Just like a rapist blames his victim for fighting back.

The citizens are stuck between a rock and a razor blade.

a foreign army, what would we do, would we just accept it, or join whatever resistance movement that would inevitably arise? And even if we didn't actually join, would we support those who were willing to fight the occupation or would we agree with the occupiers that they are 'terrorists'.

My answer is it depends on a lot of factors.

The entire conflict, in a nutshell.

I wonder why that is. Just asking...wondering...

own Corporate Media, say that 40 Israelis have died, which is also tragic and more blood on the hands of Netanyahu, 'almost all Members of the Military'. I abhor all the deaths, including those Israeli soldiers, all of which were never necessary.

The reason for that MIGHT BE that the Israelis are not hiding behind their women and children, they sent in their army without a protective shield, so it is shocking, SHOCKING, that there are few Israeli civilians dead in combat, right? Now if each platoon of Israelis came in with a cohort of kids, then perhaps the statistics so beloved here would be more "equitable", since apparently nothing gives some people greater satisfaction than to see rising Israeli casualties.

defending themselves any way they could. Since they are not, they are aiming at civilians, which they know, which is thoroughly reprehensible, and that is putting it mildly.

Now we learn that Netanyu lied to start of all this. No surprise there. I hope there will be finally be some consequences and justice of some kind for the all the innocent victims.

Entire families wiped out. No one is listening to the same old 'it's not our fault' routine. You fire the bullets, you are the guilty party.

I can only imagine Americans living that way. Not for 10 minutes. All the rest of the rationale was posturing for the worldwide media...

young Israelis as an excuse to attack Gaza again. See my other post, no need to repeat all of it.

Palestinians have a right to defend themselves when attacked like this.

It's amazing how the facts are just glossed over. No rockets for 19 months until they were forced to defend themselves.

OK, I will take you at your word:

so this is what I'm gonna do: I am gonna go to hospitals, schools, and religious buildings and stash my armaments there, right where there are truly innocent civilians and lots and lots of children. Then I am going to fire these rockets and wait for the expected return of fire and the subsequent deaths of children and civilians, or at least people whom I SAY are civilians - we learned that trick from the NVA. Then, now here is the really important part and the point of all this, I am going to have lots and lots of cameras showing the world just how evil the other side is. Now where did I learn this trick of projection? Why...it was from my tutor, Karl Rove and the American Right Wing. By the time the world figures this actually idiotic plan out, I will be in the middle of my next imbroglio.

Israel is not hiding behind a human shield, but it does hide behind uncle Sam's coattails. I wonder if Israel would be quite so cavalier with its bombing if it could not hide behind the iron dome.

Tayyeb Shehadah throws stones at Israeli soldiers before he was shot dead under his eye as you can see in the mask

cops that think it is fun to shoot children for minor other things like that.

is mere squabbling over whether this or that situation fits HIS terms

Israel has been the focal point of destruction by the militant Hamas terrorists for at least three decades. Should Israel allow the Hamas infestation to continue? This organization uses the press to accomplish their goals. The cowards hide behind their own people. They have sworn to destroy Israel. If an organization existed in a state in this country and started firing missiles indiscriminately to other states and hid behind citizens to protect themselves and their weapons, what do you think we would do. We have people that, I am sure are plotting now. Ruby Ridge, Waco, Guinea, we have had ours. There were innocent people killed. I am deeply sorrowed by the death and destruction, but all Hamas has to do is become a peaceful organization and allow its citizens to live. The Jews have gone through horrors and they should be allowed to have a country they can live in peacefully. Most of what is written in this article, I find without merit. Remember the bombings of the past. Who was that???

I'm quite sure they have ligaments. Whether or not they have an argument is debatable.

Or would that be a "reflex" argument?


The poster is obviously a brilliant medical professional that is simply too smart for us to understand (using medical terminology to help voice his/her opinion).

Let's weigh the destruction visited upon Israel vs. the destruction visited BY Israel on the Palestinian territories shall we?


Can you say "Disproportionate Response"?


"Monopoly of Force"?



When you have the near total control of military assets saying you have no choice but to kill hundreds of innocent civilians including children to "defend yourself" against some idiots who generally spend their time shooting rockets that don't actually hit anything... you're full of crap.

old. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Perhaps Hamas is a result of the terrible treatment of Palestinians by the Far Right Israeli Governments. If Israel stopped the violence against the Palestinian people, maybe Hamas would not exist.

Israelis AND Palestinians have a right to live in peace.

and Israel not only can't do a damned thing, it definitely is not allowed to live in peace. Disagree? Read almost any post from the apologists for the rocketry bundled into Israeli airspace on a regular basis.

Then Netanyahu used the tragic murders of three young Israelis, as an excuse to invade Gaza, AGAIN. Blaming Hamas for those terrible murders. There is now evidence it appears that Netanyahu knew those poor victims were dead, so he cynically and cruelly used this tragedy, if this turns out to be true, for his own purposes.

Once they were under attack, based on false allegations, Hamas began defending themselves, which I am sure you agree, they have a right to do.

Anyone who cares about Israel will NOT support this far right out of control Netanyahu govt. HE is harming Israel. Just as anyone who cared about this country did not support Bush/Cheney as THEY harmed this country almost beyond repair.

They were formed in 1987.

but didn't actually become a significant militant force until the second intifada. For about half that time they were simply a religious social organization with some ties to hezbollah due to several membersh aving been exiled to Lebanon for a long while.

According to Wikipedia.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB123275572295011847

How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas
By ANDREW HIGGINS
Updated Jan. 24, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET
Moshav Tekuma, Israel

Surveying the wreckage of a neighbor's bungalow hit by a Palestinian rocket, retired Israeli official Avner Cohen traces the missile's trajectory back to an "enormous, stupid mistake" made 30 years ago.

"Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation," says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Instead of trying to curb Gaza's Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat's Fatah. Israel cooperated with a crippled, half-blind cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, even as he was laying the foundations for what would become Hamas. Sheikh Yassin continues to inspire militants today; during the recent war in Gaza, Hamas fighters confronted Israeli troops with "Yassins," primitive rocket-propelled grenades named in honor of the cleric.

Last Saturday, after 22 days of war, Israel announced a halt to the offensive. The assault was aimed at stopping Hamas rockets from falling on Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed a "determined and successful military operation." More than 1,200 Palestinians had died. Thirteen Israelis were also killed.

<snip>

Much more of this tale at the link.

Could it be:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/14/israel-pay-students-propaganda_n_3755782.html

"Israel to Pay Students for Pro-Israel Social Media Propaganda"

Israel has announced it will pay university students to circulate pro-Israeli information on social media networks, without having to identify themselves as working for the government.

The move was publicised in a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Associated Press reported. Students will receive scholarships to "engage international audiences online" and combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel, it was alleged.

In 2012, a Palestinian-run blog reported similar arrangements between the National Union of Israeli Students and the Israeli government. Students would be paid $2,000 to post pro-Israel messages online for five hours a week.

According to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the most recent proposition is being spearheaded by Danny Seaman, who was slammed by the media for writing anti-Muslim messages on Facebook.

Students will be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”, the Independent reported.

try to distract people with these deceptive tactics. If you have to PAY people to make your case, you don't have much of a case.

Re your supposition, it's possible.

I do think these morons who use these tactics actually do think the people are stupid and easily manipulated. I can't think of anything more stupid than paying people to try to excuse your criminal policies.

The intelligent thing to do would be to NOT do anything that you have to try to cover up.

Thanks for the thread, Karmadillo.

that is permeating the planet.

Mankind is far from kind.

And their behavior. I don't think he'd approve of dropping bombs on innocent civilians, no matter how much warning they got, before their homes were blown to smithereens!