Colonized peoples probably viewed all of their wars as just. History mostly agrees with them today.

Allahu Akbar masses that chant for Israel's destruction on this blog,

Yeah, isn't that how Hitler killed all the Jews? By getting people to chant on a blog.

Listen putz you wanna be an armed state? Stop kvetching about chanting! If a few chants can kill you, you haven't got a chanced on the world stage. And get that damn birth-rate up, pal. And stop so many Jews from marrying out of the religion, or just leaving it altogether. What, the chants keeping you from making Jewish babies?

Poor bubbele, Oy, they're chanting at you!

Lordy, what putzes these Zionists be! What babies!

What are you gonna do, putz if I keep chanting?

You are so enamored of "reality" and your toughness, but you cry about a few words on a blog.

Oh! So that's why they call us "the People of the Word!"

But I still wonder: Since by civilized standards (in this case, Israeli standards), the Gazans had just cause for war, does this not elevate them into the league of civilized warriors? Perhaps they should have referred to their response to the blockade as "shock and awe"...

Look, I just read the obituary in the New York Times. Remember, Simon and Garfunkel mentioned it? At the time, no one had been indicted for the murder.

Not sure why but it seems that even when Glenn makes reasonable comments about Israel, letter writers here go to extremes. Let me try what I hope is a more reasoned position:

1. I think Glenn got many key points right: Ultimately there needs to be a 2-State solution, the US should act to the extent possible as an honest broker to help bring a fair settlement. Notwithstanding the bad history on both sides, there is no reason Palestinians and Arabs cannot make peace with Israel.

2. I think Glenn misses some key points as well, at both the fundamental and practical level:

a. At the fundamental level, Israel is a democracy with a strong history of the rule of law. Arabs have one cases against the government in the Israeli courts (rights they rarely have in Arab countries). Israel certainly is far from perfect but with a vibrant system it can ultimately self-correct, particularly if there is a realistic chance for peace. The Arab countries, and Palestinian leadership, is largely tyrannical with no history of rule of law, consistently free and fare elections, etc. What amazes me most often about fierce critics of Israel is that by letting the Arabs off the hook they encourage them to prolong their own misery. One reason the Arab world has yet to make peace with Israel is that tyrants benefit from an outside enemy. So they let the Palestinians refugees live in squalor for generations (unlike Israel who, imperfectly but still, integrated the Jews exiled from Arab lands), use them even in the current battle as human shields, etc. Peace will come when the US and Western World hold the Arab world accountable for their tyrannical practices.

b. The current battle: I do not know if Israel is doing the right thing. I worry that it is being lead by the same leaders who were so incompetent in Lebanon, just before an Israeli election. War always involves needless tragic death and destruction, and often has unintended consequences that hurt everyone for years to come. That said, no country on earth has ever or would ever accept missiles being fired on it, even if the launcher had a "good" reason for doing so. So until Glenn or the US or someone works out a mechanism to get the missiles to stop then I do not see how Israel can do anything but finish this battle. In Lebanon, Israel stopped short of victory (in part because of the incompetent way if fought) in part because as part of the cease-fire the UN was to prevent the return of weapons to South Lebanon. By all accounts the UN failed and Hezbollah has more weapons than ever. So Israel cannot stop now until there is a much better mechanism in place to ensure that Gaza does not become a weapons haven for Hamas. When Glenn or someone else has a good idea for how to ensure this, my guess is the Israelis will be ready to stop this very tragic battle.

holds the keys to their, and their civilians, destruction. Stop firing rockets. Acknowledge Israels right to exist.

They are responsible for what is happening to themselves.

who said: 'Historians of the world wars of the 20th century know that young men of draftable age were desperate to avoid "service" in the armed forces. They got married, rushed to attain advanced degrees that would exempt them from front-line duty, and even mutilated themselves for no other reason than to avoid war. Why? Because war means senseless murder; it necessarily involves killing one's fellow human beings for no reason other than politics.'

My father volunteered in WW II. He served in the U.S. Army (Patton's 3rd). He felt it was a noble thing to do (ridding the world of Nazism). Also got him out of Eastern Kentucky.

I also feel WW II was a 'good war'. Probably the only good one in quite a while.

Israel...

holds the keys to their, and their civilians, destruction. Stop bombing and rocketing civilians. Acknowledge a democratically-elected Palestinian government's right to exist.

They are responsible for what is happening to themselves.

I heard on the radio this morning in San Diego, of all places, an unequivocal statement on Israel's use of phosphorus shells and mention even, of their prohibited use as offensive weapons by Geneva conventions. It is news like this that Israel was hoping to prevent by denying media access to Gaza.

Let's keep repeating our separate chants about recognition and dead civilians until we're all dead. Will that work for you?

Lotus Feet had this gem in his latest anti-Glenn screed: 'Since you are hanging out here, maybe you could explain why, after years and years of protests and objections, Palestinian children are still taught in their schools to hate Jews, that Jews are really not their fellow human beings.'

Perhaps Lotus Feet would care to look at the Israeli school system, in which anti-Arab propaganda and hate literature are an integral, government subsidised part.

These anti-Arab propaganda efforts have been stepped up recently in an effort to keep Jewish students from dating Palestinians, which sometimes leads to marriage. Israel has an entire curriculum, (which resembles, with it's role-playing and skits, an anti-drug program) to discourage any friendship, let alone romance, between Arab and Jewish students

Do I have to Google this program up and post it? It is not gonna look good for Israel.