A demonstration a few days ago, 10,000 in Tel Aviv protesting the bombing of Gaza.
A little bit of a contrast with half a century ago.
Addendum: These Israeli kids are going to jail for refusal to serve in the military. Yes, military service is mandatory for women as well.
They are known as the Shministim and you can sign a petition on their behalf at this site, which also contains profiles of each of the conscientious objectors including their sentences. Can’t find a translation of Shministim there (the boy in the video makes the translation, but I can’t make out what he says), but maybe someone here can help.
Second addendum: Meanwhile, here is a clip of one very brave young American woman, using her national status and the presence of a Korean news camera to at least calm the situation in one corner of the conflict. It seems like they were ready to manhandle her until she started speaking English. Whatever satisfaction she feels about the brief moment of restraint is undone as she looks at the violence across the way, wishing she can be everywhere at once. Her conduct earned her some praise from a prominent conservative blogger.
Third addendum: The y0ung woman is Hawaida Arraf, co-f0under of the International Solidarity Movement. Her father is Israeli-Arab. Her mother is Palestinian. She is Christian and an American, raised in Detroit. She co-founded the group with her husband Adam Shapiro.
77 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 8, 2009 at 7:05 pm
olmanriver
i think you are doing a find and commendable job on this painful conflict, eric. thank you.
i recently opened an email from a with an attached picture of a maimed palestinian child in the arms of the parent that even in the small pic got such a violent gut reaction that it was all i could do to delete it instantly.
thank you for embarking back into the troubled waters of this subject, especially considering the history on the old blogspot. kudos.
may peace prevail, somehow.
January 8, 2009 at 7:06 pm
olmanriver
i meant find, your links are great.
January 8, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Moviedad
The Violent-Mind is like a disease. It is not limited to over-zealous Israelis, Members of Al-Qaueda, or Criminal American Intelligence Personnel. It exists in everyone’s personality. but the enlightened Human has learned to control it, and wait for initial impact of anger and violence to pass. Then the Human Mind can function at its evolutionary apex.
What I’m trying to say, is that violence cannot be solely blamed on the Israeli’s. It is not surprise that many people in Israel are against violence of any kind, by either side.
January 8, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Eric Kirk
i meant find, your links are great.
Thank you. Having been bombarded with depressing links, some of the emailed to me, from both sides of the conflict for the past couple of days, I wanted to look for some signs of hope. This has been a depressing week.
January 9, 2009 at 9:03 am
anon
“here is a clip of one very brave young American woman, using her national status and the presence of a Korean news camera to at least calm the situation in one corner of the conflict.”
Those are the identical “tactics” used by some suicide bombers. She appears to be Palestinian, not “American” and she should not have advanced steadily on the soldier.
January 9, 2009 at 9:59 am
Eric Kirk
Perhaps she shouldn’t have. But she did, and possibly saved a Palestinian child or two from injury.
January 9, 2009 at 10:21 am
Eric Kirk
By the way, I’m told that the woman is Jewish in background, not Palestinian. But I don’t have any hard information on her. I’ll post it if I find it.
January 9, 2009 at 10:25 am
middle child
“those are the identical tactics used by some suicide bombers” So are wearing clothes. The point is she put her own life on the line to protect rock throwing children from large caliber bullets. She displays admirable bravery whatever her nationality. Bless her.
January 9, 2009 at 10:27 am
Anonymous
If she was Palestinian she would likely have been beaten to the ground.
January 9, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Eric Kirk
“those are the identical tactics used by some suicide bombers” So are wearing clothes. The point is she put her own life on the line to protect rock throwing children from large caliber bullets. She displays admirable bravery whatever her nationality. Bless her.
And she did it with grace. She didn’t shout slogans nor insults. She didn’t even argue politics. Her words were basic and focused: “stop,” “you’re shooting at children,” “there’s nothing to shoot,” “just pull back.” Her respect for the soldiers as human beings and her appeal to their humanity is what makes her actions even so much more remarkable than her raw courage and passion. She was raised well.
January 9, 2009 at 1:31 pm
middle child
I agree completely.
January 9, 2009 at 1:54 pm
middle child
I was touched by the beautiful Israeli youth and their statements in the Shministim clip. They are courageous, graceful and raised well also. Blessed are the peacemakers.
January 9, 2009 at 5:35 pm
anon
“And she did it with grace” So did the Israeli soldier, who risked his own life by letting her ignore orders and walk close enough to kill everyone in sight.
After a few dozen such “heroic” women have blown your people to bits you are forced to wall off the whole village. You can then count on the chorus of hypocrites to condemn the wall.
But excuse me for interrupting the one sided hate fest aimed at Israel. How dare the Jews protect themselves!
January 9, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Eric Kirk
Well, that’s one way of looking at it. The soldiers did restrain themselves with regard to her, and I suppose they did take a chance that she wasn’t a suicide bomber.
But your post really underscores the tragedy of this conflict. There can be no compromise. On the one hand I’m a Zionist who thinks the Palestinians brought the bombing on themselves. The next minute I’m a Jew hater. All it takes to be labeled either way is a slight deviation from a black and white Cartesian frame. It’s one side or the other.
January 9, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Jewish Person
Saul Bellow called that approach “turning Israel into a moral testing ground.” By always putting yourself “in the middle” with respect to our problems, you neatly absolve yourself from all obligations to act.
Meanwhile, Israel is the front lines in the war on terror. You have to stop rescuing Hamas and their ilk, who wouldn’t hesitate to kill you and your family if they could. Let them lose. They need to lose badly because only then will they change. See Japan/Germany 1945.
January 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Eric Kirk
But there are two logical fallacies to your statement.
1. It assumes that the only alternative location to two distinct points is the middle between them.
2. It assumes that action is impossible from the middle (or any alternative points).
The essential argument you are making is that there is no room for the recognition of complexity and nuance in the situation. It’s black or white.
Japan and Germany were not deprived of their nationhood, or they would have continued to fight and would possibly be fighting to this date in one manner or another.
More to the point Hamas and its previous incarnations have “lost badly” on many occasions. That’s nothing new to them. They will continue to fight Israel because they don’t know anything else. Israel slams them and they regenerate and come back. With every attack you increase the recruiting pool for Hamas. Your approach, and Israel’s, reminds me of the old cartoon where the king and his men are discussing Humpty Dumpty and he says “gentlemen, the fact that all my horses and all my men can’t put him together simply means I need more horses and more men!”
These attacks might make some Israelis feel good. They might even bring a temporary sense of security. But it’s been 60 years now and nothing has changed. Israelis aren’t safer and the bad blood hasn’t eased up – except in one case. Egypt. The peace between Israel and Egypt has held for 30 years. Egypt produced a moderate and Israel, at the insistence of President Carter, talked to him. The moderate paid the price, but leading up to the talks there were plenty of people who expected nothing to be negotiated which could last three decades. War like this in the Gaza could jeopardize even that peace.
I mean, it’s the same thing year after year, from both sides. The left has held the same position. The right has held the same position. Only twice has the cycle come close to being broken – both coming with the only two Democratic presidents since the Six Day War, not including Johnson who was politically hapless when that war broke out.
I hope this opportunity wasn’t lost. I don’t know why Bush wasn’t in there pushing for an extension of the cease-fire, but then the present administration has been AWOL on this for eight years.
January 10, 2009 at 6:11 am
Grandma
Shministin means 12th grader.
January 10, 2009 at 8:19 am
Carson Park Ranger
“Meanwhile, Israel is the front lines in the war on terror.”
You could even say that Israel was on the cutting edge in the development of modern terrorism.
January 10, 2009 at 8:27 am
Jewish Person
Eric, Do you not believe in evil?
Hamas can stop this at any time. All they need to do is stop firing rockets at their neighbor. As you may have noticed, that hasn’t happened.
The two state solution has been on the table for decades. Everyone on both sides knows what a peace deal will look like. Gaza was elaborately planned as a demilitarized and potentially wealthy state at Oslo. Singapore and Hong Kong were discussed as models. The airport was built to accommodate European tourists who were going to come in droves. We got rockets instead.
January 10, 2009 at 8:37 am
middle child
Eric, you should know my now that trying to reason with “jewish Person” is an exercise in futility. If you’re not kissing Israel’s ass you are a anti-semitic pig.
January 10, 2009 at 9:48 am
Early to bed
Carson, If Hamas moved into your neighborhood you would welcome them with open arms, right?
January 10, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Eric Kirk
Eric, Do you not believe in evil?
Not really.
Hamas can stop this at any time. All they need to do is stop firing rockets at their neighbor. As you may have noticed, that hasn’t happened.
It’s not in their power interests to do so. Firing rockets is playing Israel into their hands. Why should they stop?
The two state solution has been on the table for decades. Everyone on both sides knows what a peace deal will look like. Gaza was elaborately planned as a demilitarized and potentially wealthy state at Oslo. Singapore and Hong Kong were discussed as models. The airport was built to accommodate European tourists who were going to come in droves. We got rockets instead.
I agree and I understand the frustration.
January 10, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Eric Kirk
Cecillia, normally I’d zap that post, but before I do I’d like to know what the hell you’re talking about!
January 10, 2009 at 12:27 pm
willow
Evil exists Eric, I could show it to you. but you would be changed forever as a result.
January 10, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Heraldo
Eric, “Cecillia” is Jerry Droz. He has thing for the Petch House blogger and will occasionally spam all the local blogs with his rants. You can spot him by his fixation on Mr. DeBacker and his oddly placed , commas.
January 10, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Carson Park Ranger
“If Hamas moved into your neighborhood you would welcome them with open arms, right?”
I would if I lived in Palestine.
January 10, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Early to bed
Ha Ha! Not in my neighborhood…as I suspected.
And in “Palestine?”
In his visit to Egypt, PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) placed the responsibility for the Israeli attack on Hamas, saying, “We called the leaders of Hamas, and told them both directly and indirectly, through Arab parties and non-Arab parties. We talked with them on the phone. We told them, ‘Please, do not end the tahdiah.’”
Nimr Hammad, an advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, said: “The one responsible for the massacres is Hamas, and not the Zionist entity, which in its own view reacted to the firing of Palestinian missiles. Hamas needs to stop treating the blood of Palestinians lightly. They should not give the Israelis a pretext.” He called upon the leaders of Hamas to stop carrying out “operations which reflect recklessness, such as the firing of missiles.”
Now I understand there is bad blood between Abbas, the PLO and Hamas, but rarely is it strong enough to see one Palestinian faction taking the side of the “Zionist entity” over the other Palestinian faction. Reports of “Arab anger” apparently don’t include West Bank Palestinians.
The Director of the Palestinian TV & Radio Authority, Bassem Abu-Sumayyah,takes a little more of a backhanded approach to reproaching Hamas:
“Hamas blocked its ears… They should have had even a little bit of political and security sense, and not left the people wandering, and losing their way, getting killed and injured. It is clear that Hamas was struck by megalomania since they took over Gaza, which blinded them so they would not listen to any advice. Hamas behaved like a superpower, as if they have weapons and means like Hizbullah in Lebanon, and as if they can conduct a war like the July war [of 2006]. Hamas’s people thought they have a number of missiles that can enable them to prevail in a war of such size.”
Or, “if you don’t have the same capability as Hizbullah, cool your jets until you do”. Of course, it’s been awful quiet up on the Lebanese border since 2006, hasn’t it?
The Editor of the PA daily Al-Hayat, Al-Jadida Hafez Al-Barghouthi, was a little more direct:
“Prolonging the tahdiah was a supreme national interest. Why hasn’t [Hamas] prevented the aggression and the massacre? How many times have we written, and President Abu Mazen has declared, that these missiles [that Hamas is firing at Israel] as ineffective and contrary to the supreme national interest. Even Hamas saw them as contrary to the supreme national interest at the time of the tahdiah. We said, also, that the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit cost us 500 casualties in one year.”
The “tahdiah” mentioned is the cease-fire. In fact, the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mash’al, announced on December 14 that Hamas was ending the “Tahdiah” on December 19:
Khaled Mash’al: “The tahdiah ['calm'] was limited to six months, ending on December 19. It should be noted that the enemy did not comply with the terms of the tahdiah, and that the siege still pressures our people. Therefore, we in Hamas, and I think most of the [other] forces, [say] loud and clear that after December 19, 2008, the tahdiah will end, and will not be renewed.”
Interviewer: “This may be a scoop. You are declaring that there will be no tahdiah after it ends on December 19…”
Khaled Mash’al: “The tahdiah will not be renewed, but we, as a resistance force on the ground, will act in accordance to the circumstances in the field, and in keeping with our resistance to the occupation and defense of our people.”
So, as is obvious, Hamas had no intention of abiding by or prolonging the tahdiah and pretty well announced its intentions in mid December.
Perhaps the most interesting reaction comes from Abdallah Awwad, a columnist for the PA daily Al-Ayyam. He says Hamas has to make a choice:
“The Israeli incursions after 2000 [during the Al-Aqsa Intifada] and the destruction of the PA headquarters were enough [for the PLO] to see the incompatibility of being a government at the same time as fighting the resistance… We are paying the price of stupidity, and the maniacal love of being rulers, that has nothing in it except for hollow slogans.
January 10, 2009 at 2:21 pm
willow
Hamas needs to be punished, severly. Innocent people will die but in life there are acceptable casualties. Order must be restored in teh middle east.
January 10, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Eric Kirk
Well, Hamas isn’t being punished. It’s being rewarded.
January 10, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Carson Park Ranger
Early-to-Bed should do us the courtesy of linking to articles.
Here’s some information about Gaza, if anyone cares for facts any more.
January 10, 2009 at 3:14 pm
early to Bed
Having roundly condemned the NYT earlier, CPR now cites it as a source of “facts.” What’s next–Fox News?
January 10, 2009 at 3:15 pm
early to Bed
“Well, Hamas isn’t being punished. It’s being rewarded.”
Go ahead and give us your alternative.
January 10, 2009 at 3:58 pm
middle child
“Innocent people will die but in life there are acceptable casualties.”
How murderously cavalier of you. I’m sure Hamas would welcome you with open arms. You share a remarkably similar philosophical approach to meeting your goals.
January 10, 2009 at 7:14 pm
middle child
7;00 pm sunday cnn reporting today: 49 Palestinians severely burned as fires from Israeli shelling ignites a UN school building. Israel is not punishing Hamas but committing what amounts to murder and heinous injuries to innocent civilians. If these are “acceptable casualties” to you willow when do they become unacceptable? When its someone YOU care about?
Besides being grossly immoral, Israel’s behavior is self-defeating as their stature in the world and their own future security swirls down the drain.
January 10, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Eric Kirk
Go ahead and give us your alternative.
A military action intended to take out Hamas rockets and military supplies, and not one designed to “punish.” For starters.
January 10, 2009 at 9:15 pm
willow
Middle Child, I support the Israelis completely in their endeavor to keep themselves free and prosperous. As far as my credentials, My great grandfather was a german jew and survived Germany’s utter betrayal of her most helpless citizens.
What the Jewish people today are trying to do is to keep another holocaust from happening, and if that means taking out a ragged band of trouble makers then so be it! Israel has a right to exist, morally and legally. Hamas does not and nor do their supporters.
January 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm
willow
Eric, the Jewish people do not intend to punish. Rather they are doing what amounts to a parent forcing their child to go to rehab. A severe situation calls for a severe response of discipline.
The palestinians should be celebrate being liberated by the Israelis, rather they are crying like a child who doesn’t get to eat ice cream for supper.
January 10, 2009 at 11:52 pm
middle child
“The palestinians should be celebrating being liberated by the Israelis, rather they are crying like a child who doesn’t get to eat ice cream for supper”
Your utter callousness is as close to evil as anything I’ve seen written on this blog. You dishonor your grandfather’s memory with your heartless dismissal of human suffering.
January 11, 2009 at 2:13 am
Anonymous
they are crying like a child who doesn’t get to eat ice cream for supper.
Yes, losing my daughter to an aerial attack from an invading nation would be a lot like being denied ice cream. You have hit it on the head.
January 11, 2009 at 7:08 am
willow
Middlechild, my grandfathers honor is without question and the only way I or anyone can respect him in death is to be willing to take a strong moral stance. The only MORAL stance there is is to support the Israeli army and pray for their victory over the forces of evil.
Anon, even in the the Old Testament it is declared that those who cause suffering to the chosen people of God will be made to suffer. Though it is debatable as to whether or not any particular group besides the Jew know what true suffering really is.
January 11, 2009 at 8:19 am
early to Bed
“A military action intended to take out Hamas rockets and military supplies, and not one designed to “punish.” For starters.”
But not the ones in schools, hospitals and apartments?
January 11, 2009 at 8:34 am
Carson Park Ranger
“What the Jewish people today are trying to do is to keep another holocaust from happening…”
Visiting death upon civilians is an odd way of achieving this goal.
January 11, 2009 at 9:19 am
Lodgepole
“Don’t do as I do, do as I say!”
January 11, 2009 at 10:15 am
Local for Options
January 9, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Eric Kirk
“But there are two logical fallacies to your statement.
1. It assumes that the only alternative location to two distinct points is the middle between them.
2. It assumes that action is impossible from the middle (or any alternative points).
The essential argument you are making is that there is no room for the recognition of complexity and nuance in the situation. It’s black or white.”
Hey Eric, I’m not attempting to change the course of your thread but I couldn’t help commenting that your post above is reflective of exactly the problem with the Arcata Green/ Local Solutions (ie:your) approach to Humboldt land use and the General Plan. Food for thought.
Now back to your efforts to solve the worlds woes by those with no practical knoledge, no unbiased information, and no on the ground experience. I’m sure it will work out great.
January 11, 2009 at 11:00 am
willow2009
Carson, the so called “civilians” are aiding and abetting a group of terrorists. Thus they have shown themselves to have no respect for life or the law. The law is harsh but also just, if the civillians choose to go against the law then they deserve the consequences of being lawbreakers.
Israel will prevail! With or without help from the U.S.
Also, there will come a time when Israel once again regains her status as a world superpower and when that day hapens it would be best to be for her rather than against her.
January 11, 2009 at 11:02 am
willow2009
Eric, I have created an account. Why am I still under moderation?
January 11, 2009 at 11:15 am
Eric Kirk
I don’t know.
….
Okay, try again.
January 11, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Mr. Greenjeans
I wouldn’t bet on that.
January 11, 2009 at 12:38 pm
willow2009
Mr. Green, your hostility and anti-semitism are apparent to everyone. Perhaps you could tell us why you have such feelings towards the Jewish people.
The Jewish people have God on their side, thus they really don’t need the U.S., in reality it is the U.S. that needs Israel. Therefore the U.S. government should think very carefully about denying israel taxpayer money or weapons.
January 11, 2009 at 12:42 pm
willow2009
I am still under moderation. Why is it the anti-semites get to respond quickly and with haste and yet I a proud daughter of Israel must be forced to wait my turn?
January 11, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Carson Park Ranger
“The law is harsh but also just…”
So, Willow is a Baptist?
January 11, 2009 at 1:22 pm
willow
No, I’m Jewish.
January 11, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Carson Park Ranger
Oh, my mistake. You were sounding like that creepy Baptist Senator Joe Lieberman.
January 11, 2009 at 4:58 pm
part Jew for Peace
This situation is not “an eye for an eye” — It is more like “a body for an eye”.
Where in the holy scriptures is there any moral justification for the scale of slaughter being inflicted upon Palestinians?
Where is Moses when you need him to return and simplify things….
“OK OK, Ten Rules was too much for you! Let’s try just one…THOU SHALT NOT KILL!”
January 11, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Early to Bed
And where were you when the missiles were raining down on Israel?
January 11, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Carson Park Ranger
“Raining down”?
January 11, 2009 at 8:58 pm
anonymous
CPR, You should have taken to the streets when those evil Palestinians were loading up their pieces of pipe with metal scrap and firing them off with fertilizer, hoping they clear the wall and explode some place in Israel. If you weren’t doing that, you have no right to complain when Israel is forced to kill over 900 and horribly wound many thousand as they punish those responsible. I think that was Early to Bed’s point.
January 11, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Eric Kirk
Yeah, raining down. And the sun doesn’t spit!
January 12, 2009 at 9:21 am
Carson Park Ranger
“… hoping they clear the wall…”
I wish that Anonymous would take a moment and ponder this concept.
January 12, 2009 at 10:54 am
early to Bed
Let’s see…what can we come up with to rationalize more Hamas rockets into Israel…?
Can’t admit that Hamas can stop this at any time by simply stopping the rocket launches. There were 23 yesterday.
Jew-baiting is so liberating, isn’t it.
January 12, 2009 at 11:05 am
Carson Park Ranger
Jew-baiting?
January 12, 2009 at 11:15 am
Eric Kirk
I don’t think early to bed understands the irony of the comment in context.
January 12, 2009 at 12:45 pm
truthout solution
http://www.truthout.org/010609J
But you Jew-baiters can’t even manage this much humanity, can you? You want this to go on while you congratulate yourselves on being clever.
January 12, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Carson Park Ranger
Jew-baiters?
January 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Eric Kirk
Early to Bed, it’s one thing to be nasty. It’s another to be repetitive. I’m not letting the latest post through. If you want to add something productive to the discussion, try again.
January 12, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Early to Bed
“Nasty” is gloating while your own people are rocketed. “Nasty” is urging your own people to die while you sit on your butt and laugh at them. That’s “nasty.”
January 12, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Early to Bed
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/13/africa/13israel.php
The view from Israel.
January 12, 2009 at 6:33 pm
anonymous
“… hoping they clear the wall…”
I wish that Anonymous would take a moment and ponder this concept.
CPR, was my sarcasm that hard to miss?
January 12, 2009 at 6:38 pm
perspectivator
The view from Zeta Reticuli:
“Israel is taking advantage of the scant time left to the Bush administration. They greatly fear the loss of support from the US military when the US military leaves Iraq. Periodically, Israel goes to war against their immediate neighbors, gains territory or control over territory, and then steps back so the press from the international community does not become extreme. In between these wars, they encroach on the Palestinian communities, building settlements even if such building is illegal, and taunt the Palestinians or immediate neighbors so as to have an excuse to go to war again in the future. The Israelis think that Obama would not be supportive of this pattern, so they are getting their licks in before he takes command. ”
http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta491.htm
January 12, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Eric Kirk
Yeah, I’ve seen theories like that tossed around lately.
However, if that was the plan, they did get considerable help from Hamas when the latter started lobbing rockets over the border. I still think this war is exactly what Hamas wanted.
Michael Walzer makes an interesting point about the proportionality issue. But if it really is about the improved rockets they expected Hamas to obtain in the next six months, then the attacks came too early.
January 12, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Carson Park Ranger
“CPR, was my sarcasm that hard to miss?”
Sadly, my point “cleared the wall” around Anonymous’ brain and went right over his head. And it was a low-altitude shot. I was simply suggesting that he might think about the “wall” which Gazans have been forced to live behind for so fucking long.
“‘Nasty’ is gloating while your own people are rocketed. ‘Nasty’ is urging your own people to die while you sit on your butt and laugh at them. That’s ‘nasty.’”
Early to Bed is clearly on the wrong thread. Up too late I suppose.
January 12, 2009 at 8:27 pm
anonymous
Jesus CPR, you should reread with a little appreciation for my mock indignation at the “evil palestinians”
“……if you weren’t doing that, you have no right to complain when Israel is forced to kill over 900 and horribly wound many thousand as they punish those responsible. I think that was Early to Bed’s point.”
January 12, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Early to bed
“The view from Zeta Reticuli:”
“… We, the Service-to-Other Zetas, are only in 4th Density and cannot speak with authority about higher densities. We can tell you that the purpose of your 3rd Density lives is to establish with certainty what your spiritual orientation is – Service-to-Other or Service-to-Self. Our lives in 4th Density finds us consolidating this orientation, as well as learning about the vast Universe around us.”
Obviously “Zeta” is an unimpeachable source of accurate information on Israel.
January 13, 2009 at 8:48 am
perspectivator
are you zeta-baiting me?
January 13, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Carson Park Ranger
“Jesus CPR, you should reread with a little appreciation for my mock indignation…”
My sincere apologies to the clever Anonymous. My senses been so coarsened on these threads by the hysterical “Jewish Person,” the pedestrian, intellectual sluggard “Early-to-Bed,” et al, that the sarcasm had the same ring as earnest comments.
January 13, 2009 at 12:50 pm
stop the killing
“Take some kittens, some tender little moggies in a box”, said Jamal, a surgeon at the Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, while a nurse actually placed a couple of blood-stained cardboard boxes in front of us. “Seal up the box, then jump on it with all your weight and might, until you feel their little bones crunching, and you hear the last muffled little mew.” I stared at the boxes in astonishment, and the doctor continued: “Try to imagine what would happen after such images were circulated. The righteous outrage of public opinion, the complaints of the animal rights organisations…” The doctors went on in this vein, and I was unable to take my eyes off those boxes, sitting at our feet. “Israel trapped hundreds of civilians inside a school as if in a box, including many children, and then crushed them with all the might of its bombs. What were the world’s reactions? Almost nothing. We would have been better off as animals rather than Palestinians, we would have been more protected.”
http://uruknet.info/?p=m50681&hd=&size=1&l=e
December 31, 2009 at 11:30 pm
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