Comments on: When Jews agonize about their identity and Israel, is that an elitist tea party?

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:44:31 +0000

I think you got it wrong – it's Israel that's shelling civilians, not hamas.

By: JoelBitar

JoelBitar — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:43:57 +0000

Remember, Hamas won the election in 2006 in a free and well-observed democratic election (" target="_blank">http://www.cartercenter.org/news/multimedia/Peace... If you respect the right of Palestinan self-determination then you acknowledge that Hamas should be the governing body in the West Bank and Gaza. The provocateur in the civil war was a U.S./Israel backed Fatah that sought to maintain its dominance in Palestine. Hamas reacted to Fatah's coup d’état with a counter-coup. Read this excellent investigative piece about the U.S. funded coup to overthrow the democratically elected Hamas party. (" target="_blank">http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/... Your claim that Hamas was the initiator in the Gaza massacre is incorrect. Rockets were fired into Israel from June-November by militant Palestinian groups unaffiliated with Hamas. These rockets were the result of Israel's refusal to ease the blockade and relax restrictions on freedom of movement. As far as I'm concerned, Israel's decision to imprison Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is an act of war in itself. On November 4th, 2008, Israel dropped a bomb on a tunnel killing 6 Hamas militants. This is when Hamas started firing rockets into southern Israel. "The Hamas "leaders" hid, while the civilians were exposed." Are you placing the blame of 500 dead civilians on Hamas? Israel broke the cease-fire and then Israel decided to drop DIME bombs and white phosphorous munitions on civilians. It was Israel that bombed municipal buildings, agricultural land, a UN school, a graduating class of police officers, cement factories and hospitals. There is absolutely no doubt that this was a war against the civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Hamas rockets were just a cover for the same Israeli policies of removing Palestinians from the Land of Israel.

By: RichardWitty

RichardWitty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:47:32 +0000

Israel was at most incidentally involved with the formation of Hamas, and even that would be an exageration. Why are you so gullible, you anonymous one?

By: RichardWitty

RichardWitty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:45:34 +0000

And suffering the results of the failure of governance by Hamas, in initiating a war with a more powerful military in which the Hamas "leaders" hid, while the civilians were exposed.

By: RichardWitty

RichardWitty — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:44:14 +0000

Yes, the Gazan civilians are suffering the consequences of a blockade by Israel and Egypt, constructed of the civil war between Hamas and Fatah.

By: stevieb

stevieb — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:29:14 +0000

If you want to look for reasons for racial/ethnic variations in terms of socio-economic success than he least positive variable will be racial differences – I can promise you that….

By: stevieb

stevieb — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:26:23 +0000

I didn't call him a fanatic – but it is a racist argument. But you might be, Citizen. I'm not sure. I'm wondering what "a slight variation in DNA makes a world of difference in the real world" means. Maybe an example – and how that should translate into policy measures. I didn't deny there are racial differences – I say they are politically insignificant. They are generally racially insignificant too – they are evolutionary adaptions that have no significance in terms of one race having any significant advantage over another. And those who think they do and would like to have political decisions reflect these trivial matters – than yes, I would think those people fanatical racists, yes…..

By: confused Jew

confused Jew — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:51:16 +0000

SO let's get this straight…. Philip is saying that the I P conflict is not such a huge problem in regards to human rights violations. real human rights violations are taking place on a greater scale all over the world, but progressives don't really care cause it's more important to deal with Jewish issues, as Jews are society's elite Philip loves being a part of this elite and sees Jewish identity as being of utmost importance. However a huge change needs to be made in Jewish identity for a large portion of the Jewish population. This change must be affected by enlightened Jews like him, in order to do that these progressive Jews need to gain the alliance of other outside nations in order to force their Jewish view on the Zionists. So one question, Philip, what will happen to those Jews that don't wish to change?

By: Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:24:52 +0000

The only ball is comparing the total number of Israeli deaths due to Hamas rockets over the years with the total number of palestinian deaths due to the IDF. The pattern is clear. Hamas is a resistance unit.

By: Kudos2Witty

Kudos2Witty — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:20:58 +0000

Witty states flatly that Israel was not involved in the creation of Hamas. When responders document that it was, he switches tunes, tacitly admitting he lied outright by saying Israel had an apparent good motive to be so involved but wailing how Hamas wrested control from Israel. Typical Witty, the most dishonest commenter on this blog.