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Comment by imanis | Hacker News Reader

13 pointsimanis7 comments

Palestine Action attack police officers (whom are trying to stop them tress-passing) with sledge hammers and destroy state military equipment which has nothing to do with Israel/Gaza.

If it was any other political cause, no one would bat an eyelid proscribing them as a terrorist organisation.

So why don't they classify the settler groups as terrorists for what they are doing in the West Bank?

> If it was any other political cause, no one would bat an eyelid proscribing them as a terrorist organisation.

Oh yes they would just as long as that other political cause was part of the OmniCause, the ever-shifting web of Current Things. From climate to 'Palestine', from animal rights to 'LGBTQIA+', from 'no person is illegal' to 'racial justice', pick your cause and heft those bricks and they'll have your back just as long as you stay true to The Cause. Watch out though, one misstep and you're out, just as much a target as all the others.

Being honest, I am struggling to understand your comment.

It is quite simple, really. You stated that a group like 'Palestine Action' being designated as a terrorist group only causes a stir because of the fact that they claim to act in support of 'Palestine' and that had this group claimed their actions to be in support of any other political cause nobody would have cared about them being designated a terrorist group. I counter this by stating that 'Palestine' is part of the OmniCause which many activists claim to act in support of and that those same activists would complain about the group being designated a terrorist group had they claimed to act in support of any of the other mentioned (incomplete list of) causes. A large section of these activists do not really care about 'Palestine' or 'LQBTQIA+' or animal rights or any other cause, they're just using these as a pretence for their actions. They can switch from moment to moment between any of these causes without blinking an eye because their activism isn't really based on conviction. They are activists because that gives them a sense of purpose and a group to belong to.

If you ever come across one of these demonstrations and feel up to it you can ask a random activist what they are protesting. You may be surprised to find out many activists don't really know much if anything about their supposed cause other than what the current desired narrative pushes. Many of them don't even know what it is they're there for, just that there was going to be a demonstration and they wanted to be part of it.

I would just mention that your summary of the poster's comment omits the central issue, whether their conduct includes criminal terrorist acts. They aren't being designated as a terrorist group because of the cause or the solely from the actions of a random protestor. They are being designated as a terrorist group because their leaders promoted and encouraged and planned criminally violent behavior. Whether the the majority of actual street level protestors are the same and easily switch from cause to cause isn't really relevant to this analysis.

I would suggest that the OP is suggesting that because the terrorist organization supports palestine and engages in these activities, the label is more controversial than other organizations such as irish unification, communist revolution, drug cartels, white supremacy or neo-nazism organizations that are also labeled as terrorist groups without much controversy.

The UK's prisons are ample and underoccupied, so it makes sense to bang up a load of 70 year pensioners guilty of holding up a piece of paper bearing the words "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action" just to fill them up.

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