Something's about to change.

[Poindexter]

Any time a nutty group like 'born again zionists' have such influence in international affairs it can never be good. I would have thought in my lifetime Palistine would be recognized but it appears further away from happening each year.

What Jews do to the Palestinians reminds me of what happened to the American Indians. They get taken from thier land and draconian measures are imposed to humiliate and keep under control. Then one native steps out of line and the entire village is made to pay; Collective justice.

Canada now be steered by the born again zionists in the Middle East is simply an embarrassment. They a very large politically organized group who's only goal, where the Middle East is concerned, is paving the way for an apocalypse. Even if it takes rounding up all the natives onto a reserve and starving them to death.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/world/mea ... index.html

[steven lloyd]

I would have thought in my lifetime Palistine would be recognized but it appears further away from happening each year.

Electing a recognized terrorist group with a mandate to destroy Israel to power was not the Palestinian people's most productive act - unless we want to assume that all Palestinians foster the same wish for all Jews and Israel. Israel's continued restraint in this matter is commendable but Hamas seems to have made it clear they will continue to strike indiscriminate civilian targets from staging areas using their citizens as shields. Israel has done what it can in advising innocent Palestinians to evacuate before they strike. Hamas fires their rockets (and now the threat of drones) in indiscriminate fashion not caring what innocents die - because, after all, there is no innocent infidel Jew. How to you determine peace negotiations with an enemy sworn to your absolute annihilation? Israel has given the Palestinians enough chances. They need to give the ultimatum that the people of Gaza immediately dismiss and disband the terrorist government of Hamas and stop the terrorist attacks - or have their land once again occupied by Israeli forces and terrorists and suspected terrorists and their supporters routed out and convicted of war crimes. Enough is enough. People should not be dying due to the ideological fanaticism of Islamic terrorists. Identify, arrest and execute the terrorist war criminals of Hamas tied to poles in downtown Gaza!

[sobrohusfat]

What's different this time around are the arab voices from a variety of sources who are openly challenging the usual "it's all the evil zionists' fault" diatribe.

“The missiles that are now being launched against Israel, each and every missile constitutes a crime against humanity, whether it hits or misses, because it is directed at civilian targets.”

Ibrahim Khraishi - Palestinian ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council.

A Muslim Cleric on Monday praised Israel for defending the city – and particularly the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount – from Hamas rockets.

"Hamas, which claimed to be “defending” the Arabs of Jerusalem, is doing quite the opposite.

“Israel is the one defending Al-Aqsa from the missiles of Hamas,” Hamadan said. Speaking to Israel Radio's Arabic service, "Hamas' careless firing of missiles endangered Muslim holy places, as well as Arabs, who live and work in all parts of the country."

Zuheir Hamadan - Mukhtar (Islamic religious leader) of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Baher

Jordanian Sheikh Ahmad Adwan doesn’t just read the Palestinians the riot act but insists they are betraying the Qur’an by attempting to take control of Israel.

Adwan posted the following – in Arabic – to his facebook page:

“I say to those who distort their Lord’s book, the Koran: From where did you bring the name Palestine, you liars, you accursed, when Allah has already named it “The Holy Land” and bequeathed it to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment. There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in the Koran. Your demand for the Land of Israel is a falsehood and it constitutes an attack on the Koran, on the Jews and their land. Therefore you won’t succeed, and Allah will fail you and humiliate you, because Allah is the one who will protect them (the Jews).”

The sheikh added: “The Palestinians are the killers of children, the elderly and women. They attack the Jews and then they use those (children, the elderly and women) as human shields and hide behind them, without mercy for their children as if they weren’t their own children, in order to tell the public opinion that the Jews intended to kill them.

This is exactly what I saw with my own two eyes in the 70’s, when they attacked the Jordanian army, which sheltered and protected them. Instead of thanking it (the Jordanian army), they brought their children forward to (face) the Jordanian army, in order to make the world believe that the army kills their children. This is their habit and custom, their viciousness, their having hearts of stones towards their children, and their lying to public opinion, in order to get its support.”

...but what do they know.

[Poindexter]

“I say to those who distort their Lord’s book, the Koran: From where did you bring the name Palestine, you liars, you accursed, when Allah has already named it “The Holy Land” and bequeathed it to the Children of Israel until the Day of Judgment. There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in the Koran. Your demand for the Land of Israel is a falsehood and it constitutes an attack on the Koran, on the Jews and their land. Therefore you won’t succeed, and Allah will fail you and humiliate you, because Allah is the one who will protect them (the Jews).”

Gee, not sure how I can argue with the word of Abraham's imaginary friend.

I'm not even sure where to start with the last two posts. I'm on my cell so excuse me if I'm not a cut and paste master like bro.

Yes the Israelis provide warning of air strikes, they have a few methods. One is dropping a smaller mortar bomb on a rooftop 57 seconds before, another is they'll call them 3 minutes before, and yes they even have an app. Not much notice to pack up the elderly, sick, children and anything you hold of value before your home is destroyed. My favorite of course is using a smaller bomb to warn of larger bombs to come. Boy they are such humanitarians.

The Palestinians on the other hand have noting but the smaller mortar bombs of which they hurl over the wall like a spear with little to no casualties.

As far as blaming the zionists, I wasn't talking about Jewish zionists, these are Christians who are all eagerly waiting for the apocalypse which they are certain wont occur until the real estate deal between the Israelites and god has been completed. Problem with that story is that Abraham had another son who's descendants also feel entitled to the land. Thats the problem with imaginary friends, they're fickle and will promise everyone what ever they want. What's the world coming to when you can't trust an imaginary friend.

I will agree that the Hamas and previously the PLO did not help thier cause but our perception of events is vastly different from Muslims all over the world, even the peace living ones like I know.

It really is a David vs Goliath fight But the rolls have been reversed. Would the Palestinians be happy after they have been given a home of their own or will they continue to seek revenge and attempt to play out thier version of Abrahams legacy is anyone's guess, but morally with unbiased lenses on I think it has to happen eventually. Blood will be shed either way.

[sobrohusfat]

Would the Palestinians be happy after they have been given a home of their own or will they continue to seek revenge and attempt to play out thier version of Abrahams legacy is anyone's guess,

It's only guess work for someone who hasn't bothered to pay attention for the past 66 years.

but morally with unbiased lenses on I think it has to happen eventually.

No it doesn't, not as things stand - But it sure would be nice to believe that those arabs who would gladly live in peacefull and prosperous co-existance with their jewish neighbours somehow found the courage and strength to fight for leaders who would sincerely work towards that end.

...while we continue to wait for that to happen the Israelis have to go on acting and re-acting to the real world. Don't expect them to start seeing things through a distorted suicidal lens anytime soon.

Meanwhile, this is different: If they were hoping to garner support from neighbouring muslim countries, looks like Hamas miscalculated badly this time. Support for Hamas in the arab world is far from solid. Regarding Egypts' current attitude, Khaled Abu Toameh an Arab Israeli journalist says:

"Hamas is paying a heavy price for meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt and some other Arab countries. But the Palestinians living under Hamas in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavier price, largely due to their failure to rise up against the Islamist movement and demand the right to live better lives."

Egyptians Hoping Israel Will Destroy Hamas

Over the past week voices coming out of Egypt and some Arab countries are publicly supporting the Israeli military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Isolated and under attack, Hamas now realizes that it has lost the sympathy of many Egyptians and Arabs. Many see the atrocities and massacres committed by Islamists on a daily basis in Iraq and Syria and are beginning to ask themselves if these serve the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has thus far turned down appeals from Palestinians and other Arabs to work toward achieving a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Sisi and urged him to intervene to achieve an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. Abbas later admitted that his appeal to Sisi and (other Arab leaders) had fallen on deaf ears.

Egyptians Seem ‘delighted’ that Hamas is Badly Hurt

Sisi’s decision not to intervene in the current crisis did not come as a surprise. In fact, Sisi and many Egyptians seem to be delighted that Hamas is being badly hurt.

Some Egyptians are even openly expressing hope that Israel will completely destroy Hamas, which they regard as the “armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization.”

Sisi’s Egypt has not forgiven Hamas for its alliance with Muslim Brotherhood and its involvement in terrorist attacks against Egyptian civilians and soldiers over the past year.

The Egyptians today understand that Hamas and other radical Islamist groups pose a serious threat to their national security. That is why the Egyptian authorities have, over the past year, been taking tough security measures not only against Hamas, but also the entire population of the Gaza Strip.

These measures include the destruction of dozens of smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization.

True, there are still many Egyptians and Arabs who sympathize with Hamas, mainly because it is being targeted by Israel. But over the past week, there are also different voices coming out of Egypt and some other Arab countries — voices that publicly support the Israeli military operation against the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian President Hopes Israel Will Finish the Job

This is perhaps because a growing number of Arabs and Muslims are fed up with the Islamist terrorists who are imposing a reign of terror and intimidation in the Arab world, particularly in Iraq and Syria. They see the atrocities and massacres committed by Islamists on a daily basis in Iraq and Syria and are beginning to ask themselves if these serve the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.

Sisi and other Arab leaders are now sitting on the fence and hoping that this time Israel will complete the job and get rid of Hamas once and for all. Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah are certainly not going to shed a tear if Hamas is crushed and removed from power in the Gaza Strip.

The reaction of some Egyptians to the Israeli military operation has shocked Hamas and other Palestinians. As one Hamas spokesman noted: “It’s disgraceful to see that some Egyptians are publicly supporting the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip while Westerners are expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and condemning Israel.”

Addressing the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Egyptian actor Amr Mustafa said that they should not expect any help from the Egyptians. “You must get rid of Hamas and we will help you,” he said. He also called on Hamas to stop meddling in the internal affairs of Arab countries. “Pull your men out of Egypt, Syria and Libya,” Mustafa demanded. “In Egypt, we are today fighting poverty that was caused by wars. We have enough of our own problems. Don’t expect the Egyptians to give more than what they have already given. We’ve had enough of what you did to our country.”

Israeli Takeover ‘Would be Better than the Hamas Rule’

In response to Egyptian Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi’s decision to dispatch 500 tons of food and medical aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian newspaper El-Bashayer remarked:

“The standard of living for a Gazan citizen is much higher than that of an Egyptian citizen. The poor in Egypt are more in need than the poor in the Gaza Strip. Let Qatar spend as much as it wants on the Gaza Strip. We should not send anything that Egyptians are in need

Famous Egyptian TV presenter and journalist Amr Adeeb has been told by many Egyptians to “shut up” after his criticism of Sisi’s “silence” toward the war in the Gaza Strip.

One Egyptian reminded Adeeb that “Hamas is responsible for the killing of Egyptian soldiers.”

Egyptian ex-general Hamdi Bakhit was quoted as expressing hope that Israel would re-occupy the Gaza Strip. “This would be better than the Hamas rule,” he said.

Egyptian TV presenter Amany al-Khayat launched a scathing attack on Hamas.

She pointed out that Hamas agreed to the reconciliation pact with Fatah only in order to get salaries for its employees in the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian Journalist Thanks Israel for Attacking Hamas

Al-Khayat said that Hamas was seeking to depict itself as a victim of an Israeli attack only in order to get the Egyptian authorities to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. “They just want us to open the Rafah border crossing,” she said on her show. “Hamas is prepared to make all the residents of the Gaza Strip pay a heavy price in order to rid itself of its crisis. We must not forget that Hamas is the armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement.”

Her colleague, Azza Sami of the newspaper Al-Ahram, went as far as thanking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for ordering the attack on Hamas. “Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more [people] like you to destroy Hamas,” she wrote.

What is also remarkable is Egyptian criticism of Hamas for launching rockets at the nuclear facility in Dimona in southern Israel. Ahmed Qandeel, head of the Energy Studies Program at the Al-Ahram Strategic Studies think-tank, denounced the targeting of Dimona as “idiotic.” He warned that this would have a negative impact on the entire region and endanger the lives of many Egyptians and Arabs. “Egypt must take precautionary measures,” he advised. In response, an Egyptian wrote: “May God make the State of Israel victorious in its war against the terrorist movement Hamas during this holy month of Ramadan.”

Hamas ‘Have Accounts in Swiss Banks’

Echoing the widespread sentiment among Egyptians, journalist Mustafa Shardi said: “No Arab country has done for the Palestinians as Egypt did. Why doesn’t Hamas go to (Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip) Erdogan? Where is Erdogan when you need him? Why is he silent? If he opens his mouth they (Israel and the US) will hit him with a shoe. The Egyptian people are asking: Where are our people who were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip? Hamas should apologize for the 1000 tunnels that were used to smuggle the resources of Egypt. They all have their own planes and accounts in Swiss banks.”

Isolated and under attack, Hamas now realizes that it has lost the sympathy of many Egyptians and Arabs. Some Hamas leaders are now talking about the “betrayal” and “collusion” of their Arab brethren, especially Egypt.

When the Egyptian authorities reluctantly and briefly re-opened the Rafah border crossing a few days ago, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum rushed to declare: “The Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing only to receive bodies. Egypt is imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip and has destroyed the tunnels.”

Former Palestinian Authority security commander Mohamed Dahlan predicted that the Egyptians will not do anything to save Hamas. “Egypt won’t intervene to stop the war on the Gaza Strip because Hamas was conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood against Egypt,” he said. “Hamas was working with Muslim Brotherhood against the Egyptian army.”

Hamas is paying a heavy price for meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt and some other Arab countries. But the Palestinians living under Hamas in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavier price, largely due to their failure to rise up against the Islamist movement and demand the right to live better lives.

Author Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Israeli journalist, lecturer and documentary filmmaker,
is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

This article first appeared on the Institute’s website.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4401/ ... rael-hamas

[maryjane48]

would be shocked the Americans bombed Lady tehMa's house if it was the source of a significant portion of those rockets?

no not at all but i would be shocked if everyone around said house was wiped out to , and thats really my point , get the bad guys , but don't punish everyone else , whether they voted for hamas or not , it was a free election and we in bc have been making bad choices in the political dept to ,the stick never wins. as far as any bible connection to a piece of land, i say its time we got rid the fairy tale hocus pocus and focused on reality , i think the israel palestine conflict can be solved , i think most israelis and palestinians want to live in peace, its going to take a courageous leader in both countries to get it done, courageous in israel to say we killed enough over there and in palestine to say ok we have poked them with a stick for long enough. and all occupied land needs to be unoccupied unless invited in

[steven lloyd]

The Palestinians on the other hand have nothing but the smaller mortar bombs of which they hurl over the wall like a spear with little to no casualties.

I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve seen any news coverage on this but even their suicide bombers pack more devastating punch than that description. Add to that their long range rockets (which, while not exceedingly accurate, cannot be compared to mortars with any credibility), there is evidence of aspiring weaponized drone capability. The bottom line is that given the chance Israel has demonstrated they would readily agree to peace terms and engage in diplomacy while Hamas, on the other hand, has clearly demonstrated that neither peace nor diplomacy holds any interest for them.

It is obvious that without the use of terrorist tactics, Hamas holds no military threat, and they are quickly losing international support – including that of the UN and even its Muslim and Arabic neighbors. The question then is what is being achieved by “throwing stones at the tiger” or continued acts of terrorism that only threaten the lives of innocents? Truly God must be great!

[Atomoa]

Losing UN support.

Let's put it to a free, un-vetoable vote then shall we?

[Atomoa]

[sobrohusfat]

Yes, just imagine!

Imagine you lived in a place with access to the mediteranean on one side, the Israelis with their productive inovations and skills as your immediate neighbours on the other side and a third border with a friendly Egypt. Add Gazillions from the international community to kickstart your economy ... 66 years with every opportunity to develop the place into the absolute jewel of the mediteranean. If you were so inclined.

What a waste. Oh well, shoulda-woulda-coulda.

Now back to reality

[sobrohusfat]

Israel Electric Corp. workers brave rockets to restore power to Gaza

On Sunday, a Hamas rocket downed a high-power line that supplied electricity to Gaza, plunging 70,000 Gazans into darkness • Despite ongoing rocket fire, Israeli technicians don bulletproof vests and special helmets and repair the damage.

After a day without power, electricity was restored to some 70,000 Gazans when the Israeli government gave the Israel Electric Corp. the green light to repair a high-power line damaged by a rocket on Saturday.

The Israeli military said that one of the rockets fired by Gaza terrorists Sunday night "hit an electricity infrastructure in Israel that supplied electricity to the Gaza Strip, causing a power outage to some 70,000 Gaza civilians."

The IEC employees dispatched to repair the damage were accompanied by Israel Defense Forces soldiers and outfitted with bulletproof vests. They wore special helmets as well to minimize the threat of shrapnel injuries.

[daria]

Netanyahu is in a tizzy, his eyes are filled with hate
He said the problem with those Arabs is they won’t recognize a Jewish state
He said those Palestinians just won’t come around
To accepting Jewish rule on their holy ground
He said the Arabs don’t accept their new neighbors in the ‘hood
Those ungrateful regimes don’t respect us as they should
Well I don’t want to upset anyone or to unduly take to task
But if a state wants recognition it seems reasonable to ask
Where are your borders drawn in black and white?
Do they include the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights?

I heard him speaking to the Congress, getting his 29th standing o
He said we need our security from those terrorists, don’t you know
If you want security, I wonder if you’d say it’s true
That the Palestinians should have security too
‘Cause if you want security it seems only fair
That you should also grant it to the people over there
And maybe you could answer, though the question is a sin
Just where your country ends and your neighbors’ lands begin
Tell me, where are your borders drawn in black and white?
Do they include the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights?

He said we’re the only democracy in the Middle East
Or actually, he said, the only viable one at least
The PA isn’t viable ’cause they didn’t vote Abbas
They voted for those terrorists that they call Hamas
So we can’t recognize them ˆ though we wish they would agree
That we stole their land quite fairly here by the Mediterranean Sea
We stole it fair and square ˆ we stole it just like you
If you don’t like you’re an anti-Semite — whether you’re a Muslim or a Jew
OK, right. But tell me — where are your borders drawn in black and white?
Do they include the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights?

[Thinktank]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evIyrrjTTY

[Atomoa]

57 second warning to drop a 500lb bomb on civilian house in the most dense civilian population in the world.

[Glacier]

Here is the atheist perspective on the middle east conflict.