Celtic Supporters Thread (contains GB chat)

Aye it certainly looks like it.

 

How many in away end on Sunday??...was it 650...There's at most 100-120 flags there so it does look like it

 

youre not fighting fair if you are suggesting the fans are not divided on this

 

you have just show a photo where the vast majority are not with flag.

 

To me there is so much ignorance of the situation in the middle east we should be just staying out of it and supporting the team. The Palestinian cause is a just one. The destruction of Israel is not. The Palestinian Authority is a legitimate body. Hamas is not. I am actually really annoyed that the GB are pushing this so hard. I wholeheartedly support the Palestinian cause and two state solution. I wholeheartedly wish to see Fatah re-emerge from the tired, old, corrupt elite running it as a fresher alternative seeking the two state solution with gusto.

Hamas are not Fatah. Hamas are Islamic fundamentalists backed by Iran. Fatah are left wing and secular. One wants the total destruction of Israel. The other accepts Israel's right to exist and accepts the two state solution. I know which one we should be supporting....

As for the slaughter in Gaza at the moment we would be better holding up photos of the victims of this genocide, rather than the Palestinian flag, which is being construed as support for Hamas by a rabid right wing media and is only harming the message we want to convey.

 

This is the important part that the GB are not understanding. Given that the right wing media is Pro Israel, the vast majority of the UK don't know enough or care about the conflict in Gaza. All they have been indoctrinated in is:
Palestine bad. Israel good.

Waiving Palestinian flags at Parkhead is not going send these people on a crusade to learn about the atrocities both sides have endured, rather it will just make them think Celtic fans are supportive of terrorists who cut children's heads off whilst they sleep.

 

Hamas forcibly removed Fatah, who were the Political wing of the PLO, from Gaza in 2007. The head of Preventive Security was thrown from a multi storey building. Fatah and the PLO were of course affiliated with Irish Republicanism and I genuinely believe this is where the confusion lies. Ignorance or misunderstanding the situation in Palestine. Fatah is the party of Yasser Arafat. They believe in the 2 state solution.

Hamas and Fatah have since reconciled but is a decidedly shaking reconciliation. We would be better mourning the loss of all life in the conflict.

 

Context is everything with any sort of symbolism. The same symbols can be interpreted differently depending on where they’re located and when they’re flown/published whatever. We agree on that, I think.

What I’m saying is really very simple and succinct. When you fly the flag of a nation that is seen as being linked with the group that carried out an atrocity involving the murder of 1000+ innocents, alongside a slogan referring to ‘the resistance’ merely hours after said attack - people will interpret it as certain way, which will likely be that you’re showing support for said group, or the attack they carried out. That is entirely understandable and reasonable, and I don’t think you’re saying otherwise.

It’s laughable that I’m getting accused of ‘muddying the waters’ between Palestine and Hamas because I’ve highlighted this. I mean, perhaps it’s the group who held up a ‘victory to the resistance’ slogan, alongside Palestinian flags, hours after an atrocity committed by Hamas, and then refused to clarify their stance, who may have caused a muddying of the waters between the two.

And to be honest - that’s probably my biggest gripe of it all. They fell for petty shock value and point scoring at a time when cooler heads could’ve had a much more noticeable impact. What should they have done instead? Nothing. Absolutely nothing in the immediate aftermath. Anyone with any knowledge of this situation could’ve told you that Israel’s revenge would’ve been swift and brutal - and that would’ve been the time to fly the flag of the Palestinian people. You won’t find many people inside Celtic Park who won’t have at least a degree of sympathy for what the people of Palestine are now faced with, but you’ll find the vast majority absolutely don’t want to be associated with Hamas, or the atrocity they recently carried out. The GB are the ones that blurred this lines.

 

If people are too ignorant to learn the history of the conflict, more fool them. Why do you care so much about what others think of us as a support?

This desire that some of our fans have to be loved by everycunt is pathetic.

 

An embarrassing * covering statement from our tory board.

We're gonna do it anyway.

 

Really? Almost every Celtic fan I know supports Palestine. Including myself.

 

So, there is a distinction to make here. Both Palestine and Ukraine are the victims of oppression and imperialism by a larger, more powerful neighbouring nation. Weirdly some here like to pick and choose when imperialism should be condemned and when it should be celebrated, largely depending on who’s doing it, but I digress….

I would encourage people to fly the flag of Ukraine at Celtic Park, just as I would usually encourage them to fly the flag of Palestine. Had a group of Ukrainian troops splintered off from from the army, crossed the border to Russia and massacred 1000+ men, women and children - I would suggest that that might not be the time to fly it.

And I would add that if a group did choose to fly it alongside a slogan that appeared to be supporting of said Ukranian splinter group, people would be absolutely correct to ask them what they meant by it. It wouldn’t be those peloton asking the question who were muddying the waters between the two, or would be the people flying symbols that are open to interpretation, and then offering very little clarity about why they’re doing so.

 

No Politics in Football is the cry:

 

A lot has happened since the attack at the festival to make it a bit more appropriate a gesture, but at the same Celtic’s biggest priority is to do our best to win tonight, not weigh in on geopolitics

 

Absolutely bang on. Great post.

 

Bit of a strange thing to do as well

 

Waving Palestinian flags is only being construed as support for Hamas from people with an agenda.

 

It's not like the team won't be able to do what the team is paid to do because our fans want to show support for the the people of Palestine. If they can't they shouldn't have signed for us.

 

* UEFA * the tory board. Fly the flag

 

?

What highlighting that its ok to be done when a majority of the Planet are on 1 side?

UEFA complain that NO politics should be brought into Football.....Yet Arches and Stadiums are allowed to be lit up for Ukraine (which i dont have an issue with at all) and they suddenly have no issues?

Yet we are now been told to basically shut yer holes tonight because individuals want to support the innocent people within Palestine....who are also on the verge of being carpet bombed and thousands killed within the next few weeks/months.