<p>With 7694 rockets have fired, hundreds of Israelis shot at, dozens of bombings against Jewish and Muslim Israelis; all after the Israeli withdrawal and government ordered destruction of the settler camps one has to ask how much longer so many of the Western public and media can blame "Israeli aggression" for this cold, lonely atmosphere of death and misery.</p>
<p>Here's to hoping the wounded survivors of the school shooting manage to live. Hatikvah.</p>
<p>How can people be so heartless? Children are INNOCENT no matter what religion, ethnicity, or class they are. I am Jewish by heritage and I cannot believe what people say about Jews, even over here in America.</p>
<p>All the while, Israel's partners in peace are celebrating in Gaza...May the collective fury of the Israeli Army and the Israeli citizens rain down on the palestinian terrorists.</p>
<p>See that's the thing. When we blame one or the other the feud stays hot. I wish people would just leave other people alone. I don't understand how grudges can be held for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years. Gah! PEACE PEOPLE!</p>
<p>Israel has tryed to make peace with these people countless times. Everytime Israel trys to create lasting peace the Palistinians kill innocent Israli citizens. So the only option left is for Israel to seize absolute control of Palistine and use whatever means possible to end these attacks. The Palistinians (militants and not) have decided as a people that they will destroy Israel and kill every Jew, so its about time Israel takes the gloves off and tells world opinion to pound it. Before the establishment of Isrial the entire middle east was a wasteland, now the middle east has one flourishing democracy, and that is Israel.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
I am Jewish by heritage and I cannot believe what people say about Jews, even over here in America.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>You wouldn't believe how many Neo-Nazis there are around here. Well, actually, you probably know better than I do.</p>
<p>If the British and the French hadn't screwed up the Middle East in the first place, we wouldn't have thousands of terrorist attacks and stupid wars over tiny slivers of land.</p>
<p>I do think that disregarding the influence of imperialism, the Israeli government was originally at fault (ignored the little section of history in which a few countries tried to destroy Israel right after it was created). But now, the Hamas leadership is acting so immaturely, it's hard to blame Israel. The scary thing is that Hamas was democratically elected, so it would be hyprocritical to get rid of it.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Before the establishment of Isrial the entire middle east was a wasteland, now the middle east has one flourishing democracy, and that is Israel.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<ol>
<li>The Middle East was never a wasteland.</li>
<li>There are no other "flourishing democracies," but there are other democracies - and Israel isn't exactly "flourishing," either.</li>
</ol>
<p>I think it's worth noting here that Israel receives more foreign aid than any nation on the planet, which may account for some of its prosperity relative to every other Middle Eastern nation.</p>
<p>I would like to say a rather funny quote of my friend ( yes it is mildly inappropiate and I am sorry if I offend anyone)
"bombing for peace is like ****ing for virginity"</p>
<p>I would hope that we're all able to distinguish politics from senseless murder. There is nothing that can justify what happened today in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Each and everyone of us usually has a point in life when we think the other person is totally being the mean one, and we're completely good -- whether or not it's true. </p>
<p>By condoning either the Palestinians' or Israelis' behavior, people are just making them even more mad. Instead, why can't people try to work things out peacefully?</p>
<p>Gandhi did it, and he was pretty successful.</p>
<p>what happened today is terrible, without any doubt.
but how come we never hear the other side of the story, hunh?</p>
<p>i'm wondering where 7% of the tax is spent, and what happens to the stuff its spent over..
Conversation of energy, conservation of mass, we need conservation of human LIVES!</p>
<p>People blame "Israeli aggression" because that's exactly what it is. I agree completely that terrorist attacks against civilians, which are the primary weapon of anti-Israeli militants, are disgusting. But that's absolutely no excuse for Israel's behavior as a state. </p>
<p>These attacks aren't coming from Palestine as a whole; they're coming from extremist elements in Palestine. And yes, Israel has the right and responsibility to go after these cells. But the use of excessive force is extremely counterintuitive in this regard; indiscriminate bombings and the targeting of civilian infrastructure (not to mention Israel's long-standing policy of disenfranchising the Palestinians economically) only creates more disaffected people who fall willingly into the seductive hands of radical militant groups. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most depressing thing about all this is the people who go THEY KILLED CIVILIANS, LET US RAIN HOLY DEATH UPON THEIR HEADS. It sounds a hell of a lot like the language of discourse in the US post-9/11, and we all know how that ended up (rhymes with Jiraq). Sensationalism, however tempting, has no place in policy discussion.*</p>
<p>I don't know how to peacefully resolve the Mideast crisis, but I do know that any resolution will require critical thought and analysis of Israel's foreign policy. Mearsheimer and Walt's excellent "The Israeli Lobby and US Foreign Policy" is a good place to start. If you want to call it sensationalist/wrong/antisemetic, I would suggest a) reading it, and b) talking to somebody from my school's Friends of Israel group, who invited Mearsheimer to give a talk in in the interest of promoting academic discourse on the situation.</p>
<ul>
<li>To clarify, I am aware that we're talking about the murders of innocent people here - unforgivable, and certainly emotionally provocative. By "sensationalism" I mean relying on the emotional factor of the attacks to justify a political/military overreaction.</li>
</ul>
<p>Can't we just agree that there are good and bad people on both sides and not turn this into a black and white affair like we do with everything else?</p>
<p>Yes, there are radical Palestinians who murder innocents and deserve no respect.
Yes, the Palestinian people had their land taken away by the Israelis and have a right to be mad.
But, there are normal people on both sides who don't want to annihilate each other. Too bad they don't get much of a voice.</p>
<p>UnleashedFury, I totally agree, but most of the evil comes from the Israel side.
If you don't take my word for it, at least take into account what UN has to say: UN</a> Resolutions Targeting Israel and Palestinians</p>
<p>Point is: it's not that Palestinians spark the fire, it's the other side initiating warfare.
History shows that Israel has attempted several times to invade Lebanon. Take a look at the following link and you'll see it. You don't just go around invading somebody else's land and massacring innocent people of that land like a drunken zombie. And then expect people to sympathize with you. Expect them to hit back. They're human, not statues.</p>
<p>very oxymoronic. Any Muslim would hate you if you called them Israeli, they're Palestinians. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Israel has tryed to make peace with these people countless times. Everytime Israel trys to create lasting peace the Palistinians kill innocent Israli citizens.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If America was taken over by China (not anything against them at all) and millions of Chinese were displaced to the U.S. as ordered by the UN, and then they took over our capital and then ran the country, and then the world's largest superpower (let's say Russia) gives hundreds of billions of dollars to China. Let's say that happened. Would you ever give up? because I wouldn't. This is my home, and no-one will ever take it away no matter what.</p>
<p>lol, you say that Israel has tried to make peace. Are you serious? Peace? Since when was peace shoving every single Palestinian into like a little strip that's like 1 mile wide. There will be no peace unless Israel steps down from the pedestal it's on, and allows Palestinians to rise with them. That is never going to happen, and therefore the Palestinians will never stop fighting.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Palistinians (militants and not) have decided as a people that they will destroy Israel and kill every Jew,
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That is a very ignorant statement. They have decided that they are going to fight till the death for there homeland. Being Jewish/Israeli does not change anything. If it were catholics from or Buddhists from china or Hindus from India that had taken over, and done exactly what Israel has done, the Palestinians would be doing the exact same thing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Before the establishment of Isrial the entire middle east was a wasteland, now the middle east has one flourishing democracy, and that is Israel
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Please tell me your kidding. Please. Like seriously. If Israel didn't have literally hundreds of billions of dollars getting shipped to them every year from America they wouldn't exactly be flourishing. Give any country in the world that much money and see what happens to them as well.</p>