Sergio: Whew! That was dense & I’m not sure I followed you. Maybe you were translating fr. Italian & something got obscured in translation. But anyone whose first question is “are you a Jew?” and who adds “I’m no jew-hater” [sic] is almost always, well…a Jew-hater.

Usually the pro-Israel partisan crowd tells me I ‘oppose Israel’ (or even choicer words). I’m a little unused to the anti-Semitic left mischaracterizing my views in the same way. I DO NOT oppose Israel as a state. I oppose Israeli policies. I want Israel to survive & thrive. But I want it to do so in a peaceful region & a peaceful context.

As for being the “most wanted and hated people on Earth,” we are being a tad melodramatic now aren’t we? Besides, Jews have a long & unfortunate history along those same lines. All of your, & the world’s hatred hasn’t succeeded in getting rid of us yet & it won’t despite whatever hatred Israel rouses due to the Lebanon adventure. We’re here for the long haul.

it’s just that you should not expect any help from us.

If the Jewish people needed help fr. the likes of you we should prob. commit suicide right now. Thankfully, we don’t. And if you treat minorities in Italy the way you speak of Jews here, you’re going to make a mess of yr own country as well.

Unfortunately, I can’t provide you to a media link because the media doesn’t publish this information.

I assure you that the media would be only too happy to publish such information if it was available.

I can point out a blog, and a similar story I have heard from our own family friends in Lebanon.

I asked for a reputable media source & you provided a partisan pro-Israel site called Israel Bunker?? Hmmm. Not my idea of a reputable source. The information provided by some blogs is notoriously unreliable & I’m not prepared to credit this one as reputable. Your “friends” in Lebanon told you this. 2nd hand information which neither you nor they actually witnessed (I presume).

You’ll have to do better.

Are you kidding me? Why do they constantly chant “Death to Israel”? What exactly do they mean by that? Do Israelis march around and shout “Death to Arabs”?

You clearly have not lived in Israel as I have. Yes, many Israelis & Jews do that. Not a majority but enough. Did you not hear about a gang of Russian Israelis only a day or 2 ago who stabbed three Israeli Arabs & wounded them seriously while chanting precisely those slogans (this was reported by Haaretz)? And there are a number of far right Israeli parties which might not kill Arabs but would definitely be willing to forcibly remove them (these are Israeli citizens keep in mind) from Israel.

Of course not! Israel has offered peace time and time again.

Wrong again I’m afraid. Where ARE you getting your information? Ehud Olmert refuses to enter final status negotiations w. the Palestinians (even w. Abbas) to resolve the conflict.

Israel has no colonial ambitions, but a soverign state can expect that it shall not be attacked.

No colonial ambitions? What do you call the Occupation? What do you call the path of the Separation Wall which effectively expropriates great swaths of Palestinian land & gives it to Israel.

What would the point of Hezbollah or Hamas be if there was peace between the civilian populations of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria?

They’d become pure political parties just like scores of preceding guerilla forces which eventually moved into government after their military campaigns ended & independence was gained.

Is it not a “war crime” to launch rockets at civilian populations?

Indeed it is. But rockets were not the precipitating event for the current war. Rockets are being used in retaliation for Israeli strikes against Lebanese civilians. I am not defending Hezbollah’s original attack or rocket strikes afterward. I believe that all terrorists, Hamas, Hezbollah & the IDF should face war crime charges. Let the court’s sort out who’s at fault. But to my mind they all are & should face a judgment for their abominable behavior.

Are you kidding me? Why do they constantly chant “Death to Israel”? What exactly do they mean by that? Do Israelis march around and shout “Death to Arabs”? Of course not! Israel has offered peace time and time again. Israel has no colonial ambitions, but a soverign state can expect that it shall not be attacked.

What would the point of Hezbollah or Hamas be if there was peace between the civilian populations of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria? They may gain some strength while everyone is hot in the moment but the cost of senseless violence (which in this case was initiated by Hezbollah on July 12 with 7 murders and 2 kidnappings) is too high for people to continue to pay.

> No, LEBANON did not attack Israel, Hezbollah did. And Israel is acting as if Lebanon did the attacking (which is a war crime btw).

Is it not a “war crime” to launch rockets at civilian populations? (Which Hamas was doing for months before July 12).

It will end on [sic] day and then after that do you think the international community is going to let Hezbollah ever have a large stockpile of weapons again?

That all depends on whether the U.S. is willing to engage with Hezbollah & Syria & provide them some reason to cooperate. If they don’t, then that is precisely what will happen. Hezbollah will rearm no matter what the world wants it to do. Even w. an international peacekeeping operation that seeks to prevent it fr. doing so. Unless this force is willing to occupy the entire country, Hezbollah will find a way to circumvent it. That’s if Hezbollah is opposed to the operation. If it isn’t & gets enough from any deal to encourage it to participate then things could be different. Though currently this scenario looks terribly doubtful.

The stated goal of Hezbollah is to destroy Israel.

Prove it.

Israel is no closer to being destroyed. In fact Israel is doing a good job of destroying the country that attacked them.

No, LEBANON did not attack Israel, Hezbollah did. And Israel is acting as if Lebanon did the attacking (which is a war crime btw) & it is destroying that country. But it is NOT destroying Hezbollah. It cannot destroy Hezbollah unless it is willing to occupy the entire country. Hezbollah will be back (in fact it’s doing a fairly good job of maintaining its operational capacity despite Israeli actions) I’m afraid unless all parties are willing to address the issues dividing the warring parties in a comprehensive way.