John lost his with his comment on the humaneness of Hamas.

What utter bullshit!

As pointed out earlier in these comments, The King David Hotel was British military HQ at the time. At least one warning was phoned in prior to the explosion, but the Brits stubbornly refused to evacuate. As a result, they paid for their stupidity.

The accusations regarding Cast Lead have yet to be verified. For the moment, let’s say they’re confirmed. What do you think happens in war? Innocent people often get hurt or killed. It’s not nice, but it’s often unavoidable. Sometimes it occurs intentionally. Think Dresden, Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. John, at the very least, exhibits the usual double standard.

It’s nice to learn that the Arabs tried to avoid hurting Jews while launching their rockets. I assume that he also thinks that people who set off bombs in restaurants, shopping centres, etc. also are taking great care to avoid civilian casualties.

John may just be a putz. However, I suspect from his use of the word “Zionists”, that he’s just one more garden-variety Jew hater.

’nuff said, John?

Sheesh. ‘Nuff said.

By the way, 6 Israeli soldiers have come forward and admitted that the attack on Gaza (in retaliation for the Hamas’ rocket attacks which very carefully killed not a single person) targeted civilians and indeed killed them.

So much for how nice the Zionists are when they fight.

Also, given that the rockets did not hurt anyone (and this was by design), shouldn’t Hamas’ attacks receive the same appoval from Yankev as the attack on the King David hotel??

Oh, wait. The attack on the hotel DID kill people! Looks like Hamas, at times, is more humane than the Zionists.

Again, ’nuff said.

Israel has been willing to evacuate conquered territory in return for real peace. Look at the Sinai. But with the Palis and Hezbollah Israel has returned land and gotten terrorist attacks form that land. Talking about land return, one should keep this in mind. If you start a war intending to destroy a neighboring state and exterminate its inhabitants (as the Arabs did) and lose (as the Arabs did) you may find that you must give up some land yourself, and be thankful to Allah that you did not lose more. Anybody in any doubt about this should visit what were once East Prussia and Silesia, and look for signs of German habitation there. If Israel kept East Jerusalem (it’s the Jews’ holy City, not the Muslims’) and a bit around the edges, the Arabs should feel lucky the Israelis did not drive the Arabs into the desert, as the Arabs so often scream about driving the Jews into the sea.

Yeah, the lot of the Jews in many (not all) Muslim countries in Medieval times was better than the experience in Christian Europe. That’s not exactly a high bar to set. If this was 1509 and not 2009 I’d probably prefer the rule of the Ottomans to that of the Habsburgs almost everywhere, Valois of France, Tudors of England, or Riurikids of Muscovy (Poland was a comparative haven of tolerance in those days). But this is today and I must judge by the behavior of people today. And the majority of Muslims are behaving like swine to the Jews. They’ll be behaving like swine to the rest of you given half a chance. In fact they already are (cf: Mumbai, 3/11 in Spain, 7/7 in Britain). Keep that in mind.

Have a good Shabbos.

When someone sets out to kill you, peace and patience on your part are not virtues.

Leslie David,
New Delhi
India

Soccerdad is correct in that there’s more to Israel’s recent diplomatic isolation than simple opposition by foreign governments to Israeli policies. But he misses the two most important factors: post-colonial outrage on the part of 3rd world governments like Mauritania, and post-colonial guilt on the part of Western European governments.

Post-colonial outrage/guilt is perhaps the most important factor in all this, for it colors many people’s views of Palestinian terrorism. It’s pretty clear that much of the world views Hamas and the PLO as not much different from other national liberation groups like the FNLA or IRA. So there’s a common belief that the violence is mostly Israel’s fault, and that Israel could quickly end it by offering better terms to the Palestinians.

(I write this as someone who thinks Israel should unilaterally withdraw to the ’67 boundaries. But I don’t pretend it would bring instant peace to the region.)