[hnbad]

It's not just that it's a holy site, it's also that Hawai'i was annexed by the US and its population disenfranchised with most of the land increasingly being owned by rich foreigners and foreign investors. The telescope may be benign by comparison but with growing cultural awareness of Hawai'i's status and history, I'd imagine it's more about the symbolism than the immediate harm. Context matters.

[DiogenesKynikos]

Since statehood, Hawaii has been much more democratic than it was during the Kingdom. Under the Kingdom, a large share of the population was made up of migrant workers without much rights. The initial US takeover was illegitimate, but Hawaii later became a US state with much greater rights for the general population.