2 ms·
There's plenty of videos with people chanting "river to the sea" which is the slogan of the Hamas that calls for the destruction of Israel. First off, that isn
by racional 3y ago
There's plenty of videos with people chanting "river to the sea" which is the slogan of the Hamas that calls for the destruction of Israel.
First off, that isn't what the slogan generally means as used by protestors. Or even most Palestinians, for that matter.
Second, there are of course essentially equivalent variants that have been used by Jabotinsky, Likud, and of course Bibi and his crew among others over the years (e.g. "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty"), as I'm sure you are perfectly aware. Which, aside from being more specific than the protesters' chant, are arguably even more obnoxious than the Hamas variant, given that the current hypernationalist regime in Israel seems intent on making, and -- unless it is stopped -- has the capability to make this deeply disturbing vision a reality (while the various Palestinian armed groups, in regard to the more extreme versions of their slogan, do not).
In short: this is a well-read crowd, and your selectively filtered presentation of current events and well-known regional history simply won't work here.
- edanm 2y agoI agree. I think 90% of the people using that slogan (or taking part in the protests in general, come to think of it) have very little actual understanding of the conflict, the history, or what anything means. I don't think they should use the slogan, because it has a very clear history of being explicitly a call for the destruction of Israel. But I don't think we should automatically assume that everyone using that slogan today means it in the same way.