Yesterday evening, as intense fighting raged on across Israel and Gaza, Bognor Regis-based pet store, PetZone, published a statement announcing their unreserved support for Israeli forces.

At 6 pm GMT, hours after posting an Israeli flag to their Instagram stories, PetZone published a strongly-worded statement to their Facebook page while also sending it out to their loyal 42-person-strong mailing list.

In a move that’s sure to cause a seismic shift in public opinion, the 7-employee retailer from England’s South Coast condemned Hamas militants as ‘animals,’ later adding, ‘but not the good kind’, before offering to send the Israeli Defence Force leads and muzzles to help them ‘get the animals under control.’

The statement proved polarising, sending shockwaves through the ‘Bognor Regis Local’ Facebook group. Julie Hughes replied to the statement saying: ‘It’s terrible hw they bin treating them palestineyens’, prompting responses of ‘shut up, idiot’, and ‘go away, idiot.’

A war that most imagined would be fought over air, land, and sea is now being waged across a frightening new frontier, the Facebook Group, a terrain more unpredictable than any battlefield before it. We can only hope that once the dust settles and all is said and done, PetZone is left standing on the right side of history.

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