True. And its sad that our government are working around the clock to undermine the state of israel. I suspect that the German government will be forced to distance themselves from our radical politicians. We will lose our greatest economical advantage, the germans will be forced to apply a fair level of corporate tax accross europe. all the international companies will get out of here. we will be known around the world as the island of unemployment! Do our politicians know what they are doing? Why to play such a negative roLe in the conflict why not play a positive role?

Here’s what Netanyahu really thinks…. he doesn’t give one fart what the rest of the world thinks…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JrtuBas3Ipw

Smell of bengy alright…..

I see Commonsense has clocked on!

Ah here, that’s just mental there commonsense.

The Irish government has been more than fair to Israel, including an attribution of blame to Hamas for provoking the current conflict, which almost certainly isn’t true.

Not doing your cause any favours here.

commonsense

What are you talking about????
Why don’t you accuse the UN of holding a grudge against the state of Israel after all look at all the resolutions
passed against it.

- Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan of 1947 accepted by the Jews) declares Jerusalem, including Bethlehem
and Beit Sahour, a corpus separatum – to be run under an international UN administration.
This was reiterated in Resolution 303 a year later. We’re still waiting.

· Resolution 194: resolves that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours
should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the
property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage. That was 64 years ago.

· Resolution 237: Israel to allow return of the ‘new’ 1967 Palestinian refugees.

· Resolution 242: emphasizes the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war and calls on Israel to withdraw its forces
from land occupied in 1967.

· Resolution 252: declares invalid Israel’s attempts to unify Jerusalem as the Jewish capital.

· Resolution 271: condemns Israel’s failure to obey UN resolutions on Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

· Resolution 298: deplores Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem.

· Resolution 446: determines that Israeli settlements are a ‘serious obstruction’ to peace and calls on Israel to
abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

· Resolution 452: calls on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories.

· Resolution 465: deplores Israel’s settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel’s settlements
program.

· Resolution 469: strongly deplores Israel’s failure to observe the Council’s order not to deport Palestinians.

· Resolution 471: expresses deep concern’ at Israel’s failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention.

· Resolution 476: reiterates that Israel’s claims to Jerusalem are null and void.

· Resolution 478: censures Israel in the strongest terms for its claim to Jerusalem in its Basic Law.

· Resolution 605: strongly deplores Israel’s policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians.

· Resolution 608: deeply regrets that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians.

· Resolution 641: deplores Israel’s continuing deportation of Palestinians.

· Resolution 673: deplores Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the United Nations.

· Resolution 681: deplores Israel’s resumption of the deportation of Palestinians.

· Resolution 694: deplores Israel’s deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate
return.

· Resolution 726: strongly condemns Israel’s deportation of Palestinians.

Some good news, at least:

Nobody from the Tel Aviv terror attack is life-threatening condition.— Stop the Rockets (@StopRockets) November 21, 2012

Certainly not. Surprised the anonymous campaign hasn’t gotten more coverage, seems that the Israeli Deputy PM has had a Damascene conversion:

https://twitter.com/SilvanShalom

What were the chances of that ha?
Who benefits? Not Palestine, thats for sure!

Actually Israel had already found the terms of the ceasefire unpalatable.

Israel.

Bomb planted? Mossad…

Nobody

Israel benefits from a bomb planted to kill its own people. Am I missing something here. Can you explain how that’s works

Chuck,

It means Israel can use this as a reason to drop bombs from the sky and put boots on the ground in Gaza for as long as they wish.
When the international community rightly condemns them for their treatment of civilians, the State of Israel can point to this bomb and say they are protecting their civilians from terrorists.

Israel can benefit from this as it’s another attack for them to be able to massively overreact to.
12 people injured in Israel = an excuse to “justify” about 5 deaths and 60 injured in Gaza. Or at least that’s how Israeli math seems to work.

It has to be said though that Hamas are complicit in this most recent violence. Hamas’ extreme Islamic beliefs facilitates them in justifying the deaths of ordinary Palestinians as helping their cause.

Nobody benefits, and there’s no way it was Mosad – Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, aligned with Fatah have apparently claimed responsibility: http://english.al-akhbar.com/live-event/israel-declares-war-gaza

But the same rules apply, anyone who targets civilians should be brought before the ICC and charged with war crimes.

The comment was originally posted in a manner suggesting Israel would be happy to have a bomb kill there own people giving them a reason to retaliate. Quite clearly not the case and you cannot under any circumstance condone the bombing of a civilian bus. I am frankly disgusted by a lot of the social media comments in the last few days saying the get what they deserve. I in no way condone or support Israel but it should not turn outsiders into supporters of those firing motors at civilian targets and that goes for both sides

Bedtime reading nit wit.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

Israel dropped leaflets urging innocent people to move to safer areas, Ruairi. Hamas never do that when they fire their lethal rockets into another state – Israel. No respect for any innocent civilians in Israel from Hamas. It is terrible this happened today in Tel Aviv. Hopefully a solution can be found soon.

Should have said “Israel dropped leaflets into Gaza …. “

It would say something if that’s all they dropped

The IRA used to telephone in warnings before a bomb attack, I suppose that made it all ok?

Yeah Declan….they’re real gentlemen bombers….pathetic

Ordering people out of their towns and cities so you can flatten them. Lovely.

Well it’s better than nothing, Hamas are bombing Israel too.

10,000 people currently displaced in Gaza, thanks to those helpful leaflets.

Israel appears to be systematically targeting the press, also – AFP building was hit in the past couple of hours, one dead. This is not looking good.

Ruairi plus1

A young woman lost an arm, so yes it could have been much worse but how would you function without an arm?

Brian – ‘No doubt there will be many ‘friends’ of Palestine celebrating this.’
I find that comment a little disgusting, it implies that those who support the human rights of Palestinians are terrorists. People who defend human right will also abhor the actions of suicide bombers.

I’m sure most people will rightly condemn this attack but there are plenty of so-called supporters of Palestine (here and abroad) who, although they may not say it in public, will be only too happy to see Israel get hit. You may not like it but often the truth really does hurt.

Fair point Brian but it works both ways and there are many ‘friends’ of Israel celebrating the deaths of Palestinians,.

Who is asking the Israelis to change their leadership? The deputy prime minister of Israel wants to bomb Gaza back to the stone ages and their leader Netanyahu is as crazy as bat-shit a leader as the world has ever seen. The son of Ariel Sharon wants to wipe gaza off the map and this is somehow acceptable to the western world.

How come you are not asking bunch of psychopaths in charge of Israel to be changed?

You really think Netanyahu is as crazy a leader as the world has ever seen? Seriously?

So Brian, out of all that Ben said in his last post, all u can come up with is that? ……

I’ll gladly deal with his other points but I just want to check if he’s serious with that comment because if he is then I can’t see much point in continuing the debate.

Thanks Brian, your a good sport for allowing me to clarify.

I am of the belief that Netanyahu would be crazy enough to start a war with Iran under false pretences and that he is capable of using atomic weapons on civilians. OK, I’ll accept that there may be crazier leaders outside of the developed world. But Netanyahu is still crazy as batshit.

Feel free to respond to the other points:
The deputy prime minister of Israel wants to bomb Gaza back to the stone ages.
The son of Ariel Sharon wants to wipe gaza off the map and this is somehow acceptable to the western world.

@Ben Barnes – I read Eli Yishai’s comments and it goes without saying that they were disgraceful and should be roundly condemned. It’s an unfortunate that people in a position of power come out with such nonsense. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has regularly come out with the same crap about Israel but that certainly doesn’t give others the right to espouse similar views about another nation.

Gilad Sharon’s comments in the Jerusalem Post were equally as bad but that paper should never have published his article in the first place.

I’m not really sure why you’re asking me what I think about both of these comments as clearly any right thinking person would condemn them and I don’t see how I would have indicated that I agree with them in any way.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Netanyahu would dream of using atomic weapons on anyone.

Do you have a link for them claiming responsibility? Its been posted above that a Fatah militant group have claimed responsibility.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/21/us-israel-telaviv-bus-explosion-idUSBRE8AK0HS20121121

There’s nothing in that that amounts to a claim of responsibility. Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades have been reported as having claimed the attack wherever it’s been reported:

http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/11/21/al-aqsa-brigade-claims-responsibility-for-tel-aviv-bus-blast/
http://www.agi.it/flash-news/201211211422-cro-ren1046-islamic_jihad_claims_responsibility_for_tel_aviv_blast

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/bus-explodes-in-central-tel-aviv-as-hamas-takes-responsibility/

To be fair, according to the BBC:

1351: BBC Monitoring: A Lebanese TV channel affiliated with Hezbollah says the “Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades claimed the attack” on a bus in Tel Aviv. The report, broadcast on Al-Manar TV at 1250 GMT, did not elaborate.
People used mosque loadspeakers in Gaza earlier to say Hamas had carried out the bus bombing, but Hamas itself has not officially said so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20422755

Personally, I’m finding the Al-Aqsa claim to be probably more credible at the mo, especially because the Times of Israel liveblog which was the main source for The Blaze post attributed responsibility about an hour before Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility, and also reported it to have been a suicide attack, which seems not to be the case.

As far as I know no acceptanceof responsibility for Tel Aviv attack on Hamas official media since mosque speakers claimed it for therm.— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) November 21, 2012

Not to split hairs Kieran, but the war ‘began on the ground against innocent civilians’ this time round when israel shot and killed a 13 year old palestinian child while he was playing football.

How exactly is Israel a “radical militant” state?

I’d also like to know how Israel is a radical militant state. I wonder if I’ll also get no answer, but four downvotes.
And point out that its army is so large because of the constant threat of attack by the surrounding countries, which have proven year after year that they remain a threat.

More brilliance as usual, declaring any non pro Palestine poster a troll, or paid. Some of us just like to exercise our brains further than RTE

@ Evie – No one is able to legitimately explain why Israel is a radical militant state because it isn’t. Most people on say stuff like that out of ignorance and being brainwashed by biased media. All you get for an answer is either the usual block of text of made up Israeli crimes or silence. Look at the down votes as confirmation that you are right but people haven’t got the knowledge or evidence to counter your point.

Where to start…
The IDF has committed multiple war crimes
Torture, Use of white phosphorous and cluster bombs on Civilians, Collective punishment, targeting hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure.
Israel is a breaker of multiple UN resolutions
Israel steals passports from Neutral countries to commits extrajudicial killings in foreign countries
Israel is not a signatory against the proliferation of nuclear weapons (despite wanting to bomb Iran for having the same ambitions as them – duplicity?)
The interior minister just stated Israel should bomb Gaza back to the stone ages.
The son of a recent Israeli Prime minister (a convicted war criminal) is suggesting Israel flattens Gaza (Hiroshima style)
The Brainwashing all Israeli citizens have to through on their military service. (I can see you are well trained)

Without US intervention Israel would be in the same bracket as North Korea and Zimbabwe on the scale of rogue states.

By the way Ben, yeah Mossad stole Irish passports….I accept that. But a neutral country?? Give me a break!! Switzerland is a neutral country. Compare their military to ours and you will see what being neutral really entails.

If anyone decided to attack the Republic, we would need support from NATO or the EU. If you can’t defend your neutrality….well then you aren’t neutral.

anti-semitic world view…….. how many more million times will Israelis and Jews the world over trot that tired aul shite out….

I don’t think it’s anti-semitic, Sean. If you are of a certain political mindset, Israel represents the western colonial aggressor. They can’t forgive Israel for being the only country in a region of basket-cases to make a decent fist of it. Therefore it must be the wrongdoer in all cases, including those where it is obviously the victim.

“Sick” and “depraved”, I will grant you.

I don’t know how many times it has to be said before people cop on, anti-Israel DOES NOT equal anti-semitic. A country does not quantify as a race or a religion, it is a government which undertakes political actions. Are you seriously of the belief that the significant number of Jews who are also critical of the Israeli state are somehow also have a hatred for their own religion? Cop on.

As long as people like you believe Israel would deliberately kill its own people, that Israel loves war for the sake of it, that Israelis relish sending their children off to war, that Jews somehow ‘control’ the world – really odd that considering the ferocious hatred of Israel across the world out of all proportion to what goes on. The amount of people killed in the Arab-Israeli struggle since 1948 is peanuts compared to the millions of Muslims slaughtered by other Muslims since then. Muslims are their own biggest enemy.

You know the OP here is a problem…..

I don’t know all there is to know about this conflict and there are truly sick things happening on both sides for many many years and while Arab nations tend to hold an antisemitic view, it does not naturally follow that criticism of Israel means that the rest of the world is antisemitic.

It’s also a pretty loose thing to throw around in the effort to jump up on your high horse and throw guilt down to silence all who might actually have a point.

@Sean, I personally keep it with Israel. I’m not against Jews, Muslims or Christians; I’m against an occupation and the violence that comes with it. I’m against a nation that chooses war over peace.

Every time is happens. Or why don’t we turn a blind eye on anti semitism and see how history will repeat itself as it always does

Evie A……………..
Have you any empathy for the Palestinians? Any understanding for how they must feel about the land having been stolen off them…..for their deportations…for the blockades…for their frustrations and anger that UN resolution after next being completely ignored by Israel…for the continuing land grab and settlement building on their land???

And u are worried only about Israel??

@Evie A – that’s the other side to what I mentioned. If you say something against Israel there’s a good chance someone will label you antisemitic – if you mention anything about the disproportionate attacks on Palestine apparently now you might not care about manifestations of prejudice.

There’s no need to label people when they make a point – just make your own point.

@Evie: who’s turning a blind eye? Most people will condemn this, I certainly do.
However that doesn’t mean Israel is innocent in all this; they might not kill by blowing themselves up, but have no issue blowing up homes with kids in it. Collateral damage, was the term I believe.

Arabs are semites too btw

@Joseph

Thanks for proving yourself dim. If it’s outrageous to call someone bashing Israel an anti-semite, then it’s just as outrageous to accuse me of lacking empathy for Palestinians. Which I certainly do not. I have every bit of respect and sadness for those who are suffering in Gaza at the moment, but I also strongly oppose the BIAS IN THE MEDIA which comes across as anti-semitic because of its uneven reporting balance. I understand Palestinians have legitimate issues with Israel of course, but having a legitimate issue does not mean Israel is entirely in the wrong and deserves little regard for the terror their citizens are being put under too.
By defending Israel I am not belittling Gaza, I am asking for LESS BIAS. I’m not even saying it needs as much coverage as Gaza right now, but please take a look at how a BUS BOMBING article turned into more arguments AGAINST Israel. YES there are arguments against Israel, absolutely, but a significant amount of what is posted on here is anti-Israeli tirade often off topic. That is why anti semitism sometimes comes up here, because if you’re not arguing valid points against Israel it becomes irrational and prejudice hatred. Again, I’m not saying all the arguments are irrelevant but there is an awful lot of shite talk, no better word for it sorry, going on in here.

*prepares for down voting even though I have said nothing for or against either territory*

Thanks for proving myself dim???? Spare me….

Less bias AGAINST Israel?? Yer shittin me right?? Ya dont get Euro news there, the BBC, France 24, our own national bullshit news broadcaster RTE do ya…. cause if u did u wouldn’t have the nerve to make such a ludicrous claim…..they’re are all so BIASED towards Israel that many people are genuinely questioning their integrity..

If anyone is coming across as dim, i’m afraid its yer good self.

It is a lost cause with this lot here William. Any proof you have that the Israelis aren’t that bad is immediately dismissed.

I’m sure someone will dispute the figure you have on US aid to Israel and turn it into a conspiracy theory about how Israel receives undeclared financing or something.

What proof? Is there an invisible link in Williams post? Ahhh, here’s the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid

As I expected, William (and Olaf) is talking through his arse yet again.
Military aid give out per person: Israel $380, Pakistan $5, Afghanistan $233. If you factor in
Afghanistan is unlikely to see much of that money as most of it is going to support the US occupation.

I really don’t have the point out the drip feed of propaganda you are spouting. I hope you are being paid well

Ben, the population of Pakistan is 187 million….population of Afghan is 30 million….Israel has 7 million….

So any aid given is all relative to that. Nice one picking and choosing the figures you copy and paste. Taking the population into account, Israel receives $5 per person in economic aid, Pakistan receives over $10 per person.

Regards the military aid, maybe Israel wouldn’t need so much if it wasn’t under constant threat of attack. That Iron Dome isn’t going to fund itself….especially when you have hundreds of mortars and rockets being intercepted by it each year. Stopping another state from killing your citizens is an expensive business.

“Gaza does have an early warning system, it works like this: Look around, are you in Gaza? Yes? Consider yourself warned.”

Says it all….

King Olaf – your comment “Palestinian militants deliberately target civilians on a public bus going about their daily business and the general consensus in the comment section is that basically they deserved it anyway.”

I have not seen one comment that says this let alone see a consensus condoning it. Why are you making up lies? You are a bare faced liar to accuse people of this, and that putting it mildly

Not a single person said they deserved it. Fair bit away from a consensus there!

Keep your panties on there Ben and stop being such a drama queen. I can’t be arsed going through all the comments again, but I when I did read them earlier, there was only one message showing genuine sympathy for the Israeli civilians. Its fairly evident to anyone that reads articles frequently here that there is a real dislike for the state of Israel. If it had been a Palestinian bus blown up by mistake by the IDF, you can be guaranteed there would be people baying for their blood, sanctions against Israel and calls for the UN to step in. Yet when it happens to Israeli civilians in an orchestrated attack, very few of the comments are in any way sympathetic, some have even accused mossad of being involved. Go figure though, it is the way of the softie socialist on this site.

The merit of your opinion nosedived at “Israel is ran” ….then I skimmed through the rest of the text and found the keywords – warmongers, oil, banks, the required mention of the US, superpower….I wonder which YouTube documentary you watched to find out all this fascinating information.

Also, dying in dessert?? Sounds like a delicious way to go out.

You’re not much of a democrat, are you?

Everybody who disagrees with you in paid by Israel?

You say
“Here is the difference between Hamas and Israel; Israel wants to kill as many terrorists as possible
while Hamas wants to kill as many citizens as possible.”

How many Israeli citizens have been killed and how many Palestinian citizens have been killed in the last week or so?

and you call yerself ‘commonsense’?

140 have been killed and 1050 injured in Gaza in the past week, at least half of whom are civilians. At least 225 of the wounded are children. Babble on all you like, champ, but the facts speak for themselves – at the very least there’s a moral equivelance between Israel and Hamas.

If thejournal were to post a separate piece every time Gazan civilians were targeted, there wouldn’t be room for much else.

140 have been killed and 1050 injured in Gaza in the past week, at least half of whom are civilians. At least 225 of the wounded are children. Babble on all you like, champ, but the facts speak for themselves – at the very least there’s a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

If thejournal were to post a separate piece every time Gazan civilians were targeted, there wouldn’t be room for much else.

That’s because Israel protect all their citizens, Joe. Israel have invested in shelters, drills etc. Hamas haven’t & they hide their weapons, fire their weapons & plan their actions among schools, mosques, public places etc. They themselves put innocent men, women & children in harms way. They do this for a purpose of course. To use innocent people as human shields & yesterday, Hamas murdered in cold blood 6 so-called spies without any respect for the due process of law where one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. No respect for their human rights. No comment form the usual anti Israeli commentators re that. Israel has invested in measures to intercept these lethal rockets fired into it’s territory from Gaza thus reducing casualties. No words of condemnation from the usual anti Israeli gallery about these rockets & that is why Israel is doing what it is doing. The solution is simple – Hamas stop firing these lethal weapons into Israel & all will be resolved. But – no. It’s ant Israel at all costs.

Sorry, in case it wasn’t clear enough, intentionally or recklessly targeting civilians is never acceptable, and amounts to a war crime in most instances, whoever’s doing it.

The best thing, to my way of thinking, would be for Israeli and Hamas leaders who can be shown to have given such orders, to be brought before the International Criminal Court to answer for their crimes. Some chance….

You say
” The solution is simple – Hamas stop firing these lethal weapons into Israel & all will be resolved”

You either know nothing of what you talk about, or are utterly blinded by Israeli Govs propaganda machine.

You really think its that simple??????!! Im surprrised by you Declan, I really am…
its nothing to do with Israel breaking, how many UN resolutions is it now?, or the fact that Israel is still stealing land from the Palestinians and building their settlements?, or that they have completely blockaded Palestine?

…but no, ur right, everything will be resolved when Hammas stops rocket attacks………

dont feed the troll lads^^^^

who are u calling a troll?

@no Coomonsense, that’s why 99 Palestinian civilians have died in Israel’s offensive as opposed to 3 Israelis. Are you a government economist by any chance?

Declan, your very right. Israel DOES protect its citizens by building shelters.

But they also setup a blockade around Gaza stopping building materials from coming through……. Just in case they use said materials to build shelters.

Can I ask another question……. If Hamas are so intent on wiping out Israel and it’s people……… Would they not maybe aim a bit better with their ‘barrage of 800 missles’?

I’m not condoning them…… But they kinda suck at shooting stuff…….

Hamas were not involved in this – Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades claimed responsibility

Could you provide a link for that please? I couldn’t find anything about them claiming responsibility. Not that it matters really. Even though Al-Aqsa is just a generic name now for Fatah field ops, its still not unknown for rival Palestinian paramilitaries to work together.

In the 1.43pm update here: http://english.al-akhbar.com/live-event/israel-declares-war-gaza

Thanks for that Voodoo.

Al-Aqsa claim here
http://english.al-akhbar.com/live-event/israel-declares-war-gaza

Oh oh…..there’s the aul “anti-semitism” line again………

@ William Maher ‘listen to their side of the story for a change’ Are you serious? Israel is the 10th strongest military force on the world. The have the rock steady support of the American Government & media not to mention that they are the biggest receiver of US aid in world, in fact the aid is more than all of the other receives combined. Israel is breaking International law by illegally occupying Palestine. The UN recognises Israel but the USA has vetoed any recognition of Palestine.
And don’t go & pull the anti-Semitism mantra.
You know fine well that people have a problem with the Radical militant state of Israel not the Jewish people.
Liam

@ Liam Murphy – The question that you should be asking is why does a country with a population of 7 million have the 10th strongest military in the world? There must be a reason for them to put all that money in equipment and training. You don’t invest your resources in something so costly if you haven’t got a good reason. Israel isn’t a nation motivated by conquest, the IDF is trained and equipped to defend against attacks from all sides.

@William – Well said. I understand people having their own opinion on how the Israeli government handles its affairs but in all fairness most people in the republic haven’t ever had to experience anything like what is going on in Israel/Gaza and most are poorly informed about middle eastern affairs in general. The only thing I can disagree with you on is saying that radical Islam is the biggest threat to the west. I believe it is those who permit and enable radical Islam to gain a foothold in the west.

More nonsense there from King Olaf.
“Israel isn’t a nation motivated by conquest” – then why are they continuing with ethnic cleansing and building settlements on Palestinian land?
“most people in the republic… are poorly informed about middle eastern affairs in general.” – That’s right Olaf, your smarter than everyone else.

You accused posters here of saying that Israelis deserved the bus attack – not one poster on this thread said this and you are now agreeing with William playing Anti- semitic card…

Do you understand the difference between hating Jews and opposing colonialism, ethnic cleansing and state sponsored terrorism. No one is saying anything anti-semitic, why do you repeat this ad nauseum?

@King Olaf

You say:
“You don’t invest your resources in something so costly if you haven’t got a good reason.”

Translation:
“You don’t invest Americas resources in something so costly if you haven’t got a good reason.”

or you say:
“Israel isn’t a nation motivated by conquest, the IDF is trained and equipped to defend against attacks from all sides. ”

Translation:
“Israel isn’t a nation motivated by conquest unless the land belongs to the Palestinians, the IDF is trained and equipped to defend against attacks from all sides, particularily indiscrimante bombings on civilian infrastructure, schools, media buildings and when they feel like it the UN building.
Also known to shoot children throwing rocks and running over protesters with CAT bulldozers”

What exactly does Israel contribute to the world? Oranges, lemons?

Ben, you have tried to counter me a number of times with the same worn out, socialist, terrorist supporting agenda. There is no ethnic cleansing. Read up on any of the many instances of ethnic cleansing in the last 100years…it is insulting to compare them with the current situation.

I never said I am smarter than anyone else. Are you going to say that a significant number of people in Ireland have experienced what Israelis and Palestinians deal with on a daily basis??

Generally when anyone complains about the race card being played, I tend to automatically assume they have no evidence to prove otherwise.

I think I have mentioned Antisemitism maybe once on another article. So I think you are confusing me with someone else. I see no evidence of state sponsored terrorism, colonialism or ethnic cleaning….until you present me with some real evidence of this, I won’t even consider reviewing my stance on this conflict.

Olaf, try to be less lazy and look at some of the comments on this article. One of them refers to the massive list of UN resolutions that Israel is currently in violation of, most of which refer to their forced evictions of Palestinians while building settlements in illegally held territory. Essentially they are undergoing a plantation in Palestine. I wonder where, closer to home, that happened and who carried it out?

Also, give it a rest with the anti-semitism card. Plenty of Jewish people are critical of Israel and don’t support it, so learn what anti-semitism means before firing it off like some kind of instawin phrase.

Olaf –
Gaza is a refugee camp to house the Palestinians who were driven from their ancestral lands. The right to return to their homes is denied by the state of Israel – this was clearly ethnic cleansing by any definition.
The ‘peace’ barriers put up by the state of Israel dig further into the West bank and Gaza every rear – more land grabbing.
Illegal settlements are being built in the West Bank every year, at an increasing pace – whenever a conflict occurs the local Palestinians are moved out – more ethnic cleansing.

I’m not expecting you to change your mind on anything, we just happen to have differing opinions on this. I detest innocent people being killed by terrorists on either side, but the notion put forward that Israel is somehow an honest broker and the victim in this situation is far from the truth.

Jason, trust me I’ve looked through the comments on this article more times than I should have today. I’m sorry but the UN is increasingly becoming a powerless (and pointless) organisation and it is going the way of the League of Nations. The main idea of it was to prevent wars from happening, which it has done a terrible job of over the last 30 years. Nobody who matters respects the organisation, and even states which aren’t big players in it pay much attention to any of the various warnings it gives out.

40% of the UN membership is automatically against the state of Israel. It has received more condemnations than any other member. Israels total war and conflict death toll is in the region of 46,000 and it has received 223 condemnations. Cambodia on the other hand is responsible for over 3 million death and received 14 condemnations. 20 million dead in China during the cultural revolution….0 condemnations from the UN.

So the UN is little more than a popularity club.

I presume when you are referring to plantation you are talking about Ireland and the English. I’ve said it so many times now, you cannot compare these situations. The people who are Israeli now were exiled from there land many times over the centuries. They have every right to it, just like we have a right to our own land. Also you make it out like the Israeli government only targets Palestinian settlements….they have done it to many Jewish ones too. It is Israeli land. The settlements in the West Bank, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel from Egypt, Syria and Jordan after those nations attacked them in the six day war. So it is their land. In my opinion Israel has given more than enough captured land back, when you consider that the only reason they have it is through defending their own territory.

Educating some of you people here is getting quite tiring to be honest.

Also maybe you should do a little more reading of the comments too. I rarely mention antisemitism because it pushes any proper debate aside. So please tell me where I have mentioned it without someone else bringing it up.

Also Jason, perhaps it might interest you to google UN resolution 3379. Might give you a bit of an idea as to how the UN is biased against Israel. I can explain it in more detail if you are interested but I won’t hold my breath.

King, what is their “every right” to it? Just so long as u don’t try justify that BS with the aul God says ‘we’ are special people crap

Joseph, I don’t believe the “gods” people crap….that is reserved for some of their politicians and religious leaders to go on about….most Israelis and Jews that I know don’t believe it at all. They just want to get on with their lives.

Depends on what land you are asking they are entitled to. If you are talking about the state of Israel itself as it was devised in the British mandate for Palestine…after World War I the Jewish people were promised a Jewish nation, this was with the approval of the league of nations. Also this coupled with the French mandate established Lebanon,Syria and Jordan formally over a period of years. Problem was that the Jewish homeland was never established. Then after the atrocities the Jewish people experienced during World War II, it was pretty much so essential to create a territory for Jews. The Zionist agenda to begin with basically was prevent discrimination and racism against Jewish people. Then that evolved into establishing a state for the Jewish people. Now it is at the stage of protecting the Jewish state.

If you are talking about why they are entitled to the lands the settlements are on. The example I gave earlier with the areas in the West Bank, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel from Syria, Egypt and Jordan after the Six Day War in 1967. Israel was attacked by and defended its own territory. Then they pushed the Arab armies back and took the land. It isn’t Israeli land originally but it is the spoils of war I suppose. You don’t attack someone without risking something of your own, and in this case the Arabs lost some of their land.

Spoils of War? Did I just fall asleep and wake up back in the 18th Century.

And kinger this is why there’ll never be peace for Israel while those like yerself hold these views of ‘entitlement’…

Oh look! Its Ben again, coming back to contribute nothing of substance to the debate.

So you think that if someone attacks your nation, and you defeat them, that they should be allowed walk away with no consequences?? Well I didn’t think it was possible but socialist hippies have gotten even more spineless than they used to be.

I’m sure if someone breaks into your house, you will let them steal your valuables and have their way with your wife, all for the sake of lovely fluffy peace.

Ah come on now Joey, I typed out all that and all you could take away from it was that I think they are entitled to it?

What would you have done with the Jews after WWII?? Left them back in their ghettos?

If there Arab neighbours had left them alone, they never would have gained the disputed territories. Don’t see how you can still find a way to blame it on them.

So the english government had the right thru the balfour declaration to take the Palestinians land off them? And who de fcuk were they to agree to that? Then of course you back that up with the league of nations supported it, making it somehow more legitimate. Yet in yer earlier posted you said the UN and its precursor was a load of shite…… typical double speak i’ve come to expect of you and your lot.

What to do with the jews after ww2? Let them go back to the homes and countries they were in before the war……………like every other displaced and victimized people of ww2….of which there was many.

Ah Joey, looks like William was right about the antisemitism…..

Nobody in the right mind would try compare the treatment of the Jews to any other displaced people in WWII.

Can’t blame you for your ignorance about the aftermath of world war II before the cold war started. Unfortunately it hasn’t been covered too well by many popular historians. If you are interested Savage Continent by Keith Lowe is one of the better ones. Antisemitism rose from the ashes of the Nazi’s almost as soon as the war ended. Many people blamed the Jews for the war beginning. So settling them back in Europe wasn’t really a solution.

Also it was a different time. The sun never set on the empire. What entitled the Brits to hand over the land?? Nothing. They did it because they could.

We can go back in time as much as we want with this stuff…why did the Babylonians exile the Hebrews…..why did the Persians oust the Babylonians for the land…..Why did the Romans attack Jerusalem and rename the land Palestine and exile the Jews?? Because they could.

Also re the League of Nations….didn’t have to refer to them, I was just included it because most of you lot have such respect for the stance of the UN on Israel. I thought I might just let you know that the predecessor to the UN approved the the foundation of a Jewish state.

Israel are handing out free bombs to the Palestinian children.

And stop sprouting unverified nonsense please, whats to stop me from saying Israel are handing out machine guns to Israeli children and urging them to go and shoot some Palestinians??

Oh and if they were handing out candy – it would be to help calm the poor little mites when they are under close to a week of Israeli TERROR strikes

In all fairness Cinementor….if you switched it around and said Hamas was handing out bombs to Palestinian children it would be very believable. Mainly because they’ve done it before.

@Commonsense: The same way you justify Israeli killing children in Gaza all the time.

So when Israel blew up the main Hamas negotiator last week that was an attempt to bring about a ceasefire? How are they supposed to have a partner in peace when they kill everyone that sits down to negotiate with them!

Israel have no interest in peace, they want to continue to ethnically cleanse Palestine until they have complete control of what they call ‘Greater Israel’. The only certainty of all these skirmishes is that Israel absorbs more Palestinian land.

That’s not entirely accurate: the two-state solution according to Israel is one where the Palestinians have little or no water. Bit like the reservations in the US: the natives got wastelands and are still suffering.

The truth is that Israel and the US are doing everything in their power to stop Palestinian statehood, with the US even threatening to stop UN funding if it goes ahead: Ref: http://www.economist.com/node/21530174

Val’s statement above – *Israel are saying “Lets have a two state solution and live side by side in peace”, and still the Palestinians are saying NO, they still want it all!*
– This is typical Doublespeak that you will from many apologists for ethnic cleansing, the facts of the situation are that illegal settlements are continuing to be built on Palestinian land and Palestinians are being bulldozed from their homes.

They will now steer the conversation away from the issue of illegal settlements in order to muddy the waters.