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Gaza: The War on Children
War is traumatizing for anybody, but it's especially devastating to children caught in the crossfire. They are the ones who bear absolutely no responsibility for all the violence, yet they are the ones left with some of the worst physical and psychological scars -- scars they'll carry for life.
As the Israeli army continues its attack on Gaza for the 17th consecutive day, the number of Palestinian civilian deaths continues to rise amidst massive destruction of buildings and property. Israel has employed its full-fledged arsenal to bombard Palestinian residential areas. The latest numbers stand at more than 900 dead and 4,000 injured. More than 280 children have died and approximately 1,480 have been injured since Israel began its offensive against Gaza on Dec. 27, 2008. According to U.N. sources, close to a third of the dead and one fourth of the injured are children. Israel has accused Hamas of intentionally attacking from civilian-populated areas, driving up casualties among non-combatants to provoke anger against Israel. Regardless of this claim, do children have to pay the price?
Below is a chronology of just three days of fighting and its effect on Gaza's children:
On Jan. 6, Israeli soldiers fired mortar shells at a school in the Jabaliya refugee camp. Forty-two people were killed, and Palestinian medical officials said many were children. Israel says Hamas militants had been firing mortar shells from the school, something the U.N. denies.
On Jan. 7, emergency personnel were allowed to enter the Zaytoun neighborhood; previously the Israeli military had kept the International Committee of the Red Cross from entering for four days. Among at least 12 bodies found in one house were four weakened but living children lying next to their mothers' bodies.
On January 8, three brothers were killed from the Hamdoun family: Sami 12, Ali 10, and Mohsen 9. Their televised images have caused outrage in Europe and the Arab world.
In the American media, images from Gaza have been sanitized and when partially shown, they are portrayed as incidental casualties of war. This past Sunday, CNN tried to show "balance" between Palestinian children suffering in Gaza and Israeli families bidding farewell to their sons heading to the front. I'm sorry, but I could not see the balance between the maimed children in Gaza and those shooting at them.
Meanwhile, mounting evidence is emerging that Israel is experimenting with new non-conventional weapons on the civilian population in Gaza. "It is happening again, what we saw in Lebanon two years ago", says Paola Manduca, a genetics teacher and researcher at the University of Genoa and member of New Weapons Research Committee (NWRC), "where Israel used white phosphorus, dense inert metal explosive (DIME), thermobaric bombs, cluster bombs and uranium ammunitions, and experimented with novel weapons and delivery modalities." If this is true, more children are destined to die and to suffer under the watchful eye of the entire world.
For those who care, Jamila al Hayash was playing with her friends on her roof when an Israeli missile struck. Her story is in this video:
- Posted in
39 Comments so far
Show All"War is traumatizing for anybody, but it's especially devastating to children caught in the crossfire."
True. I was on vacation in Croatia last year and our tour guide, who was a small child in the wars that followed the disintegration of Yugoslavia, told us of some of her experiences, such as living in a cellar for a whole year, never experiencing daylight or fresh air, during the worst of it. She still has panic attacks if she can't immediately see an exit when she's in a confined space.
No, they think they'd grow up to be "gorillas."
The One-State Solution.
Two peoples in approximately equal numbers share the land that once formed the Roman Provence of Palestine, which included the ancient kingdom of Judaea. One, the Arabs, is descended from the Moslems, Christians and Jews who shared the land in peace for 1300 years, and almost certainly include among their ancestors the people of Judaea. All three communities held as sacred the writings of their Judaean ancestors. The other people, Jewish migrants and refugees from Europe and more recently the Arab world, arrived well-armed, well financed and possessed of a more advanced technology, and cite as justification for claiming the exclusive right to rule over Palestine the writings of those same ancient Judaean ancestors, from whom they also believe they are descended.
Approximately 5,100,000 Jews live within the borders of Israel proper, 200,000 in East Jerusalem and 275,000 on the West Bank. They have built a prosperous and highly-accomplished but militaristic and racist modern society. Approximately 1,500,000 Arabs live in Israel proper where they have limited citizenship, 230,000 in East Jerusalem as Legal Residents of Israel, 1,500,000 in the Gaza Strip, a tiny, impoverished, nominally self-governing reservation, and 2,400,000 on the West Bank, approximately 22% of the land of Palestine.
At present, Arabs have limited self government on patches of the West Bank, but the majority live under military rule, and all are excluded from approximately half its territory which is partitioned off as Jewish settlements, military exclusion zones and a strip along the Jordan River annexed by Israel. Their ability to travel within the West Bank is highly restricted. Their economy is foundering, while that of Gaza has collapsed. This state of affairs is entirely unacceptable to the Arabs, in terms of economic deprivation and injustice, repression and deprivation of their personal and national rights, and the many indignities of being treated as lesser, conquored people. The struggle over this situation has become extremely bitter.
Five major positions have been developed for a long-term resolution. The twin right-wing "holocaust" solutions of driving the Jews into the sea or driving out or killing the Arabs have both been gaining traction as the struggle becomes more intractable. The "transfer solution", re-annexation of the West Bank by Jordan and Gaza by Egypt, is supported by Syria and Turkey but not by Jordan. The “left wing” solution, with growing support among both Jews and Arabs, is for Israel and the territories to be merged into a single democratic state of all its people, with equal rights for all and special privileges for none, like all other modern industrialized states including the United States.
And then there is the “middle way”, the “two state solution” which has been the mainstream position and until recently was supported by a majority of Jews, Arabs and the international community, and which finds expression in the institutions of the Palestinian Authority (or PA).
The current crisis, brought to a head by the ruthless assault on Gaza, has triggered the collapse of that middle way, of the belief in the possibility of a two-state solution, and of the legitimacy of the PA. This was long coming, brought on by the continuing seizure of Arab land and property over the past 40 years by settlers with Israeli military support, the draconian measures taken by Israel over the past 18 years to crush what was initially a spontaneous Palestinian uprising against the occupation and land seizures, and by the open-ended support by the United States for Israel’s actions, most blatantly during the Bush years. It has been brought to a head by the election of a Hamas majority in the Palestinian elections of 2006, the ousting of the PA from Gaza in a civil conflict later that year and the banning of Hamas on the West Bank, and by the construction of "the wall", which amounts to a huge land grab. The assault on Gaza was the coup de grace. We need to understand this and not to try to reopen a position whose time has passed.
The collapse of the middle way creates a very dangerous situation. All of Arab Palestine, including the Arabs of Israel, is united in outrage at the assault on Gaza. Israel has responded with the banning of the Israeli Arabs’ political parties. Calls for the expulsion or even killing of all Arabs are becoming commonplace, acceptable political discourse in Israel - and in the United States. The next inevitable crisis will come when an Israeli Arab, driven by rage, despair and a lifetime of humiliation, commits an act of terrorism.
The struggle for an “Islamic State” that excludes the Jews is a repulsive dead end that only serves to validate the Jewish supporters of "ethnic cleansing", while the “transfer solution” splits the Palestinian people, destroys their hard-won nationhood and leaves 1.7 million of them inside Israel and East Jerusalem as second-class citizens and outcasts, an untenable outcome. Progressives in Israel and Palestine - and throughout the world - need to understand that the only way forward is the “one state solution”, a single secular state for all of Palestine, and a peaceful end to the idea of a “Jewish State”.
Our defense of the people of Gaza must not blind us of the need to utterly reject all calls for an Islamic State or a war against the Jews. Those who reject the two-state solution must be drawn into a credible democratic and progressive alternative to Hamas. Thus it is time for the Palestinians to morph their liberation struggle into a civil-rights movement, united across the political boundaries erected by Israel, modeled after those of South Africa and the US. Their ultimate success, their very survival, will then depend on sustained international support, support by Jewish progressives inside and outside Israel, and pressure on Israel by the people of the world, especially in the United States.
Chris Horton
"Two peoples in approximately equal numbers share the land that once formed the Roman Provence of Palestine, which included the ancient kingdom of Judaea." This was not the demographics of the situation pre 1945 when more than 80% of land was owned by Palestinians and they made the majority of the population.
"Progressives in Israel and Palestine - and throughout the world - need to understand that the only way forward is the “one state solution”, a single secular state for all of Palestine, and a peaceful end to the idea of a “Jewish State”." Here I agree with you, noting however that Europe owes the the pre-1945 Jewish population of Europe full reparations and reinstitution of their citizenship rights in Europe!
If the children dying or even wounded were Israeli and even Jew, the zionist trolls would be foaming at the mouth like crazy. Like any other, they'll invent the "Israel has a right to defend itself" excuse for their crimes.
Israeli massacre du jour
The King David Massacre
The Massacre at Baldat al-Shaikh
Yehida Massacre
Khisas Massacre
Qazaza, Massacre
The Semiramis Hotel Massacre
The Massacre at Dair Yasin
Naser Al-Din Massacre
The Tanturra Massacre
Beit Daras Massacre
The Dahmash Mosque Massacre
Dawayma Massacre
Houla Massacre
Sharafat Massacre
Salha Massacre
The Massacre at Qibya
Kaft Qasem Massacre
Khan Yunis Massacre
The Massacre in Gaza City
Al-Sammuo' Massacre
Aitharoun Massacre
Kawnin Massacre
Hanin Massacre
Bint Jbeil Massacre
Abbasieh Massacre
Adloun Massacre
Saida Massacre
Fakhani Massacre
Beirut Massacre
Sabra And Shatila Massacre
Jibsheet Massacre
Sohmor Massacre
Seer Al Garbiah
Maaraka Massacres
Zrariah Massacre
Homeen Al-Tahta Massacre
Jibaa Massacre
Yohmor Massacre
Tiri massacre
Al-Naher Al-Bared Massacre
Ain Al-Hillwee Massacre
Oyon Qara Massacre
Siddiqine Massacre
Al-Aqsa Mosque Massacre
The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre
The Jabalia Massacre
Aramta Massacre
Eretz Checkpoint Massacre
Deir Al-Zahrani Massacre
Nabatiyeh (school bus) Massacre
Mnsuriah Massacre
The Sohmor Second Massacre
Nabatyaih Massacre
Qana Massacre
Trqumia Massacr
Janta Massacre
24 Of June 1999 Massacres
Western Bekaa villages Massacre
I'll stop there.
Can't add anything to that.
2006 murder of Lebanese civilians.
2009 murder of Gaza civilians.
Thank you.
for those interested, go to
http://www.soundofegypt.com/Palestinian/adult/massacres.htm
for a long list of israeli massacres (and the stories behind them).
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
The One State Solution is just another way of saying we want to destroy Israel. It's not a realistic approach at all and denies that Israel as presently constituted is a legitimate State which just gives ammo to Hamas among other in the Arab/ Muslim Rejectionist camps. Saying that a 2 State sol. isn't any longer viable also just feeds this idea. It's like we've just gone around in circles and ended up with the PLO's plan they put forth in 1967 as some kind of realistic solution now that we have Hamas basically calling for the Nazi like extermination of the Israelis forget their state. This is total BS and just saying it's realistic is nonsense. Israel/Palestine isn't South Africa or Alabama and again saying it is doesn't make it so. The 2 State solution is flawed but it's doable. The problem is getting the two parties to agree to a settlement. On the Pal side the problem is a majority of the people want Israel handed to them by someone anyone. A portion of the Western left which is basically growing more and more antisemitic and anti-Israel sees this as a solution and would love to just hand it to them. Well it's not going to happen because you'll never ever get the majority of Israelis to agree. they know 1st hand how the Pals decide things politically and they want none of it. A BIG part of the problem is Israel is a mature democracy and Palestine is not. Beyond that you have an enormous cultural and religious gap here to over come. Look at Lebanon as an example of how badly and dysfunctional the State works because of these issue and that's 100% Arab. We need realism here not pie in the sky ideas that go nowhere.
"Hamas basically calling for the Nazi like extermination of the Israelis forget their state. "
Everyone seems to speak for Hamas except Hamas and while no one speaks to Hamas.
I've heard from you, and all over that Hamas wants this or that, but when I listen to their leaders they are talking about accepting the previous accords, extending long term peace treaties, and thereby defacto accepting the existance of the Zionist-Nazi state.
So why do you, and every Israeli government spokesperson who refuse to speak to Hamas, seem to know better what Hamas wants than Hamas?
Their plainly stated claim both in their charter and confirmed verbally many times is the eradication of Israel. I frankly am amazed you didn't know that.
I think you need to catch up with facts. Hamas did offer a truce which Israel roundly rejected. BTW, where is Israel's declaration that they recognize Palestine. So far Israel's actions speaks a whole lot louder than Hamas' words. Read the article by Mike Levin and Uri Avnery.
I simply stated a fact. I don't need to catch up on anything. Thanks for the point to Mike Levin and Uri Avnery's articlr though.
Of course they want the eradication of Israel. If Jeffrey Daumer ate your children, wouldn't you want the eradication of Jeffrey Daumer? When you can no longer reason with somebody - and nobody in my lifetime has ever succeeded in reasoning with Israel - then by default you pass over into a state of war, which is about eradication. If Hamas ever ceases to seek the destruction of Israel, I guess the rest of us will have to carry on without them. It's that moral clarity Chris Hedges speaks of, when you've given up on dialog and perceive your adversary as an irredeemable devil. We're at that point.
The strange, Freudian twist to all of this is that Israel, or perhaps the Jewish people themselves in some collective, semitic unconscious, wish this upon themselves. Wherever they live, at whatever time in human history, they seem to beg us to hate them, to eradicate them. They exist, not in harmony with the rest of mankind, but in contradistinction to us. When the Hasids move into a New York apartment, they throw away even brand new refrigerators which have been contaminated by the previous goyim occupants. Understandably, their neighbors find this behavior somewhat insulting.
Screw that bogus antisemitism label. Today a manager named Micah at Home Depot went to a great deal of trouble on my behalf. My Jewish friends are brilliant and wonderful people. We just need to get their twisted culture into therapy.
Anybody Jewish who reads this is, of course, pointing his finger at the Muslims. Look how horrible THEY are. But they are not horrible, just medieval (actually in the Middle Ages the Arabs were much more civilized than we). And they have as much right to occupy this earth as anybody else.
Vox
I simply stated a fact. I don't see that anything that doesn't condemn Israel or award Hamas and their like victim status as defending Israel.
Not to recognize that Israel has legitimate claims in this debachle, to claim that Hamas is totally right here is not reasonable.
"If Hamas ever ceases to seek the destruction of Israel, I guess the rest of us will have to carry on without them."
Frankly I can't believe you said this. Do you realize what you said? Who you are joining if you meant this?
Vox, this is an interesting comment on a few levels.
As an ameican of jewish decent, who, since childhood, was on my own journey spiritually and never felt i was part of any organized religion, have said many times that there is a deep unconscious need to be recreate anitsemitism. And this is surely happening now. It is as though they are daring the world to hate them. That is definitely happening here on one level.
Of course there is no excuse for racism or its ilk, because everyone in a race or culture , etc. is an individual and is not alike. I am also not into hate speech and i have been a peace activist for many years and many causes. To be fair, if you aren't old enough to remember, jewish people were usually instrumental in the civil rights movement and have always been , for example, as Noam Chomsky, on the cutting edge of the social justice movement.
This being said, yes, the culture has always been about separation, in a sense. I have said this many time. But that was the ancient purpose. It had to do with the evolution of consciousness at that time. I think all religions are primitive throwbacks quite frankly, however, so....I don't dig the forced conversions and crusades and inquisitions and colonialism and imperialism which, thanks to the church, has dessimated all of the 'americas' and more.
What is left to say? Time for humanity to grow up!
peace
The previous post has been brought to you by a Zionist shill.
blutodog: - "The One State Solution is just another way of saying we want to destroy Israel."
Israel is currently destroying itself by the insane, savage, psychopathic decisions and behavior of its Zionist leaders, backed by the equally insane, savage, psychopathic likes of the Senators and Representatives of Congress who passed last Thursday's Resolution to support Israel no matter what. Then George W. threw a big bone of a promise of more planes and military hardware and no-strings-attached 30 billion dollars more in FREEBIES ... for the cause. What the hell is going on here when our own country's economy is foundering?
Thank God for men like Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul,and women like Maxine Waters ... who said NO to that resolution.
The momentum is growing now across the world, decrying what Israel military and airforce might, courtesy of the United States, is doing to the Palestinian people of Gaza, mostly women and children.
The people of Gaza are the Polish Jewish fighters and last inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Israelis are the Nazi Luftwaffe and Nazi soldiers. The scenario is no different except for location and century.
The world is starting to get it. There will be a backlash; that is for sure.
The OBSCENE PRO-ISRAEL RALLY IN NEW YORK, as it was titled, on January 11th brought this response from journalist Max Rosenthal, who is a decent, human-being, mensch Jew obviously as is the author of the passage:
"The rally made me think of a passage in 'The Holocaust Is Over, We Must Rise From Its Ashes,' a powerful new book by former Israeli Knesset speaker and Jewish National Fund chairman Avraham Burg:
“If you are a bad person, a whining enemy or a strong-arm occupier, you are not my brother, even if you are circumcised, observe the Sabbath, and do mitzvahs. If your scarf covers every hair on your head for modesty, you give alms and do charity, but what is under your scarf is dedicated to the sanctity of Jewish land, taking precedence over the sanctity of human life, whosoever life that is, then you are not my sister. You might be my enemy. A good Arab or a righteous gentile will be a brother or sister to me. A wicked man, even of Jewish descent, is my adversary, and I would stand on the other side of the barricade and fight him to the end.”
/cm
"The people of Gaza are the Polish Jewish fighters and last inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Israelis are the Nazi Luftwaffe and Nazi soldiers. The scenario is no different except for location and century."
What utter rubbish this is. If you only knew how offensive these words are to the memory of the people that didn't survive that nightmare. Gaza 2009 and Warsaw 1942 have nothing in common nothing! Israel isn't Germany either no matter what drug induced fantasy your having. What's so wrong here is that most of u morons don't have any sense of history except one so distorted with hatred it has absolutely no bearing on reality. The fact that the exact same forces that tried in the 40's to KILL every Jewish man , women and child on earth are still on the march doesn't ever enter your minds and that Israel is the home of so many of those people's survivoring children and grandchildren. A great EVIL is @ work in the world and it's trying to reach out and finish the job it started in Warsaw 66 yrs. ago. I'm ashamed to say so many other wise good people like yourselves are totally blind to this paradox. Iran and it's insane leader has openly declared his intention to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and is building a bomb to do it and the missiles to carry it is also the nation behind Hamas and Hezbollah two organizations sworn to the death of Israel and every Jew as well. I'm sorry that so many of u in here who I other wise agree with on so many other issues have fallen to the evil of these killers , so we must now part company. I can no longer walk shoulder to shoulder with people like yourselves anymore. We are enemies so be it.
So, is it wrong to slaughter children?
Blutodog
If Ahmadinejad was misquoted badly, would you hate a little less? He never said he wanted to "wipe Israel off the map", he was quoting someone else who basically spoke in favor of "regime change" in Israel.
I can understand why you are so defensive. I can feel the anti-Semitic rhetoric growing. It is bad and I am against Jew-haters. I defend my Jewish brothers just as much as my Muslim brothers.
Ah, but this is where you and I part. You hate Muslims and I love them, not because they are Muslims but because they are human beings. Your hatred and distrust of 1 out of every 6 humans because they call themselves Muslims divides you and your people from humanity. Unchecked, your hatred will be your downfall.
Try Peace. If hords of Muslims come after you, we will defend you from them, but I believe they will accept a fair settlement. Israel is not even their holy land.
"myconscience" I agree with much of your sentiment. However when you say to Blutodog: "Unchecked, your hatred will be your downfall", I suspect it has already gone too far...Now with this Gaza offensive Israel has passed a point of no return in my opinion. Blutodog is justified in his fear but what he is worried about was created by the Zionist policies of never give an inch. After Oslo they kept on creating new settlements and even now it continues. Every settler new in Westbank is a nail in the coffin of a viable Palestinian state and the Zionist can't even see anything wrong with it. Then when there is a cease fire, Israel keeps on with the siege and raiding and killing Palestinians. This is not the first time. They act so self-righteously when they invade Gaza because Hamas "broke the ceasefire".
The killing of all these children in an attempt to break Hamas, has already turned Hamas into heroes and martyrs. The hatred engendered by this invasion for bogus reasons, is so great, that no puppet like ABBAS will be able to contain the rest of the Palestinians and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is gaining ground right now because of it.
Unfortunately a negative feed back loop has set in where mutual hatred and fear is so great that every action by each side makes the situation worse. In the long run Israel has painted itself into an all or nothing corner with the help of the "Quartet" (EU, UN, US and Russia). After Israel has been destroying all their neighbours, do you really think you are being fair to Blutodog in giving him/her the option of loving those neighbours. I fear it is too late and Israel's enemies are everywhere because of the way Israel has behaved. Stop giving them false reasurance.
Blutodog it sounds you are giving up on us. I hope not. We are not the only ones who say things like "Israel are the Nazis of today". Even some Jews and Israeli citizens and heroes like Uri Avnery say things like that, although sometimes more obliquely than here.
See: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/12-4
Israel Is Losing This War
by Uri Avnery
NEARLY SEVENTY YEARS ago, in the course of World War II, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centers. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands.
Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz.
This is the description that would now appear in the history books - if the Germans had won the war.
Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in our media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas terrorists use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave us no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to our deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured.
If you find the historical comparison between the Warsaw Ghetto and Gaza offensive well that is your problem, to the rest of the world the bombing of a defenceless population with all kinds of nasty ammunition, smoking them out street by street so to speak looks very similar. Instead of being offended, do some introspection and ask yourself how you have become the very monsters that your ancestors fought against in Warsaw! The same racial attitudes that your state expresses about Palestinians, the Nazis expressed about you!
Asking Israel to take responsibility for its destruction of Palestinian's lives is not the same as being anti-semitic. That is pure foolishness. I think the United States needs realism. Which is to say we need to stop supporting the Israeli army with our money. Like everyone else, they should support themselves.
What a dog, what a tail, which wags which is hardly important but the result is always the same, Fallujah, Gaza; where next Tehran, Mogadishu, Kabul?
But this is appalling. I am neither Muslim, nor Arab, just a member of the human race but I feel motivated to join Hamas to fight for the self determination of the Palestinian people, if it helps rid the world of these new Nazis. And I hate violence but who else is out there to fight against these Zionist Nazis. Yes Nazi, same hog wash about god given rights, to a chosen people, with complete lack of human empathy, and a mindless predilection to solutions based on force, violence, and wars against civilians under siege, covered by bare faced lies and propaganda and all because the “enemy” are unruly Palestinians who do not accept occupation by a belligerent and criminal rogue state, Israel. Is there another word for this other than genocide?
Right to exist my ass, if Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, or Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia must be “regime changed” or broken up because of their abuse of military power, or ethnic cleansing or possession of illegal weapons OMD that they didn’t have in the case of Iraq, then what of these Zionist Nazis, nuclear armed and using American made weapons including restricted and experimental weapons against civilians in an undoubted war of choice.
Yes war of choice, and don’t tell me Israel has a right of self defence, because Israel broke the terms of an existing cease-fire by maintaining the Gaza siege locked down, while twice attacking. Once killing an entire family in a targeted assassination and also in November an attack on alleged tunnels, which under siege represented also vital life lines. After that Israel refused to renew even the conditions they had broken. But, while the cease-fire held rockets where negligible and Hamas Police actions against factions loyal to Fatah (AMB) who had been firing rockets had been made. Now their police cadets are dead, by the way killing police is targetting civilians. So alternatives to the Israeli unilateral and uninterrupted acts of war, which finally culminated in these atrocities, were always available.
Israel, and their weapons suppliers the USA (not to mention ass coverer and co-war-criminal) seem only to listen to one thing and that is violence on a major scale, and only when some one can kill or capture enough of their men in uniform. Speaking of “dogs of war” did you read who is Olmert’s bitch?
http://warincontext.org/2009/01/13/editorial-the-government-of-israel-does-not-make-us-policy-or-does-it/
Now let us watch if the new boy, Obama is house trained and if he can heel. Judging by the team selected he seems ready to go-fetch. Same shop, same goods just new window dressers. Yes we can?
"I am neither Muslim, nor Arab, just a member of the human race but I feel motivated to join Hamas to fight for the self determination of the Palestinian people, if it helps rid the world of these new Nazis"
My feelings exactly. It is easy for me to say this in the comfort of my computer chair, but my disgust for israelis, and our own US government's action grows every day. I am powerless to stop the murder, and all I can do is watch.
I agree. Israel is a military welfare state supported by U.S. taxpayers. We need to stop funding them. Why should billions of our much-needed money go to support war by religious fanatics who think God supports their killing Palestinians?
But Israelis are being manipulated like crazy. They are so easy to manipulate. They think history supports their aggression against Palestinians, but if you look at history, it clearly shows how Israel colonized an area where millions of people already lived for thousands of years.
What did they expect to get as a result of stealing other's territory and pushing them out of their homes? Obviously the people are going to try to fight back. Israeli's need to grow up and face the reality of human behavior, including the consequences of their own actions. I'm sorry if they don't want to hear it, but that is the only honest direction for them to take. They can't attack others and yet continually claim victimization. They were the original aggressors in the first place. It's time the U.S. and Israel start to make ammends for the damage we have collectively done to Palestinians.
A few days ago I discovered the free download Livestation http://www.livestation.com/ (for Mac users like me, too!), and have been watching streaming television coverage from Gaza by English Al Jazeera, whose reporters are actually in Gaza, not just hanging out in Israel like the U.S. "reporters." There are lots of other international broadcasting networks on Livestation, too. Now we can see exactly what the rest of the world sees, in real time, not just on youtube, unfiltered by our corporate media.
It is beyond heartbreaking to see war crimes as they happen, carried out by our client state Israel with weapons our taxes have paid for. There is not much more to say, except God help us, we are complicit in a new holocaust. Israel is carrying out a slaughter of civilians in a cage. I think that their universal military service in Israel has created a nation of people who have been carefully trained to commit atrocities without remorse. The relatively few Israelis who are speaking out against this carnage deserve our great respect for their courage and humanity.
Pan
without justice any life harmed is wrong not just children,ANY life .Otherwise they justify ANYTHING as if it is all right because ~~spin spin spin . Don`t buy into there definitions of I had to Because. Ashamed they are our Allies.
While it's becoming very clear that the IDF is using weapons on civilians and is violating the Geneva Conventions, it is also clear that the Israeli government is not concerned about the mounting criticism from the rest of the world. As they approach their objectives or realize that this war is a failure (pick one), only then will this killing of innocents stop. See Global Investment Watch at http://globalinvestmentwatch.com/2009/01/07/israels-collective-punishment-of-gaza/
Hi,
Within past few days I came across a link to a page of rabbi's pictures with world politicians. I can not locate that anymore. Can somebody help please?
This whole thing seems to be getting silly here. Out of perspective. Silly claims, silly analogies, silly conclusions.
Perrjhaps its time to step back and get a reality check. Find a little truth rather than speak from prejudice.
I second that, T.M.
Some of the comments on this issue in many articles on this site have just become hate speech. Not people who i think even read a site like this under other circumstances. It is like going to visit an old friend and you find a room full of strangers who are all insulting each other and there are fist fights breaking out.
peace and enlightenment...
readytotransform
Thanks. I wasn't sure that maybe it was just me.
Peace....the one thing we all hope for and agree on here.
Thomas More and Friend
The SADF (The Apartheid army) was trained to hurt families including women and children living in the same streets as Anti-Apartheid activists. Thus in June 1976 tear gas grenades were lobbed into surrounding homes in Soweto streets - those, like babies who could not get away suffocated and died. The aim was to stop the support of the general public for such activists. In attacks on frontline states the same thing happened the intention was to get ordinary people to turn against the liberation movements and force their governments to stop supporting and harbouring such movements. Hitler used similar tactics. The School of the Americas teach the same - you want journalists to stop reporting - well kill a few and they will be scared off. You want the population to stop supporting Hamas whom they elected in free and fair elections - well kill some women and children, raise the cost of supporting Hamas. The USA did it in Nicaragua to erode the electoral support of the Sandnistas.
Thomas More the USA is not a model for people in the Third World it is a monster that is out of control, as is Israel.