the Zionist fanatics now to the forefront in Israeli politics originally came from Europe as that fierce breed of dog did, although made even fiercer and bigger when imprted to America. It's funny that Mickey Rourke owns little chihuahuas and you invoke a dog known to turn on its owner and even, as happened in England in the last month, attacked a mailman (postman) so fiercely that his arm was almost severed. Those two pit-bulls had to be put down. Mickey Rourke doesn't have to prove anything so doesn't need big dawgs; he fights his own battles. BUT Israel definitely does need a BIG DAWG called Uncle Sam as otherwise all it could do is yap away about being the creme de la creme, the chosen people and all the rest of the flapdoodle that people outside of America are now heartily sick of and for the first time, in my case, beginning to wonder how a bunch of Europeans waving the Bible could get away with a historical smash-and-grab piece of audacity as late as the 20th century.

"As a card-carrying progressive myself, I am aghast at what passes for discourse here."

If you think anyone believes that you're a progressive who regularly reads Salon but only comments on Greenwald's column when he writes about Israel--and only, ONLY to excoriate the posters critical of an Israeli attack that's killed 1,000 people, then you're crazy.

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.'

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'If the blacks put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the whites put down their weapons today, there would be no more South Africa.'

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'If the Hutus put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the Tutsis put down their weapons today, there would be no more Rwanda.'

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'If the Irish put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the English put down their weapons today, there would be no more England.'

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'If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence.

If the Germans put down their weapons today, there would be no more Germany.'

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Fuck you, Israel. And fuck the racist Zionist pigs who support you.

- from a United States citizen, who is going to do everything in his power to end his nation's support of your racist, shit regime.

Those traits are NOT encouraged in this fetid little swamp of Jew hating slicks. (*Errrr...Anti-Zionist Slicks...as we know there's a difference...Right??*)

Gotta go do VIGFM** in the 'hood, thus no time to respond to the leftoid chorus of challenges to my History suggestion.

Short Version: Pointus, Kitt, Klytus, Baldie, Timmy, Chesterfield and Arnie: Spend the next 6-months curled up with Dr.Bernard Lewis's many works on the Mideast. Duhhhhh.

**Vast Inexpressible GOOD For Mankind**

"As a card-carrying progressive myself, I am aghast at what passes for discourse here."

______________________________________

I'm aghast that a bumptious transient would preface a supercilious blanket condemnation of the low intellectual standards of this discourse by describing her(?)self as a "card-carrying progressive".

It's a variation of the Concerned Troll species-- one whose implicit pretentions of intellectual superiority is betrayed by the use of such a banal cliché.

I suggest that mom and the cats return to MENSA.

Ah'd druther stay stoopit than be mean 'n hateful.

UNRWA is the UN organization responsible for distributing life-saving medicine and aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees in Gaza. The shells destroyed their entire stock of food and medicine.

Israel has been very successful in inflicting "heavy pain on the Gaza population" as Friedman noted. This latest shelling is another achievement that the brave Israeli soldiers can add to their impressive list of atrocities in the past 20 days.

[John Ging, the head of UN operations in Gaza] said the phosphorus fires were hard to extinguish "because if you put water on it, it will just generate toxic fumes and do nothing to stop the burning". Phosphorous munitions are banned under international law as a weapon but permitted if used to create a smokescreen.

....

The AFP news agency quoted witnesses as saying that a fire had broken out after an Israeli strike in a wing of al-Quds hospital in south-west Gaza City, where hundreds more people took shelter early today from advancing Israeli tanks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/15/israel-gaza-offensive-truce-talks

The current tragedy in the Middle East, which must be addressed in an urgent but thoughtful way, is being used by some people here to clumsily attempt to mask their antisemitism. It's sickening, but not surprising.

Consider this... they may not need it, but it legitimizes killing, and so the cycle continues. Especially when the primary vehicle of expression is suicide homicide.

the killing of civilian non-combatants, be they israeli children in a bus, or palestinian children in a ghetto, is equally odious and should never be condoned. for far too long, israel has tried to play the "legitimacy" card to claim the moral high ground in the conflict. and it just doesn't wash. neither party in a dirty tit-for-tat cycle of killing can claim to have clean hands, or to pretend to have a higher authority in stating what is "legitimate killing".

Doesn't it strike folks as strange that the entire world aligns itself against Israel, while doing next to nothing for the Palestinians? That alignment, including all the pro-Palestinian sentiment here leads the Palestinians to believe that targeting Israeli civilians with pitiful rockets is a good thing to do.

global alignment with the palestinians is a natural human empathy for the underdog. why? because no one can really force israel to do anything it doesn't want to, while israel pretty much decides how much peace, prosperity or suffering it wants to give to the palestinians. israel should be more than happy to suffer a some worldwide revilement in exchange for continued unbridled power to put the palestinians in their place when they become too restive.

Do I need to go into how that's idiotic? Of course not, but having the entire world cheerleading them on to greater and greater feats of futility like a stadium cheering on the home team, is just absurd. It's like St Mary's taking on the Patriots, with pretty speeches about how noble it is to be carried off the field in the good fight. It's destructive to the poor high schoolers fooled into thinking there is some point to getting mauled.

you have the nail on the head about the yawning black hole of israeli ignorance about the indomitable human spirit. about the nobility of fighting the good fight, despite frightful adversity and against overwhelming odds. perhaps that's why the 300 spartans who resisted (in all futility i might add) a persian army one million strong, has become the stuff of legend. palestinians, like the exiled jews in ancient babylon, are a people of hope.

Consider this too.... what if the world started to take Israel's side and emphasized their legitimacy as a country? And what if the world actually did things like condemning suicide bombings, and killing Israelis? would that be an effective headwind to Palestinian youth? Who knows, it's never been tried.

which countries didn't condemn suicide bombings of israeli civilians? i'm curious.

But I can say with certainty that people here are inflaming the situation and making it all but impossible for peaceful resolution. Multiply this group by billions of similar opinions and any addled adolescent with testosterone poisoning is scarred for life. There is no other way to put it other than this group is enabling more war.

haven't you heard of fighting fire with fire? strident diatribes with even shriller gobs of vitriol? but i do think persuasion has a better chance of success if it is served cold.