67 thoughts on “Gaza War, Day 11: 246 Palestinian Dead, Ground Invasion! – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. It’s like the Lebanon war of 2006 all over again; hit the same targets ten times, kill the innocent, watch as the IDF stumbles around like a drunken sailor, knocking down buildings in a pointless rage. It’s a goon country, Israel…..I don’t know if it could be salvaged.

  2. [comment deleted–comments which mischaracterize my views are deleted. Doing this again may cause you to lose your commenting privileges.

  3. Richard, I think you are completely over the line. IDF snipers waiting to pick up women and children? Please.

    1. You are so right Alon, Richard HAS gone daft. Israeli soldiers, killing women and children? Nevah!! Israelis would never commit such brutal atrocities! The IDF Sniper School T-shirts showing a pregnant Arab woman withh the slogan, “One shot, two kills”? Anti-Semitic propaganda, I am sure.
      “The only democracy in the M-E” would never kill people without charges and trials (Who said Arabs are people?), the press would never be stifled and they would NEVER kill unarmed people (which Arabs are not), let alone women and children.

    2. @ Alon: How poor your memory is my friend. IDF snipers have killed scores, if not hundreds of Palestinian women and children. Do a Google search. YOu’ll find more examples than you can count.

  4. I disagree with yr statement: “Israel, tiring of not being able to bring Hamas to its knees with a merciless air assault and a fraudulent ceasefire offer, decided to put the screws on.” The goal is not to bring Hamas to its knees. The goal is to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from all of historic Palestine. Until that is done the assaults will not stop.

  5. One doesn’t know what to be more outraged by: the crimes themselves or the mealy mouthed accounts of them in the media. Obsessed with providing “balance” these useless news outlets give equal time to murder in Gaza and the discomfort of Israelis who have to listen to sirens every once in a while (I presume they don’t run for shelter any more though there might be a “news crew” here and there egging them on to do so). Also they talk of the “war” as if slaughter on a colonial scale (Hereros say murdered by German Maxim guns) ranks as somewhat of an even contest.

    The US has to share in the guilt for all of this and god knows how much goodwill and prestige it has lost around the world for supporting this murderous regime.

    The editors of The Nation wrote:
    But unless the deeper issues are addressed, the cycle will continue—the cycle not of violence, but of impunity. Impunity is what happens when an aggressor fractures the norms of international law and basic human rights yet is never held to account, and so is free to commit the same crimes again and again. That is what we’re seeing now, and that is exactly what the Goldstone Report—the findings of the UN investigation of Operation Cast Lead in 2008–09—so presciently warned against. It said then that bringing to justice those who committed war crimes—Israel as well as Hamas—was perhaps the only effective way to prevent another round of violence.

    It was the United States that prevented Goldstone’s recommendations from getting a fair hearing in the UN—and it’s the United States, the world’s sole superpower, the key bankroller of Israel’s military, and the unconditional defender of Israel in international forums, that bears deep responsibility for the continuation of the decades-long occupation.

    1. [Comment deleted–this is a very serious violation of comment rules. Another comment like this will find you comment privileges revoked.]

      1. It’s the other way around. It’s business interest that invites Zionists. That region is too strategically important, either for getting votes from Christians (by far the largest Zionist group), and keep control of the passage way from the Atlantic to Indian Ocean (the Suez Canal, even though is in Control of Egypt, is also in check by the proximity of Israel). Allowing further control of Arabic elites, cheap oil, and a bunch of things.

    2. Arie, I agree, impunity is the worst. Now, they kill children at the beach in front of journalists during day light
      they do not care anymore to hide it or give excuses.
      this thing is mass murder.
      And all internatinal community stand watching by .

  6. “Snipers around every corner just waiting to pick off the children, women and infirm men holding up white flags”

    You are so brainwashed, it’s ridiculous… I have to ask you, do you really believe in what write?

        1. What’s “snark”? Like sarcasm? I just asked Elisabeth if her source wad the Goldstone report, no sarcasm at all!

  7. There are numerous accounts of Israeli snipers murdering defenceless men, women and children. For just one account, read Gideon Levy’s article “The children of 5767” from several years ago. (KKND: part of Israel’s “Israel Under Fire” hasbara unit)

      1. @KKND: A.B. Yehoshua isn’t “one of the most important novelists in Israel.” He’s one of many novelists and political propagandists trotted out by people like you. His political opinions are slightly more liberal than Alan Dershowitz, but not much. His literary career has long since passed its heyday. Really, you are so behind the times.

    1. Following your logic, Stretch: part of Hamas “we are so miserable” hasbara unit? Isn’t it possible those are my personal thoughts?

  8. I think what I enjoy most about reading these columns is the lack of any mention about Israel’s Iron Dome system. Usually you take glee in its failures. Obviously, even you now realize that Iron Dome is an unbelievable success (and therefore not worth discussing). As others have noted before me: Hamas builds rokcets that attack civilians; Israel builds rockets that protect them.

    1. oh wow…. that is interesting indeed. I do encourage everyone to look for earlier posts by Richard about Iron Dome. Just go to the archive section and look for “Iron Dome”. It really makes for a good laugh. And if you want to get the full effect – take the time to read the comments, with Richard’s rude and dismissive replies to anyone who dare say he might be wrong.

      fast forward to present day (spoiler alert!!) – Richard was wrong.

      1. The rate of success from yesterday was ~50%. And there is no need to prove iron dome works that well. The rocket can be just launched to self explode and pretend a boom.

        Plus, a rocket from Hamas scared a cat.

        1. I looked at that video, more than once in fact 🙂 and though this is not a time for laughing, there is something completely laughable about Ynetnews posting that video. Reminds me that during the last slaughter on Gaza in 2012, people in the south of Israel tweeted about their pets being traumatized…

          1. Deir Yassin: This is from 2009 (Cast Lead). Don’t know whether to laugh or cry:
            “…in light of the fact that like their human owners, pets in Israel’s south are also under the constant rocket threat, the Agriculture Ministry has decided it would help pay for the medical care of dogs and cats injured by rocket fire from Gaza.”

      2. There’s absolutely no conclusive proof that Iron Dome is hitting its targets at any higher rate than the original 5-20% suggested by Prof. Postol. Nor do you have any. In fact, an Israeli rocket engineer suggested Iron Dome isn’t hitting any of its targets at all. While I don’t go that far, he’s far more an expert than you or I.

    2. “Hamas builds rokcets that attack civilians; Israel builds rockets that protect them.”

      And then Israel kills civilians in Gaza.

    3. @ Melissa Barnard: As I wrote earlier, there’s no documentary evidence of the 90% success rate (or anything close) claimed by the IDF. Nor can you adduce any. Hamas rockets weren’t hitting their targets (if you can say a Qassam has a “target”) before Iron Dome and they’re not hitting them now.

      As for Israeli rockets protecting civilians. You mean except for the nearly 300 Palestinians, almost all civilians, who those missiles killed? As for protecting Israeli civilians, they don’t do that in the long run either because Palestinian shahids and resistance fighters are inspired to do even greater damage to Israel by every rocket landing in Gaza. They usually don’t have a choice of targets, so they hit civilians. So much for rockets protecting anyone on either side.

      1. Why does the success rate matter? If it gets 90% just send more rockets until it can’t possibly get them. Iron Dome won’t save Israelis from, what?, being put out by running to shelters? Being irritated and irritable? Missing that meeting aimed at exploiting new stretches of other peoples land (pardon — Judea and Samaria). Thieves and criminals, all.

        “The war is an obscenity.” No joke. And so is the country that wages it. Either Israel is finished or Judaism — both cannot stand in the modern world. And John Kerry is “d and d.” Loathsome American politicians, most of all, Obama.

    4. The videos and pictures of the rockets that have landed in residential areas show pretty conclusively that they don’t have a warhead in them, or if they do their yield is so miniscule that it makes little difference.

      In which case the “success” of Iron Dome is…. equally as miniscule, since all they are “succeeding” in doing with each direct hit is to nudge an flying lump of inert metal a little to the left or a little to the right.

      Which, when you come to think of it, is pretty much irrelevant when that lump of inert metal was flying blind to begin with…..

      Iron Dome would be successful if it was taking out the warheads of missiles that…. contained warheads.

      But a missile with a Big Ol’ Warhead in it is likely to be much more sophisticated that these flying lumps of inert metal, and may be far more of a challenge to Iron Dome to begin with.

      But as pointed out early, against THESE rockets Iron Dome might just be as “effective” if they missed every single one of them i.e. the end result would be the same: a lump of metal falling to the ground…. somewhere…. and doing material damage to ….. nothing, really…..

  9. “Another strategy we employed was called ‘deterrence’. Palestinian youths would gather on certain roads and throw rocks at passing vehicles. Our commanders’ idea was simple: ‘If we take out some knees, they will stop throwing stones’. We placed snipers above the road with the following rules of engagement: aim at the legs of every youth holding a rock, and shoot to kill anyone throwing a ‘large stone’ (one that requires two hands to lift).”

    Yehuda Shaul – Co-founder of Breaking the Silence

    And this happens as a normal occupation practice on the West Bank. Can one imagine what happens when soldiers get a free hand in Gaza.

    “Hamas builds rokcets that attack civilians; Israel builds rockets that protect them.” Yes, and in Gaza the IDF uses catapults. How silly can one get.

      1. KKND: Don’t play th Three (patriotic) Monkeys (See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Say no Evil…about Israel). Israeli soldiers did this, most recently documented during Cast Lead.

  10. Killing for sport:
    “Yesterday at this spot the Israelis shot eight young men, six of whom were under the age of eighteen. One was twelve. This afternoon they kill an eleven-year-old boy, Ali Murad, and seriously wound four more, three of whom are under eighteen. Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered—death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo—but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.”

    from Chris Hedges, A Gaza Diary, Harper’s Magazine, Oct. 2001

    Hedges was Middle East Bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, based in Jerusalem, from 1988-1990, Middle East Bureau Chief for the New York Times based in Cairo from 1990 to 1995

  11. Earier postings failed.
    “Yesterday at this spot the Israelis shot eight young men, six of whom were under the age of eighteen. One was twelve. This afternoon they kill an eleven-year-old boy, Ali Murad, and seriously wound four more, three of whom are under eighteen. Children have been shot in other conflicts I have covered—death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo—but I have never before watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport.”

    from Chris Hedges, A Gaza Diary, Harper’s Magazine, Oct. 2001

    Hedges was Middle East Bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, based in Jerusalem, from 1988-1990, Middle East Bureau Chief for the New York Times based in Cairo from 1990 to 1995

  12. Not that anything you write really matters since the world, including – the Palestinians in the west bank, Egypt, Jordan, Germany, USA and any other important player supports Israel and understands that Israel is fighting a terror organization who takes advantage of its poor population.
    I haven’t seen any huge protests in the west bank or any other muslim countries. Yet, you continuously blaming Israel for everything, even when Israel stopped shooting and open the door for a cease fire that could save the poor people of Gaza from terrible mistakes like the one at the beach yesterday.

    You are blind Richard Silverstein. Mentally blind.

    1. Egypt, Jordan, Germany, USA and any other important player supports Israel

      Where ever did you get that idea? Egyptian junta? Yup. They support Israel. Obama, yes again. Each one to their eternal shame. But Germany? Jordan? Nonsense.

      Mentally blind.

      That’s a new locution, even for me.

  13. Richard,

    What is the point of using such inflammatory language and unsubstantiated claims other than to fan the flames of the conflict?

    “The young boys eager for a kill, whose commanding officers, like those of the Givati, drilling into them primitive hatred of the Arab, will have more than their chance to put notches in their gun barrels”

    “snipers around every corner just waiting to pick off the children, women and infirm men holding up white flags”

    Do you truly believe this drivel? Are there atrocities being committed? Yes. Is this war “an obscenity”? Yes. Are there some Israeli soldiers who want to go in and wantonly kill Palestinians? Sure, just as there are Palestinians who would wantonly kill Israelis if given the opportunity. Is this the mindset of the average Israeli and Palestinian? No, but it might well be in the future if more people on both sides start to believe this of their neighbors.

    Instead of helping to abate hostilities and move towards peace, this sort of hyperbole only exacerbates the situation.

    For every claim of civilian casualties in Gaza, Israel will claim that Hamas and the PA are using civilian facilities (including hospitals) as bases, and encouraging civilian to stay put despite advance notification by phone, leaflet and warning shots to vacate. Where lies the truth?

    Israel is an occupying power, using disproportional force to subdue the residents of Gaza and breaking international law. I assume you would like to help bring about an end to this situation. However, by stepping up your rhetoric and hyperbole to include such gross exaggerations, instead of getting the world to understand what is happening and help to stop it, you are having the opposite effect, making the world think that like your prose, most of the Palestinian claims are simply lies and propaganda. If you really want to help, you would do well to be a little less biased in your writing.

    1. Every single one of the statements I made in this post are supported by posts I’ve written here in the past based on credible media sources. Men, women & children murdered despite holding up white flags? Operation Cast Lead. Young boys eager for a kill? See those IDF t-shirts of veterans of Cast Lead. Givati’s primitive hatred of Arabs? Read the post I wrote only a few days ago documenting this as well.

      All true, none of it drivel. I expect readers here to do research before using such labels. And if you knew me, my record, and my reputation you’d know I don’t make things up or exaggerate.

      BTW, if you think there are only “some” IDF soldiers wanting to murder the first Arab they get their hands on, you’re sadly mistaken. Not to mention that the IDF is weaponized to do this, while Palestinians, even if they wanted to do so, have pea shooters by comparison.

      Is such hatred the mindset of the average Israeli? I’d say pretty close. Again, read my blog posts on polls documenting the racist views of the majority of Israel’s population.

      You think amidst of a vile Israeli war it’s my job to “move towards peace” and sooth the situation? If you even remotely understand the nonsense of what you’ve said, you wouldn’t even try. Why should it be my job to make nice amidst Israeli depravity?

      Why should Palestinian civilians abandon their homes because the IDF tells them to? They’re their homes. No one has a right to force them to abandon them. Israel already did this in 1948. Palestinians will no more go like sheep into exile.

      I assume you would like to help bring about an end to this situation.

      ONce again you’re misplacing responsibility. It’s not my responsibility to “end this situation.” If you think I have any impact on Bibi Netanyahu or Benny Gantz you’re deluded. It’s Israel’s responsiblity to cease the pathological, self-destructive policies bring the nation to ruin.

      you would do well to be a little less biased in your writing.

      Sorry habub, everything I wrote is true. “You can look it up.”

      1. Richard, if you were a scientist, you would understand that the plural of anecdote is not data. You find one or several examples that fit your narrative and you extrapolate to a whole country and a whole people, conveniently ignoring any examples that go against your narrative. This is not journalism, it’s propaganda. It’s a shame that you are so caught up in your viewpoint that you can not view the situation objectively. It is exactly this kind of stubbornness that perpetuates this conflict in perpetuity. Instead of helping to change attitudes, your writing just serves further polarize the situation. You are living in an imaginary world where to you everything is black and white. You can continue with your screed (and I’m sure you will) but you are only helping to perpetuate the violence. I’m sure that common sense will have as little impact on you as you say you have on Bibi Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, so It’s probably pointless to waste any more keystrokes on you. But maybe if you bother to post this reply, it will at least make some of your readers use their brains a little.

      2. And for the record, I am squarely against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and I believe that many war crimes have been committed by the Israeli side. I also think the disproportionate use of force called for by the Israeli army commanders and government is misguided. However, the only thing your hyperbole is doing is making me want to be more sympathetic towards the majority (yes, the majority) of Israeli citizens that you are mischaracterizing. It is probably having the same effect on people who less aware or unsure of the situation, so in effect, on the whole you are likely swaying public opinion towards Israel in this conflict. Is that your intent?

        Please remember that these are all human beings on both sides. You characterize all Israeli people as thinking of Palestinians as no more than animals, yet you characterize all Israelis as no less than monsters. I am not denying any of your “documented” anecdotes, but the language you use is highly inflammatory and the inferences you draw and apply to the Israeli people in general unfounded.

        1. Jeb. Help me understand your fine-tuned characterizations a bit because I am having difficulty accepting what you say…BUT…I can see your position as well.

          Nazis were responsible for slaughtering millions of Jews and non-Jews, but we know that not every German was a monster. Today, even when we use the term, “Nazi” we do not make the distinction between them and the majority Good Germans. Yet, for Israel, you would like us to think in terms of “a few bad Jews” while exonerating the “Israeli people in general”. A bit hard to do, isn’t it? besides, aren’t the vast majority of Israeli Jews in full support of what Israel is doing if not participating in the doing?

          Finally, Israeli Jews are in vastly greater power, Israeli Jews are living on forcibly-taken lands, Israeli Jews are the opporessors and Israeli Jews and their Blind Supporters teach deep hate and fear of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. Under such circumstamnces, it is a bit hard to mischaracterize Israel, Israeli Jews and their Blind supporters, isn’t it?

        2. @ jeb jones:

          However, the only thing your hyperbole is doing is making me want to be more sympathetic towards the majority (yes, the majority) of Israeli citizens that you are mischaracterizing

          Once again, I’m not “mischaracterizing” anything. Every statement I made is backed up not by one or even ten incidents, but by scores, if not hundreds. As I said, all you have to do is do a Google search or better yet search this blog for the posts I wrote authenticating these incidents. Did you bother to do that? No.

          As for wanting to be more sympathetic toward Israel, I hardly think anything I write is necessary to spark that unconditional love for Israel & knee jerk support for it.

          I note that until this most recent comment you voiced no criticism of Israel at all. ONly when I pointed out that all my claims were supported by evidence did you change your tack & concede that Israel has committed war crimes. Which I suppose is an improvement over your previous position.

          As for swaying public opinion towards Israel, you’re daft. Nothing can sway public opinion toward Israel. Israel’s position is sunk after the mass murder of the past 48 hrs. Kerry is going to Israel to give Bibi a tongue lashing. A ceasefire is relatively close. Israel will have no choice.

          As for human beings on “both sides,” there may be human beings on both sides, but it hardly matters to the Gazans being murdered in their hundreds. The soldiers doing the killing are killers, murderers. That isn’t humane.

          You’ve falsely characterized my views of Israelis. I’ve never said “all Israeli people” think Palestinians are ‘animals.’ But what is true is that the majority of the Knesset believes that. The prime minister believes it. Much of the military and intelligence apparatus believes it. So there are some Israelis who don’t. But they’re not making policy. BTW, Israeli public opinion polls show that Israeli views of Palestinians are deeply racist.

          I do NOT like people mischaracterizing my views. So stop doing it.

          1. [comment deleted–I began to reply to this comment. But then I realized the entire argument was so stupid & circular and uninteresting, that I had no interest in engaging. I not only won’t allow you to put me on the defensive, I won’t even allow you to try.

            I don’t give a fig what you think of me or my writing. Focus on the content of what I write. If you dispute the facts, go to it using facts to counter what I write. But stop emoting, or using subjective critieria, or reading into what I write & why I write it. I have no interest in getting into a pissing contest about my writing. You’re done in this thread. Move on to another & do NOT post again in this one.]

        3. “I note that until this most recent comment you voiced no criticism of Israel at all.”

          Actually, despite my many gripes with both sides, I have in fact refrained from criticizing either side. I have mostly been criticizing you.

          1. Jeb, you are being disingenuous by seeking to distract from the main discussion of Israel’s brutallity towards Palestinians, to whether Richard or anyone else, is falsely accusing ALL Jews of something. I find these arguments between “All”, “Some”, “Many”, “A few”, to be old, false and misleading distinctions without any difference.

            Finally, children being “Taught to hate”? Muslims in general and Palestinians in particular can’t hold a candle to the sytemic, public and institutional hate impressed upon Jewish children against Muslims and Islam, not just in Israel, but pretty mmuch in every country where there are significant Jewish populations. Here is an example in Israel that shows you how children have been programmed to think about Arabs and Palestinians:
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp67KehlVGU
            Sadly, this is not “an isolated incident”, I could flood you with examples and pictures of Jewish children, as little as 4years old and above, being “taught to hate”.

            Of COURSE we don’t mean to lambaste ALL Jews in Israel as being butchers, I am sure there are many (seme? few?) Jews of good will there. But we do use language that, if put under a legal microscope, will look extreme. Just look at your own words above: “…Americans regarded returning Vietnam vets in the 70′s, spitting on them…”. Gosh! You surely don’t mean that ALL American spat at ALL returning soldiers, do you? To use your own words to Richard, “…but your prose is written in such a way that it can only reasonably be interpreted as generalizing to the majority.” We make statements that perhaps, cannot be scrutinzed under a semantical microscope but intelligent people, who do not seek to divert attention, should understand what is meant anyway.

            Your statement, “…if it is true that rockets are being stored in a house…”. Sure, just say this is a supects stash site for the most dangerous missiles in the world and proceed to blos the neighborhood away and Israel’s Jewish population nods in approval…no claps in delight, as they watch the explosions tearing into men, women and children of Gaza. Oh yes, let us now start another discussion as to whether I meant ALL Jews, some Jews, Many Jews or some other combination with the “Jew” word.
            “and the civilian residents are warned to leave in advance…” embraces the framwork drawn by the Israeli military, without intellectual investigation. In case after case, Israeli military IF (a big IF) it makes the warning call, has fired in such a short time afterwards, that the family had mno chance to escape and many Palestinians also beg the question, WHERE in the densely-populated Gaza, is a family supposed to escape to? The Hospitals are not safe, other houses are not safe, even the beaches are not safe as has been proven by the Israeli “Defense” Navy blowing up children and then pursuing the escaping survivors (CHILDREN!) with shells, until they got them too. I grew up in Pakistan where we had a couple of hot wars with India. Bombs fell within less than a block from where we lived and someone living in the safe comfort of the West, could say we should have left, but WHERE would we have gone to? Stayed with whom? What would happen to our home while we were gone? People who make vacuous statemensts like “They should leave” have no idea or, desire to understand what the actual dynamics of the situation are.

            I don’t care what you say, Israel’s Jews and their Blind Supporters, even if they don’t personally want to eviscerate Palestinian children, are perfectly happy that their brainwashed, killer boys and girls in uniform, are doing it. They are rather like most of us in the West when we go to the store to buy meat/chicken/fish; we will not do the dirty deed of killing the animal, but we are perfectly happy to enjoy the fruits of such killing.

            Finally, YES, “it is true that a majority of the Knesset, the prime minister, much of the military and intelligence apparatus believes that [Palestinians are animals]“. There may or may not, be anything left to say, but this fact is as true as the words and actions of the Knesset, the prime minister, much of the military and intelligence apparatus.

  14. July 14th. President Obama invited a delegation of American Muslim leaders to Iftar (breaking fast) dinner at the White House, along with members of the diplomatic missions. In front of the Israeli Ambassador, Obama said “…Israel has the right to defend itself…”. To their everlasting shame, not a single Muslim leader showed the courage or the character to stand up, denounce the president’s words and walk out.
    Israel has a massive support from the Gutloess Wonders in the West and their silent poodles in the M-E.

    1. I wouldn’t particularly mind Obama saying this if he always added to it “ and no community should ever have to suffer the restriction of liberty, sabotage, oppression and violence the Gazans and people on the West Bank are subject too, particularly from a country that considers itself to be a democracy and wants to be seen as part of “the West”.” – or words along those lines. But as far as I know he has never done so. Why? What is he scared of? He is in his second term, he has got his Obamacare, is there any other major project that he wants to spend the rest of his political capital on? Can people who have followed American politics more closely than this outsider looking in provide some light here?

      1. Obama is not humans or rather, he is no longer human, he is a poltical machine. Political machines work in the manner programmed by their greatest sources of money and Votes….can you say, “The Pro-Israel Lobby”. Besides, anything “Muslim” is the third rail, as is “Arab” and even stupid American politicians are afraid of touching “Palestinian” topics.

        As a political machine, he also understands that he is soon-to-be reduced to a mere cog in the larger machine and THAT machine will not allow him to go off-script (“I support Israel no matter what”).

        Besides, Obama has never said he actually STOOD for “Freedom” or “Democracy”, he just gives it the lip-service it needs. What democracy would kill suspects and its own citizens (okay, other than Israel), without trials or charges?
        He contributed to the strangulation of Gaza by Israel, he has supported Israel at every turn, in the expectation that the Blindly pro-Israel groups will reward the Dems with votes and money. However, I fear that the up-coming US elections will be a show of who can be a greater supporter of Israel and this will translate as, who can bash Arabs and Muslims more.
        Gaza is just a warm-up to test US support.

        1. Yes but this prophecy that was a few years ago to be found at Sheldon Adelson’s news service doesn’t seem to have become true at all. Why?:

          “Think about Obama’s anti-Israel friends and mentors—radicals like Rashid Khalidi, Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, or the late Edward Said, the virulently anti-Israel professor under whom Obama studied. Has he made anti-Israel promises to them? Is Obama’s campaign rhetoric in support of Israel only creating “space” till after the election?

          …Given that Obama’s public expressions are not something Israelis can rely upon, we need to take seriously the question: What are his second term plans when he no longer needs the Jewish vote?

          Let’s also not forget, when Obama took office, he admitted his administration sought to put “daylight” between America and Israel. He lectured that the Jewish state needed “to engage in serious self-reflection” about peace—as if tiny Israel has not spent decades pursuing peace with its belligerent neighbors. And unbelievably, in his 2009 address to the Muslim world, he implied a moral equivalence between the Holocaust and Palestinian dislocation.

          With a second term the president won’t have fears of electoral accountability and will act upon his true feelings toward Israel.”

          1. I cannot resist quoting a phrase by Paul Waldman in the Washington Post:

            “in American politics, the debate about our closest ally in the Middle East has all the candor and thoughtfulness of a cabinet meeting in North Korea.”

            I cannot think of any parallel in history where the political elite of a great power was terrified to use taboo words about a vassal state. Kerry’s humiliating retreat regarding his use of the word “apartheid” is a cvase in point.

          2. Arie, I think you should read his Cairo speech that you refer to, the Cairo lecture to “The Muslim World”. I heard it VERY carefully and even wrote a piece analysing it, nowhere do I recall him making the career-ending, “moral equivalence between the Holocaust and Palestinian dislocation”, but I do recall the many slaps he gave “The Muslim World” while he caressed Israel.

            As for Israel “spending decades pursuing Peace with its belligerent neighbors”, You are right and Stalin was also all in favor of making peace with Soviet minorities. The only kind of “Peace” Israel has pursued with Muslim-majority nations is if they were willing to forget all about Israel’s atrocities, abandon Palestinians and recognize Israel as the complete Jewish Lord of all the land that Israel claims.

            This second term president has done more for Israel than that ungrateful nation will ever acknowledge.

  15. This article is very interesting for starting with an admission of how poor is Gaza’s defense power.

    “The rockets are smuggled via ship and tunnel from Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria and, increasingly,[b] manufactured from water pipes and household items in what a senior Israeli intelligence officer called Gaza’s “high-tech” sector — about 70 makeshift factories staffed by 250 men and overseen by a few dozen engineers and chemists[/b].”

    And after this, they spent the whole article trying to make Israel a victim.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/world/middleeast/from-gaza-an-array-of-makeshift-rockets-packs-a-counterpunch.html?_r=0

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