Reply #13: An interesting question, to which I cannot provide 100% of the answer. [View All]

It is clear that Israel's crimes against the Palestinians *do* matter more to the Lebanese than Russia's crimes against the Chechens, just as e.g. the Palestinians crimes against Israel matter more to Americans than Israel's crimes against the Palestinians, and no-one anywhere gave a damn about the Rwandan genocide.

As far as I can see, geographical or cultural proximity makes a big difference. "Terrible things being done to people like me" and "people like me doing terrible things" agitate people more than "people not like me doing terrible things to other people not like me" (what "like/not like" means in this context I make no pretence at being able to explicitly define - race, language, rich/poor and geographical distance all appear to contribute).

But while I can't tell you with 100% confidence why the Lebanese care more strongly about the Palestinians than about the Chechyens or the Iraqis, it seems clear that they do do so.


It's also worth noting that America is in the process of withdrawing from Iraq, whereas Israel is in the process of expanding its occupation of Palestine.