But in return the Gazans provided free food, water and entertainment to Gilad Shalit for many years, so it all evens itself out.
I follow your logic and you do a good job advocating Israel's POV. The reason I focus on Israel is because the Ottoman empire, British empire and Nazi Germany don't exist now. Israel is a result of history but now they own the present because the factors that created history are long gone ... Unless you're suggesting that the Jews were just innocent bystanders in the creation of Israel .... Maybe it just happened on its own by the forces of history. One thing we can all agree on is that Arabs disagreed from day 1, hence the war. The Arabs have been consistent from day 1 about their opposition. Not true ... I oppose my government's policies all the time even though my love for my countrymen never changes. I don't support Hamas because they're not a stable partner for peace. But they've only been around since the late 80's. I think there could of been better partners for peace in the past before Hamas became the main Gaza player. Opportunities wasted by Israel IMO. The more time goes by the harder this becomes. I wasn't comparing USSR to Israel. Just saying that providing water and electricity to people is a low bar to show humanity, especially when those people lack so many other things I'll let the Palestinians decide who makes them suffer more and what is more important to them. You seem to lack some historical perspective too if you're equating Jordan to the creation of Israel
At least he is free now and 1 little skinny Jew is apparently worth so many of those other people called Palestinians. However, plenty of them around in prisons I hear... IM, maybe you can rep this as well, you worthless POS.
A better response would have been that in return for such entertainment, Israel expedites the rendez-vous of all those "martyrs' and the 72 virgins. And you should be happy with what IM does.....all this time he's been hiding and pretending about his feeling towards Jews, but now, it's for everyone to see. Of course anyone with an iota of brain knew already, but just in case some of the slower folks on BS were confused, even they are hopefully not now.
this is an example of the root of all evil in the IDF the israelis believe the palestinians are beneath them and worth less than 1 skinny israeli. now I know why you get happy and giddy when israel drops bombs on innocent palestinian families and children
That's an interesting point, in many of these cases everybody claims victory. I saw film of the people in Gaza yesterday having a huge celebration. Over a hundred killed and probably several times that injured, many of them women and children... Yeah! Result! WTF???
Unhelpful to whom? Not the Palestinians. I am very happy with that post. Imprisoning millions of people in an open air prison, organising a crypteia every few years before israeli elections, restricting movement of people and goods thereby destroying their ability to be self-sufficient, deliberately destroying their infrastructure, collecting but then regularly witholding tax payments, and after all that trying to take credit for providing a bit of power is far more ridiculous than praising Hamas for giving food to a captured enemy soldier. The Gazans are as thankful to israel as Shalit is to Hamas, but Shalit signed up for it.
I see Morsi's government as a clear winner. They proved to be loyal to Gaza which will help with their popularity inside Egypt. They also proved to have significant influence over Hamas which means that next time this happens the whole world will go to Morsi first to fix the problem. They also proved to the world that they can behave like a responsible government and do what is necessary for the whole region not to spiral into full war. This last point should also help with their relationship with America. I still have many doubts about Egypt, but so far things have turned out better than the worst case scenario some people predicted.
Hamas signed up for this with their hateful charter and decades of terrorism. Hamas has the ability to change things, they can renounce terrorism and work for peace. But that isn't want they want.
He's DEFINITELY a winner here. Do you see how he's also used his new found influence with the yanks to kick the generals in the soft parts? That didn't take long, did it. Just hope the fella doesn't get too carried away with it that he forgets he still has to get elected at some point. The danger is he finds that an election, 'Isn't convenient at this difficult moment in time'.
But they had periods where there weren't rockets launched and nothing happened to change the situation. That's the problem. The only reason we're discussing this again is because they and the Israelis started up another shitstorm. Y'know, there's a lesson there.
Victory is defined specifically to what the political objectives were. Since we don't know them we can only assume what they were. Iran/Hamas: -observe the limits and capabilities of Iron Dome and air defense matrix -divert attention from Syria -divert attention from Irans nuclear program -put Israel under media scrutiny -get Israel to resupply iron dome and precision missiles to impose economic strain -influence Israeli elections Israel: -minimize rocket sites and in effect potential civilian casualties -wound the al-gassam hierarchy -villainize Hamas in order to shift short medias attention to co operation with Phatah -disrupt Hamas supply channels -cripple Hamas architecture and impose economic strain -influence Israeli elections Again these are the unclassified objectives, who know what the real intentions were. But if we look at the 2006 Lebanon War as a comparison, then i would say Israel won.
What is this warped belief that anybody can claim victory when people die regardless of whether or not they are civilian or military. The only way they'll see a future of peace is when the Palestinians give up on the pre 1967 borders acknowledge Israels right to exist and Israel learns to stop with the disproportionate responses. This whole "they started it" crap also needs to stop since nobody can change the past. It's the future that can be influenced and selfish men need to think about the youth and the future.
Unhelpful, in that you're reducing to insults, rather than advancing the discussion. Much like your use of the lower case when typing Israel. It's simplistic. Your arguments here are clearer, but I question your statement that Israel is giving its military the opportunity to legally & indiscriminately kill Palestinian men in Gaza. This isn't Sparta or "A chacun son boche". Also, if the IDF wanted to destroy Gazan infrastructure, it would have blown up bridges and electrical transmission lines, instead of targeting Hamas buildings and buried storage depots of munitions.
Even during those periods though hamas has refused to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist, they won't work towards a realistic peace either. Hamas can change their stance, they can work towards peace, but I doubt it. A great example is how they treat their "brothers" in fatah. And the comments made by hamas continue to show that they won't be backing away from their charter.
http://inagist.com/all/271253713971183616/ http://ca.tweetwood.com/photos/bbclysedoucet/413477/lyse_doucet And they destroyed Gaza's only power station in 2006. The destruction of infrastructure is not an accident either. Some have been dumb enough to say it out loud. http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-s-minister-of-incitement-1.479125
LOL ... Iran fail. Speaking of Iran, this is the beginning of the end of their partnership with Hamas. The Iranian weapons proved relatively ineffective against Iron Dome. All that work to kill 5 Israelis ... When comparing the amount of money Qatar is throwing around, Iran's help becomes almost insignificant. In fact this latest move by Qatar smells of American/Gulf Arab plan to further isolate Iran politically an diplomatically. If Hamas moves away from Iran towards closer ties to the Arab spring and Assad is defeated, suddenly Iran is running out of friends. In fact Israel should use this as a bargaining chip to promise lifting the blockade and inviting Qatari economic aid in return for Hamas permanently divorcing Iran.