There was a popular tee shirt in the 70's that I detested about the middle east at Ft Bragg it proclaimed "Nuke them all let God sort them out".Thier point was wrong but thier frustration now understood.Palestinians elected Hamas and to drag this out and continue without final resolution is a danger to all of the world's chidren.The final resolution doesn't need to be achieved by violence or war it just needs to be final.

You claim to be looking for a practical solution, and yammer about people supporting terrorists. But you quote from a tee shirt that paraphrases Arnald Amalric? Do you know what happened after he made that famous remark? It was in 1209, so he didn't say "Nuke them", he said "Kill them all, god will recognize his own." His official report to the Pope the next day: "Nearly twenty thousand of these people were put to the sword, without regard for age or sex." He and his military officers went on to develop a reputation for mass burnings and squassations as well.

You don't know what you're talking about, with your "final resolutions" and your tee shirts. Maybe it isn't the others here who need to understand, it's you.

I was wondering whether anyone would bring up the anti-democracy moves made by Israel - not only the banning Arab political parties, but its effect: the ban(s) will prevent more than half of the current Arab members of the Knesset from running for re-election.

Is it anti-semitic to criticize Israel for this clearly anti-democracy conduct? Is it acceptable to suggest pressure should be put on Israel to return to democracy?

None of Israel's claims about Palestinian factions using their own civilians as human shields have been corroborated

May I just repeat: Israel lies. It's what they do.

Don't worry friend, soon you'll drive out all voices of dissent and you can have you own little mirror of the right wing echo chamber over here, where your dittoheads will nod as you rant away about Israel, and your credibility on the FISA and punditry class become seen as valid as when Lyndon Larouche makes a cogent point on taxation.

You are rendering yourself a raging clown, burying important critiques of frauds like Friedman under your own blizzard of selective outrage for the poor people of Gaza, as well as your pathetic conflation of the American and Israeli governments, about as reductive a simplicity since "Iraq=Al Qaeda because they both look Arab."

Don't worry, GG. You're not the first to fall victim to Israel-hatred pathology, and judging by history, you won't be the last.

There is much to criticize Israel for in this war. But making false equivalencies between the terrorist Hamas thugs, who brutalize their own people and hide in schools, and the Israeli response to their years of provocation, no matter how reckless, simply renders you a clown.

I'll be around because when you get back to things you can speak authoritatively about -- FISA, NSA, lawbreaking, accountability, Gonzo, the justice department -- you're the best in the business.

Rantings about the grand conspiracy for our media to shut out sober, serious voices such as yourself on this issue places you firmly in the loon camp.

No one is silencing your position, Glenn. It's that no one, outside of your 6 dittoheads, agrees with its simplistic false equivalencies.

You are simply stupid.

it's all about "face".

can a nuclear armed 4th largest army in the world sit idly by while a bunch of terrorists spits rockets in its face?

that's why they had to teach the terrorists and all the evil civilians who shield them a lesson they will never forget; death by overwhelming force, without mercy or differentiation.

oh i'm sorry, it's all about "self defence".

Tom Friedman is the archetypal blithering idiot. He is a chief among the chattering classes, a Village elder, and a Very Serious Person to boot.

Of course Israel is in Gaza to kill people and shoot the place up. Israel always uses massive force but then sells the line that they are being very careful to avoid civilian casualties. Well even at the best of times these are contradictory, but in an urban environment this contention is simply obscene. It is a Big Lie, an assertion that is so beyond the bounds of reality that its very brazenness is meant to stifle any effective reply.

The only reason Israel is attacking Gaza now, the only strategic plan it has, is to help Kadima in the upcoming February elections. If you look at what Israel has done from a purely military perspective, this becomes clear. There is no military strategy at play here. Yes, Israeli troops have gone in. Yes, they have split the Strip up. But to what end? A strategy needs a goal, an objective, and there simply isn't one. The Israelis are engaged in massive destruction and killing but that is not a goal. They will not destroy Hamas and indeed they will bolster support for Hamas, just as Hezbollah was strengthened in Lebanon. Nor can they stop the rockets. And let's be very clear here. A few inaccurate rockets fired now and then over the course of years is a nuisance, not a strategic threat. Israel has never been threatened in any serious way by anything Gazans could ever do, ever.

The only results I see from Israel's attack on Gaza are short term to help Kadima and long term to put the last nail in the coffin of the two state solution.

little mirror of the right wing echo chamber over here,

If I am not mistaken, this is the first time Glenn's blog has been excoriated for being "right-wing" instead of a variety of "left", extreme, loony, rabid, you name it.

Is this a first?

The civilians are the target here, because they hold ultimate responsibility for their situation.

You better start praying that chicken doesn't come home to roost you fricking psychopathic nutbag.

I'm going to say this in my best Rev. Wright intonation because I know I'm never running for political office:

--for aiding and abetting the killing of civilians for no justifiable or proportional end, "God will damn America, God will damn its client states like Israel, and God will damn the Shooters and Elephantman's of the world".--

Better start reading your bibles boys, cause you've got a long road in Hell in front of you.