Hudson Jones

True. When you support Israel's treatment of Palestinians, you support this:

Well said.

Really?

The question the Palestinians have is, will the West ever pay attention to their plight if they do not respond to Israel's aggression? It seems like only aggressive and violent response is the only way any attention is given to them. The rockets are a desperate act by a group who acknowledge that they cannot compete with Israel/U.S. jets, helicopters and tanks. Even though some pro-Palestinians want to tell people that the rockets are self-defense, any rational and honest person should admit that it's wrong to fire these rockets towards civilian areas even if they rarely cause any casualties. As one-sided the casualties are, it makes Hamas, et al and in extension, the Gazans look like hypocrites when they complain about Israel targeting Palestinian civilians. As tempting as it is to respond in any way possible to Israel's unjust and illegal treatment of Palestinians, the heavily lobbied western governments are looking for any excuse to justify their support for Israel.

A better defense measure would be to end the siege and to accept the Arab League peace deal.

They're low to non-existent because they're not fighting against airplanes, tanks, helicopters and an army.

The question is, how many of the rockets actually make it to the cities. The low number of casualties is not due to iron dome, it's due to the uselessness of the rockets. Most of the rockets barely make it past the borders. These expensive iron dome missiles cost around $50K vs $500 for the rockets that are able to reach the towns and cities. The Iron Dome might be useful against a real army with real weapons, not fireworks. The only way they might become useful is if there is a war against Iran. However, now, they're a big expensive joke.

So, it's a big expensive joke.

The iron dome is a big expensive joke.

Cross Talk with Norman Finkelstein, Dan Pollak and Harry Fear

Israel Calls For Increase In U.S. Taxes To Fund Attacks On Gaza Link

Hamas is nothing. They can't even control Gaza. They're not as important as they and Bibi want people to think they are.

Nobody but Bibi, Barak and their lemmings want a war.

How is that any different from previous months? More of these homemade rockets that rarely even make it past the border. Like kids playing with fireworks. I know it's going off the script, but many in the Israeli and international media are able to go beyond the superficial "self defense" justification. Again, many are pointing at the elections as the reason. Much like it was the reason the last time Israel carpet bombed Gaza: Haaretz Netanyahu's election rivals can't help but support Gaza warTo oppose the military operation in the Gaza Strip would be political suicide for Shelly Yacimovich and Yair Lapid - they have jumped on the Barak-Netanyahu bandwagon. Guardian With Israel and Hamas engaged in their most violent confrontation since 2009, columnist Jonathan Freedland considers the factors influencing the timing of Israel's attack on Gaza. Israel holds a general election on January 22, and the conservative prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has pledged to retaliate harshly against Hamas 972mag Politicians line up behind Israeli assault on Gaza Israel launches a fresh operation on the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari and several civilians. In the meanwhile, the opposition has never seemed so haggard. Haaretz For Netanyahu, Gaza escalation could pave the way to Iran strikeUntil this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu took pride in never having lead Israel into a war. Now he may be on the verge of starting not one but two.

So what you are saying is that the pesky left is holding Israel back from killing more Palestinians and taking more Palestinian land ? * Damn you LEEEEEEEEEEFFFFT! *

You seem displeased by the timeline and the chain of events: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8 Following a two-week lull in violence, Israeli soldiers invade Gaza. In the resulting exchange of gunfire with Palestinian fighters, a 12-year-old boy is killed by an Israeli bullet while he plays soccer. Shortly afterwards, Palestinian fighters blow up a tunnel along the Gaza-Israel frontier, injuring one Israeli soldier. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 An anti-tank missile fired by Palestinian fighters wounds four Israeli soldiers driving in a jeep along the Israel-Gaza boundary. An Israeli artillery shell lands in a soccer field in Gaza killing two children, aged 16 and 17. Later, an Israeli tankfires a shell at a tent where mourners are gathered for a funeral, killing two more civilians, and wounding more than two dozen others. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11 One Palestinian civilian is killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli attacks. Four Israeli civilians are also injured as a result of projectiles launched from Gaza, according to the Israeli government. During an Israeli government cabinet meeting, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz urges the government to "cut off the head of the snake... take out the leadership of Hamas in Gaza." He also calls for a cutting off of water, food, electricity, and fuel shipments to Gaza's 1.7 million people. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12 Palestinian militant factions agree to a truce if Israel ends its attacks. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Israel breaks two days of calm by assassinating Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing. According toreports, at least eight other Palestinians are killed in Israeli attacks, including at least two children. Palestinian militant groups vow to respond.

Israel broke a ceasefire by first killing 6 Hamas members and then assassinating a Hamas leader. Anyone can see that this is provocation by Israel who counts on a Hamas response. Israel pulled the same thing in 2008, just before an election. Anyone who is interested in the conflict, beyond the superficial comments such as the one repeated above, I would recommend the following by Dimi Reider: Politicians line up behind Israeli assault on Gaza Israel launches a fresh operation on the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari and several civilians. In the meanwhile, the opposition has never seemed so haggard. The assassination of Ahmad Jabari, the architect of both the recent Gilad Shalit prisoner swap and, more importantly, the détente that prevailed between Israel and Hamas for the past several years, is an uncharacteristically high-risk gamble by the Netanyahu and Barak duo. It’s uncharacteristic not only because Netanyahu, in the past, has been extremely careful not to upset the apple cart and has repeatedly dialed up the violence in the Gaza Strip and dialed it down again, but also because this round was already being calmed down via an Egypt-brokered ceasefire when the assassination got the go-ahead.

BBC continues to update information by text and video. Latest count is 27 Palestinians dead.

Comparing now to 2008, there is one major player which may make a difference: Gaza crisis: Egyptians back under-fire Palestinians Egyptian leaders have promised to support Gaza against Israeli attacks, as violence escalated for a third day. President Mohammed Mursi said he would not leave Gaza on its own and condemned Israel's "blatant aggression", hours after his prime minister visited Gaza. Israel mounted a huge attack overnight, targeting dozens of locations. Militants and civilians, including at least five children, were among the Palestinian dead, Palestinian officials said. Link

American Woman will be releasing her version of accurate soon.

Here is footage from Tel Aviv. On one side, Israelis protesting against more unnecessary violence and the end of the cycle of war. The other side, well, see for yourself @ 3:50: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ2klbPtvpA These are the pro-violence Israelis, including a member of Kenneset “They don’t deserve to live, they need to die” “May your children die, you dogs” “Now we want to go back there [to Gaza] and kick out all the Arabs.” “The people demand more shooting” “You’re cross-dressers! You’re the Gay Pride March, that’s what you are,” These were some of the calls from a group of Israelis demonstrating in favour of Israel’s attack on Gaza. The calls for blood and violence in the streets echo incitement by Israeli government leaders. In recent days Israel’s “minister of home front defense” Avi Dichter called for Israel to “reformat” Gaza – wipe it clean – like a computer hard drive, except using bombs. Israeli transport minister Israel Katz called for Israel to bomb Gaza so hard that the population would flee into Egypt, and for Israel to cut off water and electricity supplies. With the exception of small number of Israelis, majority of Israelis have turned into rabid racists whose own government calls for wiping out a whole people. It's like an experiment gone wrong. Even more astonishing is when they're up in arms when Hamas members make similar comments about Israelis and Jews, like they're somehow different.

I'm not defending suicide attacks. I am saying exactly what I said: They use suicide attacks and homemade rockets as retaliation because they do not have jets, tanks, helicopters and the latest gadgets given to them by the U.S. That's the only weapon they have to hurt their enemy. Who? see your comment below: This is propaganda to justify the killing of civilians. It's more than likely that it is true that Hamas has placed rockets in areas where civilians are present from time to time, but as I recall from the Goldstone report, many of the civilians who were killed by Israel were nowhere near militants. There is also the ridiculous expectation that Hamas should be somehow out in the open like they are some advanced military fighting toe to toe with another military. You should look at the statistics of rocket attacks. Hamas has actually been trying to round up other groups who fire rockets into Israel. When Hamas fires rockets, they do so after an Israeli attack. So yes. It's usually. The carpet bombing was a reference to Israeli attack on Gaza in 2008. Evidence is in the numbers. Number of deaths, injured, homes destroyed. Evidence is in the reports and investigations. Evidence is in the images that are easily available. Blame the boy for getting in the way of the Israeli bullet. Shame on him and good for you for pointing out the obvious. Israel has been shown to be careless in avoiding civilian deaths and committing war crimes. The Goldstone Report is one of the places that you can look into this. Wrong. The Arab League Renews Its Peace Plan Offer Too bad for Hamas, Israel exists. What do you say about Israel accepting a Palestinian State? Israel is even getting angry that Palestinians are requesting to receive "Observer Status" at the UN. Funny, I know. The Palestinians, frustrated with a four-year impasse in peace efforts, say they will ask the UN General Assembly on Nov. 29 to give them upgraded observer status. Among other things, it could withhold the transfer of millions of dollars in taxes and customs it collects on behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank government and block the import of equipment for Palestinian security forces, an Israeli official explained. You mean when this happened? Hamas commander Mahmoud Zahar said: 'The Zionists have legitimised the killing of their children by killing our children. They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people.' Palestinians carry the bodies of three young brothers, Ahmed, Mohamed and Issa Samouni, during their funeral in Gaza City His message, broadcast hours after an Israeli shell killed the children, their mother and nine of their relatives, ended with an order to Palestinians to 'Crush your enemy'. Israel began its blitz, which has now killed 541 people. Sounds like he is justifying the deaths of civilians just like you justify the deaths civilians. The difference is that you justify the deaths that have already happened, their comment is made after 3 more children were killed by Israel. I suppose you're a little worse than Hamas. Yes. Hamas has increased their response in response to Israel's initial attacks. The following post from Huffington Post's article does not make sense: The link above takes us to a CNN site from November 15th that says nothing about Hamas rocket attacks since 2012. It does talk about 800 rockets from Gaza, which makes a difference. Most of these rockets have been fired by Islamic Jihad and not Hamas. A point that should not be looked over. Hamas has actually tried to minimize rocket attacks due to pressure from the Arab league and donors from Qatar who they mostly rely on now that their alliance with Syria and Iran has pretty much ended since they spoke out against Assad and his attacks on its own people. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have never seen any rocket attacks by Hamas being done without provocation. Provocations include: Assassination of a Hamas leader, killing children and other attacks on Hamas members. Hamas has called always been the one to call a ceasefire and a truce and Israel has always been the one to break them. Should Hamas roll over and pretend nothing is happening? Should they accept the blockade? Should they accept Israel's refusal to allow a Palestinian state? They have tried having a truce, yet Israel has broken the truce. Israel counts on retaliations because they want the status quo to continue. They need an enemy. Oh goody. Finish it off with a comment from the British foreign minister like the governments of the U.K. and U.S. are going to give unbiased comments when Hamas and Israel are involved. How about we go back to the timeline again since these facts are unbiased right after we acknowledge that Israel is engaging in provocation because they need to be in a state of war to continue what they're doing. Self-defense or provocation: Israel's history of breaking ceasefires - TIMELINE: ISRAEL'S LATEST ESCALATION IN GAZA - THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8 Following a two-week lull in violence, Israeli soldiers invade Gaza. In the resulting exchange of gunfire with Palestinian fighters, a 12-year-old boy is killed by an Israeli bullet while he plays soccer. Shortly afterwards, Palestinian fighters blow up a tunnel along the Gaza-Israel frontier, injuring one Israeli soldier. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10 An anti-tank missile fired by Palestinian fighters wounds four Israeli soldiers driving in a jeep along the Israel-Gaza boundary. An Israeli artillery shell lands in a soccer field in Gaza killing two children, aged 16 and 17. Later, an Israeli tank fires a shell at a tent where mourners are gathered for a funeral, killing two more civilians, and wounding more than two dozen others. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11 One Palestinian civilian is killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli attacks. Four Israeli civilians are also injured as a result of projectiles launched from Gaza, according to the Israeli government. During an Israeli government cabinet meeting, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz urges the government to "cut off the head of the snake... take out the leadership of Hamas in Gaza." He also calls for a cutting off of water, food, electricity, and fuel shipments to Gaza's 1.7 million people. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12 Palestinian militant factions agree to a truce if Israel ends its attacks. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Israel breaks two days of calm by assassinating Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing. According to reports, at least eight other Palestinians are killed in Israeli attacks, including at least two children. Palestinian militant groups vow to respond.

See the timeline of events to see that Israel broke the ceasefire two times in the past week. It is like they want to provoke Hamas into a war. They did the same thing in the last attack on Gaza in 2008. Israel's public relations is working overtime to keep support for its actions right now. They've pushed the envelope as far as they could and if they push any further, EU and even U.S. will not be able to support them. So your arrogant assertion that Israel could wipe out an entire people and no one would do anything about it is wrong.

I am sure most who support Anonymous and what they stand for are not selective about their stance. Especially since Anonymous is principle driven. They know Anonymous stands for open internet and human rights and if Israel is going against those, then they become an enemy of Anonymous. It's also naive to say that all Jews support Israel's actions. This is not the first time that Anonymous has threatened Israel: This is after the flotilla attack: Israel denies being successfully attacked by ‘Anonymous’ over Gaza flotillas Websites for the Israeli military and intelligence services were down on Sunday, the start of the Israeli work-week. The outage followed hacktvist group Anonymous joining calls against the interception of aid flotillas bound for Gaza with a warning video, all which Israel ignored. Equally, however, Anonymous, which has gained notoriety for being able to bring down websites for powerful trans-national organisations such as MasterCard, has also successfully brought about the shutdown of government websites. The Iranian government has fallen foul of Anonymous facing its signature DDoS attacks on key Iranian government websites and the sites of organisations linked to Iran. Websites of the current Syrian regime, which has been bloodily suppressing Arab Spring protests, have also been successfully been breached by Anonymous.

More on a possible repeat of 2008: Israel’s breaking of the ceasefire is reminiscent of what happened in 2008, when Israel launched a cross-border raid on Hamas fighters in Gaza, prompting a barrage of rocket fire onto southern Israel. This provided the Israeli military with a reason to launch a large-scale ground operation into the Gaza Strip; known as ‘Operation Cast Lead’, the three-week Israeli military offensive left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, including at least 300 children. The Israeli operation was widely condemned. But Israel’s ability to launch attacks freely onto the Gaza Strip may differ from four years ago, largely due to the recent uprisings throughout the Middle East and the altered political situation in the region. On Wednesday night Egypt – which is now led by President Mohammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood – recalled its ambassador to Israel over the air strikes. The timing of violence between Israel and Gaza has also raised questions about political motives, as Israeli politicians are in the midst of an election campaign. “It is an objective fact that it is serving the purposes of (Israeli PM) Netanyahu very well: to turn away the attention and make the public agenda focused on military issues, and not on social issues,” Adam Keller, an Israeli activist and spokesperson of Gush Shalom, an Israeli peace movement, told IPS. Link