Solidarity With Palestinians in Germany and the United Kingdom: The Distinctiveness of Beliefs, Emotions, and Attitudes for Third-Party Solidarity in Democratic, Yet Issue-Specific Repressive Contexts

Most research on solidarity focuses on democratic, low-repressive contexts. However, support for Palestinians in the Global North shows that solidarity can also emerge in democracies with issue-specific repression, where costs and risks for solidarity are higher, and dominant narratives limit alternative perspectives. This article explores which beliefs, emotions, and attitudes predict low-cost (i.e., low effort/risk) and high-cost (i.e., high effort/risk) solidarity in such contexts. We conducted three studies during major Israel/Palestine escalations: a 2009 German convenience sample ( N = 305) and two 2024 representative samples from Germany ( N = 412) and the United Kingdom ( N = 409). Perceived peaceful intentions and guilt toward Palestinians predicted both types of solidarity. Perceived injustice and moral outrage were more linked to low-cost solidarity, while perceived collective ownership of the land was stronger for high-cost solidarity. Power imbalance, admiration, sympathy, hate, and antisemitism played no or minor roles for solidarity in these contexts. The results highlight the distinct nature of conflict-related solidarity under issue-specific repression compared to solidarity under low repression.