Israeli Air Strike

[Zilong]

Why hasn't there a 10 page discussion about this?

And why the fuck is all I heard from the goddamn news is the outrage over the Barack the magic negro song and the santa gunners?

PS: I'm not taking just "It's because of the jews" as an answer to either question

[The Stig]

I'd say it's because we all think:

"Oh it's that again. Probably bitching about something petty and using it as an excuse for a full scale offensive."

Unless anyone lives there or has anything to do with there, I doubt we care that much again.

EDIT: And unless it's actually massive, we all know it'll stop after a certain kill count is reached.

[Zilong]

I really don't understand, if Israel wish for coexistence, they sure aren't acting like they want continued existence if they ever lose US' backing.

[Senoska]

Israel is the terrorist nation. SHOCKED?!

[Zilong]

That's impossible, they are god's chosen people...everything to do is god's wi-

oh my god

[The Stig]

Israel is the terrorist nation. SHOCKED?!

SILENCE! I KILL YOU.

http://www.break.com/index/achmed-the-terrorist.html

As for the Israel issue, I dunno, in my view stuff happens there too much often that it's kinda become some drama or attention whoring every now and then at the worst possible moments to deflect our attention to them during important seasons (New Year). As a result, we just think "mweh, that again" and skim past it, because deep down we all know it's probably the same issue, again.

[Jefe]

Probably because there's always been conflict in that shitty area since the /echo voice *dawn of time* /echo off and nobody gives a shit anymoar.

Edit: Maybe it's late and I'm too sleepy to reason properly, but we'd be better off if that whole area just blows up...

[Olo401]

Because if I got started on this shit I'd end up pissing people off.

In short, fuck Olmert, Barak and Livni, and all the dipshits in the Knesset who get off on killing or maiming Palestinians at a ratio of 1000-1 with huge bombs, instead of just using snipers to kill these random idiots in Gaza who keep firing rockets. This bullshit is the reason Israel looks just like the genocidal cocksuckers that have killed Jews by the millions throughout history.

OK enough out of me.

[TheShadyMan]

Oh, explosions in the Middle East again? Those rapscallions. Oh well, boys will be boys...

[lolol]

wow you guys dont even know about the situation there, you talk smack about the israelis as if you know all the facts.
the arabs have been bombarding cities in israel with missiles for like 3 weeks now or more, and the israelis told them to stop like a million times. so now that they dont have a choice but to defend their citizens and issue a counter attack to all their terrorist acts against them, you think its not right to do so?
what would you have them do, just do nothing while watching the arabs launch missiles into cities in israel? the government has a responsibility to keep their citizens safe after all

[Ghost_Wheel22]

Justification to do anything to anyone in the Middle East lost its credibility quite a while ago.

[Elvis]

Israel is and has always been a terrorist state.

Those shitty rockets have killed 15 people in EIGHT YEARS.

Israel kills 300+ (including bombing the Islamic Uni., police stations, one childrens school, a dairy farm, etc.) Palestinians and injures 1000+ more in ONE DAY.

It's total bullshit. The Qassam rockets are the response to the blockade.

[Muffins]

wow you guys dont even know about the situation there, you talk smack about the israelis as if you know all the facts.
the arabs have been bombarding cities in israel with missiles for like 3 weeks now or more, and the israelis told them to stop like a million times. so now that they dont have a choice but to defend their citizens and issue a counter attack to all their terrorist acts against them, you think its not right to do so?
what would you have them do, just do nothing while watching the arabs launch missiles into cities in israel? the government has a responsibility to keep their citizens safe after all

Wow, you don't even know about the situation there, you talk smack about the Palestinians as if you know all the facts. The Israelis have been blockading Gaza and killing its people directly and indirectly at a 4:1 ratio for like 8 years now or more, and the Palestinians told them to stop like a million times. So now that they don't have a choice but to defend their people and issue a counter attack to all their illegal occupations, house demolitions, and blockades against them, you think its not right to do so?

What would you have them do, just do nothing while watching the Israelis bulldoze their house, lay siege to their cities, or deny their children food and medicine? The people have a responsibility to fight their oppressors after all.


See how it goes both ways?

[Faris]

U.S firmly behind Israeli attacks

Gaza Attacks - DEC08

protesters/people running in to egypt

hi, my name is Thomas Hurndall

hi, im Rachel Corrie

Gaza - Killing Zone (i like this one)
yeah, ok

moreover;

Activists trying to bring aid to Gaza today claimed their boat had been rammed by Israeli gunboats in a "criminal attack" in international waters.

The Free Gaza Movement said its vessel, the Dignity, was intercepted by several Israeli vessels as it was heading to the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli aerial bombardment since Saturday.

One gunboat rammed the Dignity on the port bow side, causing heavy damage, although no one was hurt, the group said.

"[The Dignity] is taking on water and appears to have engine problems," the movement said on its website. "When attacked, the Dignity was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza.

"The gunboats also fired their machine guns into the water in an attempt to stop the mercy ship from getting to Gaza.

"Israel thumbs its nose in the face of maritime law by attacking a human rights boat in international waters and has put all of these human rights observers at risk.

"At no time was the Dignity ever close to Israeli waters. They clearly identified themselves and the Israeli attack was willful and criminal."

The group said the attack took place as the Dignity carried three tonnes of medical supplies at the request of doctors in Gaza.

The crew and passengers were hoping to treat some of those injured in four days of the Israeli air strikes, with hospitals in the territory overwhelmed.

The Dignity is still in international waters, 40 miles off Haifa, and is making its way slowly to Lebanon. The ship flies the flag of Gibraltar, is piloted by an English captain and its passenger list includes Cynthia McKinney, a former US congresswoman.

It left for Gaza from Lanarca in Cyprus yesterday. The group said journalists on board filmed the attack.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, told Reuters there had been no shooting, although two ships made "physical contact".

Palmor said the boat had failed to respond to Israeli naval radio contact and an Israeli vessel "clashed with the ship". He said nobody was hurt and the Israeli ship escorted the aid boat back to Cypriot territorial waters.

Israel declared the coastal territory a closed military zone after it launched air attacks on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday in response to Hamas firing rockets into Israel. Israel said the Free Gaza movement boat would not be permitted to dock in the Gaza Strip.

More than 360 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks. In the same period, four Israelis have died in rocket strikes from Gaza.

The UN relief and works agency, which supports Palestinian refugees and has large programmes in Gaza, said 62 civilians were dead at a conservative estimate.

The overall number of injured is thought to be as high as 1,400 although Gazan hospitals are so overcrowded and short of medicine and equipment that they are turning away all but the most seriously wounded.

source:
Israel accused of ramming Free Gaza Movement aid ship | World news | guardian.co.uk

[Mizango]

It's gods will etc..

Pray hard and they should go away.

[Lordwafik]

Ouch, that's nearly a 100:1 death rate.

[Elvis]

The entire world except for the US government is against this and rightly so.

It's indiscriminate and disproportional force like this that CREATES terrorism.

From The Independent:
Johann Hari: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

'Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet, "told the Israeli cabinet [on 23 December] that Hamas is interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms." Diskin explained that Hamas was requesting two things: an end to the blockade, and an Israeli ceasefire on the West Bank. The cabinet – high with election fever and eager to appear tough – rejected these terms. '

From The Financial Times:

FT.com / Comment / Analysis - Bombing Gaza is not a solution

The disproportionate scale of Israeli air strikes, in response to the pinprick provocations of the home-made rockets fired from Gaza at southern Israeli towns, is less surprising. It fits the Israeli doctrine of overwhelming force, which on Saturday claimed the highest number of Palestinian lives in a single day since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six Day War.

This level of violence goes beyond the assumed aims of both Hamas and Israel – to try to secure a new truce but from a position of strength – and looks set to create a full-blown crisis that could affect the outcome when Israelis and Palestinians go (separately) to the polls in coming weeks. Indeed, the ferocity of Israel’s assault on the crowded Gaza Strip is partly to be explained by the imminence of the vote. The governing Kadima party, led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and its Labour allies under defence minister Ehud Barak, fear being labelled weak and seem to be trying to out-hawk the irredentist Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

From Dennis Kucinich's website:

Congressman Dennis Kucinich

"Today I sent a letter to Secretary General Ban ki-Moon urging the United Nations to establish an independent inquiry of Israel's war against Gaza. The attacks on civilians represent collective punishment, which is a violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War). The perpetrators of attacks against Israel must also be brought to justice, but Israel cannot create a war against an entire people in order to attempt to bring to justice the few who are responsible. The Israeli leaders know better. The world community, which has been very supportive of Israel's right to security and its right to survive, also has a right to expect Israel to conduct itself in adherence to the very laws which support the survival of Israel and every other nation," Kucinich said.

From The Guardian:

Seumas Milne: Israel's onslaught on Gaza is a crime that cannot succeed | Comment is free | The Guardian

Israel's decision to launch its devastating attack on Gaza on a Saturday was a "stroke of brilliance", the country's biggest selling paper Yediot Aharonot crowed: "the element of surprise increased the number of people who were killed". The daily Ma'ariv agreed: "We left them in shock and awe".

Of the ferocity of the assault on one of the most overcrowded and destitute corners of the earth, there is at least no question. In the bloodiest onslaught on blockaded Gaza since it was captured and occupied by Israel 41 years ago, at least 310 people were killed and more than a thousand reported injured in the first 48 hours alone.

[...]As Israeli journalist Amos Harel wrote in Ha'aretz at the weekend, "little or no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocent civilians", as in US operations in Iraq. Among those killed in the first wave of strikes were eight teenage students waiting for a bus and four girls from the same family in Jabaliya, aged one to 12 years old.

[Cephius]

As far as the actual fighting goes, I don't think it'll ever end. That region has seen perpetual war for like 3000 years now. No amount of negotiating or signed peace treaties can heal those wounds, or reverse the hatred that kids have been brought up with over there. I'm not sure anything can be done, but for everyone's sake I hope someone comes along and can make progress.

As far as the US involvement goes, I don't think it's as clear cut as everyone wants it to be. It's not like the US supports the killing of innocent civilians, but they can't just come out and pull support across the board. Frankly, at this point, what is stopping middle eastern countries from all out invading Isreal except for the threat of US retaliation?

I don't think the Isreali airstrikes are complete self defense, but they aren't 100% unjustified, either.

[Izzy]

wow you guys dont even know about the situation there, you talk smack about the israelis as if you know all the facts.
the arabs have been bombarding cities in israel with missiles for like 3 weeks now or more, and the israelis told them to stop like a million times. so now that they dont have a choice but to defend their citizens and issue a counter attack to all their terrorist acts against them, you think its not right to do so?
what would you have them do, just do nothing while watching the arabs launch missiles into cities in israel? the government has a responsibility to keep their citizens safe after all

A little extreme with your word choices, much? A few ROCKETS not MISSILES that caused little to no damage.

[Kael]

Can someone explain to me why we back Israel all of the time?

Isn't it kind of a bad idea to be permenantly allied with a foreign nation that is batshit crazy?