Why would a big tech company be hosting an event with a state committing genocide? That (and working with said regime) is the problem, not people protesting.
It's not possible to be a consumer brand and support Israel. The world is too divided and it's not getting any less so.
I think the problem is that folks look at things in a bizarre black and white manner and see it as either 1.) Israel has every right to defend itself from further terrorist attacks and isn't doing anything wrong, or 2.) Israel has no right to retaliate at all.
I think the more moderate view is that Israel suffered a heinous terrorist attack perpetrated by a terrorist group in power. Israel has a right to defend their people from such attacks and a military response shouldn't be surprising given the extent of the crimes. However, the people in Gaza (non terrorists) are also human beings who should be treated that way. Not everyone supports the terrorist actions (apparently Hamas is incredibly unpopular amongst the people, but they have little discourse if they don't want to disappear) and the military response from Israel seems to have gotten to a point where children being blown up and starving to death somehow comes with the territory. Surely there is a way to reduce the casualties of innocent bystanders. Surely Israel should provide food and aid to the people after bombing all their infrastructure into the stone age.
I admit not being as informed as I should be, but just how many times are we going to have genocide before we learn to stop? Just since the Holocaust we've had genocide in Cambodia, Serbia, Rwanda, China, and now Gaza. In the more distant past it was even more common (e.g. trail of tears).
Just to correct you, the genocide was in Bosnia, not Serbia, as a culmination of years of ethnic cleansing of the muslim (and to a smaller extent the ethnic Croat) population of Bosnia by the Serbian ethnic group during the period of 1992-1995.
Most major news outlets are still wildly pro-Israel. My and most people's opinions on the subject tend to not to drive from main stream media accounts, but research and journalistic investigations into the situation there.
I don't personally know anyone who has walked down the path of doing real research into the issue and not come out of it horrified with Isreal's actions and this has been long before Oct, 7 2023. Most people who are "fine" with the situation are the ones getting their opinions from the news.
> I don't personally know anyone who has walked down the path of doing real research into the issue and not come out of it horrified with Isreal's actions and this has been long before Oct, 7 2023.
I'm slightly ashamed to admit that until Israel's propaganda and genocidal response to the Al Aqsa Flood attack, I believed Israel were basically The Good Guys doing their best against terrorist neighbours. I feel like most people in the UK thought like that, and I rarely saw any negatively portrayals of Israel in the MSM.
From what I've learned since, I've been... horrified - and like you said, by their actions going way back.
I don't agree with you and I'm actively boycotting all companies that work with Israel. This is why consumer brands can't support Israel, I'm not alone.
Both side in that war are behaving badly and nobody should take either side. I look forward to the day when allying with any theocracy is recognized as an ethical mistake.
Both sides have resorted to terrorism. In fact that seems to be the modus operandi for both sides. What Israel does every day is also terrorism. The random bombings on civilians, the targeted bombings on key entities (doctors, journalists, authors, peace activists, ....), the detention without judicial recourse of Palestinians, the torture and rape, beating and murder, that happens during those detentions. The stealing of homes in the west bank, the evictions, the harassment of non-Jews (and even some non-Zionist Jewish sects) in Jerusalem and the west bank. The illegal settlement and the constant bullying and taunting of the armed settlers with their rifles and their IDF body guards. The destruction of all Palestinian means of production, whether it be shops or olive orchards. That is all terrorism and that has been happening for decades.
But that the end of the day, Israel IS the oppressor and the Palestinians are their victims. That is a very important distinction.
The ICJ case wasn't intended to say "yes/no" to "is Israel committing genocide?" - the purpose was see if there was that risk. They found there is a plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide.
US-backed Israel has recently been shown to have misrepresented itself to the ICJ multiple times - I can dig up a link later if you're curious.
And in January Netanyahu said: “No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anyone else" - I don't think what the ICJ says matters one jot to US-backed Israel.
I won't go into what people have been able to see with their own eyes for the past 5 months, despite the incredible level of bias in MSM, censorship on social media, and the best efforts of Israel's Hasbara.
This is not accurate. The initial hearing was only to determine if there was a risk of genocide, and if any provisional measures were to be taken. An actual verdict on genocide could take several years.
The court ordered provisional measures that included:
"Take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
"Take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip"
Israel has shown utter contempt to the court, going by Netanyahu's words (e.g. "nobody will stop us... not the Hague..."), by senior ministers words, the IDF's actions, the actions of civilians blocking aid to starving people, the Gaza real-estate conferences, breaking the Geneva convention to parade prisoners held in their dungeons on national TV... almost every conceivable way, really.
The case against Israel brought forth by South Africa states quite clearly South Africa asserts Israel is violating the Genocide Convention [0]. The ICJ never corroborated this claim meaning there was not enough evidence to substantiate it.
ICJ was not asked to convict Israel of committing genocide. That was not in the initial ask.
The ask was to force Israel to stop its military operation.
The ICJ's provisional verdict was _actually pretty bad_ for Israel:
"The aforementioned facts and circumstances are sufficient to conclude that at least some rights of the Palestinians to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts in Article 3 of the Genocide Convention, and the rights of South Africa to seek protection of these rights."
It was to __prevent genocide__, not to determine guilt of committing genocide. This is going to take years, and it's going to be ongoing into the future. It is not going to happen while an incident is happening.
The ICJ explicitly said that there's enough evidence to merit this case.
Just 3 quotes from South Africa's case which I linked above:
"South Africa’s case is that those acts and omissions are genocidal in
character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent (dolus specialis) to destroy
Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group."
"South Africa is acutely aware of the particular weight of responsibility in initiating proceedings
against Israel for violations of the Genocide Convention. However, South Africa is also acutely aware
of its own obligation — as a State party to the Genocide Convention — to prevent genocide. Israel’s
acts and omissions in relation to Palestinians violate the Genocide Convention."
" More gravely still, Israel has engaged in, is
engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Those
acts include killing them, causing them serious mental and bodily harm and deliberately inflicting on
them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction as a group."
It's not possible to be a consumer brand and support Israel. The world is too divided and it's not getting any less so.