kidnapped Israeli teens bodies found

[dre]

Is the emoticon a comment that you don't believe this is a race/religion issue?

If you honestly believe that this is about oppression, blockades or settlements then I at you.

[scribblet]

I think Jonathan Kay has it right and maybe all of this is simply because Palestinians have been taught to measure their national self-worth by the amount of pain and chaos they can inflict on Jews.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/07/22/jonathan-kay-hamas-tunnel-network-could-have-been-a-game-changing-strategic-asset-for-the-terrorists-now-its-gone/

The IDF should continue its military operation until it has destroyed all of Hamas’ tunnels into Israel. When the army eventually leaves, Hamas will declare “victory,” as it always does. And many Palestinians no doubt will echo the cry, given how low they’ve set the bar for gestures that restore their “dignity.”

Until that changes, Gaza’s people will remain prisoners of Hamas’ hopeless, savage war on the Jewish state

[Argus]

You cant consider any part of the conflict in a vacuum. Its a tit for tag cycle of aggression, violence, and provocation.

Perhaps, but the fact is Israel gave them pretty much what they wanted. They withdrew all troops and forcibly evicted all settlers.

The Palestinians in Gaza responded by electing Hamas and firing rockets into Israel. Imagine if instead they had set out trying to build something, pressuring the Arab oil states for money.

[Big Guy]

I just noticed that in the war of words, the leadership of Israel has stated, " Israel uses its missiles to protect citizens, whereas Hamas uses citizens to protect its missiles." I think it has also been used on this board without the proper accreditation but I doubt if Netanyahu cares.

It is a very descriptive phrase and does explain the Israeli position in a nice sound bite. Looks like Netanyahu is still using those American mercenary campaign writers - good for him. The Palestinians should do the same.

The unfortunate truth for the Palestinians is that they have little clue as to where their rockets are going. While we have seen that the Israelis can target a particular floor of a targeted apartment building, the Palestinian Keystone Cops have trouble hitting an area where some people may be living. The Israelis seem to understand this:

Today, a Palestinian rocket landed about 1 km from a major airport - Ben Gurion International Airport. Some airlines cancelled all flights into that airport but the Israeli ambassador and other leadership in Israel dismissed the danger.

I assume that they know there is no danger because the Palestinian Keystone Cops Rocket Brigade has really no clue where their rockets are going to land so they are incapable of targeting anything, not the least of which is an airport. I guess that coming within a km of an airport is achieving their "target".

The Palestinian Rocket Brigade should soon run out of rockets. They had been putting wings on explosive filled sewer pipes and "targeting" the other side but Israel got wind (sic) of this and cut off sewer pipes from going into Gaza.

On a more serious note, the USA administration, through its tacit support of the disproportionate response of Israel and the mounting casualties of innocent Palestinian civilians is starting to back off. Kerry was caught on an open mike as being disgusted with the Israeli promised "pinpoint" attack. As Israel is losing the "moral authority" in this latest conflict it is beginning to reflect on the USA. Canada has started to tap dance on the issue and it will be interesting what the Harper government has to say.

And so the game continues.

[WestCoastRunner]

As I have said, Netanyahu is losing public support for his war crimes.

[WestCoastRunner]

It really doesn't matter. The people there support Hamas firing rockets into Israel, therefore, they really shouldn't complain when Israel retaliates.

It matters when you have nothing to back up your claims that all palestinians support Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Do you really believe that normal functioning families would want to encourage anything that would inflict this kind of war on their families? Of course it matters!!!

[eyeball]

So how are we going to stop Iran from supplying weapons to Hamas?

Economic sanctions against Iran and the super diddlers that are supplying weapons to Iran.

[jbg]

It is indeed relevant. The settlements must go.

How many Israeli settlements are there in Gaza?

[jbg]

In this one sided war, it appears that a few onlookers have no problems with one side having much greater firepower, money, organization and assets.

Who says that combatants have to be brought to the point of equality. Perhaps some wars are better off not being waged in the first place.

The Palestinians have been dehumanized by the West and Israel so the "collateral damage" of innocent civilians is spun as acceptable.

They've dehumanized themselves. The Olympic Massacre is just one example. How can "people" who can mount atrocities of that variety, or September 11, be taken as humans?

It appears that Israelis believe that Palestinians will never accept the presence of Jews in that area so it will be a gradual takeover of land over years and years until Israel has settled all the land.

It will probably work. Every year there are more Palestinians killed and more Israeli settlements being built. Israel is far richer, has far more military might (including the bomb), and the support of the USA and Canada. There is a more efficient method of getting rid of the Palestinian society. There is a final solution.

The refusal of the Arabs to work constructively with the Jews in the area may well guarantee that result.

[WestCoastRunner]

They've dehumanized themselves. The Olympic Massacre is just one example. How can "people" who can mount atrocities of that variety, or September 11, be taken as humans?

Palestinians have dehumanized themselves? All those innocent families, fathers, mothers, children? How can you compare these innocent families that have had nothing to do with the Olympic Massacre or Sept 11. And you consider them not human? Disgraceful! Do you honestly hear what you are saying about innocent families who have lost their lives to this ridiculous war.

[Hudson Jones]

Here is the most significant lesson of this particular Israeli war on Palestinians--for generations Israel has gotten away with murder--literally--but this time around (as you see from the article I post bellow) its massive propaganda machinery, which includes the dominant narratives of the corrupt corporate (CNN) and state (BBC) media--has miserably failed to camouflage the lie they habitually tell and sell it as the truth--this in my opinion is the result of multiple factors: (1) the naked cruelty of the Israeli army, (2) the fundamental truth of the Palestinian cause shining through their heroic resistances, and (3) the chaotic condition of the social media over which neither the state nor the corporate media has any control--from BBC to CNN to New York Times: they would have covered up and buried the naked truth of the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza were it not for the social media--they have done their damnedest to repeat ad nauseam the worn out IDF sound bites ("Hamas," "Human Shield," "the most moral army in the world," etc)--but fact after fact of the visual and narrative accounts coming out of Gaza have consistently exposed these lies--this in my judgement is an immensely empowering recognition--that we ordinary people have achieved it at the cost of momentarily disregarding other atrocities in the world and laser-beaming on Gaza, again in my humble opinion, is a testimony to the power of concentration and not allowing the usual distractions of too many horrors happening simultaneously in the world (in Syria, in Iraq, in Kurdistan, in Ukraine, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, etc)

http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/israel-losing-media-war-gaza/

Reports of Palestinian civilian deaths and the destruction of homes and hospitals have spread rapidly on Twitter and Facebook. As of this writing, Twitter users have tweeted the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack more than 4 million times over the past month. By comparison, the hashtag #IsraelUnderFire has been used less than 200,000 times.

[Hal 9000]

Here is the most significant lesson of this particular Israeli war on Palestinians--for generations Israel has gotten away with murder--literally--but this time around (as you see from the article I post bellow) its massive propaganda machinery, which includes the dominant narratives of the corrupt corporate (CNN) and state (BBC) media--has miserably failed to camouflage the lie they habitually tell and sell it as the truth--this in my opinion is the result of multiple factors: (1) the naked cruelty of the Israeli army, (2) the fundamental truth of the Palestinian cause shining through their heroic resistances, and (3) the chaotic condition of the social media over which neither the state nor the corporate media has any control--from BBC to CNN to New York Times: they would have covered up and buried the naked truth of the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza were it not for the social media--they have done their damnedest to repeat ad nauseam the worn out IDF sound bites ("Hamas," "Human Shield," "the most moral army in the world," etc)--but fact after fact of the visual and narrative accounts coming out of Gaza have consistently exposed these lies--this in my judgement is an immensely empowering recognition--that we ordinary people have achieved it at the cost of momentarily disregarding other atrocities in the world and laser-beaming on Gaza, again in my humble opinion, is a testimony to the power of concentration and not allowing the usual distractions of too many horrors happening simultaneously in the world (in Syria, in Iraq, in Kurdistan, in Ukraine, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, etc)

http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/israel-losing-media-war-gaza/

Reports of Palestinian civilian deaths and the destruction of homes and hospitals have spread rapidly on Twitter and Facebook. As of this writing, Twitter users have tweeted the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack more than 4 million times over the past month. By comparison, the hashtag #IsraelUnderFire has been used less than 200,000 times.

So, here we are. What in your humble opinion can Netanyahu do to appease Hamas? Now, just saying stop the killing is not a solution due to the many layers involved. So, as a leader of an entire country who has lived with missiles pointed at it (from every direction) for years, what should he do?

[marcus]

95% of them were Muslims.

I have a difficult time accepting any of your comments without some kind of citation. Not that 95% Muslims is unbelievable, but because some of your previous comments have turned out to be false.

[marcus]

Netanyahu is a lost cause. He doesn't work for the people of Israel. He works for the ultra-right wring nationalist who are still dreaming about Greater Israel. He works for the settler parties who are keeping him in power. Only economic and political pressure from the West will force him to stop this carnage. And only pressure from the people will force the governments in the West to put pressure on Israel.

Here is the most significant lesson of this particular Israeli war on Palestinians--for generations Israel has gotten away with murder--literally--but this time around (as you see from the article I post bellow) its massive propaganda machinery, which includes the dominant narratives of the corrupt corporate (CNN) and state (BBC) media--has miserably failed to camouflage the lie they habitually tell and sell it as the truth--this in my opinion is the result of multiple factors: (1) the naked cruelty of the Israeli army, (2) the fundamental truth of the Palestinian cause shining through their heroic resistances, and (3) the chaotic condition of the social media over which neither the state nor the corporate media has any control--from BBC to CNN to New York Times: they would have covered up and buried the naked truth of the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza were it not for the social media--they have done their damnedest to repeat ad nauseam the worn out IDF sound bites ("Hamas," "Human Shield," "the most moral army in the world," etc)--but fact after fact of the visual and narrative accounts coming out of Gaza have consistently exposed these lies--this in my judgement is an immensely empowering recognition--that we ordinary people have achieved it at the cost of momentarily disregarding other atrocities in the world and laser-beaming on Gaza, again in my humble opinion, is a testimony to the power of concentration and not allowing the usual distractions of too many horrors happening simultaneously in the world (in Syria, in Iraq, in Kurdistan, in Ukraine, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, etc)

http://mashable.com/2014/07/22/israel-losing-media-war-gaza/

Reports of Palestinian civilian deaths and the destruction of homes and hospitals have spread rapidly on Twitter and Facebook. As of this writing, Twitter users have tweeted the hashtag #GazaUnderAttack more than 4 million times over the past month. By comparison, the hashtag #IsraelUnderFire has been used less than 200,000 times.

Great post!

Israel has isolated itself like any rogue state does. They will not be able to win the international community back. People in the West are waking up to the reality. Information is no longer for just the fringe. It is now reaching the mainstream. Not many people have the appetite for the carnage.

[Boges]

Hamas does its people a massive disservice with its virulent anti-semitism.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2014/07/20140723-072603.html

Gaza could have become a showcase of Arab enlightenment and enterprise after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.

It could also have become a tourism haven and a crucible for learning and arts, science and technology.

Instead, Gaza has become a one-party Islamic dictatorship under Hamas, dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.

Thousands of precious lives have been lost in this macabre display of hatred disguised as piety.

It's not just Israeli Jews that have been targeted for death.

Palestinians opposed to Hamas have been massacred to consolidate its power.

On Nov. 12, 2007, Hamas gunmen fired on a rally organized by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party inside a Gaza stadium, at an event held to commemorate the late Yasser Arafat.

Many were killed.

To the horror of the world, Hamas gunmen butchered Fatah fighters, throwing wounded men from the roof of a 15-storey building to their deaths.

[GostHacked]

How many Israeli settlements are there in Gaza?

Don't pull that stunt on me like a previous member did. What about the settlements in the West Bank?

[Argus]

Don't pull that stunt on me like a previous member did. What about the settlements in the West Bank?

That might be relevant if the West Bank were firing rockets into Israel. They aren't.

[Black Dog]

They've dehumanized themselves. The Olympic Massacre is just one example. How can "people" who can mount atrocities of that variety, or September 11, be taken as humans?

The Nazi's didn't really consider Jews humans either. Made it easier to do horrific things to them.

If you'd actually deploy your brain for a half a second to think about it, the capacity to commit atrocities is actually a sign of being human.

[jbg]

Palestinians have dehumanized themselves? All those innocent families, fathers, mothers, children? How can you compare these innocent families that have had nothing to do with the Olympic Massacre or Sept 11. And you consider them not human? Disgraceful! Do you honestly hear what you are saying about innocent families who have lost their lives to this ridiculous war.

The fact is there is no groundswell of condemnation for these activities among the population. Yes, there are ritualistic condemnation of "violence" or "racism" in all its forms. But in the real world these attackers have popular support. Lots of it.

Granted, fighting the IDF is futile. But where does any group have a G-d given right to be able to fight a recognized government?

[dre]

Perhaps, but the fact is Israel gave them pretty much what they wanted. They withdrew all troops and forcibly evicted all settlers.

The Palestinians in Gaza responded by electing Hamas and firing rockets into Israel. Imagine if instead they had set out trying to build something, pressuring the Arab oil states for money.

Israel is maintaining a military blockade. Thats a blatant act of war, so no... i wouldnt say they gave them "pretty much what they wanted".

[Black Dog]

The fact is there is no groundswell of condemnation for these activities among the population. Yes, there are ritualistic condemnation of "violence" or "racism" in all its forms. But in the real world these attackers have popular support. Lots of it.

Should probably wipe them out. Maybe "concentrate" these animals into some kind of "camp" to make it easier.

[GostHacked]

That might be relevant if the West Bank were firing rockets into Israel. They aren't.

Actually it is still relevant to the whole issue. It's nice to ignore it since it does not match the wanted rhetoric.

[dre]

That might be relevant if the West Bank were firing rockets into Israel. They aren't.

Thats an interesting point... they arent... and settlement building has not stopped, and Israel refuses to negotiate with Abas. Fact is nothing the palestians did would change how Israel treats them. Because this isnt about security, its about the aquisition of vital resources.

[GostHacked]

Thats an interesting point... they arent... and settlement building has not stopped, and Israel refuses to negotiate with Abas. Fact is nothing the palestians did would change how Israel treats them. Because this isnt about security, its about the aquisition of vital resources.

Like the 4 billion bucks worth of gas of the Gazan coast, in which Israel is in control of.

[Black Dog]

Thats an interesting point... they arent... and settlement building has not stopped, and Israel refuses to negotiate with Abas. Fact is nothing the palestians did would change how Israel treats them. Because this isnt about security, its about the aquisition of vital resources.

Don't forget the appeasement of a small but politically powerful bloc of insane religious fanatics.