Ufocurious
Paranormal Maven
Thanks Flipper
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Gaza Israel bombings
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Tyger
Paranormal Adept
US money pays Israel for it's military and makes the oppression of the Palestinians possible. US money has subsidized every Israeli war. Without a nod from the US Israel would not blink. In significant and understandable ways the Palestinians see Israel as America's proxy. America is the enemy. Can you blame them? That is the context for the joy.
truthseeker
Paranormal Maven
No U.S should rather give money to those who worship death and destruction, kill anyone who believes in democracy, exterminate gays and force women to undergo genital mutilation? That's the culture we need to support?
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
You're too emotionally involved. Those are not our issues. Again, positing the extreme fundamentalist views of various religions is not helpful. You think the Israeli's - or the US - are either of them squeaky clean?
Passion is not needed here - nor emotional partisanship. We need to look with clear eyes and try to see our way to a solution - and that means not taking sides but seeing the validity of both sides. Do the Israelis have a right to destroy the tunnels found? Absolutely. Do they have a right to continue shelling schools and hospitals? No. Do the Palestinians have a right to feel desperate? If you know anything about the conditions under which they have to live, they do. What is the solution? We know what the solution needs to be. Can it be achieved? Yes, if the US stays Israel's military hand by not selling more ammunition to Israel - which it just did today after Israel destroyed a school, killing and wounding children and UN workers.
This is a metaphor for the Israel/Palestinian situation - only 1:00 minute or so long - an old video and well known -
USS Montana meets... (with English subtitles)
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
I just got this in my daily feed - it's about relationships. I think it holds for Israelis and Palestinians - for a lot of situations, in fact. Maybe one day there will be the South African model of forgiveness. Until then we have to deal with what we are being dealt by embittered and angry populations, caught in the tape-loop of grudges and pay-back.
10 Toxic Relationships Mentally Strong People Avoid
LINK: 10 Toxic Relationships Mentally Strong People Avoid | The Mind Unleashed
5. RELATIONSHIPS WHERE PAST BLAME IS USED TO JUSTIFY PRESENT RIGHTEOUSNESS.
When someone you’re in a relationship with continues to blame you for your past mistakes, your relationship is toxic. If both people in the relationship do this it becomes a hopeless battle to see who has screwed up the most over the years, and therefore who owes the other one more of an apology.
When you use someone else’s past wrongdoings in order to try and justify your own present righteousness, it’s a lose-lose situation. Not only are you dodging the current (valid) issue itself, but you’re digging up guilt and bitterness from the past to manipulate the other person into feeling wrong in the present.
If this goes on long enough, both people in the relationship eventually spend most of their energy trying to prove that they’re less guilty than the other rather than solving the present problem. They spend all of their time trying to be less wrong for each other instead of being more right for each other.
You must recognize that by choosing to be in a relationship with someone, you are choosing to be with all of their prior mistakes. If you don’t accept those mistakes, then ultimately, you do not accept them. If something bothered you that much in the past, you should have dealt with it then. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. (Angel and I discuss this in detail in the “Relationships” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)
6. RELATIONSHIPS BUILT ON DAILY LIES.
Trust is the foundation of a healthy relationship, and when trust is broken it takes time and willingness on the part of both people to repair it and heal. All too often, I’ll hear a coaching client say something like, “I didn’t tell him but I didn’t lie about it, either.” This statement is a contradiction, as omissions are lies too. If you’re covering up your tracks in any way, it’s only a matter of time before the truth is revealed and trust in the relationship is broken.
Remember, an honest adversary is always better than a friend or lover who lies. Pay less attention to what people say, and more attention to what they do. Their actions will show you the truth in the long run.
If you catch someone you care about lying to you, speak up. Some people will lie to you repeatedly in a vicious effort to get you to repeat their lies over and over until they effectively become true. Don’t partake in their nonsense. Don’t let their lies be your reality. Don’t be afraid to stand up for the truth – YOUR truth. Forgiveness and reconciliation can’t begin until this truth is told.
7. RELATIONSHIPS THAT LACK FORGIVENESS AND THE WILLINGNESS TO REBUILD TRUST.
Failing to understand that broken trust CAN be repaired leads to a grim future.
When trust is broken, which happens in nearly every long-term relationship at some point, it’s essential to understand that it can be repaired, provided both people are willing to do the hard work of self-growth.
In fact, it’s at this time, when it feels like the solid bedrock of your relationship has crumbled into dust, that you’re being given an opportunity to shed the patterns and dynamics with each other that haven’t been serving you. It’s painful work and a painful time, and the impulse will be to leave, especially if you believe that broken trust cannot be repaired. But if you understand that trust levels rise and fall over the course of a lifetime you’ll be more likely to find the strength to hang in, hang on, and grow together.
8. RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH PASSIVE AGGRESSION TRUMPS COMMUNICATION.
Passive aggressive behavior takes many forms but can generally be described as a non-verbal aggression that manifests in negative behavior. Instead of openly expressing how they feel, someone makes subtle, annoying gestures directed at you. Instead of saying what’s actually upsetting you, you find small and petty ways to take jabs at someone until they pay attention and get upset.
This is obviously a toxic relationship situation. It shows that you two are not comfortable communicating openly and clearly with one another. A person has no reason to be passive-aggressive if they feel safe expressing any worries or insecurities within the relationship. A person will never feel a need to hide behind passive aggression if they feel like they won’t be judged or criticized for what they are thinking.
In healthy relationships, feelings and desires are shared openly. Make it clear that the other person is not necessarily responsible or obligated to your ideas and opinions, but that you’d love to have their support. If they care about you, they will likely give it, or at least compromise in some way.
9. RELATIONSHIPS GOVERNED BY EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL.
Emotional blackmail is when someone applies an emotional penalty against you when you don’t do exactly what they want. The key condition here is that you change your behavior, against your will, as a result of the emotional blackmail. In other words, absent the emotional blackmail you would do differently, but you fear the penalty so you give in. This is extremely toxic behavior.
The solution, as with passive aggression, is simply better communication. There should never be a penalty, just an honest conversation. It’s crucial for both people in a relationship to know that negative thoughts and feelings can be communicated safely to one another without there being penalties and harsh repercussions. Otherwise people will suppress their true thoughts and feelings which leads to an environment of distrust and manipulation.
Perhaps there’s something that really bothers you about your friend or lover. Why aren’t you saying something? Are you afraid they’ll get upset? Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. Either way you need to deal with it upfront, constructively, and avoid burying it until it worsens, festers and explodes out of you.
Remember, it’s fine to get upset at someone you care about or to not like something about them. That’s called being an imperfect human being. Understand that committing to a person and always liking a person’s choices is not the same thing. One can be committed to someone and not like everything about them. On the contrary, two people who are capable of communicating sincere criticism towards one another without judgment or emotional blackmail will strengthen their commitment to one another in the long run.
10 Toxic Relationships Mentally Strong People Avoid
LINK: 10 Toxic Relationships Mentally Strong People Avoid | The Mind Unleashed
5. RELATIONSHIPS WHERE PAST BLAME IS USED TO JUSTIFY PRESENT RIGHTEOUSNESS.
When someone you’re in a relationship with continues to blame you for your past mistakes, your relationship is toxic. If both people in the relationship do this it becomes a hopeless battle to see who has screwed up the most over the years, and therefore who owes the other one more of an apology.
When you use someone else’s past wrongdoings in order to try and justify your own present righteousness, it’s a lose-lose situation. Not only are you dodging the current (valid) issue itself, but you’re digging up guilt and bitterness from the past to manipulate the other person into feeling wrong in the present.
If this goes on long enough, both people in the relationship eventually spend most of their energy trying to prove that they’re less guilty than the other rather than solving the present problem. They spend all of their time trying to be less wrong for each other instead of being more right for each other.
You must recognize that by choosing to be in a relationship with someone, you are choosing to be with all of their prior mistakes. If you don’t accept those mistakes, then ultimately, you do not accept them. If something bothered you that much in the past, you should have dealt with it then. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. (Angel and I discuss this in detail in the “Relationships” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)
6. RELATIONSHIPS BUILT ON DAILY LIES.
Trust is the foundation of a healthy relationship, and when trust is broken it takes time and willingness on the part of both people to repair it and heal. All too often, I’ll hear a coaching client say something like, “I didn’t tell him but I didn’t lie about it, either.” This statement is a contradiction, as omissions are lies too. If you’re covering up your tracks in any way, it’s only a matter of time before the truth is revealed and trust in the relationship is broken.
Remember, an honest adversary is always better than a friend or lover who lies. Pay less attention to what people say, and more attention to what they do. Their actions will show you the truth in the long run.
If you catch someone you care about lying to you, speak up. Some people will lie to you repeatedly in a vicious effort to get you to repeat their lies over and over until they effectively become true. Don’t partake in their nonsense. Don’t let their lies be your reality. Don’t be afraid to stand up for the truth – YOUR truth. Forgiveness and reconciliation can’t begin until this truth is told.
7. RELATIONSHIPS THAT LACK FORGIVENESS AND THE WILLINGNESS TO REBUILD TRUST.
Failing to understand that broken trust CAN be repaired leads to a grim future.
When trust is broken, which happens in nearly every long-term relationship at some point, it’s essential to understand that it can be repaired, provided both people are willing to do the hard work of self-growth.
In fact, it’s at this time, when it feels like the solid bedrock of your relationship has crumbled into dust, that you’re being given an opportunity to shed the patterns and dynamics with each other that haven’t been serving you. It’s painful work and a painful time, and the impulse will be to leave, especially if you believe that broken trust cannot be repaired. But if you understand that trust levels rise and fall over the course of a lifetime you’ll be more likely to find the strength to hang in, hang on, and grow together.
8. RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH PASSIVE AGGRESSION TRUMPS COMMUNICATION.
Passive aggressive behavior takes many forms but can generally be described as a non-verbal aggression that manifests in negative behavior. Instead of openly expressing how they feel, someone makes subtle, annoying gestures directed at you. Instead of saying what’s actually upsetting you, you find small and petty ways to take jabs at someone until they pay attention and get upset.
This is obviously a toxic relationship situation. It shows that you two are not comfortable communicating openly and clearly with one another. A person has no reason to be passive-aggressive if they feel safe expressing any worries or insecurities within the relationship. A person will never feel a need to hide behind passive aggression if they feel like they won’t be judged or criticized for what they are thinking.
In healthy relationships, feelings and desires are shared openly. Make it clear that the other person is not necessarily responsible or obligated to your ideas and opinions, but that you’d love to have their support. If they care about you, they will likely give it, or at least compromise in some way.
9. RELATIONSHIPS GOVERNED BY EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL.
Emotional blackmail is when someone applies an emotional penalty against you when you don’t do exactly what they want. The key condition here is that you change your behavior, against your will, as a result of the emotional blackmail. In other words, absent the emotional blackmail you would do differently, but you fear the penalty so you give in. This is extremely toxic behavior.
The solution, as with passive aggression, is simply better communication. There should never be a penalty, just an honest conversation. It’s crucial for both people in a relationship to know that negative thoughts and feelings can be communicated safely to one another without there being penalties and harsh repercussions. Otherwise people will suppress their true thoughts and feelings which leads to an environment of distrust and manipulation.
Perhaps there’s something that really bothers you about your friend or lover. Why aren’t you saying something? Are you afraid they’ll get upset? Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. Either way you need to deal with it upfront, constructively, and avoid burying it until it worsens, festers and explodes out of you.
Remember, it’s fine to get upset at someone you care about or to not like something about them. That’s called being an imperfect human being. Understand that committing to a person and always liking a person’s choices is not the same thing. One can be committed to someone and not like everything about them. On the contrary, two people who are capable of communicating sincere criticism towards one another without judgment or emotional blackmail will strengthen their commitment to one another in the long run.
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Tyger
Paranormal Adept
Then we have this - evidence of how keenly a new way of thinking and framing this situation is needed -
The Ugly Tide Washing Across Europe:
The 'Gaza generation' seems worried about Arab deaths only when Jews are involved
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/articles/bernard-henri-levy-the-ugly-tide-washing-across-europe-140667402
This was prophesied by the way - in the late 60's and early 70's - by observers of the political scene in the Middle East. There were concerns about the refugee camps being breeding grounds for militancy. Israel was warned that their obduracy - their refusals to give back Jerusalem and the rest would mean a high price would be paid in future generations. It's all coming true. Nothing of this is a surprise.
In the end - when Israel cannot contain itself and rationalizes that a nuclear strike is all that is left for it to 'defend itself ' and presses the button, sends off the dirty bombs - it will matter not one whit who was in the right, who was in the wrong. Nothing will matter in the face of the suffering all of us will endure. So rather than sides - lets look at solutions - and such solutions mean that one must affix an unblinking eye on the situation's history and causes - to understand the unraveling of this gordian knot.
The Ugly Tide Washing Across Europe:
The 'Gaza generation' seems worried about Arab deaths only when Jews are involved
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/articles/bernard-henri-levy-the-ugly-tide-washing-across-europe-140667402
This was prophesied by the way - in the late 60's and early 70's - by observers of the political scene in the Middle East. There were concerns about the refugee camps being breeding grounds for militancy. Israel was warned that their obduracy - their refusals to give back Jerusalem and the rest would mean a high price would be paid in future generations. It's all coming true. Nothing of this is a surprise.
In the end - when Israel cannot contain itself and rationalizes that a nuclear strike is all that is left for it to 'defend itself ' and presses the button, sends off the dirty bombs - it will matter not one whit who was in the right, who was in the wrong. Nothing will matter in the face of the suffering all of us will endure. So rather than sides - lets look at solutions - and such solutions mean that one must affix an unblinking eye on the situation's history and causes - to understand the unraveling of this gordian knot.
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michaelangel1453
Skilled Investigator
Tyger, Michael here. Your excusing the celebrating Palestinians is beyond the pale. As for enumerating my points, I have, in my own words. The facts are clear, and your trying to establish a moral equivalency of the Israelis and Palestinians doesn't wash. The posting of that self help stuff is just coy meaninglessness. If it came down to you sitting down with both sides and that as your handout, you'd be laughed out of the room. Besides, I don't think you really are that absurd. You're really more against the Israelis than for the Palestinians, and I think for some pretty hard, calculating reasons having to do with things other than the facts, your world view socially and politically.
But let's get to you in your own words telling us how, really and practically, you think the sequence of events would be to get Israel on this right track you keep bemoaning it is not following. Explain in detail the step by step you see this happening. Go back to my post where I pretty much chronologically listed your wishes for this using your own words. It was all there, and culminated in your seeming wish for Israel to no longer exist in its present state because the UN and
US would say enough..... I'm gonna quit spoonfeeding you your own words like pablum and you get to the gritty details. Start you off from your post above if that helps: the US stops all ammo sales to Israel, and then.....and then....and then....
But let's get to you in your own words telling us how, really and practically, you think the sequence of events would be to get Israel on this right track you keep bemoaning it is not following. Explain in detail the step by step you see this happening. Go back to my post where I pretty much chronologically listed your wishes for this using your own words. It was all there, and culminated in your seeming wish for Israel to no longer exist in its present state because the UN and
US would say enough..... I'm gonna quit spoonfeeding you your own words like pablum and you get to the gritty details. Start you off from your post above if that helps: the US stops all ammo sales to Israel, and then.....and then....and then....
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
Per usual, Randall, you post a baiting post making all sorts of claims and when that post gets answered with requests that you clarify your accusations, point by point - nothing. Just more of the same. Well, I don't have the time, few people do. I did the detailed response to see how you'd respond - and you didn't disappoint, Randall. It's the same'ol'same'ol. Do you never tire of the same old game?
Instead of being so keen to engage me in conversation - post your own views without referencing any other poster, certainly not personally (and certainly not me). Do you have that level of restraint? Make it about ideas - can you do that? That means you have to actually flesh out your own ideas and present those ideas in an articulate and coherent fashion. Can you do that? Someone who has done 'extensive advanced research' on the Vandals should. Give it a go. I have faith in you.
Exactly. The old and new imperialist powers worked together to defeat Nasser's visionary plan for Arab unity. How much better would it have been for everyone there and for the rest of us if Nasser had succeeded and put an end to colonialism, human and economic exploitation, and inevitable outrage in that immense region. I think the US politicoeconomic power structure has supported Israel and countenanced its atrocities in Gaza and elsewhere out of its own economic self-interest.
michaelangel1453
Skilled Investigator
Fair enough. And you can quit calling me Randall. That's showing some good faith that you possess a sense of reality. Your obsession with that genuinely makes me think you need certain services. Fair enough?
Now to my views, again. I think the US should continue arms sales to Israel. Israel is a sovereign nation and as such it does a lot without permission from the US. And the fact remains that both parties are steadfastly going to keep up their support of Israel as they've done for, well, forever. I think Israel should see if this just announced ceasefire really holds and if it doesn't it should increase its thus far very restrained campaign to get in there and kill anyone who points a gun at them. The tunnels should be sealed and they should make a greater effort to prevent their recurrence. This was a failing on their part, I think.
I think Israel should keep up its nuclear deterrent, as it clearly will. I can think of no country other than the US more steady and restrained on nuclear use than Israel.
I think their fellow Arabs should invest more oil wealth in improving the lives of Palestinians. They are despised by their fellow Arabs and they have more to do with their situation than Israel. Fellow is a euphemism anyway because the Arabs are slaughtering each other very efficiently all over the region. Jordan with its not so cute little despot of Abdul should do more for Palestinians and if you look at history you'll see where the Palestinian homeland largely is. Abdul years ago was touted as a cute little prince who married his foreign wife, how sweet, but he's a little prick of a despot who couldn't care less about Palestinians, like his father who joined in attacking Israel.
The region is a feakin' mess and it ain't Israel causing it in any way. The Arabs are busy running out what few Christians and Jews remain, and remember that it was ISRAEL who welcomed at least a million Jews the Arabs expelled in 1948.
There, in my own words. I simply ask for anyone (note to whom I addressed that to) to be more than nasty and namecalling and denigrating of Israelis like they're not human beings, too, and practically and realistically state their solutions. I've been very clear here. You may not agree, but that's what I think.
Now to my views, again. I think the US should continue arms sales to Israel. Israel is a sovereign nation and as such it does a lot without permission from the US. And the fact remains that both parties are steadfastly going to keep up their support of Israel as they've done for, well, forever. I think Israel should see if this just announced ceasefire really holds and if it doesn't it should increase its thus far very restrained campaign to get in there and kill anyone who points a gun at them. The tunnels should be sealed and they should make a greater effort to prevent their recurrence. This was a failing on their part, I think.
I think Israel should keep up its nuclear deterrent, as it clearly will. I can think of no country other than the US more steady and restrained on nuclear use than Israel.
I think their fellow Arabs should invest more oil wealth in improving the lives of Palestinians. They are despised by their fellow Arabs and they have more to do with their situation than Israel. Fellow is a euphemism anyway because the Arabs are slaughtering each other very efficiently all over the region. Jordan with its not so cute little despot of Abdul should do more for Palestinians and if you look at history you'll see where the Palestinian homeland largely is. Abdul years ago was touted as a cute little prince who married his foreign wife, how sweet, but he's a little prick of a despot who couldn't care less about Palestinians, like his father who joined in attacking Israel.
The region is a feakin' mess and it ain't Israel causing it in any way. The Arabs are busy running out what few Christians and Jews remain, and remember that it was ISRAEL who welcomed at least a million Jews the Arabs expelled in 1948.
There, in my own words. I simply ask for anyone (note to whom I addressed that to) to be more than nasty and namecalling and denigrating of Israelis like they're not human beings, too, and practically and realistically state their solutions. I've been very clear here. You may not agree, but that's what I think.
michaelangel1453
Skilled Investigator
Before I get called on it, my fault in getting little King Abdullah's facts wrong. Though he married a Palestinian, his country has been less than hospitable to them. And his father Hussein was a despot like he is, and joined in war against Israel. These two are held up as enlightened and far from it.
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
Here is another '5' run-down of various points regarding the conflict. The original article is in Spanish. I've supplied a translation. What is interesting to note is that in the last few days Gaza's television, radio and newspaper offices have been demolished - impacting the ability of Gaza journalists to report, if they survived the attacks.
Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos/
Five Myths of Israeli rhetoric in Gaza denied
Texto completo en: Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos – RT
LINK: Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos – RT
TEXT:
To justify its offensive in Gaza, Israel usually presents several arguments spread in their media. However, many of these arguments do not correspond with reality.
All about this topic
Israel's military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip started 24 days ago. It has already resulted in more than 1,300 dead and 7,500 wounded. The Israeli media used all kinds of methods to justify the operations. In the media offensive there was dehumanizing of the Palestinians and escape blame for the death of civilians, according to The Nation.
The current situation repeated offensives of 2008-2009 and 2012, both with war tactics used in the management of public perception. Each operation is justified by the same arguments that are considered solid.
The Nation has compiled a list of five myths spread about interventions of Israel in Palestine.
1. "Israel exercises its right to defend itself"
The Gaza Strip is not a neighboring state of Israel. The Palestinian territories are under Israeli jurisdiction. As Israel occupies this region, it must comply with international laws and not laws of war but of occupation. It is impossible to occupy territory and simultaneously declare war against same.
The laws of occupation are more stringent in terms of protection of civilians, while the laws of war military balance the advantages with the suffering of the population. Yes, Israel has every right to protect itself against Hamas rockets, but it also should exercise more restraint in their actions that harm Palestinian civilians.
2. "Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005"
This argument assumes that Israel ended the occupation of Gaza after withdrawing its forces in 2005. But Israel never lost control of the state functions in Gaza. Territorial waters, airspace, data on population and other aspects were controlled by Israel, what qualifies as occupation and is subject under applicable law.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities used this control to besiege the Gaza Strip during past conflicts.
3. "Israeli offensive force was caused by missiles fired from Gaza"
The current operation did not begin with a missile, but it broke after a search operation three young Israelis allegedly kidnapped by Hamas. During this operation the Israeli police arrested around 800 Palestinians without an official charge, killed 9 civilians and carried out more than 1,300 records in homes and offices Gaza. Today there is no definitive evidence for the involvement of Hamas in this kidnapping.
In addition, statistics show a direct correlation: the more peaceful is the relationship between Israel and Gaza, fewer missiles are launched against Israel.
4. "Israel avoids harming civilians, but Hamas does deliberately"
It is true that the basic missiles Hamas possesses do not have any precision equipment and, of course, their attacks are indiscriminate. This is not disputed. However, it seems doubtful that Israel would change its attitude if Hamas attacked precisely military objects.
For its part, Israel has advanced technologies and high-precision weapons that help decrease the number of casualties among civilians. But since 2006 Israel adheres to a military doctrine called Dahiya Doctrine infrastructure which presupposes attack as a form of asymmetric warfare to eliminate the risk of an urban guerrilla war. This leaves casualties and excessive damage during all Israeli operations in Gaza.
5. "Hamas hides weapons in houses, mosques and schools, and used human shields"
This widespread argument is used to justify attacks against definitely civilian objects such as schools or mosques. But despite cases in which Hamas, in fact, concealed weapons in UN schools, and were discovered by staff and reported, no further damage.
In all other cases, Israel was unable to provide definitive evidence of the presence of weapons in civilian buildings. According to the Human Rights Watch report on the conflict in Lebanon in 2006, Hezbollah militiamen kept their weapons always in abandoned buildings or in distant bunkers, but the rate of civilian casualties was high because of Israel's indiscriminate attacks.
Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos/
Five Myths of Israeli rhetoric in Gaza denied
Texto completo en: Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos – RT
LINK: Cinco mitos de la retórica israelí en Gaza desmentidos – RT
TEXT:
To justify its offensive in Gaza, Israel usually presents several arguments spread in their media. However, many of these arguments do not correspond with reality.
All about this topic
Israel's military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip started 24 days ago. It has already resulted in more than 1,300 dead and 7,500 wounded. The Israeli media used all kinds of methods to justify the operations. In the media offensive there was dehumanizing of the Palestinians and escape blame for the death of civilians, according to The Nation.
The current situation repeated offensives of 2008-2009 and 2012, both with war tactics used in the management of public perception. Each operation is justified by the same arguments that are considered solid.
The Nation has compiled a list of five myths spread about interventions of Israel in Palestine.
1. "Israel exercises its right to defend itself"
The Gaza Strip is not a neighboring state of Israel. The Palestinian territories are under Israeli jurisdiction. As Israel occupies this region, it must comply with international laws and not laws of war but of occupation. It is impossible to occupy territory and simultaneously declare war against same.
The laws of occupation are more stringent in terms of protection of civilians, while the laws of war military balance the advantages with the suffering of the population. Yes, Israel has every right to protect itself against Hamas rockets, but it also should exercise more restraint in their actions that harm Palestinian civilians.
2. "Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005"
This argument assumes that Israel ended the occupation of Gaza after withdrawing its forces in 2005. But Israel never lost control of the state functions in Gaza. Territorial waters, airspace, data on population and other aspects were controlled by Israel, what qualifies as occupation and is subject under applicable law.
Furthermore, Israeli authorities used this control to besiege the Gaza Strip during past conflicts.
3. "Israeli offensive force was caused by missiles fired from Gaza"
The current operation did not begin with a missile, but it broke after a search operation three young Israelis allegedly kidnapped by Hamas. During this operation the Israeli police arrested around 800 Palestinians without an official charge, killed 9 civilians and carried out more than 1,300 records in homes and offices Gaza. Today there is no definitive evidence for the involvement of Hamas in this kidnapping.
In addition, statistics show a direct correlation: the more peaceful is the relationship between Israel and Gaza, fewer missiles are launched against Israel.
4. "Israel avoids harming civilians, but Hamas does deliberately"
It is true that the basic missiles Hamas possesses do not have any precision equipment and, of course, their attacks are indiscriminate. This is not disputed. However, it seems doubtful that Israel would change its attitude if Hamas attacked precisely military objects.
For its part, Israel has advanced technologies and high-precision weapons that help decrease the number of casualties among civilians. But since 2006 Israel adheres to a military doctrine called Dahiya Doctrine infrastructure which presupposes attack as a form of asymmetric warfare to eliminate the risk of an urban guerrilla war. This leaves casualties and excessive damage during all Israeli operations in Gaza.
5. "Hamas hides weapons in houses, mosques and schools, and used human shields"
This widespread argument is used to justify attacks against definitely civilian objects such as schools or mosques. But despite cases in which Hamas, in fact, concealed weapons in UN schools, and were discovered by staff and reported, no further damage.
In all other cases, Israel was unable to provide definitive evidence of the presence of weapons in civilian buildings. According to the Human Rights Watch report on the conflict in Lebanon in 2006, Hezbollah militiamen kept their weapons always in abandoned buildings or in distant bunkers, but the rate of civilian casualties was high because of Israel's indiscriminate attacks.
flipper
Paranormal Adept
The result has been dithering and delay. And Palestinian deaths. Always more deaths. But now it seems the tide has shifted, for Gaza and the Israeli elections have stripped away these last illusions. For what could failure look like, if not the rubble of Gaza? It is not just the shocking scale of the brutality, which belies any notion of a ‘moderate’ Israeli government or any good faith whatever on Israel’s part. The whole attack was is the direct result, a necessary component, and the final proof of the two-state fraud. How else could Israel have attacked Gaza so horribly, so cruelly, if security for Jewish settlements in the West Bank were not ensured through deals with Mr Abbas’s Palestinian Authority? Yet how else could the Palestinian Authority enforce that security–that is, play the increasingly strained part of an ‘interim governing authority’–without the two-state fig leaf? Only by ensuring that the PA was in position to suppress any mass uprising by outraged Palestinians in West Bank cities now suffocated by Jewish settlements could Israel dare to strike Gaza the way it did. So the two-state solution/illusion had to be kept alive in order to prop up the PA in order to attack Gaza.
The Two-State Solution and the Ruin in Gaza | Global Research
I fully appreciate the difficulties standing in the way of the establishment of a unified secular democratic state in Palestine in the near future. However, in the long run, this is the only solution capable of keeping the Middle East and the rest of the world away from the dangerous brink towards which all are heading. On the one hand, it can forestall the victory of Zionist racism which would open the gates to the forces of bigotry and intolerance on this side that have been pushing in from the sidelines and clamouring to meet fire with fire. On the other hand, if that solution succeeded in Palestine, it would set into motion a tide of democratisation that would sweep the entire region, just as occurred in Eastern Europe in the 1990s. In addition, it would prevent the fragmentation of the region and stimulate a dynamic process of social and economic development.
No Room for Two States: The Case for a Single State Solution for Palestine is Irrefutable | Global Research
Search | Global Research
flipper
Paranormal Adept
Like Saudi Arabia and Egypt?
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
The last man exemplifies the reasonableness of most of those interviewed - one state, one government. They are fine with it.
The name will be an issue. One man's suggestion is that it be called 'The Land of Palestine'. Sounds good to me. But it would more likely have to be a hyphenated name, like Palestine-Israel. How about The Land of Canaan?
Fact is - if I heard right - Israel is 40% Arab. That's a higher percentage than I have heard to this point. To me that is a huge percentage. Of the remaining 60% some have to be Christians (unless the Christian Arabs are conflated into the Arab percentage) and then some have to be secular Jews. It becomes a question what percentage of conservative Jews - that are driving a great deal of this - make up the Israeli electorate. It might be equivalent to the Tea Party in the US - as a minority - governing the policies of the US. (Maybe they do so already). I don't have much knowledge of this aspect of things.
The woman at around 5:00/6:00 was very insightful - people think two states because of the conflict, but when no conflict one state looks fine. She brings up the very good point that trying for two states would be impossible given the complications with the land divisions and settlements. One state.
We have precedents for this: the merging of East and West Germany, which was very hard economically on West Germany. To do the merging would take an enormous shift in attitude in Tel Aviv. I suspect the Palestinians would be grateful to be able to be free and have the ability to get an education and finally be safe. I have a hunch that a united Palestine-Israel would be a powerhouse economically. If it was genuinely a democratic country and all parties participated with goodwill in the process - the effect on the region - and the world - would be seismic. The area has a natural tourist economy - and with peace and unification it would boom. It's a win-win. It's the religious extremists that have to be taken in hand.
flipper
Paranormal Adept
I was watching a program on Democracy Now some time ago. It was about how a group had put all the T.V. video from 9/11 in one place and you could watch the video from all the networks hour by hour. Anyway the fellow who was head of the group said that the TV footage described as Palestinians celebrating the horrors of 911 was in fact Palestinians celebrating the signing of a peace accord with Israel. I will try to find it, but it was some time ago. The current death toll alone of Palestinian men women and children is over 1300.
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
Israeli Interior Minister: “The Goal of the Operation Is to Send Gaza Back to the Middle Ages”, “Destroying All the Infrastructure Including Roads and Water”
This is happening now - as we speak, as we type, as we read - now.
This is inhumane - and it is intentional. The 72-hour Ceasefire - for 'humanitarian reasons' - will take effect on Friday. It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic.
90% Of People In Gaza Now Have No Electricity
TEXT: "With the only power plant in Gaza destroyed by Israel, 1.6 million people are without electricity and 2 in 3 don’t have access to safe water or basic sanitation."
Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness
LINK: Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness | Informed Comment
Text: "Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying its only power plant. Gaza can no longer generate its own electricity. Without electricity, the water purification plants cannot operate and the drinking water ends up being mixed with sewage or salt water. Without electricity, patients on life support in the hospitals just die, even if Israel does not bomb the hospital, as it has in some instances. The power plant will take the good part of a year to rebuild even after the war ends. Gaza gets some electricity from Israel and Egypt, but many of those lines have been damaged in the fighting.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have been reduced to living by candlelight after sunset. This dearth of electricity also has implications for what the outside world can know about the condition of Palestinian families there: "Israel bombing Gaza's only power plant last night has greatly diminished amount of information coming out. No power. No phones. No twitter."
Israel has completely reduced to rubble some 5,000 homes and damaged 26,000. If you figure that Palestinians in Gaza live on average 5 in a dwelling, there would be roughly 340,000 domiciles in Gaza. Israel has therefore destroyed or damaged about ten percent of the housing stock. This is on top of past campaigns of indiscriminate and wanton bombing campaigns. Since Israel keeps Gaza under blockade, it won’t receive the necessary materials to rebuild. The Israelis, having bald-facedly stolen the homes and farms of the people of Gaza, won’t be satisfied until they are forced to sleep in open fields.
Israel has forced some 200,000 Palestinians to flew their homes. But since the Gaza Strip is so small, they have no place to go. Israel won’t let them leave the Strip, but is intensively bombarding it. Some of the places they have taken shelter, including schools and UN refugee shelters, have themselves been bombed by the Israelis.
While one can argue about whether this mortar fire or or that aerial bombing was justified, the destruction of the power plant and therefore of civilian water-purification is certainly a war crime. Babies in particular are vulnerable to dirty water, and often take revenge on their parents for the inability to give them clean water by dying. Israel is, as Rashid Khalidi argues, collectively punishing the entire Palestinian population of Gaza to punish it for being insufficiently cowed and for refusing to accept being ethnically cleansed from what is now Israel."
The view from inside Gaza as Israel increases attacks | Channel 4 News
The view from inside Gaza as Israel increases attacks | Channel 4 News - YouTube
Text: "It has been the fiercest bombardment of this 3 week conflict: scores of Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pounded targets across Gaza from the air, from land and from sea. Paul Mason reports."
Think about it - all happening in 4 to 5 kilometers (not miles) of shattered countryside. A tragedy of unbelievable proportions. It's not okay. Israel needs to be called to task for this.
The anger of the Palestinians - and by extension the Arab states - will be the whirlwind that Israel will have to inherit one day. As will we btw - we will not be exempt, lest you think this has naught to do with us 'over here' safe and sound. That is a fact. What has Israel wrought? Stupidity.
50% of the population of Gaza has been ordered to evacuate their homes - where do they go? I heard someone interviewed say that the intention is to wipe out Gaza. Consider that - 1.6 million people.
This is happening now - as we speak, as we type, as we read - now.
This is inhumane - and it is intentional. The 72-hour Ceasefire - for 'humanitarian reasons' - will take effect on Friday. It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic.90% Of People In Gaza Now Have No Electricity
TEXT: "With the only power plant in Gaza destroyed by Israel, 1.6 million people are without electricity and 2 in 3 don’t have access to safe water or basic sanitation."
Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness
LINK: Israel Bombs Gaza back to Stone Age: Razes only Power Plant & Plunges Strip into Darkness | Informed Comment
Text: "Israel launched a 7-hour campaign of intensive bombing of Gaza on Tuesday, destroying its only power plant. Gaza can no longer generate its own electricity. Without electricity, the water purification plants cannot operate and the drinking water ends up being mixed with sewage or salt water. Without electricity, patients on life support in the hospitals just die, even if Israel does not bomb the hospital, as it has in some instances. The power plant will take the good part of a year to rebuild even after the war ends. Gaza gets some electricity from Israel and Egypt, but many of those lines have been damaged in the fighting.
Many Palestinians in Gaza have been reduced to living by candlelight after sunset. This dearth of electricity also has implications for what the outside world can know about the condition of Palestinian families there: "Israel bombing Gaza's only power plant last night has greatly diminished amount of information coming out. No power. No phones. No twitter."
Israel has completely reduced to rubble some 5,000 homes and damaged 26,000. If you figure that Palestinians in Gaza live on average 5 in a dwelling, there would be roughly 340,000 domiciles in Gaza. Israel has therefore destroyed or damaged about ten percent of the housing stock. This is on top of past campaigns of indiscriminate and wanton bombing campaigns. Since Israel keeps Gaza under blockade, it won’t receive the necessary materials to rebuild. The Israelis, having bald-facedly stolen the homes and farms of the people of Gaza, won’t be satisfied until they are forced to sleep in open fields.
Israel has forced some 200,000 Palestinians to flew their homes. But since the Gaza Strip is so small, they have no place to go. Israel won’t let them leave the Strip, but is intensively bombarding it. Some of the places they have taken shelter, including schools and UN refugee shelters, have themselves been bombed by the Israelis.
While one can argue about whether this mortar fire or or that aerial bombing was justified, the destruction of the power plant and therefore of civilian water-purification is certainly a war crime. Babies in particular are vulnerable to dirty water, and often take revenge on their parents for the inability to give them clean water by dying. Israel is, as Rashid Khalidi argues, collectively punishing the entire Palestinian population of Gaza to punish it for being insufficiently cowed and for refusing to accept being ethnically cleansed from what is now Israel."
The view from inside Gaza as Israel increases attacks | Channel 4 News
The view from inside Gaza as Israel increases attacks | Channel 4 News - YouTube
Text: "It has been the fiercest bombardment of this 3 week conflict: scores of Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pounded targets across Gaza from the air, from land and from sea. Paul Mason reports."
Think about it - all happening in 4 to 5 kilometers (not miles) of shattered countryside. A tragedy of unbelievable proportions. It's not okay. Israel needs to be called to task for this.
The anger of the Palestinians - and by extension the Arab states - will be the whirlwind that Israel will have to inherit one day. As will we btw - we will not be exempt, lest you think this has naught to do with us 'over here' safe and sound. That is a fact. What has Israel wrought? Stupidity.
50% of the population of Gaza has been ordered to evacuate their homes - where do they go? I heard someone interviewed say that the intention is to wipe out Gaza. Consider that - 1.6 million people.
Last edited:
Tyger
Paranormal Adept
Collective Punishment in Gaza
LINK: Collective Punishment in Gaza - The New Yorker
TEXT: "Three days after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the current war in Gaza, he held a press conference in Tel Aviv during which he said, in Hebrew, according to the Times of Israel, “I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”
It’s worth listening carefully when Netanyahu speaks to the Israeli people. What is going on in Palestine today is not really about Hamas. It is not about rockets. It is not about “human shields” or terrorism or tunnels. It is about Israel’s permanent control over Palestinian land and Palestinian lives. That is what Netanyahu is really saying, and that is what he now admits he has “always” talked about. It is about an unswerving, decades-long Israeli policy of denying Palestine self-determination, freedom, and sovereignty.
What Israel is doing in Gaza now is collective punishment. It is punishment for Gaza’s refusal to be a docile ghetto. It is punishment for the gall of Palestinians in unifying, and of Hamas and other factions in responding to Israel’s siege and its provocations with resistance, armed or otherwise, after Israel repeatedly reacted to unarmed protest with crushing force. Despite years of ceasefires and truces, the siege of Gaza has never been lifted.
As Netanyahu’s own words show, however, Israel will accept nothing short of the acquiescence of Palestinians to their own subordination. It will accept only a Palestinian “state” that is stripped of all the attributes of a real state: control over security, borders, airspace, maritime limits, contiguity, and, therefore, sovereignty. The twenty-three-year charade of the “peace process” has shown that this is all Israel is offering, with the full approval of Washington. Whenever the Palestinians have resisted that pathetic fate (as any nation would), Israel has punished them for their insolence. This is not new.
Punishing Palestinians for existing has a long history. It was Israel’s policy before Hamas and its rudimentary rockets were Israel’s boogeyman of the moment, and before Israel turned Gaza into an open-air prison, punching bag, and weapons laboratory. In 1948, Israel killed thousands of innocents, and terrorized and displaced hundreds of thousands more, in the name of creating a Jewish-majority state in a land that was then sixty-five per cent Arab. In 1967, it displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians again, occupying territory that it still largely controls, forty-seven years later.
In 1982, in a quest to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization and extinguish Palestinian nationalism, Israel invaded Lebanon, killing seventeen thousand people, mostly civilians. Since the late nineteen-eighties, when Palestinians under occupation rose up, mostly by throwing stones and staging general strikes, Israel has arrested tens of thousands of Palestinians: over seven hundred and fifty thousand people have spent time in Israeli prisons since 1967, a number that amounts to forty per cent of the adult male population today. They have emerged with accounts of torture, which are substantiated by human-rights groups like B’tselem. During the second intifada, which began in 2000, Israel reinvaded the West Bank (it had never fully left). The occupation and colonization of Palestinian land continued unabated throughout the “peace process” of the nineteen-nineties, and continues to this day. And yet, in America, the discussion ignores this crucial, constantly oppressive context, and is instead too often limited to Israeli “self-defense” and the Palestinians’ supposed responsibility for their own suffering.
In the past seven or more years, Israel has besieged, tormented, and regularly attacked the Gaza Strip. The pretexts change: they elected Hamas; they refused to be docile; they refused to recognize Israel; they fired rockets; they built tunnels to circumvent the siege; and on and on. But each pretext is a red herring, because the truth of ghettos—what happens when you imprison 1.8 million people in a hundred and forty square miles, about a third of the area of New York City, with no control of borders, almost no access to the sea for fishermen (three out of the twenty kilometres allowed by the Oslo accords), no real way in or out, and with drones buzzing overhead night and day—is that, eventually, the ghetto will fight back. It was true in Soweto and Belfast, and it is true in Gaza. We might not like Hamas or some of its methods, but that is not the same as accepting the proposition that Palestinians should supinely accept the denial of their right to exist as a free people in their ancestral homeland.
This is precisely why the United States’ support of current Israeli policy is folly. Peace was achieved in Northern Ireland and in South Africa because the United States and the world realized that they had to put pressure on the stronger party, holding it accountable and ending its impunity. Northern Ireland and South Africa are far from perfect examples, but it is worth remembering that, to achieve a just outcome, it was necessary for the United States to deal with groups like the Irish Republican Army and the African National Congress, which engaged in guerrilla war and even terrorism. That was the only way to embark on a road toward true peace and reconciliation. The case of Palestine is not fundamentally different.
Instead, the United States puts its thumb on the scales in favor of the stronger party. In this surreal, upside-down vision of the world, it almost seems as if it is the Israelis who are occupied by the Palestinians, and not the other way around. In this skewed universe, the inmates of an open-air prison are besieging a nuclear-armed power with one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world.
If we are to move away from this unreality, the U.S. must either reverse its policies or abandon its claim of being an “honest broker.” If the U.S. government wants to fund and arm Israel and parrot its talking points that fly in the face of reason and international law, so be it. But it should not claim the moral high ground and intone solemnly about peace. And it should certainly not insult Palestinians by saying that it cares about them or their children, who are dying in Gaza today.
Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University and the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was an adviser to the Palestinian delegation at the Madrid-Washington Palestinian-Israeli negotiations of 1991-93. His most recent book is “Brokers of Deceit.” "
LINK: Collective Punishment in Gaza - The New Yorker
TEXT: "Three days after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the current war in Gaza, he held a press conference in Tel Aviv during which he said, in Hebrew, according to the Times of Israel, “I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”
It’s worth listening carefully when Netanyahu speaks to the Israeli people. What is going on in Palestine today is not really about Hamas. It is not about rockets. It is not about “human shields” or terrorism or tunnels. It is about Israel’s permanent control over Palestinian land and Palestinian lives. That is what Netanyahu is really saying, and that is what he now admits he has “always” talked about. It is about an unswerving, decades-long Israeli policy of denying Palestine self-determination, freedom, and sovereignty.
What Israel is doing in Gaza now is collective punishment. It is punishment for Gaza’s refusal to be a docile ghetto. It is punishment for the gall of Palestinians in unifying, and of Hamas and other factions in responding to Israel’s siege and its provocations with resistance, armed or otherwise, after Israel repeatedly reacted to unarmed protest with crushing force. Despite years of ceasefires and truces, the siege of Gaza has never been lifted.
As Netanyahu’s own words show, however, Israel will accept nothing short of the acquiescence of Palestinians to their own subordination. It will accept only a Palestinian “state” that is stripped of all the attributes of a real state: control over security, borders, airspace, maritime limits, contiguity, and, therefore, sovereignty. The twenty-three-year charade of the “peace process” has shown that this is all Israel is offering, with the full approval of Washington. Whenever the Palestinians have resisted that pathetic fate (as any nation would), Israel has punished them for their insolence. This is not new.
Punishing Palestinians for existing has a long history. It was Israel’s policy before Hamas and its rudimentary rockets were Israel’s boogeyman of the moment, and before Israel turned Gaza into an open-air prison, punching bag, and weapons laboratory. In 1948, Israel killed thousands of innocents, and terrorized and displaced hundreds of thousands more, in the name of creating a Jewish-majority state in a land that was then sixty-five per cent Arab. In 1967, it displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians again, occupying territory that it still largely controls, forty-seven years later.
In 1982, in a quest to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization and extinguish Palestinian nationalism, Israel invaded Lebanon, killing seventeen thousand people, mostly civilians. Since the late nineteen-eighties, when Palestinians under occupation rose up, mostly by throwing stones and staging general strikes, Israel has arrested tens of thousands of Palestinians: over seven hundred and fifty thousand people have spent time in Israeli prisons since 1967, a number that amounts to forty per cent of the adult male population today. They have emerged with accounts of torture, which are substantiated by human-rights groups like B’tselem. During the second intifada, which began in 2000, Israel reinvaded the West Bank (it had never fully left). The occupation and colonization of Palestinian land continued unabated throughout the “peace process” of the nineteen-nineties, and continues to this day. And yet, in America, the discussion ignores this crucial, constantly oppressive context, and is instead too often limited to Israeli “self-defense” and the Palestinians’ supposed responsibility for their own suffering.
In the past seven or more years, Israel has besieged, tormented, and regularly attacked the Gaza Strip. The pretexts change: they elected Hamas; they refused to be docile; they refused to recognize Israel; they fired rockets; they built tunnels to circumvent the siege; and on and on. But each pretext is a red herring, because the truth of ghettos—what happens when you imprison 1.8 million people in a hundred and forty square miles, about a third of the area of New York City, with no control of borders, almost no access to the sea for fishermen (three out of the twenty kilometres allowed by the Oslo accords), no real way in or out, and with drones buzzing overhead night and day—is that, eventually, the ghetto will fight back. It was true in Soweto and Belfast, and it is true in Gaza. We might not like Hamas or some of its methods, but that is not the same as accepting the proposition that Palestinians should supinely accept the denial of their right to exist as a free people in their ancestral homeland.
This is precisely why the United States’ support of current Israeli policy is folly. Peace was achieved in Northern Ireland and in South Africa because the United States and the world realized that they had to put pressure on the stronger party, holding it accountable and ending its impunity. Northern Ireland and South Africa are far from perfect examples, but it is worth remembering that, to achieve a just outcome, it was necessary for the United States to deal with groups like the Irish Republican Army and the African National Congress, which engaged in guerrilla war and even terrorism. That was the only way to embark on a road toward true peace and reconciliation. The case of Palestine is not fundamentally different.
Instead, the United States puts its thumb on the scales in favor of the stronger party. In this surreal, upside-down vision of the world, it almost seems as if it is the Israelis who are occupied by the Palestinians, and not the other way around. In this skewed universe, the inmates of an open-air prison are besieging a nuclear-armed power with one of the most sophisticated militaries in the world.
If we are to move away from this unreality, the U.S. must either reverse its policies or abandon its claim of being an “honest broker.” If the U.S. government wants to fund and arm Israel and parrot its talking points that fly in the face of reason and international law, so be it. But it should not claim the moral high ground and intone solemnly about peace. And it should certainly not insult Palestinians by saying that it cares about them or their children, who are dying in Gaza today.
Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University and the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and was an adviser to the Palestinian delegation at the Madrid-Washington Palestinian-Israeli negotiations of 1991-93. His most recent book is “Brokers of Deceit.” "
michaelangel1453
Skilled Investigator
Just an observation here. Why do the few posters on this thread do little more than post huge swaths of narrative from other sources that are clearly found through internet searches to hew to the anti Israeli side? It takes no intelligence to google and cherry pick and then post. Lazy and disingenuous.
I mentioned the NY Times in one of my posts. I like the Times, very liberal, don't always agree, but the articles try to show all sides, and commenters there keep the paper honest. A subscription, paper and/or digital, can be had for a small expenditure.
It's cheaper and easier of course to use the net to find extreme sources and videos. No one should be fooled by the sources which provide the huge walls of words, strident and hugely biased, in many of the posts here. Sad reflection indeed on due diligence, open mindedness, and scholarship. Nearly if not exactly plagiarism, and the brain abdicates the responsibility it should have to have a say before the mouth or finger takes the easy way out.
I fear, hope it's not true, that, yikes and yipes, there is little capacity to write one's own views, necessitating the use of the quick fixes provided by the world wide web.
The paucity of mainstream sources is telling and hugely illustrative.
Are there exceptions? Yes, but still a poor reflection overall.
I mentioned the NY Times in one of my posts. I like the Times, very liberal, don't always agree, but the articles try to show all sides, and commenters there keep the paper honest. A subscription, paper and/or digital, can be had for a small expenditure.
It's cheaper and easier of course to use the net to find extreme sources and videos. No one should be fooled by the sources which provide the huge walls of words, strident and hugely biased, in many of the posts here. Sad reflection indeed on due diligence, open mindedness, and scholarship. Nearly if not exactly plagiarism, and the brain abdicates the responsibility it should have to have a say before the mouth or finger takes the easy way out.
I fear, hope it's not true, that, yikes and yipes, there is little capacity to write one's own views, necessitating the use of the quick fixes provided by the world wide web.
The paucity of mainstream sources is telling and hugely illustrative.
Are there exceptions? Yes, but still a poor reflection overall.