Gaza is just the latest battleground in the Iranian attempt to expand their influence in the Middle East and eventually dominate the region. Iran will continue to fight to the death of the last Palestinian, and Israel is now sadly more than willing to accomodate them.
If the Palestinians were smart, they'd take themselves out of harms way. Put in place a government that actually acts for their own benefit. Recognize Israel's right to exist (you lost the past wars, just accept it like the Egyptians and Jordanians did), and offer real peace in return for international recognition of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank. If they do that, the US and the international community will put such pressure on Israel that they would have to accept the arrangement as well. The Palestinians would get immense levels of outside aid; and could expect peace and a level of prosperity beyond their dreams in one generation.
The reason it doesn't happen is that Iran and the Islamic fundamentalists don't want it to happen. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict works greatly to their benefit. The bloodier the better. They'll do anything to stop a real peace settlement, including slaughtering rival Palestinians. So how about looking beyond Israel, and seeing who's really benefiting from the present bloody status quo, and placing the some real blame where it's due.
I have very, very shallowly perused anti-Semitic and white supremacist websites and literature. (Maybe ten visits total in my lifetime). I have had lengthy discussions with a Neo-Nazi in the military (who we all thought was a plant, because he was so intelligent, and overall a nice guy). I know how anti-Semitics think, and I know how supremacists think. I know the criteria they seek to justify their beliefs, and I know the triggers and the patterns they have been taught to detect that verifies their world view. And I have come to a few conclusions.
1. The Zionist, Right-Wing, Neo-Con, pro-Israel groups, or movements, if you will, have a racist and elitist core at their center.
2. Crying wolf, using "Jew-Hater," "Anti-Semitic" and slinging Nazi comparisons to those who disagree with or see wrongdoing on the part of those who proclaim their Judaic identity as the reasons for their actions, is just fuel to the anti-Semitic fire. It doesn't enlighten, it doesn't explain, it doesn’t seek understanding. It is an assault.
3. The above groups of people use victim-hood as a shield against criticism. The Holocaust, the Jewish historical narrative of never-ending persecution and pogrom, is thrown up as a flare to distract from the issue at hand. Again, this just verifies anti-Semitic beliefs. If you refuse to openly engage your critics and honestly justify your behaviour, then you must be guilty of, or hiding, something.
4. The above groups are almost identical in their beliefs, rhetoric and behavior, to White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis. Just cut and past some articles from each, and interchange “Jew” with “Muslim” and see what appears on the page. A journalist in Canada did that once, and was fired. I guess he or she exposed an ugly, and dangerous, truth.
5. We each have a world-view. Economists, political scientists, natural scientists, have them; our families and our cultures help shape our world-views; and our religious and spiritual beliefs help to shape our world-views. Our world-views affect how we act in the world at large. They inform and guide us. All of these institutions and belief systems are up to scrutiny in the public sphere as to their morality, their effectiveness, their ethics, their accuracy in reflecting reality (I can’t find the right word). I have seen discussions, many, many discussions, on the ethics, morality, and usefulness of Christianity. I have seen discussions regarding the inherent violence or the inherent peace of Islam. Yet, somehow, Judaism escapes this scrutiny. Somehow, it is forbidden to ask: Is Judaism racist? Is Judaism a religion of peace, or a religion of war? Does Israel use Judaism as a foundation for their existence, and if so, does it inform and guide their policies and actions, both foreign and domestic? These questions are never asked –indeed, to broach the subject would bring torrents of criticism on the asker. Why?
I know who I am, and your name calling, you making comparisons of me to Nazis, your epithets and assumptions about me, cannot change that, and they cannot affect my opinion of myself. I took them into account, reflected upon them and found them to be groundless. It is a bully tactic. It is a scare-tactic. You want me to be marginalized in the public sphere. You want me to grow a seed of doubt as to whether or not I am evil, or if I would ever become a Nazi, and that would scare me so much, that doubt would scare me so much, that I would instinctually turn away from any thoughts about whether or not a Jew or a group of Jews or a Jewish belief could be wrong.
Yes, I was over-the top in my posts. Yes, I name-called and generalized. But I never generalized towards Jews as a whole. My letter which you use as unmistakable proof of my “Jew-Hating” status was directed at Israel and Zionists. And I stand by it.
If someone believes that the Judaic religion is immoral and wrong, does that make them anti-Semitic? If so, then does not someone who views Islam as immoral and wrong share the same level of immorality as the anti-Semite? If so, then many of the Jews I have seen and heard on television and the internet share the same level of immorality as anti-Semites.
And this brings me to my last point: fairness. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. It is this special-ness, this “first among equals,” this setting apart, that is the number one cause of anti-Semitism. Although most people do not subscribe to the violence and hatred of pure anti-Semitism, when they see Jews demanding special treatment, demanding to escape accountability, demanding to be treated special, and verbally assualtinjg anyone who questions or accuses them, that is the trigger. Because they know on an instinctual level that it is not fair. And people resent that.
It seems strange that our "leaders" have no problem whatsoever with Israel's "foray" (again) into Gaza. But woe to Russia, for doing similar to Georgia. -- 1guru1
Actually, it is not similar to Georgia. For those who escape the Zionist-controlled American media, Saakashvili is an Israeli-U.S. controlled puppet. His illegal attack on the civilians of Osetta was unprovoked, and Russia, in a display of overwhelming (and perhaps uncontrolled) force, smacked his pansy-ass down.
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Examples of Hate Speech:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/palestinians.html?q=palestinians.html
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox