Israel is not so bad even though it has the potential to be a lot better.

Israel the country is not so bad. Can’t say the same for its government & policies. But I do agree with the 2nd half of yr comment.

The fact that you are resorting to this suggests that you are really out of gas now, so why don’t you give up

You’re right. I’m out of gas (though not in the way you intended). I’m tired of arguing.

I wish the Arab-Israeli conflict could be resolved through flame wars instead of through actual wars. If I thought it could, I would continue trying to convince everyone here that Israel is not so bad even though it has the potential to be a lot better.

I wish you all well. Shalom. Salaam. Peace.

Well, this is progress of a sort, and I suppose Hillary Clinton would give you “positive reinforcement” for taking a half-baby-step in the right direction, but I won’t. You still don’t get it, so let me state it for you as clearly and simply as I can.

THE ISRAELI MILITARY COMMITS WAR CRIMES AS A MATTER OF POLICY.

Get it now?

Luckily, Israel has a world-class Supreme Court…”

Which has no teeth, and which the Israeli military ignores.

“…and a sizable left-wing citizenry…

Which has no power, and which the Israeli military ignores.

“The US army did far worse in Iraq and more often, and they received nothing close to the backlash the IDF receives…”

“Johnny stole three cookies, and I only stole one, so how come I’m the one being punished?” The fact that you are resorting to this suggests that you are really out of gas now, so why don’t you give up and have yourself towed out of here? And while you are at it try growing up a bit too so you will sound less like an eight year old next time you decide to speak up?

You can tell when someone’s lost an argument, they reach for the old Hamas charter. It doesn’t matter how many Palestinian civilians are slaughtered by Israel, for the Guys of the world, Palestinian life is intrinsically less valuable than Israeli life (which is hardcore racism, by the way). 1,100 murdered Palestinian civilians, 300 murdered Palestinian children, ahh no problem, I’ll just point to some words in an old document. Do you have any remote notion what daily life is like for Palestinians in Gaza? To have no real control over your own borders, your own resources, to be at the utter whim of an occupying power?

You mindlessly parrot the same argument about Palestinian use of civilian human shields when Richard Goldstone specifically investigated that issue and found no evidence for it. You are totally impervious to evidence and fact. I don’t think it would matter how much evidence we supplied you with to support the basic contention that the IDF is contemptuous of Palestinian civilian life, you’re just going to keep singing your indoctrinated song…

How many innocent Palestinians have to be slaughtered by Israel for you to give a rip, Guy? 3,000? 10,000? I’m just curious, where does your tolerance for IDF atrocity end? Maybe 300 dead Palestinian children from the IDF’s most recent massacre isn’t really enough for you. Where does your bloodlust end, Guy? You apologists for war crimes make me sick to my stomach.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence is full of bold visions & dreams which it has refused to realize. So Israel is by no means perfect either.

Oh, this is rich! It was HAMAS that prevented them from leaving their homes? Where to begin with this?

I guess you are not at all acquainted with the extremely-well-documented case of the Samuni family in Zeitun in which The Most Moral Army In The World™ forced tens of people – men, women, children, infants, and elderly – to remain in one house while they bombed it to rubble, killing and maiming the people inside, and then refused for days to allow anyone near the house to assist the survivors.

Or perhaps you are unaware of the many documented cases in which families were shot dead by The Most Moral Army In The World™ after they left their houses carrying white flags.

I have personal friends who live in Gaza, and have spoken to them a lot about what happened there, and they have all told me that there were very, very few “Hamas fighters” around ever. In fact, some of them never saw any. It was the Israelis, not Hamas, who bombed them, shot them, mistreated them, and prevented them from leaving their houses.

Bottom line, it was not Hamas that prevented people from leaving their houses, it was The Most Moral Army In The World™.

Should Israel be expected to, for example, honour its own agreements

Of course it should. The difference is that Israel’s founding documents don’t specify the genocide of anybody.