by Yerusalyim 41 Replies latest social current
Now then, did the Israelis KNOW it was a MP they were firing at?
Well, I'm sure the MP wasn't firing at them !!!!
The fact is this demonstrates that they show a prepensity for firing at unarmed civilians and then rely on the blind backing of the US to veto or abstain (if it's really abhorant) when their crimes are condemned.
Simon,
It's not yet been proven that Israelis did the firing...it's still under investigation.
Let's say for a minute that it's shown it was the Israeli outpost that fired on the MP, if the Israeli soldier is brought up on charges does this satifsy you?
I don't think it's a wonderful thing when stuff like this happens. The Israelis AREN'T training like this...the Terrorists are...one of the models they use is to attack a civilian car...nice huh...Simon, condemn that.
I keep saying the best route for the Palis is NONVIOLENCE...the one tactic they've NOT tried...condemn the terror school without qualification Simon, if you have the courage.
the world court is a waste of time if it can't enforce anything contrary to us interests or unless the us say it's okay, it's pathetic, imo as long as the world doesn't stand up to the us and kick its ass is as long as the world deserves to get bent over and take it in the same proverbial by the us.
DH,
It would probably help if the "world court" were fair and or balanced.
Can we agree Simon that BOTH SIDES are making mistakes?
Can we agree Simon that BOTH SIDES are making mistakes?
Is it really so that both sides are making mistakes? True, both sides have imperfections, but only ONE SIDE shows hatred, anti-semitism to an extreme extent by Arabs and Palestinians alike including most of the rest of the world - Israel and the Jews are hated everywhere and there is a one sided bias which permeates the world's society at large. In spite of this immense road block, Israel has been doing and is doing all it can to be included in the free flowing economies and relationships with as many nations as possible, which is in itself an utterly difficult task. I personally believe that there may be a relative peace in the making, but I fear the effect to be shallow at best as there are too many enemies of Israel lurking around to make true peace a final reality.
Lies About Israel
Of all the charges leveled against Israel in recent years, the one that the state?s most strident critics like to repeat ad nauseam is that Israel is a ?terrorist state? or that Israel is isolated from the world community.
Tony Judt, writing in the July 1 online edition of the The Nation depicts contemporary Israel as friendless and isolated:
?Israel is utterly dependent on the United States for money, arms and diplomatic support. One or two states share common enemies with Israel; a handful of countries buy its weapons; a few others are its de facto accomplices in ignoring international treaties and secretly manufacturing nuclear weapons. But outside Washington, Israel has no friends--at the United Nations it cannot even count on the support of America's staunchest allies. Despite the political and diplomatic incompetence of the PLO (well documented in Said's writings); despite the manifest shortcomings of the Arab world at large ("lingering outside the main march of humanity"); despite Israel's own sophisticated efforts to publicize its case, the Jewish state today is widely regarded as a--the--leading threat to world peace.?
It is of course true that Israel is lacking friends among the readers of The Nation. Nor does Israel have many friends among the leftist elites of Western Europe and, for that matter, North America. One would not expect to find many champions of Israel?s case in the offices of left-wing European political parties or in the halls of academia like University of California-Berkeley.
Nevertheless, contrary to what academics at New York University like Judt may think, Israel is far from isolated and has, despite great obstacles, been able to maintain positive ties with the world?s democracies. While supporters of Israel must forever be ready to respond to the most extreme defamation of Israel?s right to exist and its right to self-defense, they must also be open to the fact that, in the past year or so, Israel has scored some important, if quiet, diplomatic victories that totally undermine the notion that Israel is the pariah state that Judt portrays it to be.
Although Israel?s political relationship with the European Union remains tainted by mutual suspicion, this has not stopped economic and scientific cooperation. Within the past week, Israel signed a major agreement with the EU regarding Israel?s investment in Galileo, which Reuters describes as ?a multi-billion dollar project due to come on line in 2008, rivaling the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) whose uses vary from landing military aircraft to helping car drivers with an electronic map on their dashboard.?
Indeed, despite strong differences on the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the EU has even held low-level discussions with Israel about the possibility of Israel one day entering the Euro currency zone. Despite the rising anti-Semitism in France and widely regarded French hostility to Israel, French mayors recently took part in a burgeoning movement to partner their towns with Israeli counterparts.
Even in the political arena, Israel is far from isolated. The recent decision by NATO to include Israel (and noticeably not Syria nor the Palestinian Authority) in a Mediterranean partnership speaks volumes as to whether, despite their sometime incendiary rhetoric, European political elites truly see Israel as a threat to world peace. If this were the case, would NATO ? an organization whose decisions are consensus-based ? offer to include the Israeli Navy in counter-proliferation initiatives? N ot a single NATO member state tried to block Israel?s inclusion into the NATO-Mediterranean partnership.
Outside of Europe, Israel has, over the past several years, been successful in reaching a wide range of agreements with various states. Israel?s strengthening ties with India, the world?s most populous democracy, are not to be underestimated, particularly given the fact that India is an emerging economic powerhouse that has a large, and increasingly political, lobby in the United States.
Despite their decision to vote against Israel in the United Nations General Assembly ? where votes are ?expressions of sentiment? and carry no legal weight whatsoever, the Central Asian republics remain on good terms with Israel. And these republics, it must be stressed, are predominantly Muslim. Despite rising Islamism in East Asia, Israel has a friend in the former president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, who recently told Israelis, through an interview with Ha?aretz, that ?Israel has a reputation as a nation with a high regard for God and religion [and]?. there is then no reason we have to be against Israel.?
Israel has also recently upgraded its relationships with two important East African nations, both of which have substantial Muslim populations. While Eritrea, an observer in the Arab League, recently announced its intention to open an embassy in Tel Aviv, Ethiopia recently signed a series of cultural and scientific agreements. This was in tandem with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi?s June visit to Israel. In North Africa, Israel has full diplomatic ties with Mauritania, a full member of the Arab League and maintains cordial, but quiet ties, with Morocco and has done so for the past several decades. It should also be noted that Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, both majority Muslim states, voted against the United Nations General Assembly resolution that referred Israel?s anti-terrorism fence to the International Court of Justice.
It has long been a staple of pro-Palestinian activism to portray Israel as far more isolated internationally than it really is. This is in line with the hard-left Marxist discourse that, despite the rising tide of Islamism in the West Bank and Gaza, remains an important component of the anti-Zionist discourse. This is not to say that Israel doesn?t have many enemies in the world or to diminish the anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist mood that has long dominated the United Nations General Assembly, dominated it is by non-democratic regimes. It is simply to point out that the hysterical rhetoric employed by Judt is more wishful thinking on his part (and on the part of many isolated academics who have no influence in the corridors of power, be it in Washington or London) than reality. It is this thinking, blinded by hate, that has long been the Achilles? heel of the Palestinians. They want to believe that Israel is as hated by the rest of the world as it is by the fringe leftist readers of The Nation. The Galileo GPS and President Wahid indicate otherwise.
Jonathan Eric Lewis is a New York-based political writer and can be reached at [email protected].
just testing..........................
The wall is a land-grab by an extremist state and is rightly condemned, just as other terrorist acts are condemned.
This really gets me. The Palestinians are sitting on land once owned by Jordon who gave up claim to the area years ago. So, whose land is being grabbed since the Palestinians have never had a state? The wall is there for defensive purposes to keep out suicide murderers and it is working, which is probably the reason there is so much crying about it.
I have seen suggestions on this board that perhaps Israel should just roll over and play dead and let the Palestinians take over all the land between the sea and the Jordon river. Does anyone realize what the result of that would be ?? There would be a blood bath you would not believe. It would result in another dictatorship such as the one Iraq had before the Americans arrived. Unless of course, you think the Palestinians would sudden become Jew loving peaceful people.
Don't think the Jews are going to leave anytime soon, as it is highly unlikely they wish to march back into the gas chambers.
Simon,
If a Muslim broke into your house, shoved an AK in your face and they said, "Infidal!! 2 Choices!!! Convert or Die!!"
Which would you choose?
This is the goal of Islam, to convert the world into a Muslim world, it's in their Koran. They've been doing this for 1,500 years and they're still doing it today. There can be no exception, no deviation, no compromise. You are either for Allah or you are against Allah.
This is what makes Islam dangerous.
Yiz
Yizuman, you really are a zenephobic wuss.
I very much doubt that a Muslim would do that ... I have known muslims and they have always been very nice and decent people.
I
very much doubt that a Muslim would do that ... I have known muslims and they have always been very nice and decent people
Simon, do you doubt that any Muslim would do that, or do you doubt just some of them would do that.
I have this image of American and Jew Nick Berg having his head cut off while he screamed.. I think you and yizuman both made the same mistake, both of you seemed to imply all Muslims would act in a certain way. Obviously most of them would not act the way Yizuman suggested, but some would act in the same manner as those that killed Nick Berg , and those are the low lifes that very well could end up in power, in Israel.
To sum up, most do not wish to put up with having a gun put in our face and forced to accept any Religion, but that is exactly what could happen if the Palestinians took over what is now Israel.
