That Bloomberg video is fantastic. My regard for him just about skyrocketed.

Posted by: Michal at January 6, 2009 12:07 PM

Bite their heads off with our teeth....

Take a deep breath there, buddy.

Isn't it stunning that there are people who think you can have a rational debate with such people? Isn't it amazing that people who read "Anne Frank" in middle school, who cried during "Schindler's List", who say “Never Again!” then argue that these loonies can somehow be turned into people who think clearly via rational debate and tons of compassion? It beggars belief.

I hate to say it but I really do think this is what pre WWII Europe was like for Jews and we know what followed. But so many people, with great intentions sometimes, can not imagine it happening again, so they refuse to see what is right in front of them.

I just watched Alan Colmes argue that the IDF were waging a disproportionate response and that Israel needs the win over the moderates.

Someone needs to have him interview Mayor Bloomberg.

Mayor Bloomberg is now my hero

The preceeding two comments are not enlightening. Disagreement is fine -- we have lots of it here -- but this is so out of line that I see no possible contribution.

Thanks for removing those, Robert.

Johnny & Mata Hari, please know that my post was directed towards someone else!

The two comments Katherine is referring to were posted by an Islamo Nazi and have been deleted.

These cockroaches have been crawling out of the dark corners in great numbers lately.

Good roundup, Robert. Many thanks.
The part about Sarko crying disproportion is significant. When was the last time France exercised disproportionate force in an international conflict? One wonders how much he's nodding to political factions, or worse, just how ungovernable is his Muslim population. He can be a Defender of Western interests, he's also big on the "Mediterranean Union."

By the way the name of this blog is awesome!

But seriously, Israel is the new apartheid South Africa and the world knows it.

Dear Alice: I have been convinced for a long time that a lot of people are faking when they pretend to be moved by Anne Frank, may the Al-mighty avenge her blood. Anne Frank, may the Al-mighty avenge her blood, was a Jew who wanted to stay alive, and the world, including the world media, is full of people who have no sympathy for Jews who want to stay alive, and since Anne Frank, may the Al-mighty avenge her blood, was a Jew who wanted to stay alive, Q.E.D., they have no sympathy for her.
I understand why the Moslems hate Israel so much, but why do so many in the world media share that hatred, and turn news agencies into Arab propaganda outlets? Why do so many academics and intellectuals hate Israel? Do they think the could survive in a world that didn't HAVE Israel?
I sent Ehud Olmert a fax this morning, urging him to ignore the demands for a cease fire. For YEARS, the world ignored the rockets raining down on Sederot, along, of course, with the slaughter in Darfur and the Congo, the "Palestinian" refugee camps being shelled by the Lebanese army, Hamas and Fatah slaughtering each other in Gaza. The minute the Israelis do something to defend themselves, they rise up in consternation, calling for a cease-fire that would only demoralize the Israeli soldiers and give Hamas (which even the Arab states want finished off) time to re-arm and regroup. I urge all readers of this blog to email or fax Olmert and urge him to hold out.

I knew that there's a fairly strong "anti-war" movement in Ireland, but I had no idea that there was a march in Dublin featuring military fatigues. It seems the Irish Times only printed 2 "nice" photos of the demo.

If you go back to the original IndyMedia.ie article, the lead photo contains Mary Lou McDonald (the woman with short dark hair and the grey coat), who is a member of Sinn Féin (aka the political wing of the IRA). It's nice to see the Shinners are still supporting terrorists.

The amazing thing I find about this war is how ignorant the talking heads seem to be of the rules of war. If I see the phrase "disproportionate response" again my head will explode.

Robert,
I am so overwhelmed and very appreciative of all of the professional news coverage & editorials you supply about Israel on your blog. I am so much more empowered because of it. Thank you and may we only know of victory! :)

The Israeli assault on Hamas in Gaza will succeed physically, prove a mixed bag mentally and fail on the moral level of war. Hamas is militarily a pushover compared to Hezbollah, which makes the David vs. Goliath nature of the conflict all the more evident. The stronger the contrast, the worse the outcome for Goliath. The fact that the timing if not the event is driven by Israeli electoral politics makes the moral picture even grimmer. Add in that absent a deal Hamas’s rocket fire will continue and we see the makings of a debacle for Israel.

Some may see the assault as Israel selecting the "Hama option" van Creveld discusses, but I do not agree. Choosing the Hama option would mean subjecting Gaza to a World War I–style bombardment, with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and the rest fleeing into Egypt for their lives. Gaza would largely be flattened, as was the Syrian city of Hama. As usual, the reality here is that the state has fallen between the two stools of the Hama option and de-escalation, which guarantees failure.

When the dust settles, I expect Hamas to emerge bloodied but stronger. It will continue to control Gaza, its support on the West Bank will soar (right before elections there) and the Palestinian Authority will look more like a stooge than ever. Strategically, the most important result will be further weakening of the legitimacy of the Egyptian government, which is bad news for America’s interests in the region.

I SO heart the IDF. Thank you for that.

Dear Abe: There was plenty of violence against Jews in the Middle East before there was a State of Israel.

Dear Abe: Israel is the least apartheid coutry on the planet and you know it.

Where were all the marches when Russia brutally attacks the Chechnyans? The IDF looks like a bunch of Amish next to what they have done.

I'm sure you'll find press releases and web postings from groups like Amensty International and Human Rights Watch but you'll have to search for them. Israel finally responds to thousands of missiles lobbed into their cities and suddenly they are the new apartheid South Africa? How many Jewish members of government are there in Egypt, Syria, Iran, Jordan? Compare that to the Arab members in the Israeli Knesset.

Miss Rose,

There was plenty of violence against Jews in the West too--far more than than in the Middle East, yet no European wanted to bare the burden of Israel's creation.

Israel is an apartheid state--Zionists confine the Palestinians to ghetto reservations just like the white South Africans did to blacks in SA. The "Palestinians want to kill us" excuse for much of what Israel wants to do is just a clever way to sidestep the obvious point--the Palestinians want to kill Israelis out of the simple fact that the creation of Israel displaced Palestinians.

The only remotely convincing argument Zionists have ever made is to point out how Arab countries expelled their Jewish populations. Don't those people deserve their own state? Yes they do--and so do the Palestinians that were ethnically cleansed out of Israel. A one state solution is the only moral one. It's inevitable.

Abe,

Israel is the only country in the Middle East where there is a healthy functioning democracy, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, women's rights, and where gay people don't need to worry about being hung by the neck until dead because they committed the crime of being attracted to someone of the same gender.

I don't cry for people who are against any of these things. Last time I checked the number of non-Jewish voters in Israel was about to eclipse the number of Jewish voters. Weird.

Israel is less than about one half of one percent of the land in the Middle East. It is the only place in the Middle East where a person who respects basic freedoms, loves gay people, and loves women can live in relative peace - I say relative because at any moment a suicidal half-wit might detonate himself/herself in your pizza restaurant. Oh, and it's the only place in the Middle East where it's relatively safe to be a Jew.

I suggest you focus your profound concern for human rights (apparently for people other than gays, women, and Jews) on every other country in the Middle East. When you bring even half of them into the 20th century (hell, I would settle for maybe even 19th) then you can start fixing Israel. Just a thought.

Have a blessed day.

Miss Alice,

The accomplishments of Israel don't justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

Indeed, it's clear that all those so called "rights" don't apply to the millions of Arabs that are under Israeli control.

It's just like saying that apartheid South Africa being an accomplished country--which it was--justifies the subjugation of the black africans who resided there. South Africa had a healthy functioning democracy too--for whites. What a coincidence that Israel was its closest ally.

Wow, Israel does not allow the acquisition of Israeli citizenship through marriage to Palestinians. How despicably discriminatory.

Abe,
Arab people can vote in Israel. Arab people can build Mosques or churches in Israel. Significant numbers of Arab people who are not trying to kill Jews are busy trying to get jobs in Israel. There are Arab and Muslim representatives in the Knesset in Israel.

Your comparison to South Africa beggars belief. I would not call South Africa a healthy functioning democracy if blacks could not vote. The US became a healthy functioning democracy when all adults, regardless of gender or ethnicity became eligible to vote.

Again, bring half the countries in the Middle East to the level of Israel and I'll take your criticism seriously.

You probably wouldn't even begin to try. You know why, in my opinion? Remotely sensible people do not even know how to begin to have conversations with people who think gays should be murdered, that it is OK to use women, children and old people as human shields, that it is OK to use schools and any house of worship as places to store weapons and as rocket launching pads, that freedom of speech is a Western notion and therefore should be seen as a threat to Islam, that women should be murdered to protect the honor of the family. I could go on and on. Talking to people who see the world that way, attempting to get them to evolve the tiniest bit is like banging your head into a brick wall. So what do you do? You complain about Israel, the only sane place in the Middle East.

There are millions of women, gay people, and folks who believe in free speech in the Middle East who need your support Abe. And instead you go after the one place where those people could live like normal people, like you and I. You are turning your back on them and are casting aspersions on the only nation in the Middle East where you would dare raise a daughter. That is if you want for her to be able to do things like wear normal clothes, get a decent education, have any rights under the law, be able to walk freely in public without a male escort to whom she is related, not need to worry about her being stoned to death for letting her gaze fall upon a male while shopping for groceries. Again that list could fill a few pages. And God forbid you have a daughter who turns out to be a lesbian in a place like Saudi Arabia – a place where Jews are not allowed to travel and where women are not allowed to do radical things like drive cars.

You know I was once a Zionist who thought Israel was way too tough on the Palestinian people. After spending a little bit of time- almost every day for about five years for no more than about ten minutes per day, see it’s not that hard - reading about the history of the region, newspapers from the Middle East, talking with people who live in the Middle East, who worked there, who have done exchange programs there, who have lived in Israel for decades - I changed my mind.

I wish you only the best. I have to go to work now.

OK, now we are getting to the crux of the matter. Abe, if you are old enough to vote, you are not forced to do anything in this country. You get to vote for our representatives, laws, on whom we spend money - things like that. The American people who vote are responsible for our policies. And we can change them whenever we want. And we can use our freedom of speech to convince others to see the world differently. If we fail to convince people to see the world the way we do, we can only blame the person in the mirror.

Go live in any country in the Middle East besides Israel and you will understand what it means to be forced to do something.

I would like people to try to appreciate the follwoing. Israel's image is obviously taking a bad knock at the minute. The general consensus on this blog appears to be that the reason for this is anti semitism hiding itself in anti zionism. Maybe it is in a lot of cases I don't know. But consider this, the people of the world are being exposed daily to the following undeniable facts.

1. Nine Israeli have been killed in this war. At least 700 Palestinians have lost their lives.
2. The IDF is an extremely efficient, well armed modern army. Hamas are far from this.
3. Israel is a modern 1st world country. Most Palestinians live in abject poverty.

When you consider the above facts, it is quite normal and natural that most peoples sympathies around the world are going to be with the Palestinians. Now I know that points 1,2 and 3 are not that simple and that it is reasonable to argue Palestinian and Arab blame for the situation the Palestinians find themselves in. But most people are not educated on the historical ins and outs of the worlds most long running and complicated conflict. Most people only know that fairly ineffectual rockets are landing in Israel and that the IDF are responding with air strikes that kill dozens. It is wrong to say that "Jew-hatred has gone mainstream, especially in Europe?" and that anti semitism is the motive for people being angered at Israel. My advice, fight the good fight, not the bitter fight, thats what the blogosphere is for.

Consider my morale boosted...more BB!

Ted:

Muggers and rapists are also fewer in number, weaker, and less organized than police officers.

Thus, it's understandable why the world sympathsizes with these criminals when they get arrested.

Oh wait... THEY DON'T!!

Because "disproportionate" is the biggest irrelevancy I've ever heard when it comes to this war or any attempt to enforce the law and safety of the public.

Congratulations on buying the line being sold to the world by the most vile killers in the world right now.

Please think carefully before you write and parrot such junk.

Jake
I didn't say I bought it, check my blog if you don't believe me and I suggest you think more carefully before making another absurd "muggers rapists and police officers" analogy.

If "most people are not educated on the historical ins and outs of the worlds most long running and complicated conflict" then shame on them. They are the reason holocausts occur. And the holocaust that the Jews and others were hammered by this past century was one of many perpetrated against them since - since forever actually.

Some people like to try and take the easy road. It is easy to accuse Israel of being terrible. It is easy to make wild accusations. All you have to do is join the rest of the sheep.

There is a long list of similar things. People used to believe that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth.

People used to believe in slavery and in child sacrifice.
In time people were educated and some of these practices rightfully disappeared.

So if people want to be sheep and just meow along with the others they can do so. But if they want to think, if they want to engage in rational thought than they can do so also.

Rational thought will lead you to a place where you can engage in fair and balanced critcism of Israel, just as should be done with every country.

But as Robert has pointed out, the Pro-Hamasniks are not railing about the Congo. They don't complain about what happened in Grozny. No, they spend time wailing over terrorists and listening/participating in antisemitic commentary like we saw in Florida.

I am confident that not every protester is antisemitic, but if you heard that and did not attempt to quiet those people, you are an enabler. And that is about one step above.

Dear Abe: Tell me, to you pretend to be moved by Anne Frank, may the al-mighty avenge her blood? You can't call Israel an apartheid coutry and pretend to be moved by Anne Frank. If you think Israel is an apartheid country for keeping out the Arabs who want to kill them, and who wanted to kill them in 1967, when all of the so-called "occupied territories" were in Arab hands, then you think Anne Frank and her family were running an apartheid attic, keeping out the Germans who wanted to kill them. Israel never ethnically cleansed the "Palestinians." Historically, there is no such thing as the "Palestinian" people. During the mandatory period, "Palestinian" was a nationality, and plenty of Jews were Palestinians. Culturally and liguistically and every other way, the "Palestinians" are Arabs. Some ARABS were expelled from Israel in 1948 after five (or was it seven?) Arab states attacked Israel. Others left voluntarilly. They figured Israel would be defeated in a week and they could come back and loot Jewish property. This is called "betting on the wrong horse." Other Arabs chose to stay or were allowed to stay, and their descendants thrive and flourish in Israel, with more rights than the Arabs of any Arab State. It was the Arab states who attacked Israel, the Arab states who told the "Palestinians" to get out of the way while they destroyed Israel, the Arab states who have kept the "Palestinians" rotting in refugee camps for 60 years so that they could say to the world "You have to kick the Jews out to make a homeland for these people," and it is the Arab states in general, and Jordan in particular, who could solve the "Palestinian" refugee problem tomorrow, by taking in the refugees. If YOU really wanted to help the so-called "Palestinians" get their homeland, if you cared about the "Palestinians" as anything but
cat's paws to finish off Israel for you, you would be demanding that Jordan do so. I say again, Israel is the least apartheid country on the planet-and you know it. Why don't you call Saudi Arabia, where Jews are not allowed to set foot, an apartheid country?