-Palestine are not Pro Hamas at all they just want the bombs to stop and for Israel to be held accountable for their war crimes. Many of us who support a free Palestine just understand why Hamas exists in the first place. Ever since the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 after the Nakba where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, Israel started massacre after massacre of Palestinians almost every decade or year for that matter and many of us in the west didn’t know.
And in 2007 Gaza became known by human rights groups as the world’s largest open-air prison. And the bombings and massacres and IOF and IDF forces controlled the lives of the people in Gaza for years. Also, here’s how the elections of Hamas happened in 2006.
In 2006, the minimum voting age at the time was 18, and Hamas received only 44% of the popular vote in Palestine. Today over 76% of Palestine’s current population is 35 and under. Meaning 76% of today’s population didn’t vote for Hamas because they were too young or not even born yet. So to vote in the 2006 election back then you would’ve needed to be born in 1985 because the election was in January of that year. And since only 44% of voters voted for Hamas that means only around 10% of Palestine’s current population voted for them.
And even today most Palestinians don’t support Hamas especially because they didn’t vote for them. However, like I said before we understand why Hamas attacked in the first place, they were provoked because of Israel’s constant bombing and massacres and apartheid system. Was what they did wrong? Of course it was, they killed Civilians and kidnapped children. But there is a means to hold them accountable without killing innocent Gazans. Collective punishment is a war crime, bombing hospitals and universities is a war crime, etc. If I can condemn Hamas I can also condemn Israel’s apartheid system and war crimes.
I donβt think they necessarily support Hamas, they just understand how and why they formed
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Because many Palestine supporters and Palestinians see Hamas as freedom fighters rather than terrorists, and see it as armed resistance against what they perceived an illegitimate regime.Β
This, of course, is an idiotic position to take. Hamas actively sets back any efforts for a two state solution and takes escalatory actions rather than de-escalation efforts.Β
If it were me… I wouldn’t know how to shut it down. It’s in public and they have the same freedom of speech as I do. Like how would you stop it? Same reason counter protesters can’t be kicked out by the protests they oppose.
Should we also view Poland and Polish resistance to their genocide in a negative light simply because there were some radical Polish people who killed any ethnic German civilians in their country when they were invaded?
You can’t be pro-Palestine without also being pro-Hamas whether you want to admit it or not.
Because doing so would contradict the whole free Palestine argument and theyβre unable or unwilling to admit that.
Because they also support Hamas as well.
Why donβt you raise money for cancer at AIDS Walk?
It’s not like there’s a board of free Palestine directors that decide what rhetoric gets used at demonstrations. Everyone there has the same goal, “free Palestine”, but different groups have their own motivations for saying so.
Nothing spins me around in my tracks faster than hearing some dark, blatant anti-semitism amongst people who I thought were anti-genocide.
Know yourself, always. Never buy into hate, no matter what side of history it thinks it’s on.
These comments are gonna be great, definitely no generalisations happening at all. Nope. /s
Let’s be real here, because they’re the same thing. Pro palestine protestors ignore the fact that hamas will bomb a country then hide behind women amd children. They’ll ignore the fact that under a hamas govt there will be no gays, women’s rights, equality, feminism etc etc. Truthfully I don’t even know why they protest but that’s another discussion
A lot of Arabs are genuinely are under the impression that Hamas only attacked military outposts on October 7th and did not kill civilians. This was the *overwhelming* rhetoric on arab media when this happened, that Hamas attacked Israeli military outposts and took soldiers hostage. A poll of Arabs in multiple countries showed that the large majority did *not think that Hamas targeted any civilians on october 7th.* They view the reports of civilian casualties as either a staged Israeli attack or just false all together.
I think a lot of western protesters are aware of this. But they do not want to be the ones to tell the pro-Hamas Arabs that they cannot attend their own protest for their own people. And frankly, many leftist protesters do not care much that Hamas is Islamist for the same reason conservatives did not care that the Mujahedeen were Islamist fighting against the Soviets in the 80s. Both sides knew that they strongly disagreed with the people they were supporting. But they were both on the ‘same side’ against what was perceived to be a greater evil.
How would they?
I don’t see why Hamas are unexpected in their actions, or even wrong. What other choice did they have? If you line up what has happened to the Palestinian people over the last hundred years, and this being the first time they fought back. Were they expected to be treated like that and never retaliate? Why is it OK for Islam to hold Palestinian hostages and bomb incessantly for decades, but Hamas, retaliate similarly, not ok? In wars do people from both sides not usually both fight? They have to separate themselves from Hamas because of all the pro islam propoganda, but if my people were treated like the Palestinian people have been, I would fight. Wouldn’t you? Do you know what has been done to the Palestinian people for the last decade? If Hamas is bad for bombing, then measurably Islam is bad for bombing first, for taking lands (after the original settlement, that wasn’t ok either) for taking hostages, for killing and torturing, for restricting access to water, and stopping them collecting rain water, by threat, to building walls to enclose them, by restricting access to movement, making them go through checkpoints that take several hours to move 10 minutes worth of distance. And that’s not even counting the massacres when they first settled (forcibly took their land and homes) , and since. I genuinely don’t understand how these people remained peaceful against the onslaught for so long!
Counterpoint: hamas is doing what no one else is left to do. Israel did kill all the moderate Palestinian leaders and then spent the next 60+ years funding hamas and terrorizing the shit out of a surrounded piece of land with starving people on it.
Bruh… they are the freedom fighters.
Stopping something isnβt easy when nobody has authority. Thereβs really only so much people can do in that scenario.