Criticism of Israeli War Crimes Mounts »
Posted By hyperbola 12 months ago in Religion
Criticism by international watchdog groups over the increasing death toll in Gaza mounted this week as the first legal actions inside Israel were launched accusing the army of intentionally harming the enclave's civilian population.
A petition to the Israeli courts was announced on Wednesday... the petition would name the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the defense minister, Ehud Barak, as the responsible parties. "Israel needs to decide whether it wants to be a terrorist organization like Hamas or respect international law,"..
A further petition has been launched by eight Israeli human rights groups, demanding that Israel's Supreme Court ban the army from targeting ambulances and medical personnel.
The petition cites a large number of cases in which Israel has fired on ambulances, arguing that as a result medics have been unable to treat the wounded or transport them to hospitals.
Palestinian medics said 21 of their staff have been killed by Israeli fire and many more wounded, according to reports on al-Jazeera TV. The al-Durra hospital in Gaza City was hit on Tuesday, and a day later three mobile clinics run by a Danish charity, DanChurchAid, were destroyed.
Physicians for Human Rights in Israel added its voice, criticizing the Israeli authorities for repeatedly ignoring requests to move seriously wounded civilians.
The UN suspended its aid operations on Thursday after two of its drivers were killed and others wounded by Israeli fire directed at one of its relief convoys during another three-hour cease-fire.
... 80 percent of the more than 750 Palestinians killed in the fighting so far have been civilians. According to figures cited by the World Health Organization, at least 40 percent have been children. Another 3,000 Gazans have been wounded.
Yesterday, Amnesty International also accused Israeli soldiers of using Palestinian civilians as human shields – a charge Israel has repeatedly leveled against Hamas.
Read Full Story at antiwar.com »
793 Views Share Story 120 Comments Report
Submitted By:
hyperbola
Military brat (14th generation American) with unassuaged wanderlust. By age 11, schools in four states and three foreign countries (in 3 languages). Left home at ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentShowing 114 of 120 Comments (view all)
-
67%
Heinz4412 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Israelies have had good teachers in regards to Phosphor bombs
Reply
"You guys burnt the place down, turned it into a single column of flame. More people died there in the firestorm, in that one big flame, than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined." --Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
On the evening of February 13, 1945, an orgy of genocide and barbarism began against a defenseless German city, one of the greatest cultural centers of northern Europe. Within less than 14 hours not only was it reduced to flaming ruins, but an estimated one-third of its inhabitants, possibly as many as a half a million, had perished in what was the worst single event massacre of all time.
http://www.google.com/search?q=dresden+holocaust=c...-
libsRfunnyComment removed: Hard Banned1 Reply
-
-
55%
bubba212 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I don't care WHO "started it".
Reply
Less than 20 Israelis have died from Hamas rocket attacks.
The CIVILIAN casualties in Gaza are approaching 1000, including many CHILDREN and BABIES.
There is NO EXCUSE for killing children and babies and labeling it "collateral damage". That is WRONG. Period.
How many Americans that support Israel's mini-genocide on Gaza are pro-life? Who is protecting the children and the UNBORN in Gaza? Or are fetuses in Gaza all considered to be Hamas so they are thus "not allowed to live"?
Not EVERYONE in Gaza is Hamas!!! But Israel has decided that they are and they don't care WHO they kill in their "right" to "defend themselves".
It is nothing less than MASS murder, what Israel is doing to the people in Gaza.-
50%
Hhussk12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
There is NO EXCUSE for killing children and babies and labeling it "collateral damage". That is WRONG. Period.
Reply
You are incorrect. There is a reason. When the families of Palestine elected Hamas to run their government, they invited this problem.
And, it is a well known fact that Hamas puts their military sites under, around, or inside hospitals, schools, and civilians, using them as human shields.
Perhaps you can't accept it. Yes, it sucks. But this wouldn't happen if Hamas wasn't using their population as shields. -
libsRfunnyComment removed: Hard Banned1 Reply
-
-
-
100%
canadianrancher5712 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It is sort of a shock sometimes when you read an artical and can relate to it from personal experiance. I was not a nice person from the age of about 8 until I was in my twenties. I was a warrrior and loved to fight, I fought for others and I fought for myself, I fought for things that at times were right and I at times fought for the wrong reasons. There was one particular person who I could not get along with and he always did whatever he could to jerk my chain and for this he paid dearly. Most people had no problem with me doing an attitude adjustment on this guy but once I showed a lack of disipline and beat him badly. What I learned from this was all of a sudden people looked at me as just a bully and some people still have this opinion after all these years.
Reply
Governments sometimes do things which lack any foresight what so ever and the repercussions of their actions are felt by the people of the country for many years. When I see that the people of Israel start to protest the war it is a good sign, but my greatest fear for the people of Israel is not from the people of Gaza but from those in the world who might hold this military action against Israel and the Jewish people in the future. As I said in a different story, One might win the battle but lose the war.
Maybe I am very wrong on this but the world is just a big community and it preceives events as it chooses and those who ignore the opinions of this community sometimes at a later date will pay the price. -
-
-
Wang123Comment removed: Retracted by user
-
46%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
World protests against the genocidal zionists are growing.
Reply
More than 100,000 in protest Gaza march in Spain
More than 100,000 people marched through Spain's capital and other cities Sunday calling for Israel to announce an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
The protest in Madrid was the largest of demonstrations across Europe expressing both support and opposition for the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Protesters filled downtown boulevards carrying banners saying "Peace," "SOS Gaza," placards with the word "Gaza" above a red-stained hand and mock blood-spattered bodies of children.
Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem's mother Pilar, also an actress, was among speakers who addressed the crowd.
"The Spanish government has to do something. The Gaza Strip is now practically a concentration camp," she said....
http://www.barcelonareporter.com/index.php?/news/c...-
hyperbolaComment removed: Spam
-
25%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Carlos III se hace palestino
Reply
La manifestación contra la masacre israelí en Gaza recorre el centro de Madrid.- La organización cifra en 250.000 los asistentes
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/Carlos/III/h... -
14%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
El mundo de la cultura con el pueblo Palestino
Reply
http://www.elpais.com/videos/espana/mundo/cultura/... -
30%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Meanwhile, the US media hardly report the massive world-wide protests against israeli crimes against humanity. If they report at all, only to minimize. Here is what CNN reported from Madrid.
Reply
Spain urges Israel to stop Gaza attacks
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Thousands of demonstrators in Madrid Sunday called for a halt to Israel's attacks on Gaza...
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/11/isra...
Need any more evidence of censorship by US media?
-
-
20%
idov12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Here's the reality. Israel has cut Gaza into two. The forces surrounding the main city in the north are divided into six prongs who are constantly probing and harassing the enemy. All the leaders of Hamas are cowering in the basements of hospitals. They've booby-trapped schools, homes, and even a zoo, but few of their several thousand operatives trained in Iran have come out to fight. Our troops do not enter any building from the front door, but by blasting a hole in the wall and entering from there so the booby-traps are useless. They've fired 600 rockets into Israel and if they could shoot straight, we'd have 1000 dead. If Israel does not stop their smuggling they will eventually obtain that capability. Much of their weaponry is stored in mosques, Israel destroyed 10 and yesterday when someone fired a lau rocket at a plane from there, that rose to 11. Anyone in the vicinity of a Hamas operative firing on our troops or a place where they have stored weapons better get out of the way. No one pays any attention to all the cacophony about "war crimes" or all the other whining and crybaby stuff. War is heck, didn't someone say. The situation is very simple. If Hamas wants to save on suffering, they simply have to stop firing rockets into Israel. Criticize all you want, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back for being so much holier than thou, we've heard all the empty talk before a thousand times, and the war will continue to unfold as need be.
Reply-
42%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Time to end the racist zionist state for its crimes against humanity. Zionist racism is no more acceptable than aryan-nazi racism.
Reply
Revoking Israel's UN Membership
http://www.propeller.com/story/2008/12/12/revoking...
The 1976 Nobel peace prize laureate, Mairead McGuire from Ireland, recently suggested a popular movement demanding that the UN revoke Israel’s membership. The international community now needs to put tangible pressure on Israel in order to stop its war crimes.
Not once, during the past 60 years, has Israel shown any intention of living up to the requirements stipulated by the UN, in connection with the country’s membership in 1948, namely that the Palestinians who had been evicted from their homes should be allowed to return at the earliest possible opportunity. Moreover, Israel holds the hardly flattering world record of ignoring UN resolutions.
It can be questioned from the aspect of human rights legislation whether Israel is a legitimate state. Established practice between states usually requires borders that are legally maintained and a constitution, neither of which Israel has. These requirements are also named in the UN resolution (181) Partition Plan for Palestine, approved by the General Assembly in November 1947. The plan was accepted by the Zionists Jews in Palestine but rejected for excellent reasons as unjust by the Arab states. Only decisions made by the UN Security Council are mandatory. Later on, Israel unilaterally laid claim to a considerably larger portion of land than that suggested by the UN.
The eviction of eighty per cent of the Palestinians who lived west of the 1947 armistice line, and Israel’s refusal to allow them to return is the human rights argument for expelling Israel from the UN. Not only has Israel played the Partition Plan false but has, by its actions, thwarted the grounds – fragile from the start – for its UN membership.
... Why does nobody ever comment on the fact that Israel’s prime minister never misses an opportunity to harp on about how important it is that the rest of the world and the Palestinians recognise Israel, not as a democratic country for all its citizens, but as a “Jewish state”?
What would we have said if South Africa’s Prime Minister, in a similar way, had demanded recognition of South Africa as a “white and democratic state”, thus de facto accepting the racist apartheid system that allowed non-whites to be classified as lesser human beings?
-
-
36%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Gaza Slaughter Exposes Truth About Zionism
Reply
Collective punishment is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. In fact, Israel’s siege was a belligerent act of war. But the western press, including the US media, failed to report it honestly and now they blame the victims. The Palestinians, we are told, are responsible for Israel’s attacks upon them because of the Qassams. Of course, due to the media filter the average American probably has never heard of the siege, and doesn’t even know it happened.
...In fact, Israel’s military operation in Gaza probably has as much to do with political expedience as halting the Qassams. Israel’s leaders have resorted to violence in the past for temporary political gain: to boost their standing with voters; and the present Gaza offensive appears to be another case. It was in the planning for months and probably became inevitable after far-right Likud candidate Benjamin Netanyahu moved ahead in the polls. With Prime Minister Olmert’s Kadima party facing a tough uphill fight in the upcoming February 2009 elections, Olmert no doubt hoped to recoup Kadima’s chances by showing toughness. It is telling that Israeli voters will choose between the right and the far-right, another inconvenient truth ignored by the western press..
...it is remarkable that even though the US Senate just voted unanimous support for Israel many Americans probably still think the United States is not directly involved in the Gaza violence. Nothing could be further from the truth. The US is deeply involved. ... To describe all of this as a public relations disaster for the US fails to capture the reality. The international community was already alienated from Washington because of President George W. Bush’s self-proclaimed right to treat the world as a US free-fire zone. Continuing US support for Israel’s state terrorism is like throwing gas on this fire, and the temperature is rising....
But the slaughter of more than 800 Palestinians, as I write, in addition to more than 3,000 injured, has had one positive effect: It has brought the deeper issue, the nature of Zionism, into sharper focus. The question that Americans should be asking is how 1.4 million Palestinians came to be crowded into Gaza in the first place. After all, the length and breadth of Israel/Palestine is the homeland of these Palestinians, no less than the home of the Jews. Both peoples have an equal claim to the land....-
36%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The shocking fact is that these Arabs remain incarcerated in Gaza today for the same reason they were driven from their homes in the first place. In Israel this is euphemistically referred to as the "demographic problem," a polite way of saying that in 1948 the Palestinians stood squarely in the path of the Zionist plan to settle all of Palestine with Jews. For this reason they had to be made to disappear. This is why the Palestinians were herded into refugee camps at that time and it is why they continue to be incarcerated in Gaza today. Israel will not incorporate them because their sheer numbers would pollute the ethnic/racial purity of the Jewish state.
Reply
This is the deeper issue, and it brings to mind the Apartheid "solution" cooked up by the racists in South Africa, where unwanted blacks were segregated into separate Bantustans to keep them out of sight (and out of mind) of the white minority rulers. Fortunately, the people of South African dismantled their Apartheid system years ago. But it survives today in Israel/Palestine in an even more pernicious form. In fact, Israel is probably the last of the settler colonies that were common during the heyday of colonialism, in the 18-19th centuries...
in 2009 this hierarchical way of organizing society is far out of step with present-day standards of morality and justice. Uncritical US support for Israeli-style Apartheid has thus placed the United States on the wrong side of history, an ugly reality that ought to be a source of concern, indeed, of alarm, for each and every American. At issue is the racist nature of the Zionist enterprise, and it’s long past time that we call the thing by its true name.
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/12/gaza-sla...
-
-
unome2Comment removed: Hard Banned13 Replies
-
80%
canadianrancher5712 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Up here in Canada we seem to look at issues with what I feel is a slightly more open mind, our national new services have been giving what I feel is a balanced report on the conflict and public opinion has been against this conflict from nearly the start, but public opinion and government opinion quite often are two different things. Politicians do follow the government line until the polls show that their stance is not favored by the people and then they start to make changes to the official policy. It is so sad that we elect people who are unable to think for themselves.
Reply-
libsRfunnyComment removed: Hard Banned2 Replies
-
-
-
40%
ChefEOD12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
I am not surprised that such a thread is nothing more than an indoctrinational blurb for the apologists of Jihad, but I just had to look. Kind of like when a person hears a noise in a dark alley and while running away just has to look back.
Reply
Proportional response…I don’t give a flying crap how many have been killed by the rockets of Hamas, the intent is what matters and their intent with those rockets is to kill as many as possible.
There is a pattern with the terrorists in Israel. For years Hamas subjects innocent Israeli citizens to threat & terror with thousands of rockets. Finally, Israel gets fed up and retaliates. Israel destroys the buildings and infrastructure that the West paid for when it was trying to establish the Palestinian Authority as the moderate terrorist government of the Palestinians. Of course, the Palestinians didn’t want a moderate group of terrorists. They wanted the real thing, so they elected Hamas to represent them. Once enough buildings are bombed and enough terrorists are killed — a very subjective number — the world says stop.
The western media, too cowardly to send real reporters into the war zone, hires Islamic reporters to give the news to America and Europe. The world sees women and children in the war zone — women and children — wives and children of Palestinian terrorists who hate Jews more than they love their families. They don't care whether their women and children are maimed, killed or not. After all, martyrdom is good for the cause.
The media shows women and children blown to bits — not distinguishing those harmed by Palestinian rockets. Nevertheless, the war is stopped, the west will pay billions to rebuild Gaza, and millions of dollars will be skimmed into the terrorists' pockets while they rearm and do it all over again sometime in the future.
The terrorists believe its OK to do whatever they want to Jews. And the world seems to back up the terrorists by lending a sympathetic ear and labeling them as victims when the true victims of terror say 'enough is enough.'
In support of Hamas, there have been protests by Islamists in the U.S., calling for Israel to be "nuke"” and Jews to be burned once again in ovens. An Islamic website in Britain is compiling a list of Jews in England to target because of the Gaza retaliation.-
40%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Actually Israel has been attacking Gaza for 18 months already and instituted this war as just another round of ethnic cleansing. Israeli reporters say the attack on Gaza was already planned by Sharon in 2005 (before Hamas was democratically elected). Your screed is just more apology for nazi-style zionist racism.
Reply
War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/08/war-of-c...
Israel has repeatedly claimed that it had "no choice" but to wage war on Gaza on December 27 because Hamas had broken a ceasefire, was firing rockets at Israeli civilians, and had "tried everything in order to avoid this military operation," as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni put it.
This claim, however, is widely at odds with the fact that Israel's military and political leadership took many aggressive steps during the ceasefire that escalated a crisis with Hamas, and possibly even provoked Hamas to create a pretext for the assault. This wasn't a war of "no choice," but rather a very avoidable war in which Israeli actions played the major role in instigating.
Israel has a long history of deliberately using violence and other provocative measures to trigger reactions in order to create a pretext for military action, and to portray its opponents as the aggressors and Israel as the victim. According to the respected Israeli military historian Zeev Maoz in his recent book, Defending the Holy Land, Israel most notably used this policy of "strategic escalation" in 1955-1956, when it launched deadly raids on Egyptian army positions to provoke Egypt's President Nasser into violent reprisals preceding its ill-fated invasion of Egypt; in 1981-1982, when it launched violent raids on Lebanon in order to provoke Palestinian escalation preceding the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; and between 2001-2004, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon repeatedly ordered assassinations of high-level Palestinian militants during declared ceasefires, provoking violent attacks that enabled Israel's virtual reoccupation of the West Bank.
Israel's current assault on Gaza bears many trademark elements of Israel's long history of employing "strategic escalation" to manufacture a major crisis, if not a war....
....The countdown to a war began, according to a detailed report by Barak Raviv in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, when Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak started planning the current attack on Gaza with his chiefs of staff at least six months ago - even as Israel was negotiating the Egyptian brokered ceasefire with Hamas that went into effect on June 19.
-
-
63%
ChefEOD12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
As the current Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza continues, the worldwide propaganda assault against Israel grows exponentially. In the light of this, it's important to review a little history about Gaza. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and completely turned its administration over to the Palestinian Authority. All of the Jewish settlements were disbanded and their residents forcibly removed. The Israeli agricultural, commercial and residential assets – which were considerable – were left for the Palestinians.
Reply
They promptly trashed and destroyed these valuable assets that would have greatly helped them feed their own people. They were given the freedom to develop what easily could have been something like a "Hong Kong" of the Mediterranean. Many nations poured billions of dollars into the coffers of the Palestinian leadership to help them realize that dream.
Instead, the Palestinians used the money to build a terrorist army. They purchased weapons and munitions to equip that army. They smuggled into Gaza a formidable arsenal and began to launch daily attacks on Israel's cities.
They didn't even pretend to build an economic infrastructure that would enable the Gazan citizens to support themselves. That's why the partial Israeli closure of the crossing points has made life so difficult for the average Palestinian. Most of them can only find work in Israel. There is none in Gaza.
Why? Because all of the economic development money was poured into terrorism. Despite this glaring fraud, the world insists on rewarding the Palestinians for their open deception.
The so-called "enlightened and responsible nations" have developed a formula for exclusive use against Israel. This formula determines under what circumstances and in what manner Israel is allowed to defend itself against terrorist attacks. First, the provocation must be many times more serious than would be necessary for other nations. Simple acts of war, such as hostage-taking or continuous missile attacks against civilian population centers, are not sufficient provocation to permit defensive measures.
Since 2005, more than 6,000 rockets have rained down on Israeli cities from Gaza. In a display of remarkable restraint, only after three years and thousands of unprovoked attacks did Israel finally feel sufficiently justified to launch a defensive response.
Now, the second phase of the anti-Israel propaganda assault kicks in. It begins almost immediately with the usual suspects – led by the Arabs, the Russians, the Muslims – all demanding an immediate Israeli withdrawal from its "invasion" of Gaza.
Right on cue, the members of the United Nations begin their usual chorus – charging that Israel's response is "not proportionate."-
36%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Lying to us again Chef. For example, Hamas built a university for 20,000 students that offers computer science, business, ... Here are some israeli jews you could learn from. You really ought to stop advocating the killings of jews, christians and moslems from afar.
Reply
Where's the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?
...While the extent of the damage to the Islamic University, which was hit in six separate airstrikes, is still unknown, recent reports indicate that at least two major buildings were targeted, a science laboratory and the Ladies’ Building, where female students attended classes. ...
..the Islamic University is the first and most important institution of higher education in Gaza, serving more than 20,000 students, 60 percent of whom are women. It comprises 10 faculties — education, religion, art, commerce, Shariah law, science, engineering, information technology, medicine, and nursing — and awards a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Taking into account that Palestinian universities have been regionalized because Palestinian students from Gaza are barred by Israel from studying either in the West Bank or abroad, the educational significance of the Islamic University becomes even more apparent.
Those restrictions became international news last summer when Israel refused to grant exit permits to seven carefully vetted students from Gaza who had been awarded Fulbright fellowships by the State Department to study in the United States. After top State Department officials intervened, the students’ scholarships were restored — though Israel allowed only four of the seven to leave, even after appeals by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
How should academics respond to this assault on an institution of higher education? Regardless of one’s stand on the proposed boycott of Israeli universities, anyone so concerned about academic freedom as to put one’s name on a petition should be no less outraged when Israel bombs a Palestinian university. The question, then, is whether the university presidents and professors who signed the various petitions denouncing efforts to boycott Israel will speak out against the destruction of the Islamic University.
Neve Gordon is chair of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Jeff Halper is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/05/where39s... -
-
-
57%
ChefEOD12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Finally, the media revs up their one-sided campaign. Their job is to spotlight the injuries and deaths of Palestinian women and children who are accidentally hit during the intense battles. Apparently, the months and years of constant bombardment lavished on the Israelis by Hamas thugs didn't trigger the media's interest. Only when Israel struck back did the signal go out for the mainstream media to join the fray.
Reply
In Gaza, Hamas terrorists hide in classrooms and hospital basements. They store weapons in mosques and use university laboratories for bomb-making factories. They are currently hiding long-range rockets in the basement of Gaza City's main hospital. They intentionally place women and children on the rooftops of buildings they know will soon be targets of the Israeli air force.
Then, when these human shields are killed or wounded by Israeli fire, the media vents their outrage on the Israeli gunner or pilot, not the calculating terrorist. The bodies of dead terrorists – or their human shields – are then paraded by the ever-accommodating media as "innocent victims of Israeli aggression." And the orchestrated calls for "proportionality" grow louder.
Following this oft-repeated formula, as the selected media images mount, the predictable demands for an unconditional Israeli cease-fire rise to a global crescendo. Moderate Western governments like France, Britain and other EU nations that have large Muslim populations begin to demand that Israel cease this "disproportionate war." The worldwide cry grows until finally the United States is bullied into not vetoing a Security Council resolution condemning Israel as an unjustified aggressor.
This is the formula that has always worked. The Islamic fundamentalists know this formula well. Terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas have perfected the use of this formula to the point of making it a "tactic of war." Islamic terrorists attack and fight until they begin to lose. Then the world rushes in and rescues them to fight another day.
"Proportionality" is the key word that has been especially adapted for use against Israel in order to guarantee its eventual destruction through attrition.
The historically accepted objective of defensive warfare is to eliminate an enemy's ability to harm you. The side that does that first is the winner. And until one side has accomplished that goal, the war continues.
The one overriding goal of Hamas is the annihilation of Israel. It's clearly spelled out in their Charter. They confirm it at every opportunity. The "enlightened nations" just can't grasp this reality. The 6,000-plus rocket attacks against Israel were provoked by nothing more than Israel's continued existence. As long as Israel exists, Hamas' goal remains unfulfilled. The numerous state-supported Islamic terrorist organizations feel the same way.-
45%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Well chef, an endless stream of racist diatribe that essentially is an incitement to genocide. We should start trying and jailing those who profer such incitements. Here is an Israeli jew you could learn from.
Reply
An Israeli in Gaza
http://www.counterpunch.org/barat12122008.html
You recently took part in the Free Gaza movement and successfully reached Gaza by boat with others activists, journalists and human rights workers from around the globe. How did you get involved in such an initiative and why was it important for you to take part?
As an Israeli and the head of an Israeli peace organization (ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), I was asked by the Free Gaza Movement organizers to take part in their action to Break the Siege of Gaza by sailing two boats from Cyprus to Gaza City port. I agreed because this was a non-violent political action; breaking the siege and by implication highlighting Israel’s responsibility for it (which it tries to shrug) fit into ICAHD’s mission, to end the Israeli Occupation completely. Had this been defined as a humanitarian mission I would not have participated, since the so-called “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza is not the result of some natural calamity, but of a deliberate policy of Israel..
As an Israeli Jew, what type of welcome did you get from the Gazans? Did you meet anyone from Hamas?
We all received a tremendous welcome from the Palestinian Gazans – 40,000 came out to greet us as we entered the port! As, unfortunately, the only Israeli Jew (two more have since sailed to Gaza), I was sought out by Gazans who wanted to communicate with me – in Hebrew – how much they yearned for a just peace in which all the inhabitants of the country could live together in peace. I was struck by how non-political their discourse was. No accusations, no political programs, just a deep desire to get beyond this superfluous conflict to a life good for everyone. This, it seems to me, is a solid foundation upon which a just peace can be built.
I was invited for dinner with Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian Prime Minister from the Hamas party, together with the rest of our group. I decided not to attend so as not to deflect the public discussion, especially in Israel, from our action’s main focus, breaking the siege, to side issues such as the connection of the Israeli peace camp to Hamas. This is just what the Israeli authorities would have wanted: a discussion over my attending a Hamas dinner instead of over its own responsibility for Palestinian suffering and oppression. I refused to play into their hands. Nonetheless, I am proud to note that I received Palestinian citizenship, including a passport, from the Palestinian government.
-
-
44%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Well chef, here is an israeli jewish answer as to why Israel is the world's pariah state.
Reply
Why Israeli Anti-Zionists do not recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state
http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/01/05/why-isra...
In recent times, the demand has been raised, by representatives of the State of Israel, and by its supporters abroad, to recognize the State of Israel’s “right to exist as a Jewish state”. I am told that this demand is a debater's trick that was invented by Henry Kissinger several years ago. Be that as it may, what, if anything, is wrong with this demand?
If the goal is a negotiated peace agreement, or treaty, there is no need for recognition of “the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state”. If the goal is to sabotage the possibility of a negotiated agreement, this demand has been placed front and center. A couple of other examples, just to illustrate the preposterous nature of the demand: Has anyone ever asked the Catholics of Ireland to recognize the right of Ulster, or Northern Ireland, to exist as a “Protestant state”? Would we recognize the right of any state to exist as a “Hindu state”? As a “Muslim state”? Just to pose the question is to expose its nature.
But, maybe we are not talking about “Jewish state” as a state affiliated to the Jewish religion. Maybe we are talking about a state that is defined by the dominant ethnicity. In that case, the position does not get any better.
...we have had our fill of states whose raison d'etre is to preserve ethnic superiority and domination. One does not have to refer to the late unlamented “Aryan state”. Within recent memory, we had white-supremacist Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa. Whatever limits there are to analogies from and to these white supremacist regimes, we have learned that states that define themselves with reference to the domination of one ethnic group cannot claim legitimacy.
Israel and its allies insist that the Palestinian victims of Zionism must “recognize Israel as a Jewish state with a Jewish majority.” No one seems concerned about the fact that this ultimatum flies in the face of elementary democratic values regarding human equality and human rights. Israel’s backers seek to legitimize that which is illegitimate by any standard of democracy.
This dispute is not about borders. In Ilan Pappe's recent book – “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” – he describes the events in a process of ”ethnic cleansing” conducted by the forces under David Ben-Gurion's leadership, from December 1947 through December 1948. An older book, by Sabri Jiryis - “The Arabs in Israel” - describes a reality of racist segregation and racist discrimination. -
43%
ChefEOD12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
On the other hand, Israel has demonstrated that it will absorb almost any blow before resorting to war. Israel's one goal is to secure a lasting peace. To achieve that goal, Israel must eliminate the enemy's ability to wage war. If they don't, war will continue in perpetuity.
Reply
The U.N.'s definition of "proportionality" in the case of Israel's self-defense means that Israeli losses must be at least equal to Palestinian losses. If Israel follows this formula, it guarantees that they will eventually loose by attrition. It guarantees that war will continue until the Muslims get strong enough to finally obliterate Israel. Just think what would have been the outcome of World War II if the same irrational thinking had been forced on the allied armies fighting against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
Some argue that Hamas is just defending itself, and homemade missiles are the only weapons they have against Israeli warplanes and tanks. But Hamas is NOT defending itself against Israel when it shells Israeli cities. Israel has not occupied Gaza since its 2005 withdrawal.
However, if Hamas would cease firing rockets and sending suicide bombers into Israel, there would be no need to defend itself. The borders would be open and peace and prosperity would follow.
The indiscriminate firing of rockets into civilian population centers is internationally acknowledged as a war crime. It constitutes collective punishment under U.N. treaty law. But since it's Hamas firing against Jewish targets, the United Nations is silent. This is just another example of how international law is more binding on Israel than any other nation on earth.
There is no other nation whose conduct is subjected to closer scrutiny by "international law experts" than Israel – the U.N. appointed them for that specific purpose. But in the case of Israel, it can be demonstrated that Israel's enemies use U.N. international law against them.
Hamas claims its attacks are in resistance to Israel's closing of its borders. But the reason why Israel closes its borders with Gaza are never mentioned. None of Israel's critics ever consider that every time Israel opens its borders to Palestinian workers, a flood of suicide bombers are sent in. And when Gaza's international borders are opened, Hamas rushes in new and more powerful rockets to fire at Israel's cities.
What is it about Israel that makes it the world's pariah state? How can it be that no insult to the Arabs is too slight to justify wholesale murder, whereas no atrocity, no matter how outrageous, justifies an Israeli defensive response? It matters not how reasonable and legitimate the defensive action would be for any other nation. But leaders from around the world have streamed into the U.N. to defend the "Palestinian democracy" – as if such an entity exists.-
45%
hyperbola12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Fundamentally, Zionism would prefer more land and less Palestinians. Zionism never wanted a Palestinian underclass. But, since the ethnic cleansing of 1947-48 was incomplete, there is much still to be done to achieve the goals of Zionism, and therefore much conflict and much oppression. So, the State of Israel demands a priori recognition of the irreversibility of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the legitimacy of a racist regime. To summarize, the State of Israel is characterized by 3 essential features:
Reply
settler-colonialism
ethnic cleansing; and
racist discrimination.
Anti-Zionist Israelis fight to reverse, to overturn, those three essential features of the State of Israel.
...So, there can be no “right to exist” of the State of Israel as a “Jewish state”, whether we are referring to the dominance of a religious group or of an ethnic group. Add to that the fact that the State of Israel is the main engine of anti-Semitism in the world today, as Lord Montagu predicted in 1917.
And that is why anti-Zionist Israelis do NOT “recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish State”.
-
-
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned1 Reply
-
50%
Hhussk12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
While I am a supporter of Israel, I do sometimes disagree with their process and strategy. That said, I find little credibility on the bias of this article and the many other articles being posted in this thread.
Reply
The people of Palestine brought this on themselves when the elected Hamas into government. Hamas uses their own civilians as shields; they build their hideouts in hospitals, schools, and heavily populated areas. Part of their technique is "human shield", which is how they work for media sympathy.
What you don't know is that Israel operatives make phone calls into areas with civilian population before they bomb the area. As often as they can, they allow people to flee before they bomb. Obviously, this also alerts Hamas, and allows them to escape, but still destroys the base application.
Some of the things I'm talking about, I've witnessed first-hand.-
60%
wtagg12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Even if the alleged shield technique were true, it certainly doesn't say anything about Israeli restraint, does it? What you are suggesting is that if Israel knows there is a school in session being used by Hamas, they will still strike to obtain a result against Hamas. Quite frankly, that is much more damaging than saying that they made a mistake.
Reply
Of course, those that are in denial about those types of things do not really anticipate anyone disputing or looking logically past the original statement.
-
-
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned
-
67%
Commodore112 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Strange how no one talks about how Hamas terrorists hide behind women and children and hide their weapons in schools and hospitals. Or about how the Palestinians keep firing rockets into Israel during times of "cease fire". Hamas and the Palestinians are such idiots. The Hamas has no structured government and no organized military. All they have are rockets, mortars and small arms. This is a joke compared to Israeli planes and tanks. Operating as a terrorist cell isn't going to help them. And whatever support they are gleaning from the world is certainly not worth the price they are paying. The Palestinian people are suffering the worst at the hands of their own government. QUIT FIRING ROCKETS MORONS!
Reply-
75%
jovial12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Ok, let's talk about it then. When you are fighting a superior military force should you have all your weapons on a base or in centralized locations or should you spread it out? Should you stand out in the open in a field or open area and try to fight against F16's, helicopter gunships,tanks, and artillery shells? You may call it cowardice, because you view is from the side of the superior force, but if the Palestinians were the superior force in this conflict, the Israeli's would hide their weapons in schools, hospitals or wherever they thought it would be safe from attack as well. Don't you think?
Reply
-
-
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned
-
50%
KISA452a12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
If half this time spent criticizing Israel was spent criticizing the past decades of terrorist attacks on Israel, this issue would not exist. But I guess that would require admitting that Israel has a right to exist and most of the world does not agree with that sentiment... To most, lobbing rockets into Israel to try to kill during a time of ceasefire, or by choice, is OK. Repsonding to the attack is not.
Reply -
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned
-
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned
-
-
SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned1 Reply
-
100%
Teagen12 months ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
The Palestinians living in the Gaza launch Katusha missiles into Israel that they're shocked at Israel's response? Hamas places military and terrorist strong holds in the middle of civilian centers. Schools, hospitals and religious centers are their favorites. Anything with lots of women and children. Let's call them human shields. They can't fight but boy do they make great press when they get killed. Hamas and all terrorists are cowards. Face me, fight me direct. I dare you to.
Reply
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.