# 18,000 Palestinians are starving. Will Europe explode in protest? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094 "2014-08-08T05:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/1 "2014-08-08T05:39:43Z")
> **[Besieged and terrified … and the food is about to run out for Damascus refugees](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/19/syria-besieged-refugees-yarmouk-starvation)** > > Syrian blockade of Yarmouk refugee camp raises fears for 18,000 people left starving inside, with some already resorting to eating leaves and animal feed The desperate residents of a besieged district of Damascus are expected to run out of food on Sunday, leaving 18,000 people facing starvation and leading relief agencies to declare the crisis “unprecedented in living memory”. Even aside from protest - have YOU heard about it? How many Palestinians were killed in Syria so far? Thousands? Did you know that? Ever wonder why you don’t? ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/2 "2014-08-08T06:12:26Z")
Tell us what your point is. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/3 "2014-08-08T06:17:43Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > Tell us what your point is. Oh, look, I [found a photo](https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBuZjqQZCcAAy88Y.jpg%3Alarge&h=9AQG8kBdx&s=1) of Europeans protesting the Yarmouk Palestinians starving. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/4 "2014-08-08T18:36:12Z")
Tell us what your point is. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/5 "2014-08-08T19:06:43Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Tell us what your point is. The point is, apparently Westerners only care about Palestinians when Jews are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/6 "2014-08-08T19:52:56Z")
**Terr** , this really isn’t MPSIMS material. I’m moving it to Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/7 "2014-08-08T20:00:19Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Oh, look, I [found a photo](https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FBuZjqQZCcAAy88Y.jpg%3Alarge&h=9AQG8kBdx&s=1) of Europeans protesting the Yarmouk Palestinians starving. No photo. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/8 "2014-08-08T20:01:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No photo. Yes, that’s the correct photo. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/9 "2014-08-08T20:07:09Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Yes, that’s the correct photo. Firefox: totally blank page. Chrome: Facebook page with this message. > [@](#): > > Something Went Wrong > Sorry, there was a problem with this link: [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuZjqQZCc](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuZjqQZCc) AAy88Y.jpg:large > And the web address is not a link. > You can now continue to this website, or go back to the page you were on before. > Remember, only follow links from sources you trust. Copy/paste the web address works. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/10 "2014-08-08T20:10:17Z")
Maybe a better way to put it would be to say that [these are the protests that aren’t happening in Europe right now.](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=protesting+the+Yarmouk+Palestinians+starving&FORM=HDRSC2) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/11 "2014-08-08T20:12:38Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The point is, apparently Westerners only care about Palestinians when Jews are involved. Terr, go have a search of just the BBC archives. You are fooling yourself if you think these issues aren’t covered And who do you mean by “westerners”? I’m one and I care. Let me know how much and in what way I should express this so that I measure up to your standards. One thing that will please you is that I probably do care more about the hundreds of innocent Palestinians dying than I do about the handful of innocent Israelis. It’s a numbers and power thing to me. More innocent deaths = worse. But then that explains why I care more about the millions of Jews killed in the holocaust than I do about the UK soldiers killed in WW2. Complicated ain’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/12 "2014-08-08T20:17:07Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The point is, apparently Westerners only care about Palestinians when Jews are involved. Perhaps, though I might use the term “westerners” rather than Israelis. On the other hand the West seems to get a lot more upset about dead Jews than dead Arabs. Most people reading this have probably heard of the Munich massacre, and probably have some idea how many Israelis were murdered during it. I doubt too many people, even the vocal opponents of Israel have heard of the Kfar Kassem massacre when Israelis murdered 49-50(depending on how you classify the execution style killing of a pregnant woman) Arab Israelis and then tried to cover it up. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/13 "2014-08-08T20:24:59Z")
Is this another one of these “The press doesn’t cover a certain story the way I think they’re supposed to, so they’re biased” threads? 'Cause they are getting pretty tiresome. Perhaps, just perhaps, the story of 18K Palestinians undergoing hardships in Syria is lumped into suffering of the hundreds of thousands of all ethnicities already undergoing hardships in the conflict. Not saying that’s certain, just that seems like a reasonable possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/14 "2014-08-08T20:42:32Z")
I’m pretty sure that Assad is even more despised in Europe than Netanyahu, despite of what Terr might think, given that there have been serious discussion of military action in Syria and yet I have not yet heard anyone seriously considering direct military action against Israel. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/15 "2014-08-08T20:54:38Z")
What serious discussion was there? I am only aware of Obama getting shot down when he suggested military action to divest Syria of its chemical weapons. AFAIK only the Jerry Lewis Fan Club was prepared to go along with it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/16 "2014-08-08T21:23:38Z")
When a really bad guy does bad things, we already know he’s bad. He knows we think he’s bad. His friends, if he has any, know what we think. When a purported ally, someone we trade with, someone we give money and arms to, and someone who supposedly shares some of our values and who should know not to do bad things, when that ally behaves questionably, people tend to make note about it. Or maybe they don’t. I’m making things up. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/17 "2014-08-08T21:38:36Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > On the other hand the West seems to get a lot more upset about dead Jews than dead Arabs. > > Most people reading this have probably heard of the Munich massacre, and probably have some idea how many Israelis were murdered during it. What a terrible example. What this proves to me is that\*\* lots of people watch the Olympics.\*\* Let’s be honest, if terrorists had shot a bunch of Japanese athletes during an Olympics, it’d be a famous event. It’s the Olympics. The Munich massacre is a significantly more famous event than many terrorist attacks that killed more Jews but that did not occur during the most watched sporting event in the world. How many people remember the 1992 bombing of the Israeli empbassy in Buenos Aires? I bet not one in fifty people can recall a thing about it. Hell, I didn’t; I found it by accident while trying to dig up a different example, the AMIA bombing, which killed even more people and which is still not as well known as Munich. It wasn’t during the Olympics, so people have forgotten about it. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/18 "2014-08-08T22:07:57Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Is this another one of these “The press doesn’t cover a certain story the way I think they’re supposed to, so they’re biased” threads? 'Cause they are getting pretty tiresome. Did I say “the press”? I asked where are the protests, the demonstrations, the horrible indignation, calls for intervention, etc. etc. Palestinians are dying, after all. Isn’t that what all those other protests were about? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/19 "2014-08-08T22:28:45Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > When a really bad guy does bad things, we already know he’s bad. He knows we think he’s bad. His friends, if he has any, know what we think. > > When a purported ally, someone we trade with, someone we give money and arms to, and someone who supposedly shares some of our values and who should know not to do bad things, when that ally behaves questionably, people tend to make note about it. > > Or maybe they don’t. I’m making things up. No, I think you nailed it. The only thing I would add is that protesting Assad isn’t going to change anything. He’s 100% impervious to criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094/20 "2014-08-08T22:45:03Z")
I’ll go with… no. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/18-000-palestinians-are-starving-will-europe-explode-in-protest/695094.md?page=2)