'From the river to the sea': Why these 6 words spark fury and passion over the Israel-Hamas war

[Igel]

57. Ah, the "nuance argument."

You know, JJ was a decent friend. Nice guy. When an older black woman in our church had surgery, he was the first to shop for groceries for her and mow her yard for weeks. He was in his early 20s. Did the same for an older white woman.

He was a proud Texan, transplanted to the Pacific Northwest. This was decades ago.

As he delivered the groceries and mowed the yard to either of the women, he wore his Confederate flag belt buckle because he had a few different ones, and all his belts sported Confederate battle flag belt buckles. "It just shows independence, it's not universally accepted as racist." I was okay, since I was from south of the Mason-Dixon line, even if I spoke like a yankee. (I'm a Balamorean.)

Okay, that last quote wasn't an actually quote. Up until the comma, it was a quote, however. Somebody said it was racist, he shrugged and said he disagreed, as far as he was concerned it just meant fighting tyranny. Essentially, his symbol meant what he wanted his symbol to mean. No ill will. Just disagreement and "you have your opinion, I have mine, we should agree to disagree." Yeah, he was fascist that way.

You like nuance or you like the perceptions of the oppressed and wronged. You don't get to say, "One rule for me, one for thee. I decide what's okay for me, I get to decide what's wrong for thee." In other words, "You have your wrong opinion, I have mine, if you disagree with me, you're just bad." You think that's okay, well, we'll just have to agree to disagree.

But if "Palestine" is to be "free" from the river to the sea, is Israel part of Palestine? And what, exactly, is the land from the river to the sea to be free of ... that Israel isn't already free of? Free of Palestinians? Of Jews? Of Jewish domination? Of something approaching liberal democracy? Of Israel? I mean, most Israeli Palestinians want to be Israeli and not Hamasian.

Or is this like saying, "From the Urals to the Ocean, a Europe of democratic devotion"? (And what of most of the European countries?)
Mostly there because it's ear candy and could easily be reduced to the more accurate and precise, "O may it be, two Russias shall be free!"?