Are Palestinians gaining in court of world opinion?
Independent observers have noticed a marked difference in public attitudes around the world and especially in the United States regarding the latest violent escalation in Palestine and Israel, changes connected to timing, messaging and the platforms carrying those messages.
The duality of Israeli shelling and Gazan rockets against Israel are not new. But there is widespread acknowledgment that things are different this time around. Support for Palestinian national aspirations has spiked at unprecedented levels while criticism of Israel has also increased.
It seems that the timing, the message and the platforms communicating the messages have changed in a substantial way for this round of escalations.
In the United States, progressives such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Palestinian American Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and others have insisted the progressives this time should not exclude support for Palestinians.
The timing also appears to have favored the Palestinians; many people around the world, tired of the stay-at-home orders due to the pandemic, used the opportunity of a call to protest to go out and reconnect with friends in public spaces.
