Why the world is obsessed with Israel and Palestine

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"The reason people care so much about the Israel-Palestine conflict [...] is because to much of the world, this conflict has come to be understood primarily as a sort of metaphor for what people perceive to be the fundamental themes of power that define our contemporary world." This is the single most intelligent statement I heard about this entire whole of dipshit. It should be pinned on as a disclaimer before and after every news show on this world.

I've noticed that a lot of people in India are very pro-Israel, which seems heavily tied to negative views of Muslims in India and the Pakistan conflict.

Flag manufacturers after every new major world tragedy: *stonks 📈↗📈*

As my dad said, when you see a couple fighting in IKEA a lot of the fight is not about the thing they are buying in IKEA . It is about the deeper problems in their relationships.

I came across an Instagram post recently where someone proclaimed that the Palestinians were the most forgotten people on earth. And I I couldn't really believe what I was reading because no other conflict gets as nearly as much international attention as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does. I mean, no one cares about Armenia or Azerbaijan, no one cares about the Sudan civil war or the Myanmar civil war. No to minimize the violence, but...come on now. This is the definition of a conflict where the world is watching and there aren't many of those unless a great power is involved (i.e. like the United States or Russia)

Yet very little cared about the 600,000 dead in Ethiopia during the Tigray war

You have hit a very important point here - that people outside the conflict use it as a metaphor for bigger ideas. And that's what's so frustrating. Because no one mourns a metaphor. When you are a metaphor, you cease to be people. And i am so tired of that. I am busy mourning and treating the trauma i got now while also trying to be safe, and all i hear is people with no knowledge of anything loudly arguing over me. I just want to scream at them to get a fucking hobby and let us grieve.

I have friends who are definitely swayed by the aesthetics of the conflict, that it's "colonialism" vs "indigenous" and "western" vs "eastern". One of them doesn't seem to even know that Palestinians are Arab.

As an Israeli viewer who supports civilians on both sides and has Palestinian friends who are also suffering, I really admire how your video is neutral, not overly emotional, but also isn't just both-sideism.

I would say pro-Israel Christianity is more of a Protestant thing. Catholicism and Orthodoxy have been mildly hostile to Israel as they have significant numbers of ancestral Arab (and Palestinian) devotees, and more traditionalist aligned branches of Protestantism like Anglicanism/Episcopalianism and Lutheranism tend to be far more lukewarm to Israel.

This is exactly what I’ve been thinking, so I’m glad you put it into words. I remember in middle school I read a book about child soldiers and the absolute insanity of the conflicts in Africa. Guess what? Not a single person on this side of the earth gave a shit. Yet these same people get so mad when I decide I don’t want to make this Palestine - Israel conflict my whole personality.. to me it’s just 1 out of a hundred different wars happening, so why focus on just that?

I graduated from UCLA in 2020. What I found very confusing is that the #1 issue in the student government at UCLA (USAC) was the Israel-Palestine conflict. There have always been protests (even more so now) on campus for both sides. Debates on who gets elected to USAC hinge on where people stand on this issue. It makes almost no sense to me considering UCLA is a university of 30,000 students, most of which have absolutely 0 connection to the conflict. During my time at the school, the leading "political party" on campus, Bruins United, had a lot of overlap with the Jewish society, Hillel. Bruins United got a lot of support from Greek Life and subsequently easily won most elections. While I understand that many Jewish students have direct connection to the conflict, I still believe that making this conflict the core issue among student politics detracts from real issues on campus. The point of student government is to meet the needs of the students, not make political statements on world events.

Just want to point out, Israel Flags aren't new in Northern Ireland, and equally common are Palestinian Flags. The line almost perfectly aligns with people's opinions on Irish or British identity. Ireland is overwhelmingly pro-Palestine, and so nationalists in the North also share this feeling. It's been pointed out that the Israeli approach to internment of Palestinian prisoners is hugely influenced by the British government's approach to Irish Republicans historically, therefore Palestinians are seen as dealing with the same kind of struggle.

I really respect how you detached yourself and presented a calm presentation about such an explosive subject. The journalism we want.

The reason Israel/Palestine has a disproportionate level of interest compared to other conflicts is because of the disproportionate media coverage. Could you really say that the amount of interest in this conflict goes above and beyond the amount of media coverage compared to somewhere like Yemen? It doesn't make sense to say that this gets more attention because of things like anti-Americanism or anti-imperialism when that's a theme of a huge amount of wars.

As an Israeli I want to thank you for a very interesting perspective on the conflict without trying to justify or belittle any of the points. Praying for peace in our region and in the whole world . Humanity has much better things to do than spreading and inciting hate.

I remember back when the conflict ignited in Gaza my dad was asking me about it, like why they were fighting and the general history of the conflict, and I was able to give him good answers to all that, but then he asked why so many people here in America care so much about it and I couldn’t really give him a good answer. It really made me realize that yeah, it is kind of weird that this conflict is so influential across the world. I had taken it for granted that the Israel-Palestine conflict was such a divisive geopolitical issue around the globe without putting much thought as to why.

I am incredibly baffled how this conflict can emotionally drive millions of people from all over the world into intense internet fights and heated arguments as if their lives depended on this, in such a way that no other conflict does. I don't remember so many enraged people and so many arguments for Artsakh or for Tigray.

I cannot thank you enough, JJ. As an Israeli, my biggest dream is to live peacefully among our neighbours. People don't realize, we're much more alike than what we think. It's a shame we have leaders who only care about power and money. My deepest condolences to all lives lost in this war and all the previous.
Salaam to all.