It pulls a false flag on the USS Liberty, it builds an illegal arsenal of nuclear weapons, it sends moles to infest your media congressional academic military industrial complex, and it corrupts your politicians. It shows nothing but contempt and condescension to you, your friends, your family, your entire country.

Just like this condescending puff-piece of propaganda by Aluf Benn.

Talk about a "you're welcome"! Thanks friends!

I don't believe anything your side says about it anymore.

I don't believe anything the news media says about it anymore.

I don't believe anything the government says about it anymore.

I don't believe anything the entertainment business says about it anymore.

I don't believe that Israel has a right to exist anymore - not if they cannot live in peace with their neighbors and kinsman and not if they must subvert my government, my media and my entertainments to convince my countrymen to believe them and give them money and moral support for these war crimes and outrages.

I don't believe that Zionists deserve a state anymore than Nazis do.

I used to be on your side but you have convinced me that I was wrong.

Time to give it back to the Palestinians and let everyone else go back to where they came from or you can come to America.

Israel is a failure and a horrible one at that.

Or we could incinerate them and use them for fuel.

It's frustrating to read the vicious, one-sided attacks on Israel that generally come whenever they take action against the people who are attacking them.

Oh sure, like it isn't frustrating to hear stuff like this:

is why so many "progressives" feel that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself from Hamas attacks. They seem to think that since the rockets don't kill a lot of people, Israel should simply ignore them and give Hamas whatever it wants to make them stop shooting. They think of Israel as the aggressor, even though Israel has been attacked more often than pretty much any nation in history. Any defense of Israel's methods seems to result in charges that the defender is a "Zionist" who is unaware of history and cannot recognize that Israel has flaws.

And not even a mousefart about the blockade of Gaza. But that is the modus operandi of the Israel-first crowd. Always frame the issue in a way that makes Israel the innocent, peace loving victim, and every action by Israel appear to be "self-defense".

That is how it works, that is what the memo at CNN said: "Settlements are to be referred to at all times as neighborhoods. All Israeli aggression is to be framed as retaliation and self-defense."

why so many "progressives" feel that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself from Hamas attacks

There are forces and ideas that are older and more powerful than those on today's political spectrum.

"If there is one issue separating Israel from its role models in the West, it is the perceived legitimacy of using force. In Europe, and in many parts of American public opinion, military power is seen as an option of last resort; a primitive, old-fashioned and often counterproductive tool of policy. To us, hitting our enemies once in a while feels like a necessary behavior in a tough neighborhood."

--Aluf Benn.

Every Western Democracy you cited would use over F'ing whelming force if a neighboring country or foreign governments were lobbing rockets across their borders.

I mean really, France, the US, Briton, Germany would go absolutley ape shit crazy if rockets were landing in their territory.

I guess Salon's BS detector was broken when you submitted this article

Your thesis and therefore your whole article makes no sense.

Assuming for the sake of argument that an action is justified, and rightful, it is completely craven and cowardly to back away from that action because you might get terrorized, and furthermore it reinforces the belief amongst terrorists that terror pays dividends. Terrorists don't just attack buildings, they also attack liberty itself, as seen when a newspaper in Denmark published cartoons of Mohammed. Should we censor all artists so that we don't get attacked, as well? Perhaps we should form an official Muslim censorship beaurau, and run everything by them first, to make sure that it won't offend any terrorists.

And it goes on like this, the exact same mentality employed by both sides, back and forth, attack upon attack, year after year until everyone is dead and the land worthless. And all the death and destruction from both sides all done, as always, in the name of liberty and justice, everyone convinced beyond any doubt whatsoever of their moral correctness and superiority.

Israel, supported energetically by Washington (and using US-supplied aircraft, bombs and rockets), has caused "incidental loss of life" and general civilian casualties on an enormous scale. The Israeli military and the Israeli people knew full well that their genocidal attack on Gaza would kill civilians. The use of white phosphorous in built-up areas is worthy of the Nazis at their most brutal. Stalin and Mao would nod approvingly. It wasn't considered important that there would be countless civilian deaths. Nobody cares, and least of all American politicians. The next secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, refuses to comment on the atrocities. The incoming vice-president has been silent. President-elect Obama? As Reuters reported : "Obama . . . has not commented on the Middle East crisis since Israel launched attacks on Gaza nine days ago. His advisers insist that only President George W Bush can speak for America until then." But it was noted that "The president-elect has commented on the global economic crisis and his plans to try to pull the US economy out of recession."

You'd might as well call yourself a neocon when it comes to Israel, because you spout the same talking points. You act like you're the first person to label themselves as "liberal" until Israel comes up, and then you sound no different than Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, politely and oh so civilly defending Israeli war crimes with the standard talking points.

So many Liberals always wanting to prove their liberal street cred after compromising all of their principles playing apologist for the flagrant civil rights abuses in the best country on Earth.