# The International Solidarity Movement & Syria **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547 "2013-09-11T02:08:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/1 "2013-09-11T02:08:39Z")
Will they be protesting the atrocities occurring there? Or have they already done so? ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/2 "2013-09-11T11:23:22Z")
I think this is a question on everyones lips this morning.\* - say who? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/3 "2013-09-11T11:47:45Z")
Never heard of ISM until now (just looked it up.) I see they are about Palestinians and the treatment they have received from the Israeli government. Are you suggesting that, if they fail to “protest” the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, that would constitute hypocrisy – because it shows an unwillingness to acknowledge that Muslim-dominated governments in the region are capable of atrocities? If that’s your point, I don’t see it. Different issue. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/4 "2013-09-11T22:56:12Z")
Yes that is my point, but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if they actively travel to Syria to protest the atrocities. I would have to wonder why they only care if Israel is doing something wrong in their eyes and why they don’t seem to care about the Syrians who are suffering. I can easily see the hypocrisy here. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/5 "2013-09-11T23:33:16Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I would have to wonder why they only care if Israel is doing something wrong in their eyes and why they don’t seem to care about the Syrians who are suffering. Because _Joooos!_ No Jews doing shit in Syria. ---
**Author:** ![pricilla\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a3d4f5/32.png) [@pricilla\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricilla_grey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/6 "2013-09-12T07:45:01Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > Yes that is my point, but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt if they actively travel to Syria to protest the atrocities. I would have to wonder why they only care if Israel is doing something wrong in their eyes and why they don’t seem to care about the Syrians who are suffering. I can easily see the hypocrisy here. I don’t quite understand your point. There are clearly horrendous human rights abuses happening all over the world, are you saying that for a person- or group- to care and do something about one, they must try with all of the others as well? Members of the ISM are working and protesting against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, does this mean they think it is okay what happens in Syria? No. The Congo? No. North Korea? No. Perhaps some of their members will go to these countries and try and protest or help the people, however ISM is a Palestinian organisation, I see no hypocrisy there. > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Because _Joooos!_ No Jews doing shit in Syria. Are you implying that ISM is only working in Palestine because many Israelis are Jewish? And that ISM is an Anti-Semitic organisation? If that is your point you are completely wrong, many of ISM’s members are Jewish, as was one of its founders. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/7 "2013-09-12T07:51:17Z")
It’s the name. If they’d called themselves the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, people would have less of a problem. ---
**Author:** ![pricilla\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a3d4f5/32.png) [@pricilla\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricilla_grey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/8 "2013-09-12T09:36:47Z")
I suppose I can understand that point. However, my understanding of the name is that its internationals in solidarity, whereas Palestinian Solidarity Movement may imply a Palestinian group, rather than internationals coming to stand with the Palestinian people. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/9 "2013-09-12T13:43:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s the name. If they’d called themselves the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, people would have less of a problem. They would, but they aren’t allowed to have their own state. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pricilla\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a3d4f5/32.png) [@pricilla\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricilla_grey)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/10 "2013-09-12T21:21:14Z")
[UN general assembly makes resounding vote in favour of Palestinian statehood | United Nations | The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/29/united-nations-vote-palestine-state) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/11 "2013-09-14T15:32:43Z")
I don’t quite understand your point. There are clearly horrendous human rights abuses happening all over the world, are you saying that for a person- or group- to care and do something about one, they must try with all of the others as well? I am saying the same thing that was said so often about the Bush/Cheney Administration when they decided to invade Iraq and go after Saddaam Hussein. They said he had WMDs and that he was a vile dictator that he threatened the peace of the world and that the Iraqi people would throw “roses at the feet” of our soldiers for freeing them from Hussein’s tyranny. They denied that the invasion was about oil. Yet so many critics of the administration correctly pointed out the atrocities in Darfur that Bush/Cheney did NOTHING about, saying that if Bush & Cheney cared so much about suffering people that they should have helped out in Darfur, thus exposing the hypocrisy of that administration. I am sure W. could have said exactly what you said regarding human rights abuses occurring all over the world but because they decided to take down one evil dictator then does that mean that they should send U.S. troops everywhere else where such abuses occur? So I am simply saying that like the Bush/Cheney Administration, the ISM is being selective (for some reason) about whom they wish to go up against or not. Why shouldn’t I question them just like Bush/Cheney? Members of the ISM are working and protesting against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, does this mean they think it is okay what happens in Syria? No. The Congo? No. North Korea? No. Perhaps some of their members will go to these countries and try and protest or help the people, however ISM is a Palestinian organisation, I see no hypocrisy there. I cannot help that you don’t see the hypocrisy that I noted in my above statement, but the hypocrisy of the ISM is as obvious as the hypocrisy of Bush/Cheney. You say “perhaps” some of the ISM members will go to the other countries in need. Okay, then let’s see that happen. To say that their efforts are for the Palestinian cause so that somehow invalidates any criticism of hypocrisy is as frivolous as someone saying that Bush wasn’t hypocritical because Bush was only interested in going after Hussein (who controlled an oil-rich nation) while ignoring the atrocities in Darfur. I have to wonder if Rachel Corrie’s professor who inspired her to join the ISM activities has anything to say about what’s going on in Syria; for that matter I wonder the same things about her parents. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/12 "2013-09-19T15:51:29Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > I don’t quite understand your point. There are clearly horrendous human rights abuses happening all over the world, are you saying that for a person- or group- to care and do something about one, they must try with all of the others as well? > > I am saying the same thing that was said so often about the Bush/Cheney Administration when they decided to invade Iraq and go after Saddaam Hussein. They said he had WMDs and that he was a vile dictator that he threatened the peace of the world and that the Iraqi people would throw “roses at the feet” of our soldiers for freeing them from Hussein’s tyranny. They denied that the invasion was about oil. Yet so many critics of the administration correctly pointed out the atrocities in Darfur that Bush/Cheney did NOTHING about, saying that if Bush & Cheney cared so much about suffering people that they should have helped out in Darfur, thus exposing the hypocrisy of that administration. I am sure W. could have said exactly what you said regarding human rights abuses occurring all over the world but because they decided to take down one evil dictator then does that mean that they should send U.S. troops everywhere else where such abuses occur? So I am simply saying that like the Bush/Cheney Administration, the ISM is being selective (for some reason) about whom they wish to go up against or not. Why shouldn’t I question them just like Bush/Cheney? > > Members of the ISM are working and protesting against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, does this mean they think it is okay what happens in Syria? No. The Congo? No. North Korea? No. Perhaps some of their members will go to these countries and try and protest or help the people, however ISM is a Palestinian organisation, I see no hypocrisy there. > > I cannot help that you don’t see the hypocrisy that I noted in my above statement, but the hypocrisy of the ISM is as obvious as the hypocrisy of Bush/Cheney. You say “perhaps” some of the ISM members will go to the other countries in need. Okay, then let’s see that happen. To say that their efforts are for the Palestinian cause so that somehow invalidates any criticism of hypocrisy is as frivolous as someone saying that Bush wasn’t hypocritical because Bush was only interested in going after Hussein (who controlled an oil-rich nation) while ignoring the atrocities in Darfur. > > I have to wonder if Rachel Corrie’s professor who inspired her to join the ISM activities has anything to say about what’s going on in Syria; for that matter I wonder the same things about her parents. You’ve completely missed the point. Even if the Bush Administration had wanted to, there wasn’t a lot they could have done about Darfur. However, if they were actually so concerned about Iraqi human rights, they could have ceased to support regimes like the monarchies in Saudi Arabia, most of the other Gulf states, Jordan, and the Zionist colonial regime in Israel. The ISM is largely composed of people who are unhappy with the forms of support their government gives to Israel. Additionally, their governments seem to be supporting the jihadi rebels in Syria, and there accordingly have been protests and other forms of opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-international-solidarity-movement-syria/668547/13 "2013-09-20T11:45:37Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#): > > You’ve completely missed the point. Even if the Bush Administration had wanted to, there wasn’t a lot they could have done about Darfur. However, if they were actually so concerned about Iraqi human rights, they could have ceased to support regimes like the monarchies in Saudi Arabia, most of the other Gulf states, Jordan, and the Zionist colonial regime in Israel. > > The ISM is largely composed of people who are unhappy with the forms of support their government gives to Israel. Additionally, their governments seem to be supporting the jihadi rebels in Syria, and there accordingly have been protests and other forms of opposition. Please direct me to the article you are referring to about the support of the ISM supporting the jihadist rebels in Syria as well as where they have been protesting. I think it would make for some interesting reading.