CNN does not disappoint.
The headline: Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza; death toll rises
In the summary: NEW: At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza Sunday, sources say
The context: None.
The AP: Accepting Palestinian casualty figures blindly while pretending that they’re actually using objective sources and confirmations.
Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, cutting the coastal territory into two and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas militants gained momentum.
The military used overwhelming firepower from tanks, artillery and aircraft to protect the advancing soldiers, and Gaza officials said at least 31 civilians were killed in the onslaught. The military said troops killed several dozen militants, but Gaza officials could confirm only four dead — in part because rescue teams could not reach the battle zones.
Reuters: Oh, please. They’re not even pretending to be objective anymore.
Israeli troops and tanks split the Gaza Strip and ringed its main city on Sunday in an offensive against Hamas militants but civilians trapped in the Palestinian enclave suffered more bloodshed.
Bloomberg News: Finally, a somewhat objective piece.
MSNBC: The headline and subhead say it all.
Israeli forces bisect Gaza, surround biggest city
500 Palestinians killed in just over a week; Hamas rockets slay 4 Israelis
The rest of the story is AP. But the subhead is all MSNBC.
Fox News: What’s that I see? Objectivity? Can.t be. The lead:
Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, dividing the coastal territory into three parts in an effort to prevent Hamas militants from accessing weapons.
Israeli defense officials told FOX News that an estimated 30 Hamas militants had been killed in the incursion so far, though precise numbers are difficult to pin down.
Israel’s army also announced that a soldier was killed in the fighting on Sunday — the first Israeli fatality in the ground offensive launched late Saturday
Yes, it can be. Objectivity.
Fox wins.
Update to my readers who are getting here from the CNN article: I’m trying to present the side that you never see—particularly by watching CNN. Try looking around and reading some of the other posts. There are plenty of contrasts to the stories you’ve been getting. And they’re all true. I post nothing that I can’t back up with facts.
The entire world’s fascination with Israel and monitoring every step it takes never ceases to amaze me. People are out in droves protesting Israel’s “aggression”. Where were these same people when missiles were being launched against civilians in Israel from Gaza for the last three years? Where are they? Why aren’t people mobbing the streets of London, Paris or New York to protest to the systematic holocaust of innocent people in Nigeria, Congo and Darfur? Where are they? Why does Israel get the amount of coverage in the news media that it does? The press talks about proportional response. Where is the proportional response to Israel/Palestinian issues?
I would like to foster a discussion about this. I feel that for some time, the news media and most politicians shy away from discussing the real problem here. I know this is not popular or comfortable to say but at some point “it” will have to be confronted and truly vetted in the public debate.
Here it is. Hamas and many in the Arab world have not just a political but they have a theological problem with Israel’s right to exist. Actually, they have a theological problem with anyone’s right to exist who is not Muslim. I have spent a great deal of time reading and studying their theology in an attempt to understand why they seem so averse to peaceful co-existence with just about anyone who does not share their theology. What I have discovered is really shocking.
Jews and Christians seem to be perfectly capable to living next to (even among) people who do not share their theological beliefs. They may think these people are wrong or spiritually misguided, but they don’t seem to want to kill the person who does not share their theological perspective.
However, it seems that many Muslims have an approach to life that Islam and Sharia Law must rule the world, that everyone on the planet must become Islamic and submit to Sharia Law and that if they will not, then they must be killed.
Wow. I know this may be an over simplification of their belief system, but it does seem to be an accurate portrayal of the world view their literature and scholarly writings seem to advance.
Here’s my question: How does one reason and negotiate with person who hold this belief system? Is it possible to peacefully co-exist with them? What should the world’s approach be to this mindset? Can it be changed?
I hope that we can dialog about this.
Thanks,
Gary Bonner, Baltimore Maryland
Gary –
It seems that you dismiss Arab’s political objections to Israel’s existence as a mask to antisemitism and religious intolerance. Yes, there are Muslim extremists, just like there are Christian and Jewish extremists (try reasoning and negotiating with the far religious right in America; they’ve done very interesting studies about this).
I hope that you have also looked into the history of the region, as this is essential to understanding the current conflicts. In 1947 the western powers declared that Palestine be divided into an Arab and a Jewish state – without any negotiation with the Arab world. The Arabs rejected this agreement and they were ignored. It’s no wonder that there is still Arab-Israeli conflict, when the existence of the state of Israel had not been negotiated with the Arabs. And this followed an even longer history of Anglo-Arab conflict which was heightened after WWI when GB and France divided up the Arab territory between themselves, ignoring pacts previously made guaranteeing Arab sovereign states.
Hamas wants to destroy Israel, but Israel wants to destroy Hamas. They are both killing civilians with their agressions. I’m not sure that the West can aid in a solution, as we are certainly not an impartial mediator, especially in the eyes of the Arab world. The area has been and continues to be manipulated by the western powers first with colonial interests and now for economic interests (oil).
The political objections of the Arabs to the state of Israel are very justified, and should not be dismissed by the western powers in our effort to resolve conflicts in the region. At the same time, theological objections from religious intolerance is also an issue not to be dismissed and cannot be tolerated. What has been done cannot be undone, and changing the current state of affairs is going to require a major shift from current policies.
Nice try, Kate. But you’re ignoring the history of the Jews by insisting that Israel was an Arab region. You need to go back long before 1947.
If this is what they’re teaching you in college these days, no wonder we have so many anti-Israel demonstrations at colleges. Right. Ignore the Jewish heritage completely, and pretend that only “Palestine” ever existed.
There was never a real country called Palestine. Only the Roman renaming of Judea, a name that stuck through the ages even as Jews went in and out of their homeland through the ages.
As you say, you have to look into the history of the region. Thousands of years, not a few decades.
Where was all of the coverage and photos when the Hamas was shelling and shooting missles into Isreal for weeks?
The protest groups have no credibilty since they were quiet then.
A one-for one exchange does not work, that has been happening for years. There are too many people supporting terriosts groups. That tells me something about them.
(OPEC) is a cartel of twelve countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
If the “brothers” of Gaza truly had heartfelt empathy for those innocent ones and there was no greater scheme going on here, they could stop the flow of black blood that fuel the tanks and warships that make this war possible. And I do understand that the oil comes from other places as well, but it would be an impact felt around the world. And the bloodshed could have been averted.
The almighty will exact vengeance from both sides soon enough!
Kate: Does your history only go back to 1947? Are you not aware that the jews have been in the Holy Land for over 5000 years? Are you not aware that before Islam existed, the Christians existed and before the Christians existed, there were the Jews and the Jews were in the Holy Land (Israel)? The Holy Land was largely uninhabited as well, until many Jews returned and made the desert bloom. This attracted many people to the area to work, including the people that now call themselves Palestinian. In case you were not aware, Arafat, was Egyptian. Gary is right. Also, in 1947, the world assigned a very small part of the Land to the Jews and the rest to the Arabs. The Arabs responded by trying to destroy the Jews, so don’t try to make this out to be an even issue. The Arabs are at fault. there will never be peace until the Arabs stop using terrorism and stop trying to destroy Israel, as they tried from the very birth of the state of Israel to the current day.
CNN has been so biased for so long that for all intents it’s no longer a credible source of news.
What needs to be kept in mind as the “world” talks about the use of “disproportionate” force is the following.
1) This is war, and no war has been ever fought by trying to keep in mind that “I need to keep my response proportionate”
2) The fact that a missile explodes in an empty field did so by:
mistake,
error in aiming,
poor aerodynamics etc.
But the purpose whether it fell on a house or a field was to KILL innocent civilians in their homes.
So where was the EU, the concerned citizens like Annie Lennox when the misiles were falling in the South of Israel? Was it raining that day Annie?
Proportionality is not a synonim with war. 100s of missiles were fired in the preceding weeks and months with the aim to kill. The fact that most missed is a credit to the talent of Hamas’ rocket makers. But their aim was to kill and maim women and children. So if proportionality is such a big issue for “the world” then Israel still owed Gaza hundreds of missiles in return.
The “civilized world”, especially the Brits who flew half way down the world to protect 3000 sheep and 12 people should take their new found civility and revisit their own history before applying standards they never have nor will they ever uphold.
siberian
Nothing, including the casualty figures coming out of Gaza can be accepted as fact for the simple reason that Hamas controls all news in that area. Even the camera feeds we see on CNN are controlled by Hamas. Terrorist organization are notorious when it comes to inflating civilian casualties in these conflicts because their primary goal is to incite more anger against Israel in the Arab world. Liars and killers.
The protests in support of the Palestinians and against Israel right now are part of the Palestinian PR propaganda machine. None of these protests ever condemn Palestinian rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. None of these groups ever condemn Hamas rockets even when Israel is not responding at all. It is part of the PR offensive and is organized for that purpose. Nobody seems to be addressing the fact that the signs these protesters are holding have a map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, all covered with the Palestinian flag. these people protest the very existence of Israel and see the entire area, including Israel, as the Palestinian state. Teh problem is, since nobody addresses that fact, ignorant people start thinking that all the land was Palestinian and Israel took the land, which is a lie. In fact, there were no Palestinians in 1947, only Jews, Muslims and Christians in the British Mandate of Palestine. The Jews were given a very small portion of this land. The rest, several times bigger, was given to the Arabs. The Arabs could not accept that. The Muslims believe that if a land was ever Muslim, it must always be Muslim. The Muslims invaded and conquered the Holy Land and massacred most of the native Jews then. Many muslim believe it is all muslim land for that reason, even though the Koran itself expresses that Allah gave the Holy Land to the Jews. Muslim extremists argue in direct contradiction to that Koranic verse by saying that the Jews have broken their covenant with Allah and therefore have forfeited their right to the Holy Land. None of these aspects are ever discussed on CNN, BBC, etc.. They prefer to ignore what this is really about. The Muslims see Israel as an abomination. The more extreme Muslims actively try to kill Israelis and destroy Israel. The more moderate Muslims simply do not object and allow the extremists to take on Israel. Some of these moderates provide support and financial assistance to the extremists, but that is as far as their support goes. I argue that it is rather difficult to find even moderate Muslims that will agree that Israel has a right to exists as a Jewish state and that the palestinians should have a state of their own, next to, but not replacing Israel. Take into account that the “right of return” which is also a fabrication, especially in the numbers argued, is a means that would destroy Israel as a Jewish state. Refugees in all other conflicts are restricted to those that fled. Palestinian refugees are defined differently to all other refugee populations in that future generations are also defined as refugees. Strange, isn’t it? The solution is simple, palestinians stop trying to destroy Israel and accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. All they have to do is stop trying to destroy Israel and stop attacking Israelis. That is not that hard, unless you are sworn to destroy Israel. That is why the Palestinians have turned down a Palestinian state so many times already.
Dan: Actually, I think the response would be a little different if OPEC stopped oil. The US and other Western countries would probably (behind closed doors) pressure Israel to be less careful with civilian casualties and go in a harder to take Hamas out. The US would cut aid to many of those OPEC nations. All those OPEC nations are hurting quite a bit right now since world demand for oil is down. It is not as simple as it seems. OPEC nations are actually quite scared about this push for oil independence and the push for alternative fuels. They are seeing that their allowances are in jeopardy. The leaders of these nations care more about staying in power than destroying Israel. That is why Egypt is on the right side of the conflict right now. Hamas and the Muslim brotherhood are cut from the same cloth. The Muslim brotherhood seeks to take down the Egyptian government, just as Hamas took down the PA and Fatah and is turning Gaza into an Islamic state with Sharia law. They recognize the treat for what it really is.
Dave: it seems to me every violent action taken by any country other than US and friends is labelled “terrorism” while the legal actions taken by the greatest country of the world and entourage causes 10 times more damage and death. And if ancient history is the only valid source of land ownership rights, I should leave my home in Toronto and go back to Europe where my ancestors came from many years ago, the Indigenous People of America should be given back their land.
Just imagine if they’d been around during World War II. “Allies invade Normandy in escalation, Nazi officials say hundreds of German civilians killed…”
I would like to say that something needs to be done. I mean I am not for any of the sides but I feel that killing civilians on either side is not right. I feel that it is not right for anyone to have to go through such pain. Leave everyone alone! I agree with Dave 100% just because Israel is a friend of the US it seems okay, but if the Palestinians went to surround a large city and kill their civilians it would be those damn terrorists! This is a bunch of bull, I really hope they can look past their differences and the US jumps in there not to take sides, but put in a peace deal that helps both sides out. Bush has done enough damage in the Muslim world, time for Obama to step up and help everyone out!
Actually, Kate, the so-called “religious right” in America are perfectly reasonable people. They just don’t feel the need to comprimise their principals in the name of liberalism, or, by not possessing any principals, the halmark of liberalism. You see, I’m a Fundamentalist Christian who would not hesitate to accept an invitation to eat, drink, and be merry with either Jews, Muslims, or *gasp* even Liberals! What I won’t do, in the same way as Meryl and others here, is compromise on the tenants of my faith, and on the security of either the United States or Israel, or any other free state. What you fail to understand, and what we fully comprehend, is there are evil people in the world, intent on doing evil, and compromise is not in their vocabulary. However, for Liberals, history began yesterday, as you so aptly illustrated. I’m sorry that our current Outcome Based Education system has left you ignorant, but please try to appreciate the lessons Meryl tried to teach you in the above post. I’ve found, throughout my life, that once the veil of ignorance is lifted, very few liberals remain liberal…
Kate-
Israel has a lengthy history of military occupation/conquest- starting, re-starting, naming, renaming, rulers, owners, and occupants. Limiting your examination to 1948? You might as well renegotiate the “Manhattan for beads” deal.
Israel was once an independent State but in the second century the Romans defeated it and made it part of the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Hadrin renamed Isreal “Palestenia” to erase it from history. Many Jewish people fled – but not all. The area changed hands many times in the following centuries but was never again it’s own country. Under the Ottoman Empire (1500’s-1917) the area was not known to be “Palestinia” it was simply a part of Damascus (Syria). After the second century, it was never a nation or a state, and certainly was never a country. The scant occupants were primarily Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Bedouin and Jewish.
Prior to 1917 there were already 2 significant aliyahs (Jewish immigration out of the Diaspora back to Israel). During this period, Arab owned land was bought or leased by the returning Jewish families. By 1896 the City of Jerusalem was once again majority Jewish.
After the Ottoman Empire fell and was divided up as the spoils of war, the area known as Palestine went to the British. The Balfour decree may have set in motion the re-start of Israel but the land, to once again make Israel a country, was obtained primarily by buying it. The Arabs sold the land to the Jews.
Under the British Mandate there was immigration by both Jews and Arabs. Some estimate the Arab immigration tripled the Arab population between 1931 and 1948. After Israel was re-established as a Country the UN decided that if an Arab lived in the area for 2 years prior to 1948 they can be considered a Palestinian refugee.
There are a plethora of books written on the subject, read many.
Here’s an interesting fact they won’t teach you in college: Palestinians who can trace their ancestry to be in or near Israel, have genetically more in common with the Jews than they do with any of the other Arab populations. Look it up.
If people of religious faith, who claim to serve their creator, (called by whatever name) could be totally honest, they would have to admit that they do do not serve that “creator” by destroying life itself.. ie: that which has been created by the creator.
When “all” human life becomes more important than ego, money, power over others and intolerance, humanity has a chance at peace.
When the life of another matters less than our own, we will continue to butcher others and pretend we are civilize and righteous.
Jim, I can’t speak for other faiths, but even a cursory reading of the Bible will show you that war is sometimes necessary for keeping people alive. Since Israel is dealing with people who want nothing more than to wipe her off the face of the earth and will use any means necessary with complete disregard for even their own people’s lives, then measures like what Israel has implemented become necessary so that more lives are not endangered.
I believe that this particular action from Israel is in keeping with protecting the sanctity of life.
I watched an interview of the Palestinian guy on TV today. The man does not have “rockets” in his vocabulary. All he spewed was occupation, terrorists acts on the palestinians, yada yada yada. Not once even when asked by Wolf Blitzer did he acknowledged that rockets were being fired at Israeli civilian targets including schools. What fools, Hamas brought this on themselves. Their representatives are spewing nothing but Arab propaganda. They will never get what they want at this rate. I hope Israel finally and for all wipes out this nest of rats.
Does anyone else see the absurdity in a notorious Jewish blogger claiming to be the objective voice in regards to the situation in the Middle East? Further, does anyone else recognize the futility of either argument on a notorious Jewish blog? Who are you trying to convince? Do you really see it working?
I think we should all just unite under the benevolence of His Noodliness, the great Flying Spaghetti Monster.
RAmen, and may you all be blessed by His Noodly Appendage.
I had to approve Justin’s comment, because hey, who knew I was notorious? Kewl.
I’m notorious. Woo-hoo!
Say, Justin: I’ll give you fifty bucks if you can find a single place on my entire blog, going back seven and a half years, where I claim to be objective.
You may want to try actually, you know, reading the post you comment on. It makes you look smarter that way.
And by the way, folks: Did you know I’m notorious?
I mean, I knew I was the Master of Juvenile Scorn™, but I didn’t know I was notorious.
From now on, people, you must address me as the NOTORIOUS Master of Juvenile Scorn™.
Justin, please tell me you think the mainstream media is objective. Go ahead.
I need the giggle.
Jen, with all respect, you have proven my point. While my comment was not ment to take sides, you have and have chosen to justify killing by referring to the Bible and hence your understanding of God.
Since you cited the Bible (new & old testaments), rather than the Torah I’ll assume you profess to be some denomination of Christian. If that’s correct, may I ask you where in the Bible Christ told people to kill others in his name or in the name of the creator? There are plenty of killing and war references in the old testament. Is that not what Christ sought to change? Did he not have Peter put up his sword in the garden? Did he not say to turn the other check?
Did he not say, do not judge?
Killing to protect the sanctity of life ranks right in there with having intercourse to preserve virginity.
In this situation when people choose to back Israel or back Hamas they are not choosing to back peace because neither side is justified in what is they are doing. This is a power play on both sides. Neither side truly respects life.
I have one question:
How come the world cant figure out the very CLEAR fact that Hamas sets up their headquarters in residential neighborhoods. They set up their rocket launchers there and hide weapons there. Why cant the world see that Isreal does not want to kill civilians, it is just that Hamas uses civilians as their shields!!! How can Israel fight the hamas terrorists and not have civilian casualties if hamas bunkers down with the civilians?? And more so, why dont the civilians protest against hamas setting up camp in residential neighborhoods and putting covilian lives in danger? could it be that many of the civilians agree with hamas???!!! Hmmmmm….
Jim, with all respect, I don’t think I’ve proven your point at all. The only people I’ve heard of killing in the name of their ‘deity’ are the ones who kill in the name of Allah.
Yes, I am a Christian. No, there’s nothing where Jesus said to kill in His name, and I don’t recall saying that there was. Without getting deeply theological, I will explain why a couple of your points don’t fly.
Jesus told Peter to put away his sword because Peter was trying to prevent something Jesus knew He had to do. He told Peter that those who LIVE by the sword (actively seek violence) will die by the sword. Israel is not living by the sword — they want peace. Hamas is the one LIVING by the sword.
The fact that Jesus said to turn the other cheek does not mean that Israel should just let rockets continue to fall on her people. If a man breaks into your home with a gun, threatens to rape your wife and daughters and then kill you all, I guess you’ll turn the other cheek then, right?
I’m not even going to dissect your intercourse/virginity comment because it’s so obtuse and irrelevant. What we’re talking about here is protecting life from vicious terrorists who will never stop until Israel does not exist.
Read what Paul says in Romans chapter 13 and pay attention to verse 4 where it speaks of the government using the ‘sword’.
Friends,
Regardless of how you feel about what the UN did in 1947 in the aftermath of a European attempt to exterminate millions of Jews; Israel exists and millions of Jews live there and they aren’t leaving. They just are not going to leave.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable for the Arabs to decided to find a way to forgive any feelings they have about what happened 61 years ago and allow the love of their God to reign supreme within their hearts and bring an end to further attempts to supplant a people who are far more militarily and financially strong. Essentially, I am saying, can it not be said that the facts on the ground count for something from a practical sense?
Can the Arabs embrace peaceful co-existence?
I am African-American. My great grandparents were brought to the Unites States in chains and my race was held as slaves for 244 years. When slavery ended, my people found ourselves poor and illiterate and jobless. This legacy aches within my people to this day; but whatever our grievances, we did not kill our oppressors in the streets. We did not strap on suicide bombs to our young people. We chose to respond to oppression with the force of love. Our object was not to defeat our oppressor, but to win his love and respect. This may seem naive, but it worked and we did not resort to force to bring about change.
Can the Palestinians learn from this example? Do you believe that love can be stronger that hate and un-forgiveness?
Hamas embraces a culture of death. Unless they let go of their ‘holy’ book, they will not embrace peace. Allah is not love.
Jen, the crusades, the inquisition and burnings at the stake along with slavery were all justified using the bible. Humans have always used killing in the name of peace. It hasn’t worked, has it?.
Maybe it’s time for another way, but then your mind must be open to it. I won’t hold my breath. People generally want to be right. I’m not referring to you specicially.
Allah or God or whatever name used is the same power. It is some people’s actions when using the name of the power that is not love
Jim said:
Maybe it’s time for another way, but then your mind must be open to it.
Could you please enlighten us on the best way for Israel to deal with years of terrorism on her citizens?
Perhaps a ceasefire.
Oh, yeah. Hamas ignored that.
Perhaps peace talks.
Oh, yeah. They ignored that too.
Maybe Israel should just cross her collective fingers.
And by the way — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel is not the same ‘god’ as Allah.
You have to understand that no one in support of Israel is loving violence. Nothing could be further from the truth. We want an end to the violence.
But if you want to lump me in with rabid terrorists because I pray for the survival of Israel, that’s your option. It doesn’t make it true.
You still don’t get it, Jim. “name” (#26) hit the nail on the head. It is not a matter of “both sides killing” with any kind of moral equivalence. When Israeli civilians are killed, it is because Hamas is deliberately targeting Israeli civilians, not military targets. The Hamas charter in fact, calls for the killing of Jews – not Israelis, not Zionists, but Jews.
When Israel kills Palestinian civilians, it is because Hamas deliberately undertakes its actions from civilian areas so that it is impossible for Israel to defend its citizens without targeting Palestinian civilians. They do this because in the first place they have no regard for the lives of their own people, and in the second place they that propaganda advantage will accrue to them despite this barbaric behavior because the media minimizes it or refuses to report it altogether so then people like yourself bewail the “killing on both sides”. The number one reason for the existence of *any* government is to protect its citizens from external attack. Israel, while doing so is takiing extraordinary measures to minimize the loss of Palestinian civilian lives as detailed elsewhere in Meryl’s blog.
“they that propaganda advantage” should be “they know that propaganda advantage”
And Jen, if someone broke into my house I could defend my family with appropriate measures in my own house. I can not, however, be justified to pursue him to his house and kill his wife and kids or kill his neighbors just because they were unlucky enough to live next door. Hamas doesn’t represent Allah,all Muslims nor all Palistinians just as the current government of Israel doesn’t represent all Jews.
Violence breeds more of the same. It always has and it always will. Every individual has to make a choice. Is might always right? That’s what both Hamas and Israel are trying to prove. trying
All people were created from the same source and deserve to live and work in peace.
Sadly, most comments posted here are more interested in being right and finding fault rather than exploring peaceful solutions.
What the heck, there are still lots of bullets and missles left on both sides and lots of killing left to do, right? Face it, there is plenty of blame to go around.
You didn’t answer my question, Jim. What’s the solution?
The solution to war is all sides chosing peace. One person at a time, one community at a time, one nation at a time. The methodology is far more complicated but that is the solution. The alternative is eventual human distruction. We get to choose, each of us. one at a time. or not
Why don’t you head on over there and offer your solution to Hamas?
I see you agree :-)
In a perfect world, all sides would choose peace. We don’t live in a perfect world, Jim.
so we give up on peace?
nuke em all, that will keep them quiet?
Did you pay attention to ‘name’ and Gary Rosen? Israel is not dealing with people who hold the same value system she does.
So you didn’t like my guy-with-a-gun break-in analogy. Then let’s say that you have a next door neighbor, who for years is sending rockets into your house and terrorizing you and your wife and children. They are shouting constantly that they want you to die. No one comes to your rescue. No police care what is happening to you, and you can’t even get the media to report on it.
What do you do?
You do realize that ‘nuke em all’ is a totally inaccurate and even insulting way to describe what Israel is doing, don’t you?
Personally, I’d find a better neighborhood. ;-)) You have missed my entire point. I’m not siding with Hamas in the slightest. They are opportunists who deal in hate and death. But increases in killing will not produce longterm security for Israel. There must be a political solution and a UN peacekeeping force in Gaza made up of Arab & EU peacekeepers
I’m sorry, but I don’t see the UN as having a great track record. And just what do you think the peacekeepers will do when faced with the ideology that fuels Hamas?
Here’s an article from a while back about how those ‘peacekeepers’ operate:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181570256870&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
UN peacekeepers have had exceptional records areound the world. They keep both sides from killing each other while solutions are found. A moment ago you said you wanted the police to show up. Now you say they can’t do the job.
Seems you are content with continuing war rather than search for alternatives. I’m surprised. Maybe you are just frustrated like most of us are with the cycle of violence. I hope so. Personally, I seek an alternative
I concur with Jen. And, if I may say, I find the idea of Arab UN peacekeepers especially laughable. Exactly where do you think these Arab peacekeepers would come from? Syria? Iran? Fatah? Talk about putting a fox in charge of the henhouse.
Jim, if you think that UN peacekeepers have an exceptional record, you really need to read the op-ed I linked to just above your comment. They do NOT have a remotely decent record.
And for the record, I didn’t say that I WANTED the police to show up. I used that as an example of what’s not happening for Israel. She must defend herself because, as Vaultenblogger says, the alternatives you’ve named are laughable.