Why do Muslims care so much about Israel/Palestine?

The language of “humiliation” has been heard in Gaza this past week, with videos of defiant Palestinians chanting, “We prefer to die and not to be humiliated”.

Written by Noah Carl.

Last weekend saw massive pro-Palestine protests in the capital cities of most Western countries. Footage of the protests, as well as simple common sense, tells us that a disproportionate number of the participants were Muslims. Which makes sense given that Muslims comprise an increasing share of the population in most Western capitals. In London, they’re 15% of the total and a somewhat larger share of the age-groups most likely to turn out for protests.

Several things were notable about last weekend’s demonstrations. The first is that they were large: in London an estimated 50,000 people took to the streets. The second is that they came soon after a brutal attack on Israel in which hundreds of civilians were killed or taken hostage – an attack that some protestors characterised as a legitimate form of resistance (rather than a war crime). The third is that there have been no similar protests in support of the Uyghur or Rohingya Muslims, despite them facing what is arguably worse repression than the Palestinians.