Is it right or wrong to post about conflict on social media? Hannah Jane Parkinson

The welcome irony is that Martin Niemöller's words about not speaking out are everywhere. If you were not already familiar with First They Came, his urging of resistance in the face of tyranny and persecution, from history class or Holocaust documentaries, you may have seen it on Instagram during the past weeks.

- Hannah Jane Parkinson

Niemöller's words, repurposed from a speech he gave in 1946, are a cautionary tale and mea culpa, deploring his own inertia in the face of Hitler's growing persecution of minority groups (the majority of victims, of course, Jews). His words, along with the Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil", have spread on social platforms following the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.

It's hard to argue with Niemöller or Bonhoeffer and the belief that, as the saying goes: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." And yet, I hesitate to see the value in admonishments during the current conflict towards those who have kept their counsel online - from celebrities such as Jewish actor Noah Schnapp, who declared his feeds were "chillingly quiet" after Hamas's attacks on Israel, to Palestinians proclaiming that "the silence is deafening" after Israel's bombardment of Gaza.