The Israeli invasion of Gaza is turning into a rerun of a show that was horrible the first time. Comparisons to the 2006 Israeli war in Lebanon abound. One of the current story lines is whether the U.S. is working for a cease fire or trying to prevent one. Ha'aretz reports "U.S. quashes Arab-backed Gaza cease-fire resolution in UN Security Council meet":
Several council diplomats told reporters that the U.S. refusal to back a Libyan-drafted demand for an immediate truce at a closed-door emergency session had killed the initiative, since council statements must be passed unanimously.
The last time the U.S. derailed a ceasefire agreement to end Israeli aggression was the 2006 Lebanon War when Secretary Rice said, "What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East and whatever we do we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East not going back to the old one." In that case the U.S. argued that Israel needed more time to accomplish its goals against Hizbollah. Those "birth pangs" led to southern Lebanon being decimated and Hizbollah emerging stronger than ever.
Interestingly, Ha'aretz is also reporting "Sources: U.S. truce efforts have yet to address Israel's needs." So maybe the U.S. is trying to broker a cease fire although the article doesn't make it clear what exactly the U.S. truce offer is lacking, or what exactly Israel needs, other than more time to destroy Gaza. The article ends,
Another source said he estimated Israel had "several days" to pursue these goals. Over the weekend, Israel has continued to its diplomatic efforts to stave off international pressure to stop the Israel Defense Forces action in Gaza.
Its difficult not to see this as the U.S. once again trying to build the diplomatic cover for Israel to continue another ill fated military adventure.
Also similar to Lebanon the goals for the attack seem to be changing midstream. Originally the goals of the Israeli attacks on Gaza were to end the missiles being fired on southern Israel. Now the "regional objectives" are increasingly being articulated as removing Hamas from power. A goal the New York Times adds "almost no one familiar with Gaza and Palestinian politics considers .. realistic."
And most tragically, Gaza is now being flattened as Lebanon was. I hope someone in the press asks Secretary Rice again to explain her policy and again to justify the level of destruction the U.S. is yet again bringing to the Middle East. And to ask, as the New York Times finally has, at what human cost?
"Also similar to Lebanon the goals for the attack seem to be changing midstream. Originally the goals of the Israeli attacks on Gaza were to end the missiles being fired on southern Israel. Now the "regional objectives" are increasingly being articulated as removing Hamas from power. A goal the New York Times adds "almost no one familiar with Gaza and Palestinian politics considers .. realistic."
It's a bit different as Israel's goals are becoming more expansive this time.
In '06 they became more and more modest with time. As the great Billomon put it they started off saying Hizbollah delenda est to Hizb must be pushed north of the Litani to Hizb must be "weakened" to, finally, it sure would be nice if someone could get Hizb to stop firing missiles at us.
We will know in the next day or two how well the ground war is going for them by what demands Israel makes. Frankly, though, Israel can't afford to be seen as having lost twice in a row, especially before an election.
So its going to be bloody.
uh huh, same old, same old, devils never learn.
View from Independent, UK:
Mark Steel:
When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder".
For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible."
Someone should ask her to comment on teenage knife-crime, to see if she'd say: "I strongly condemn the people who've been stabbed, and until they abandon their practice of wandering around clutching their sides and bleeding, there is no hope for peace."
The Israeli government suffers terribly from this confusion. They probably have adverts on Israeli television in which a man falls off a ladder and screams, "Eeeeugh", then a voice says, "Have you caused an accident at work in the last 12 months?" and the bloke who pushed him gets £3,000.
The gap between the might of Israel's F-16 bombers and Apache helicopters, and the Palestinians' catapulty thing is so ridiculous that to try and portray the situation as between two equal sides requires the imagination of a children's story writer.
The reporter on News at Ten said the rockets "may be ineffective, but they ARE symbolic." So they might not have weapons but they have got symbolism, the canny brutes.
It's no wonder the Israeli Air Force had to demolish a few housing estates, otherwise Hamas might have tried to mock Israel through a performance of expressive dance.(…)
You sure have freedom of expression and free press in US?
It is pretty much confirmed : Hamas has captured two more israeli soldiers, who are alive. And dozens of tanks have been destroyed, according to both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and many israeli soldiers are dead and injured. On the other end, complete blackout on what is happening in Gaza except for a report here and there on aerial bombardment of Gaza and killing of Palestinians. The military censor must be having a very busy day.
About two hours ago, Ha'aretz ticker mentioned that the IDF denied the news that 2 of its soldiers had been captured. A few seconds later, the item disappeared, to be replaced with an item saying IDF has confiscated IDF soldiers' personal cellphones. This was I guess a confirmation that indeed many Israeli soldiers had fallen in an ambush after Hamas managed to listen in to their conversations with parents, etc. about their whereabouts, and their radio communications with base as well. So it is just as likely that Hamas's claim is true. In fact, on Ha'aretz Hebrew version just now (you won't see this in the English version btw), IDF spokesman said they were "checking" out the validity of the story about the 2 captured soldiers. The israeli army is in a mess, and they have lost control over pretty much everything. the most they can do at this point is intensify their aerial bombardment. Which is pretty much something that the Gaza Strip has been living for the past 8 days anyway , and for the past 40 years too.
It is important to note that the zionist propaganda machine has become so ridiculous than nobody, certainly not Arabs and Muslims, believe an ounce of what is reported on Israeli news and at the mouths of IDF spokespersons or politicians. Basically, whatever little deterrence that was left of the so-called "army" of israel , has gone down the Gazan sewage pipes. Israel is walking rapidly towards self-destruction.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052549.html
Shin Bet Chief: Hamas has eased its demands for a cease-fire with Israel
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Yuval Diskin, Hamas, Shin Bet
Head of the Shin Bet General Security Services Yuval Diskin told a cabinet meeting Sunday that Hamas had eased its demands on a cease-fire with Israel, nine days after a IDF operation in Gaza began.
"There are signs that Hamas has softened their stance towards the conditions of a cease fire," Diskin said.
"The organization [Hamas] took a serious blow, we killed hundreds of terrorists and damaged their ability to build weaponry," Yadlin said.
Yadlin also addressed the standing of Hamas in the Palestinian populace and throughout the world, saying that serious criticism of the organization is on the rise.
"Hamas has made itself an object of hatred in the world and the region, casting themselves amongst the lepers of the world, with Iran and Syria," Yadlin said.
He also said that while Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus shows himself "smiling in his office in Damascus, the leaders in Gaza are dug into burrows."
I've read it on one of the blogs:
For Israel it is not so much a case of ticking bombs, but of bombing ticks…..
"ethnocentricity" encapsulated.
.
EVA can't do a thing without invoking the holocaust. The store is out of size 56 knickers, it's the holocaust .
The nulliparous Rice wouldn't know about 'birth pangs,' which is probably why the menopausal spinster regards them as painless.
Eva, you know, it's funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing, even before I saw Latuff's witty little effort: all we need now is mobile gas vans. The fixed installations can come later.
January 1, 2009
If Hamas Did Not Exist
By JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN
Let us get one thing perfectly straight. If the wholesale mutilation and degradation of the Gaza Strip is going to continue; if Israelâs will is at one with that of the United States; if the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and all the international legal agencies and organizations spread across the globe are going to continue to sit by like hollow mannequins doing nothing but making repeated âcallsâ for a âceasefireâ on âboth sidesâ; if the cowardly, obsequious and supine Arab States are going to stand by watching their brethren get slaughtered by the hour while the worldâs bullying Superpower eyes them threateningly from Washington lest they say something a little to their disliking; then let us at least tell the truth why this hell on earth is taking place.
The state terror unleashed from the skies and on the ground against the Gaza Strip as we speak has nothing to do with Hamas. It has nothing to do with âTerrorâ. It has nothing to do with the long-term âsecurityâ of the Jewish State or with Hizbullah or Syria or Iran except insofar as it is aggravating the conditions that have led up to this crisis today. It has nothing to do with some conjured-up âwarâ â a cynical and overused euphemism that amounts to little more the wholesale enslavement of any nation that dares claim its sovereign rights; that dares assert that its resources are its own; that doesnât want one of the Empireâs obscene military bases sitting on its cherished land.
This crisis has nothing to do with freedom, democracy, justice or peace. It is not about Mahmoud Zahhar or Khalid Mashâal or Ismail Haniyeh. It is not about Hassan Nasrallah or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These are all circumstantial players who have gained a role in the current tempest only now that the situation has been allowed for 61 years to develop into the catastrophe that it is today. The Islamist factor has colored and will continue to color the atmosphere of the crisis; it has enlisted the current leaders and mobilized wide sectors of the worldâs population. The primary symbols today are Islamic â the mosques, the Qurâan, the references to the Prophet Muhammad and to Jihad. But these symbols could disappear and the impasse would continue.
There was a time when Fatah and the PFLP held the day; when few Palestinians wanted anything to do with Islamist policies and politics. Such politics have nothing to do with primitive rockets being fired over the border, or smuggling tunnels and black-market weapons; just as Arafatâs Fatah had little to do with stones and suicide bombings. The associations are coincidental; the creations of a given political environment. They are the result of something entirely different than what the lying politicians and their analysts are telling you. They have become part of the landscape of human events in the modern Middle East today; but incidentals wholly as lethal, or as recalcitrant, deadly, angry or incorrigible could just as soon have been in their places.
Strip away the clichés and the vacuous newspeak blaring out across the servile media and its pathetic corps of voluntary state servants in the Western world and what you will find is the naked desire for hegemony; for power over the weak and dominion over the worldâs wealth. Worse yet you will find that the selfishness, the hatred and indifference, the racism and bigotry, the egotism and hedonism that we try so hard to cover up with our sophisticated jargon, our refined academic theories and models actually help to guide our basest and ugliest desires. The callousness with which we in indulge in them all are endemic to our very culture; thriving here like flies on a corpse.
Strip away the current symbols and language of the victims of our selfish and devastating whims and you will find the simple, impassioned and unaffected cries of the downtrodden; of the âwretched of the earthâ begging you to cease your cold aggression against their children and their homes; their families and their villages; begging you to leave them alone to have their fish and their bread, their oranges, their olives and their thyme; asking you first politely and then with increasing disbelief why you cannot let them live undisturbed on the land of their ancestors; unexploited, free of the fear of expulsion; of ravishment and devastation; free of permits and roadblocks and checkpoints and crossings; of monstrous concrete walls, guard towers, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire; of tanks and prisons and torture and death. Why is life without these policies and instruments of hell impossible?
The answer is because Israel has no intention of allowing a viable, sovereign Palestinian state on its borders. It had no intention of allowing it in 1948 when it grabbed 24 per cent more land than what it was allotted legally, if unfairly, by UN Resolution 181. It had no intention of allowing it throughout the massacres and ploys of the 1950s. It had no intention of allowing two states when it conquered the remaining 22 per cent of historic Palestine in 1967 and reinterpreted UN Security Council Resolution 248 to its own liking despite the overwhelming international consensus stating that Israel would receive full international recognition within secure and recognized borders if it withdrew from the lands it had only recently occupied.
It had no intention of acknowledging Palestinian national rights at the United Nations in 1974, when âalone with the United Statesâit voted against a two-state solution. It had no intention of allowing a comprehensive peace settlement when Egypt stood ready to deliver but received, and obediently accepted, a separate peace exclusive of the rights of Palestinians and the remaining peoples of the region. It had no intention of working toward a just two-state solution in 1978 or 1982 when it invaded, fire-bombed, blasted and bulldozed Beirut so that it might annex the West Bank without hassle. It had no intention of granting a Palestinian state in 1987 when the first Intifada spread across occupied Palestine, into the Diaspora and the into the spirits of the global dispossessed, or when Israel deliberately aided the newly formed Hamas movement so that it might undermine the strength of the more secular-nationalist factions.
Israel had no intention of granting a Palestinian state at Madrid or at Oslo where the PLO was superseded by the quivering, quisling Palestinian Authority, too many of whose cronies grasped at the wealth and prestige it gave them at the expense of their own kin. As Israel beamed into the worldâs satellites and microphones its desire for peace and a two-state solution, it more than doubled the number of illegal Jewish settlements on the ground in the West Bank and around East Jerusalem, annexing them as it built and continues to build a superstructure of bypass roads and highways over the remaining, severed cities and villages of earthly Palestine. It has annexed the Jordan valley, the international border of Jordan, expelling any âlocalsâ inhabiting that land. It speaks with a viperâs tongue over the multiple amputee of Palestine whose head shall soon be severed from its body in the name of justice, peace and security.
Through the home demolitions, the assaults on civil society that attempted to cast Palestinian history and culture into a chasm of oblivion; through the unspeakable destruction of the refugee camp sieges and infrastructure bombardments of the second Intifada, through assassinations and summary executions, past the grandiose farce of disengagement and up to the nullification of free, fair and democratic Palestinian elections Israel has made its view known again and again in the strongest possible language, the language of military might, of threats, intimidation, harassment, defamation and degradation.
Israel, with the unconditional and approving support of the United States, has made it dramatically clear to the entire world over and over and over again, repeating in action after action that it will accept no viable Palestinian state next to its borders. What will it take for the rest of us to hear? What will it take to end the criminal silence of the âinternational communityâ? What will it take to see past the lies and indoctrination to what is taking place before us day after day in full view of the eyes of the world? The more horrific the actions on the ground, the more insistent are the words of peace. To listen and watch without hearing or seeing allows the indifference, the ignorance and complicity to continue and deepens with each grave our collective shame.
The destruction of Gaza has nothing to do with Hamas. Israel will accept no authority in the Palestinian territories that it does not ultimately control. Any individual, leader, faction or movement that fails to accede to Israelâs demands or that seeks genuine sovereignty and the equality of all nations in the region; any government or popular movement that demands the applicability of international humanitarian law and of the universal declaration of human rights for its own people will be unacceptable for the Jewish State. Those dreaming of one state must be forced to ask themselves what Israel would do to a population of 4 million Palestinians within its borders when it commits on a daily, if not hourly basis, crimes against their collective humanity while they live alongside its borders? What will suddenly make the raison dâetre, the self-proclaimed purpose of Israelâs reason for being change if the Palestinian territories are annexed to it outright?
The lifeblood of the Palestinian National Movement flows through the streets of Gaza today. Every drop that falls waters the soil of vengeance, bitterness and hatred not only in Palestine but across the Middle East and much of the world. We do have a choice over whether or not this should continue. Now is the time to make it.
Jennifer Loewenstein is the Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She can be reached at amadea311@earthlink.net
http://www.counterpunch.org/loewenstein01012009.html
A speculation, not an analysis.
It will accept no militant violent neighbor is the fact.
A buggerer from Lebanon said
"dozens of tanks have been destroyed. . . "
Yeah–more like NONE. Have you forgotten, Miss Lebanon, who Israel is fighting?
"Yeah–more like NONE. "
You mean, none as in South Lebanon ? The famous tanks massacre ?
Ah, I see. Sorry to have upset you so much. Wondering how I can upset you more.
May I also add that a helicopter was shot ?
The difference between Hezbollah/Hamas and Israel, Mr. zionazi, is that while the former massacre tanks and chase away your cowardly soldiers, all that your heroic zionazis are good at doing is massacring CHILDREN and UNARMED MEN AND WOMEN.
CSPAN has Susan Glasser (Ex Ed Foreign Policy) as guest, discussing conflict in Gaza:
Caller: Why is the US media coverage so one-sided? If the US armed
China to invade and occupy Tibet, there would be outrage in the
US media–what gives?
Glasser: There is a wide variety of views being expressed in the US media.
Caller 2: Israel removed from Gaza, so Gaza not occupied. Israel
is just defending itself as it has for last 3 years. Tibet is occupied, Gaza is not. Proportion must be defined by the threat posed.
Glasser: Similarly to Lenanon a few years ago, that became an
issue of Israel's heavy response. Israel planned ahead more this
time around, yet OP is risky due to 1.5 bill Pals in such a small area.
Caller 3: Agrees with Bush, US should back Israel's self defense to the max.
Clip of Pal Rep in UN (Mansour). We are in second week of Israeli
aggression; Security Council needs to stop this massive assault
on 1.5 mil Pals; this is the law of the jungle–
Glasser: Us has already blocked the Sec Counsel from stopping
the assault; Israel has since moved into its ground phase of its OP.
Caller 4: Was involved in OPs with Israel while in US Marine Corps;
Israel is the good guy.
Glasser: Americans have a special relation with Israel; was in context of cold war, but now it's different, e.g., Lebanon war, Iraq war… Eu is divided on Israel's actions, unlike US stance. No major
criticism in US media or government, but France, e.g., is different.
Caller 5: Problem is everybody's lying–Glasser's likely Jewish; and the nasty side of Israel settlements by Jews who came from
Europe is not discussed in US media or government–so you get callers like you had today.
Next 20 minute CSPAN segment is on Religon In Politics:
Guests: Sarah Posner (American Prospect)
Peter WEhner (Ethics & Public Policy Center-former Bush speech writer)
Wehner: Obama increased margin among Jews and Catholics; gained no
Evengelicals. But economy, not religion, was dominant.
Posner: Obama tried to peel away some traditionally conservative
republicans–Economy was main priority for voters.
Wehner: Sense Obama, as a professing Christian, will use his
religious convictions as engine of change–compare Howard Dean's contempt for Religion.
Posner: Obama was around poverty in his your life around parts of
the world–
Caller: Glasser (on prior segment) should be one of Obama's foreign policy advisors as Glasser said the current bellicose military force isn't working. A Christian believes the true decider is
God.
Wehner: IT's sloppy reasoning to compare death penalty and abortion.
Posner: Obama will speak up regarding his version of faith-based
programs.
Caller 2: You cut me off before when I brought up W & M book;
you Wehner are a Christian Zionist. Read the Transparent Cabal.
Wehner: The caller is just lying. My view of who's right is informed
by my Christian sense of morality. Neocons? Who are they?
Posner: Religious voters should present their proposals to local
democratic councils.
Caller 3: The US via proxy Israel have killed 3 thousand people;
I've heard a lot about Israel right to defend itself, but the IDF has
crossed into Gaza, it is not longer defending itself.
Wehner: For some of us Christians there is a deep biblical attachment to Israel and its morality.
Caller 4: Zionists believe God is on their side, God the real estate
agent.
Wehner: Israel gave HAMAS self rule and got rocket attacks in exchange. HAMAS is using Pals as shields for propaganda purposes.
Posner: Obama will make more of an effort than Bush did to remove cronyism and install transparency, including regarding
financing with tax payer money bailouts and hiring and firing
on hidden religious grounds.
Caller 5: Little ones have a heart beat at 7 weeks. YOu can see the
videos on web.
Posner: Nobody likes abortion. But women have the right to free choice. They are the sole moral agents.
Caller 6: Obama's proposed Freedom Of Choice act declares US tax dollars will be used for abortion.
Wehman: You can say that about any tax-funded program. The real issue is what is so troubling about abortion facts?
Caller 7: Morality should replace religion in politics. RalpH Nader
wold be the honest broker, not Hillary Clinton who is too focused
on Israel. The holier than thou Christian right should quit being
Israel's pit bull, the same as to the right generally. Time to recognize Arabs deserve respect too. Are equally moral.
Caller 8: Planned Parenthood spends most money trying to prevent abortions. Christians mean their God. Take a course
in comparative religions. Your God is not my God–
Posner: We live in a pluralistic society. One's world views are more important than one's faith.
Wehner: I agree
FINIS
There are parallels between Hezbollah in 2006 and Hamas in 2008 as well as the Israeli.
Perhaps those are the more important, the more controlling parallels.
One parallel is the INSISTENCE by both Hamas and Hezbollah that Israel invade. BOTH undertook shelling of civilians, that they knew historically stimulated Israel to a dilemma of whether to accept lethal harrassment or to undertake a military response.
It is an historical pattern. Hamas and Hezbollah think of themselves as guerilla fighters, who succeed by surviving, and who survive by "skillful" traps.
They irritate and irritate UNTIL Israel invades, then claim the victim card and the "victory".
It is a dance between the two, in which Hamas and Hezbollah seek to remain agitants rather than members of states. ONLY if they feel that they can dominate their respective states, do they undertake electoral efforts, and then threaten to suspend elections after. (Whether you invoke a nazi or other fascist parallel, its still dangerous, and the oppossite of supporting democracy.)
Related is the parallel that both Hamas and Hezbollah conducted the equivalent of election campaigns in their willingness to expose their citizenry to nearly inevitable military response.
The parallel of methods of "resistance" used, shelling civilians, is obvious.
Another parallel is that the militant organizations CHOSE those methods, when alternative means were available.
The answer is because Israel has no intention of allowing a viable, sovereign Palestinian state on its borders.
It will accept no militant violent neighbor is the fact.
It will only accept docile neighbors.
It will accept nothing less than real hegemony in the Middle East.
It is totally dependent on the good graces of its sponsor, Uncle Sam, his UN veto and Arms.
"They irritate and irritate UNTIL Israel invades, then claim the victim card and the "victory"."
Israel has irritated Palestinians until they blew themselves up, along with a good number of zionazis, in the streets of occupied Palestine.
How does that go down, smartass ?
A helicopter too? Just one? What about a couple of F-16s? Hamas has captured and entire division of the IDF too? Also, Israeli soldiers are committing suicide at the gates of Gaza City?
I know you're cheering for Hamas, but what Israel learned in Lebanon is that trying to fight with restraint against Arabs just gets your soldiers bodies mutilated. That's why the streets are full of dead Arab–and Jews, not so much!
these characters like Witty don't expect to change anyone's mind; they post here simply to fill up the threads with hasbara, so that first time visitors will be put off and not come back.
I don't think anyone from Lebanon should be lecturing anyone on how to treat Palestinians. Lets not forget that it was Christian Lebanese that slaughtered thousands of Palestinian women and children in 1982.
"I don't think anyone from Lebanon should be lecturing anyone on how to treat Palestinians. Lets not forget that it was Christian Lebanese that slaughtered thousands of Palestinian women and children in 1982."
Lies Lies Lies! It never happened! They were Jews dressed up as Lebanese! Hasbara! Zionazis! Apartheid Wall! Innocent Palestinian children!
Some good news there from a blogger/Lebanon.
Capturing Israeli soldiers is always good for getting the Israeli population upset and mad at their leaders.
That other fascist they captured in '06 is probably dead – and probably by an Israeli missile or bomb.
I've also heard there are about 30 IDF seriously wounded along with 30 dead Hamas soldiers.
The first casualty upon Israel's ground invasion was a Palestinian child – killed by a tank.
Typically….
Someone is posting under my name in a manner reminiscent of cowardly zionazis.
Bachirnot said:
"I don't think anyone from Lebanon should be lecturing anyone on how to treat Palestinians. Lets not forget that it was Christian Lebanese that slaughtered thousands of Palestinian women and children in 1982."
Let's not forget that those who slaughtered thousands of Palestinian women and children — as if you care about Palestinian women and children — were not Christians but fascists and mass-murderers. The same goes for the Israelis who masterminded, led, and took part in, the slaughter. They are not Jews, but fascists and mass-murderers.
I would post a picture of the "terrorists" Israel has managed to massacre so far in its ground invasion, but I am afraid it might be too much for many, if not most, of Phil's readers. I suppose I can upload it and post a link to it instead of showing it here… truth be said, I think however shocking it is, it must be posted and seen by as many people as possible. That, after all, is the true face of the zionazi entity.
Here's the disturbing picture of the "terrorist" zionazis managed to kill:
http://politburo.elementfx.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/palestinianboygaza.jpg
Those who are weak of heart, AVOID.
Wolf Blitzer is interviewing Benny Netanyahu about Gaza on CNN LIVE now at 11:20 EST. Two zionists. So the America public opinion is molded. In gist, the Pals stance is that all of Israel is seen as
occupied territory, Israel is now trying its best to stop eight years
of Pal rockets lobbed into Israel, and will not make the same mistake
it did with Lebanon, the mistake of not being decisive enough. Benny
asked the American public to view Israel as NYC, subjected to constant attacks via rockets hurled by anti-Americans on innocent
Now CNN is showing various US governor's view of Gaza. We would respond the same if missiles were being lobbed over the Mexican border. Blitzer ask nobody touch questions; his role
is to simply set up the official boilerplate POV by willing accomplices.
Perhaps you could explain to us, Gary, the reason for the media blackout by Israel, rather than by Hamas. As far as I can see, Hamas has allowed every station, including the pro-zionist "al-Arabia" (which 99% of Arabs call "al-`Ibriya" (i.e. the Hebrew [channel]), which reports zionist propaganda coming straight from israeli military commanders, whereas Israel has been forcefully preventing ANY AND ALL media — newspapers, TV, etc. — from saying anything that is not approved by the military censor? What is wrong with this picture? Surely you realize what kind of fascist society your heroes have erected on land stolen by mass-murder and ethnic cleansing which continues to this day? But then I guess I'm asking too much. A fascist is by definition blind to the immorality of his actions, or else he wouldn't be one, would he?
Obama will take the same line in the MIddle East as Bush; he has said the same things, though he is silent on Gaza right now–MSNBC Sunday
justice served — one of the zionazi soldiers killed in gaza (whose death the zionists admitted to) is a settler who lives in the givat ze'ev settlement.
"one of the zionazi soldiers killed in gaza . . ."
One, or the only one? What happened to the thousands of dead Jews you've been promising? Where are all those tanks and helicopters?
Have the clever Zionazi Infidels hidden them all!
"One, or the only one?"
You better ask that to those who are imposing a blackout on the media (gasp, that would be, gasp, Israel). But then again, the ziofascist military censor might be too busy censoring the truth and filtering out what he thinks would drive his fellow zionafascists to the brink of hysteria.
It is really very simple. Keeping mum on losses has been a standard practice and part and parcel of psychological warfare that states and lousy non-state actors have practiced, are practicing, and will continue to practice. This is especially true in cases where there is heightened sensitivity among the populace to the loss of lives of soldiers, as is the case in the ziofascist (yet cowardly) state called "israel." Also, states engage in this type of activity more often than non-state actors do, partly because whereas many if not most states have the draft, non-state actors most often do not and are based on voluntary sign-up. So the person who has signed up, and his family, know what they are getting into, and have readied themselves, emotionally, for what might happen. Moreover,in the case of non-state actors, especially Islamist ones, where Martyrdom is considered not a loss but a victory in the sense that its combined effect would lead up to the final showdown and hopefully victory, hiding casualties is not standard practice. Contrast Hezbollah's daily announcements of its dead in 2006 (as the war was still being fought), with the Arab armies' lousy propaganda that its forces had reached Tel Aviv and that they had killed so many Israelis while losing few men, and you will see the difference. The difference is that while one is afraid of death and feels that it deals a blow to the morale of the public, the other is not afraid of death and in fact often walks towards it for what it considers the greater good, or the ultimate objective. zionists fall in the first category — those who are afraid of death and those who are unwilling to send their kids to death for a cause they hardly believe in (or even for a cause that they do believe in). Hamas falls into the latter category. Hamas has always announced its dead, and done so with pride rather than shame. Israel, on the other hand, has a long history of lying about its casualties, as well as about the circumstances in which they were killed. A good example would be the 1983 attacks on the israeli occupation army's headquarters in Lebanon.
And this is why with every passing moment zionist propaganda resembles, more and more, Arab regimes' propaganda about alleged battlefield victories in the 60s and 70s…
Hope nobody missed the very important point: Israel won't allow
in Western reporters (or the others either, of course).
So what's new? See any GI funerals on TV lately?
I've been hearing , since yesterday,the new israeli argument, that israel does not want to occupy gaza but that it just wants to take over some land , as an alleged "buffer zone" , to "protect" its citizens from rocket fire. what a stupid argument, and even stupider would be those who do not laugh out at this. does israel think the whole world is stupid? apparently, the impunity with which it has been acting, has convinced it that this is the case. the rockets from Gaza can be fired from any point in the gaza strip and still reach israeli communities. it's the range of rockets that matters, stupid, not the width or length of the Strip. The width is irrelevant, since the Strip is narrow. The length of the strip is irrelevant too, since rockets can be launched from any point, and hit any community, whether north, or east, of Gaza…. it's really very simple. israel just wants bloodshed and war, in order to ward off pressure regarding the West Bank that it feels might be exerted (but won't anyway ) by the Obama administration. Add to that the fact that it's election time in Israel, and what better electioneering tool than killing Palestinian babies for sport ? truly, zionists — whether Israelis or non-Israeli zionist Jews — make it very tempting to believe stereotypes about Jews as bloodthirsty people, and I dare say that anyone who hasn't seen any better — i.e. hasn't met Jews who aren't like that, and I dare say most Gazans have NOT — will be inclined to buy into this anti-Semitic stereotype which the zionists have managed to make relevant once more. Dismantle Israel and you will have dismantled 99.99% of the anti-Semitic feelings. Anti-Semitism is the effect. Israel and its supporters, and the crimes they commit or condone, are the cause. You can't be honest in addressing the effect without eliminating the cause.
Another reason for what Israel is doing is that it wants to show
Israel really is all powerfull, a view lost after the attack on Lebanon–this of course is not unrelated to the pending Israeli elections. Uncle Sam is merely repeating its conduct during the attack on Lebanon–allowing Israel to kill as many Pals as possible until
it feels momentarily safer.
Still waiting for those tanks and helicopters. It was dozens of tanks, right Miss Lebanon?
Yup, Jim, dozens. Want the names of the dead Israeli soldiers and those who were captured? I can also give you their ages and military rank. Here's a hint. One is a Colonel. No, not the guy whose death the Israelis admitted to. That one was a Staff Sergeant. Good riddance re: all the zionist soldiers who were killed. The world is a better place today than it was yesterday because there are fewer ziofascists than there were yesterday prior to the invasion.
Apparently, the zionists have not killed enough babies and unarmed women and men today, they want to kill more, so what better place than to bomb a hospital? The main hospital of Gaza has received threats from Israel that it will be bombed.
They bombed a marketplace today, as I had predicted, and I am saying they will bomb the hospital too. The silence of the world to Israel's war crimes in July 2006 convinced Israel that it can go a step further and do what it dared not do in July 2006. Israel sure has learned the lessons of July 2006. It has learned that it can do a lot more than it did the last time around, again with total impunity. Anyway, this has been the zionist method all along. Since the 1920s, their favorite way of attaining their so-called "liberation" and "statehood" has been by bombing vegetable markets full of civilians. Check the Palestine Post archives.
Blogger from Lebanon – Are you a Shia, Sunni, or Christian?
By the way, I find it odd that those very same people who whined that Hamas was getting too strong for Israel's taste, so much so that it was a threat to its citizens and as some kept saying, to the state's very existence (!), and who justified the aerial assault on, and ground invasion of, Gaza, are now, in true ostrich style, denying that Hamas can so much as kill a few Israeli soldiers let alone destroy tanks. What is the matter? Reality punch you in the face?
The zionist habit of moving the goalposts every time the facts don't appeal to their tastes, in full play here on Phil's blog.
Anon — sorry, none of the above. Atheist.
The fact is there are now over 1,000 Israeli casualties, and close to 200 taken prisoner. Kill them all I say, but not until they have tricked the zionazis into releasing more of our freedom fighters!
And as for the tanks, there are one hundred destroyed or in the hands of Hamas. Looks like the fascist censors of Israel are still lying about it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7vhu4ifHmU
Shake in your boots IDF – HAMAS is gonna get ya
"Yup, Jim, dozens. Want the names of the dead Israeli soldiers and those who were captured? I can also give you their ages and military rank. Here's a hint. One is a Colonel."
Are you making fun of the way Arabs always lie and exaggerate? Or are you legitimately out of your fucking mind?
"link to youtube.com
Shake in your boots IDF – HAMAS is gonna get ya"
Or maybe not. The guys who made that video are dead now . . .
A kind word of advice, Blogger From Lebanon:
Keep your calm when dealing with apologists. Don't play their game.