After reading all the LI posts debating the ongoing Middle Eastern Crisis, with hostile allegations and attacks, venomous ad hominem and insults being thrown back and forth, I feel quite sad about the future of Indian legal professions as human beings capable of basic empathy without allowing ideological preferences to colour their eyes entirely. I only have this to leave behind.

Does being horrified by two things inherently mean assigning them direct equivalency?

Can two things both be horrifying without being the same?

Can you hold deep empathy for two different sets of victims without that implying that you see them as being identical?

To me it’s the opposite: the horror and the empathy are the starting point for my thinking, the baseline knowledge from which imo any serious conversation must embark.

I don’t claim to have arrived at the conclusion.

But I know this: anyone encouraging you to suppress your inner voice of compassion and empathy — to not know what your bones are telling you — should be regarded with great and justified suspicion.

What happened to Israeli civilians on October the 7th is horrifying, without a doubt. What is disturbing though, is that the Palestinian people have been facing the same thing for the past 75 years, from 1948. What is even more disturbing is that several people (commenting on Legally India and at other places as well) seem to be perfectly fine with Palestinian children and entire families being wiped out. How can someone possibly condone the Israeli aerial bombardment in Gaza as well as their countless crimes against the Palestinian and Arab people for the past so many years ? To blindly support Israel without understanding the complete context of the conflict, is dangerous, to put it mildly. As for the West which seeks to condemn what has happened to Israel, well, it is the same USA, UK supported by a so-called "coalition of the willing", who destroyed Iraq (which back in the day had one of the best education and health care systems in West Asia), firstly through their inhuman sanctions, and then, by killing their leader and his entire family (except for the women). To hear USA and UK talk about democracy is not only hypocritical, but also extremely sickening and disturbing. The same USA's (would do us Indians well to remember) Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh threatened India with consequences for conducting local currency transactions through Russia's central bank. When everybody is supposed to challenge Russia for entering Ukraine, why should everybody not have sanctioned America for illegally invading Iraq in 2003, or Israel, for its current barbarism in Gaza ? Why the double standards ?

Its a mistake to think that people who disagree with you are cold-blooded unfeeling facists. Whatever your position is. It is also a mistake to think this is some easy problem with an easy solution, or that there is a definitive good and bad side. Honestly I think folks on social media are not consuming any of this news intelligently, they dont ask questions at all, It is a meme thing no matter what side youre on and you just retweet and share and do it over and over again without thinking through it for a second.

Why are israeli jews considered occupiers when they were the original inhabitants of the land? Why is this an open air prison when hundreds of thousands of gazans come in to work in israel everyday? why is it an aparthied regime when minorities are on the knesset and the supreme court in israel? what kind of occupation is it when one party has constantly offered a two state solution but the other has rejected that two state solution and demanded palestine from the river to the sea? what does ceasefire and peace even look like within that context? are israelis just supposed to resign themselves to a life where october 7 and rocket attacks keep happening to them and not retaliate ever because "power" and "race" is that the only way peace happens? or should jews just leave the middle east? do we want a mass migration unlike anything in modern world history? they are an occupier state right- so that is what were pushing for? what kind of blockade is letting through guns and bombs and all of that but not food and water for politicians? Who is getting paid behind this mess? Missles and guns and bombs cost money- how does hamas make money? Why did netanyahu briefly covertly support hamas for his own political ends? how much blood is on his hands? we know from some accounts that hamas has a budget of something like 100-500 million- where is that money coming from and where is that money going? How are 12% of palestinian children dying because of contaminated water when thats the case? these are not rhetorical questions- what is egypt and jordan and iran and saudi arabia doing in this region? Why did the oct 7 attack happen now? it takes incredible planning to send in as many terrorists into homes and public spaces and concerts to kill, kidnap, and torture people- it takes incredible planning to do this without israeli intelligence coming to know. who coordinated all this at whose behest? how can we possibly say this is "resistance" as if theyre kashmiris throwing a rock after being tortured by the army? what kind of "decolonisation" involves rapes? How has it come to be that palestinians are held hostage by hamas for years now and nothing has been done to change that situation? Hamas won one election in 2006 and pushed its opposition off of buildings- why is that not of greater concern to the world community? when putin does that we are all indignant are we not? even if israel were to vanish into air tomorrow- what would actually lead to free palestinians? not a land that would somehow become "unoccupied"- but a people who would be able to live their lives with food in bellies, access to water and electricity and schooling and medicine and knowing that your own government will not treat your life or that of your childs as fungible? going to sleep at night knowing that someone is looking out to protect you? what would the conditions need to be for that to happen?

Get off of instagram- its making you stupid. The answers to all of these questions are there to find. Read the history of the peace accords, look at maps of what was on offer for palestine throughout history in terms of a two state solution, read thomas friedman on geopolitics. There are smart people working on all of these questions- but theyre not on twitter and instagram- theyre serious people.

Stop trying to find your own demons in this conflict as if it were a Rorschach test. this is not about black and white- a good proportion of jews in palestine are not white. This is not a racial problem- there is not a racial calculation being made about the value of life- this is about neighbors fighting each other over land and religion. This is not black lives matter. This is not the same thing as "minorities rights" in india- our minorities are law abiding civilians who do not by and large want a state of their own- they want to be in this democracy with the rest of us- at the moment of partition- they did the courageous thing of rejecting deliberately an islamic state in pakistan and chose to stay in a secular multicultural democracy - and they are not funded by a foreign power to kill murder and torture women and babies and old people. When terrorism happens in our state- muslims in india dont tell us we deserved it, that we were settler colonialists for involvement in kashmir. When muslim children are killed in state sponsored pogroms in say- some states in the north- its secular hindus and muslims who insist on reporting the truth and in prosecuting those responsible. Hindus dont treat muslim lives as fungible.
Whats happening in israel and palestine is also not settler colonialism. A bulk of the israeli jews that are in israel were already there. jews were natives of that land long before islam was even a thing. and both arabs and jews have an equal claim to the land because of negotiations with the english protectorate. its not even about land really- there have been multiple peace offers in modern history with israel offering to trade away land- good land- for peace- hamas has rejected it without counter offer several times.
Something far far more complex and corrupt is at play there and you wont understand it on instagram.

Empathy is a poor way to channel your energy- empathy is restrictive- america only empathises when victims of kidnappings are white women, brown people only feel pain and injustice when it happens to other brown people. We are hard wired by evolution to find kinships in our tribes. And even if you do feel empathy for both sides- its really just projection- you dont actually feel the pain of someone else- you cannot. You are imagining how it would feel and it makes you feel like a better person because youre so full of empathy- but it doesnt actually do any good to anyone. Youre better off trying to speak on this more thoughtfully and critically- questioning every bit of news- learning some media literacy- and trying to rationally find your way through the fog of war.

What does 'original inhabitant' of the land even mean? Most of the Jewish families currently living in Israel have been settlers from other countries. Israel has torpedoed the two state solution plenty of times. The West will keep supporting it because Jews have got massive business interests in the US. I have visited the West Bank, instead of getting second hand info about it. The conditions there are terrible.

You keep thinking empathy comes from Instagram and treat it as shallow. That's your take on humanity, it does not make it right or accurate. Most of the opinions that you espoused also comes from narrative built by media, so it is not as if you have displayed any critical insight in particular. The original post seems to have criticised loss of lives, unlike you who are treating that callously. Feeling empathy does not do go good to anyone is the kind of amoral and selfish perspective that makes an educated person the most dangerous of human beings. All you seem to be doing is spouting the pro-Israeli Right propaganda, for which there are other threads.

It means that Jews were driven out and excited by the Romans after the destruction of the second temple but they have kept on returning to the country despite crusades and wars because it is their homeland. If there is such a thing as a Native To Jerusalem - that person is Jewish. “Palestine” itself is a newer word in hour history, as late as 1937 Arabs were claiming that “ Palestine” was an invention of zionists and that land belonged to arab Syria. History exists from before you were born. For thousands of years before you were born. If you want to hold that israel has no claim to lands it won in defensive wars in modern history - how far does that principle stretch ? Does it stretch to Muslim invasions ?

I think it’s pointless to argue this. I don’t think we decide peoples current day rights based on history. But I mentioned it because “ occupation “ and “ settler colonialism “ arguments are nonsense .

The state of Israel is a Jewish homeland because Jews the world over are hunted because of their ethnic religious identity. Where do you propose they go if you are for a “ from the river to the sea “ person ? The state exists - the state has existed for seventy years - it’s crazy to keep litigating this. It does not lead to anyone being better off.

In 2005 israel dismantled settlements in the Gaza Strip and left - that’s 18 years ago now. I know Palestinians live terrible lives - any place where children die by the thousands every year has to be hell on earth- so let me ask again - what has the gazan goverment - Hamas which was elected there - done to improve this ? Hamas’s budget year on year is nearly 500 million by some estimates - is that money going to rockets ? Or food and water and schools and hospitals ?

Is Hamas contributing at all to the betterment of Palestinians ? Or is it simply building its bases underneath their hospitals and constantly provoking conflict? Hamas rejects the two state solution - it wants a one state solution and it wants to kill Jews. Look up the Hamas charter - Ctrl F for “Jews” and then tell me they’re resistance fighters,

There’s plenty in my post that are also left wing talking points . Right wingers don’t usually criticise Netanyahu or think through the geopolitics of that situation or cite Thomas Friedman.

I have friends with parents in Israel right now. One doesn’t need a personal connection however to have a valid opinion. I refuse to use my friends as props in internet arguments.

Everyone from Judith butler to Paul bloom to Black Lives Matter have pointed out the limitations of empathy. Educate yourself. Just because you feel bad and watch videos after videos of atrocities and weep for people all around the world doesn’t make you a moral person. A moral person actually does work to be useful rather than simply virtue signalling.

I'm not assuming thats what you as an individual are thinking. I am informed that that is what woke idiots on twitter think. When you spread conspiracy theories like jews control the world because of their money, jews hynotise the world, big money controlling politicians, jews do not have a historical claim to live in modern day israel- its classic anti semitism. Literally youre peddling jew hatred and you dont even know it.

If you had a more substantive reply to anything I said you would. Thats fine - I dont want to shame you for just not knowing better- but really- this is a complex thing that is anything but straightforward- you cannot help jews or palestinians from india- but you can atleast consume the news intelligently and not lean in to every bit of nonsense you see on insta.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h1XD7fQSfg&ab_channel=TheProfGShow%E2%80%93ScottGalloway

Here is fareed zakaria talking about how a bunch of stuff you might think intuitively is wrong. Its US disengagement with the Middle East has led to conflict, this is Hamas putting in a wedge between Saudis and israel. Hamas is fighting a sympathy war they deliberately carried out these barbaric attacks on oct 7 hoping for an outsized overreaction from israel to increase sympathy for their cause. palestinian leadership and hamas have rejected several deals over history- 1947 to clinton and ehud barak- they keep wanting a one state solution which would mean the only jewish country in the world would not exist. that they keep fighting wars they will lose instead of agreeing to a two state solution that would improve the lives of palestinians. Its the palestinian leadership that is power hungry and religiously dogmatic and wants to prioritise a political victory over its own peoples existence. He comes right out and says it- they are feckless and corrupt. And your empathy- is the tool theyre using to their own benefit. If they cared about palestinians- they would focus on governance and not on provoking war by barbaric terrorist attacks.. Theres plenty more about what this might do for the war in ukraine, for geopolitics, how different countries might react etc- Go learn something. Its at least a more informed guy than some influencer on insta.

There is plenty of material denouncing the Israeli leadership and practices too. However, you would of course avoid all that. The point remains that you are completely off the mark. Empathy means to start from the point that the loss of human lives is unacceptable for any objective whatsoever. You seem to be fine with treating people as collateral damage. I am not. Be it the Israeli children or the Palestinian ones. So there is no point in engaging further in this matter. Geo political discussions in this front have been going on for years, including the blame gaming. West has got a lot of things to answer for, as do the Arab countries, for having stoked this conflict to suit their own needs.

I did talk about how netanyahu and israeli policy has worsened this problem. Why are you unable to see something inconvenient to your narrative? Just because someone disagrees with netanyahu doesnt mean israel doesnt have a right to exist. I disagree with modi on nearly everything he does- does that give terrorists the right to bomb and kill indians? Does that make the indian state illegitimate?

Empathy doesnt mean seeing loss of human life as unacceptable- empathy is pretending that you can feel anyone elses pain, empathy is pretending that because you "feel" their pain you are a better person for it. I think loss of human life is unacceptable. Most people who disagree with you think loss of human life is unacceptable. Its the radical left that claims that "resistance by any means necessary" is acceptable if one feels put upon enough. Its offensive to assume that someone is okay with murdered babies because of a disagreement over how we get to the ideal place. I dont think we get to that place without understanding what happened- or lying about it or moral equivocation, why has peace not been attained so far- and what it would take to make palestinians actually free. To make palestinians actually free- it would take the destruction of hamas. This much history proves. As long as a terrorist group asking for a one-state solution to the problem at the threat of genocide and murdering grandmas and babies is seen by ANYONE on the left as "legitimately resisting"- peace will not prevail. If israel ceases its operations today and gives up on finding hamas- hamas will still attack them again in a years time and kill more people. If hamas is forced to surrender today- palestinians will have a better life tomorrow. Israel has not been the unprovoked aggressor here. Hamas has done this repeatedly. Your inability to look this truth square in the face does not mean it is not true. Hamas has had nearly sole control over gaza for 19 years. Why do they have more missiles than they do food? You still dont for a moment take the time to actually make it clear that hamas provoked this conflict- that they are not legitimately resisting and that they are holding palestinians hostage. Geo politics is not about blame game- instagram is. Fareed zakaria has a clear solution to what should happen, Thomas Friedman has a clear solution. You do not. You just want to chastise other people for not caring about loss of human life. Because your empathy is not really about those people at all. Its about validating how wonderful you are. And you assume that people who disagree with you dont care because you cannot imagine a world in which you might just be wrong. You need to work on that.