So, you called me a liar, as you pretty much call anyone who disagrees with you. Is an apology forthcoming? Are you in fact a grownup?

Thanks for this op-ed.

"That, of course, is the very same logic that leads Hamas to send suicide bombers to slaughter Israeli teenagers in pizza parlors and on buses and to shoot rockets into their homes."

So I guess the follow-up question is that if the US and Israel engage in activities that are as morally bankrupt as the "Terrorists," then what IS the positive virtue that they are defending by wantonly killing the innocent?

Piracy, Intimidation and the Commerce of Insolvency?

Re: the Hamas/Israel connection:

I've been hearing Israel/IDF reps on teevee saying, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Our objective is not to get rid of Hamas or their government in Gaza, oh, my goodness no! We just want to remove their ability to launch rockets at poor suffering Israelis in the south who can't get a decent night's sleep because of all the Hamas harrassment. That's all. No, no, no, we're not trying to force Fatah or Abu Mazen on the Gazens; why would we do that? Pshaw!" etc.

If we take them at their word -- knowing that their word is usually less than worthless -- it's an interesting proposition, just wreck the joint, make a big mess and wound and kill a lot of people, but leave pretty much every governance issue as is, cause, hey, Israel will work with Hamas, sure, why not? Fatah? Sure. Hezbollah? Heck yeah. Not a problem. The only problem is the harrassing rocket fire, and after the Wogs are "taught their lesson" -- Amritsar Massacre, anyone? -- they'll be just fine and dandy.

It worked in Lebanon. Yeah, that's what some Israeli flack claimed. Since the 2006 onslaught of Southern Lebanon, he said, the number of Hezbollah rockets lobbed into Israel has declined remarkably. That's all they want in Gaza, too.

Hamas can stay.

Anyone who disagrees with his moral relativism is a 'sociopath' (and therefore a Nazi).

No, Glen, it is NOT the same logic when a people defend themselves.

Glen is so boring and verbose, why doesn't he fill a few more pages with enough drivel to tell us what Israel should do, instead of his endless nitpicking bullshit.

It is NOT the same, Mister weak tea and clear as water chicken soup, Glen.

You complain about the Gazans' predicament when they brought their predicament upon themselves.

Did they not elect Hamas in a landslide?

Did they not dance in the streets and hand out candy on 9/1l?

Glen lives in a world of his own with his fellow stalin.com dummies.

He does not know the meaning of friend and enemy. He does not understand the difference between aggression and defense, the difference between hopelessness and survival, between honor and squalor, between right and wrong.

One can only wonder if this jerk could ever conceive of anything worth fighting and dying for.

Glen is the kind of person who would stand in front of a tidal wave arguing it is nothing but a little ripple until it carries him away and drowns him. He is the kind of nut case who would punish his own little son for fighting back against the bullies who tripped him and insulted him on his way to school every day.

His logic would have never allowed David to slay Goliath. His logic would have argued with Winston Churchill. There is no room for Macabees in Glen's new world order of appeasement and surrender.

The man has the worst kind of intellectual pride, a kind of sophomoric stubbornness which only he and his fellow klueless ones can appreciate.

Do they not send all of their children to schools where they are taught that Jews are subhuman?

Glen Greenwort is a twit, a self-absorbed, arrogant, know it all twit.

Glen would have no problem sacrificing most if not all of the people of Israel on the alter of his bullshit moral relativism, on the alter of his weird cluelessness regarding consequences and survival.

glen,

thank you for bringing a more balanced approach to the amazingly one-sided dialogue that the US media presents as coverage of all things Israeli. it never ceases to amaze me that the bias that taints the coverage is never mentioned, and that anyone who tries to balance it is always branded anti-semetic with the intent of cutting off any serious debate (just ask mssrs. walt and mearsheimer). i welcome your commentary and look forward to your continued efforts in raising the bar.

sincerely,

j p smith

brooklyn

I believe Glenn was referring to your character, not to anything I said. I think he hit the head on the nail.

"You're one of those bizarre yet all-too-common species of commenters who madly alternates between (a) spitting the most extreme and reckless accusations you can think of against anyone who disagrees with you and (b) adopting the effete vocabulary of a Victorian manners maven to protest the terribly upsetting and uncouth masses whenever people do it to you."

But I don't ask anyone to defend me here. You see I have a personal stake in what's going on. If an Israeli or Jew wants to have a conversation with me about facts, the future, where can we go from here, well I think that's great. Just had a discussion with someone who spent years in a Yishuv in Jerusalem on that front at dinner. I feel I learned something from the experience. And so did he.

But when you advocate bombing my people, members of my family, my friends, etc., and when you tell me that my whole existence is a lie thought up by Arabs to annoy Israelis, then yes I take it personally. I've had these conversations over and over and I've realized one thing; the people proposing such things aren't interested in peace, they aren't interested in resolution. They like to fight, and they like it when the repurcussions of that fight have nothing to do with them. They like to advocate physical violence against you without mediation or diplomacy, but they want you to have a civil conversation with them as they do it.

Well, I'm sorry and I ask no one to agree with me or back me up. Its obviously not anti-semitism (I don't even know if you're Jewish), but if someone is looking me in the eye and telling me that its a good idea to kill me or my father or others like us when there are bombs falling on Palestine, I'm going to knock their teeth out.