bud

take it or leave it, ethiopians? you drip with racist and bigoted ideas.

here is more example of what american woman speaks of when she calls israel an enlightened country: Revisions to Prawer Plan for Negev Bedouin expose the farce of law in Israel The latest revision to the Prawer Plan, which will eventually displace tens of thousands of Arab Bedouin from their ancestral land in the Negev (Naqab), in some ways improves its tone toward the Bedouin. But the Arab Bedouin community has resolutely rejected the Prawer Plan, and Benny Begin’s latest report reminds us succinctly that the law was never intended to be a friend to the oppressed. began developing a new city for military families in the same “shadow of danger.” Without specification, Begin mentions that in addition to Wadi el-Na’am, the Prawer Plan will also displace 3,000 other families (roughly 30,000 people), raising the government-acknowledged minimum number of displaced people from 30,000 to at least 44,000 people. http://972mag.com/revisions-to-prawer-plan-for-negev-bedouin-expose-the-farce-of-law-in-israel/65324/

a good article on the sad senate hearing. on hagel: Chuck Hagel did not acquit himself well. He was sluggish, tongue-tied and practically meek in the face of constant badgering by Republicans. He's far from the most dynamic speaker, stammers constantly and appears to agonize over every word he utters. This gave GOP Senators every opportunity to constantly interrupt him with even more leading and obnoxious questions. on the questions: In defense of Hagel, though, it's hard to imagine a sadder display of senatorial prerogatives than what the country witnessed in Thursday's hearing. There were basically three categories of questions asked of Hagel: "Is Israel a great country, or is it the greatest? And if it's the former, can you explain your lack of support for America's most important ally?" "Why don't you think Iran is crazy, unbalanced and a military competitor of the United States, as I do?" "Let me tell you more about the vital national security rule played by the weapons system or military base located in my home state." on israel: according to a tweet from Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran that made the rounds yesterday evening, Israel was mentioned 136 times in the hearing and Iran 135 times. you saw right. israel was mentioned 136 times. who do these senators work for? it's too bad hagel has been neutered, and wasn't his old self, otherwise: The day reached its point of high comedy when Senator Lindsey Graham began interrogating Hagel on whether he believes – as he allegedly said several years ago – that the so-called "Jewish lobby" causes US senators to occasionally do dumb things that harm US foreign policy. Hagel hemmed and hawed on the question when, in an ideal world, he should have said, "Yes, and this hearing is example A."

you live in vancouver?

link All settlement activity in occupied territory must cease "without preconditions" and Israel "must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers", said the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Israel, it said, was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory. The settlements were "leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination," it said. the findings in the report, lead by christine chanet, a french judge, confirm what the rest of the world already knows and what most other reports by different organizations have already said. however, what separates this report is the conclusion and the timing of it. Israel must withdraw all settlers from the West Bank or potentially face a case at the international criminal court (ICC) for serious violations of international law it is also easier for the palestinians to go to the ICC, since their status was upgraded to a non-member state at the united nations.

the first rule of the israel lobby - there is no israel lobby

more info on the enlightened country and its policy of forced birth control:

in one breath, you criticized something that is obviously wrong and cannot be justified (even though, somehow, with great disbelief, jbg did try to do it). in the other breath, you tried to brush the action aside as one, rare bad deed by israel who, because it is enlightened, stopped doing what it did. the truth of the matter is that israel is not enlightened. the practice of eugenics is something a truly, enlightened nation would not practice to begin with. the truth of the matter is that they only stopped because they were caught red handed. the truth of the matter is that israel has systematic practices in place to keep out the 'undesirables', whether they are black or arab. so spare the front; you do nothing but try to spare israel from the criticism it deserves.

propaganda: - it's all temporary - it's not going to continue - israel made painful concessions - israel wants a palestinian state - they could have had 98% of the land reality: - israel has never defined its borders because their plan has always been expansionism - the government of israel has been expanding the settlements and permanently annexing palesitnian land since 1967. there is nothing temporary about their actions - the best offer given to palestinians (which was informally given by barak) was 98% of land, no east jerusalem and the west bank split into 4 cantons, separated by israeli only roads. no jerusalem, no control of borders, air and sea. how amazingly generous! - there are over 600,000 illegal jewish settlers on palestinian land and they continue to increase - the likud platform explicitly states that they will never allow a palestinian state do you believe what you type or are you desperately wanting others to believe it? it's time to stop the propaganda and accept the truth that the ball is and has always been in israel's court. they are the ones who are against a real and just palestinian state.

it has been determined that it's wrong to do before they were caught. the only reason they stopped was because they were caught and not because they suddenly came to the realization that it was wrong.

what's your point? the reason the israeli government had to stop this disgusting practice was because they were caught. not because they were enlightened. if they were enlightened, there wouldn't have been such a practice to begin with.

it's not the end result of being 'enlightened'. it is the end result of being caught red-handed.

there is something wrong when it is trumping equality for all, which is the cornerstone of what a democracy is supposed to be.

it's kind of odd seeing jbg defend the ugly practice of forced birth control. considering this is what the nazis did to the jews.

you tell me. tell me i'm wrong and that you're happy that apartheid south africa was forced out. first number makes sense, but second number is suspect and it's just thrown out there without any evidence. not to mention the incredibly shady link you've shared as your proof. there are some people who are stupid enough to think that it's okay to expect that after decades of a systematic and brutal strangling of a group of people, things can suddenly change. it takes a long time to reverse what the brutal regime did in south africa. when you suddenly release hundreds of thousands of people from a prison that they did not belong in, the only expectations you can have is pent up anger and the slow healing of a broken group of people.

are you trying to justify apartheid south africa? oh and how about some links, citing your numbers of 8000 blacks and 70,000 white deaths?

a new low in israel. forced birth control, targeting a specific ethnic group That Israel should allegedly engage in this activity is particularly shocking, considering the practice was widely used by the Germans throughout the Shoah. While the scale and effects of these operations cannot be compared, Israel’s implicit intent to limit ‘burdensome’ (read: undesirable) portions of the population recalls the dark eugenics experiments World War II. link

hudson makes a good point. for example, what's the status of east jerusalem in this discussion? is that part of israel? or do we look at it the way the world and international law do? what about other land that is cut off by the wall, which still have palestinian villages inside them? there are thousands of palestinians in east jerusalem who have no right to vote, yet, israel considers their land as israel's. you also have the illegal settlements on palestinian land and the settlers living on those lands, who are eligible to vote in israeli elections. we can't have a talk about israel's so-called democracy, without acknowledging their treatment of palestinians and the undeclared border of israel, by israel. there are a lot of grey and overlapping issues involved.

i wonder how many gun related deaths and injuries occur due to idiocy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fWHFMQ8Wlk

"at least" has become a familiar response by you and many others who will go to any length to justify or brush aside israel's actions. you know what the rapist said to the judge? "at least i didn't kill her". we're talking about israel's undemocratic behaviour, especially when it comes to its arab citizens. you can either accept that it happens or try to brush it aside and try to take attention away from it by starting sentences with "at least..".

you should re-read what he's written. those arab parties are from the occupied territories and not from israel.

wrong post. the following is what I meant to post. i hope you're as quick to respond to this: The 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices notes that: "Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth." "In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis." "Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns." "Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. The Ivri Committee on National Service has issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service". "According to a 2003 University of Haifa study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail." "The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report [...] stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"

how about what the u.s. government has concluded about israel: Section 6 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, marital status, political beliefs, disability, or age, and the government effectively enforced these prohibitions.

already mentioned one; the ability to sponsor a spouse to immigrate to israel. why? because they're not jewish.

nothing to see here. Indeed, many of the dozen benefactors Rosen named, including entertainment mogul Haim Saban and Slim-Fast billionaire Daniel Abraham, are also major donors to AIPAC, which fired him after the Justice Department charged him with illegally giving classified information to Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler and an Israeli Embassy official. Rosen says his actions were common practice at the organization. He said his next move is to show that AIPAC, Washington’s major pro-Israeli lobbying group by far, regularly traffics in sensitive U.S. government information, especially material related to the Middle East. But Rosen said he would produce “statements of AIPAC employees to the FBI, internal documents, deposition statements, public statements and other evidence showing that [the] receipt of classified information by employees other than [himself] ... was condoned … for months prior to being condemned in March 2005 after threats from the prosecutors.”