So after 60 people — at least 34 of them children — were slaughtered in an Israeli strike today, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is indicating he wants to continue "the battle".
"We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning," Olmert said during Israel’s weekly Cabinet meeting, according to a participant in the meeting. "We will continue the activity and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation."
Source: [Yahoo News]
This is beyond awful. The Israeli Army is showing the world a terrible ruthlessness. The bloodshed has to end, for the sake of humanity. Israel has made it clear that it will not stop until they disarm Hezbollah. In my humble opinion this will never happen. Hezbollah is more of a concept, an ideology, than anything else. It is an ideology fomented by the continuous frustration Arab youths face on a daily basis. You cannot kill an ideology with bombs. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s popularity is soaring now more than ever due to the continuing Israeli attacks on Lebanon that have left many innocent civilians dead.
The Washington Post is reporting today how Arab governments that were initially critical of Hezbollah are now applauding the movement.
The United States’ Arab allies — Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt — initially blamed Hezbollah for the violence, calling its seizure of the soldiers miscalculated adventures. But a high civilian death toll, widespread destruction in Lebanon and strong popular support for Hezbollah have forced a shift in their stance.
And now Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora today thanked Hezbollah for the first time for their "sacrifices," saying:
"We are in a strong position and I thank the Sayyed for his efforts," Siniora said when asked about a Saturday statement by Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah calling on the government to take advantage of Hizbollah’s steadfastness against Israeli military might. "I also thank all those who sacrifice their lives for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon," he added.
Just for the record Siniora had always been known for being at odds with Hezbollah.
My sister who was in Damascus last week told me this morning how she was surprised to see wanton support for Hezbollah amongst the common people of Syria. She saw Hezbollah flags flying on cars while a number of people she talked with were expressing their pride and support for what Hezbollah is now doing.
Articulate Jordanian commentator and blogger Batir Wardam is wondering how many people Al-Qaeda has recruited since the beginning of this Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
Routes for violence are abundant. Organizations like Al Qaeda are ready to exploit this anger, not only against the USA and Israel but also against the Arab countries, communities and regime themselves. This is a twisted response but it is a natural result of the Israeli and American action. As I write now, and as you read hundreds of Arab Youth are being mainstreamed into the Qaeda and fundamental organizations who will provide the platform for angry Arab youth to become what we used to call them: terrorists!
Sadly enough, his argument is plausible. Israel has facilitated Al-Qaeda recruitment. I’m so frustrated. Things are going from bad to worse. The future is bleak. My children will never live in peace.
The Israel-bashers here aren’t really interested in the facts. Even if it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Hezbollah murdered those people in Qana and put them in that building, they’d still say it was Israel’s fault. That’s their agenda and nothing you say will change their mind. I think it’s very telling, though, that they are so eager to side with Hezbullah, a terrorist organization.
They don’t care that Hezbullah has been killing Lebanese citizens who try to evacuate dangerous areas of Lebanon, because they don’t want their human shields to get away. They don’t care that Hezbullah raises killing machines, recruiting small children and training them throughout their lifetime to hate and kill Israelis. They don’t care that Hezbullah’s whole reason for existence is to slaughter as many innocent Israeli citizens as they can. They don’t care that Hezbullah purposely launches it’s bombs from civilian areas so that when Israel fights back, civilians will be killed. This is a great victory for Hezbullah, since the PR of dead bodies is priceless. But to all of the Israel-bashers, all of these facts mean nothing.
No, you don’t care about any of that. All you care about is that Hezbullah is fighting Israel, a country you’ve decided to hate.
You’re all so pathetic. But don’t worry, there’s always a place for you in the KKK. Those white hoods will be perfect for you racist cowards to hide behind.
I’m speechless.
I’ve gone from being wary of a tragic circumstance to a Neo-Nazi.
Holocaust denial is a thing that Americans don’t throw around lightly as an accusation. From my neighbor, a former army enlisted man that helped liberate one of the camps to my old downstairs neighbors, one of whom had a tattoo on his arm from the the original Nazi’s. Claiming that I’m of similar ilk to the bastards that dreamed up the “final solution” scores you no points and simply offers more proof to the theory that you’re an asshat.
I certainly believe a tragedy occured in Qana. Unfortunately what lays in the shadows are the facts that it bears a resemblence to a similar incident from a few years ago.
I can’t pretend to have answers to many of the issues at the heart of this conflict. I find war atrocities presented as fact, that can never be questioned or allowed to be investigated are the stuff of dangerous precedent. It isn’t “spin” to question the claims of a terrorist organization, it’s called healthy skepticism.
This is a conflict thousands of years in the making and right now the moderates do not seem to be involved in the process.
I suggest everyone cool off, go to their corners, and say a prayer for the truly innocent people caught in this conflict. I can’t pretend to guess who they are but odds are whatever diety you put faith in will likely be able to sort out who that is because I certainly can’t.
Best,
Jim
“Here’s the situation: Arabs were fighting Israel in ’48, and regardless of what you think of that war, all Arabs viewed ISrael as an enemy. When Israel won, Arab Jews left their countries and decided to become citiziens in what should have been their enemy. That kinda tells you something about their loyality to the countries they lived in.”
You make it sound as if they just weren’t happy living in Arab lands and decided to go to Israel. What a joke! They were frequently attacked, expelled and coerced by Arab governments into leaving. Many of them lost everything they owned in the proces.
Jews lost a conservatively estimated $2.5 billion (in 1948 dollars) due to their expulsion.
I suggest reading this document:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/media/pdf/BigLies.pdf
But I suppose, by your logic, Israel ought to give its Arab population the boot. After all, judging by the strong support they gave Hamas in the Palestinian elections, there is really little question about where the loyalties of Israeli Arabs lie.
There are very few Jews left in Arab countries. Outside of Morocco and Algeria I think it’s in the hundreds, when given normal population growth it should be well over a million, so in excess of 99.9% have left. On the other hand, there is still a sizeable minority Arab population in Israel, and the occupied territories are well over 90% Arab.
I am not sure what you are trying to say in your correction. Why did virtually all Jews leave, if not for persecution and fear that they’d lose not only their homes, but their lives as well? Many people don’t care about politics, but virtually all care about their own personal safety. I just don’t see how 99.9% of Jews would leave without persecution.
In 2005 I believe more Jews moved to Germany than to any other country in the world, Israel included. There was no net movement to Arab countries. Morocco and Algeria included, Germany has now something like twenty times as many Jews as all 20 odd Arab countries together.
There are various reasons for that, but, in the end, no matter the past injustices, there can be mutual trust.
3ogla, you are doing the right thing by stepping out of the shit hole created by Jim and his idiots. Save yourself while you can from the venom that they spew.
The more these freaks say, the closer they get to neo-Nazis. Neo-Nazis refuse to acknowledge the WWII holocaust even when presented with tangible evidence which they are quick to poke holes at. Jim and his friends are the same: no matter how hard you try, they will never believe.
I will repeat what I started out by saying in the very beginning, to everyone who has commented here and elsewhere, if peace is what you all truly want for everyone involved in this crisis, then you must work for justice.
Without a just resolution to the problems of the Middle East, you guys will be shouting at each other till you are blue in the face – and nothing will change.
Peace to all.
Jim and the few idiots on here
I dont’ care how you try to spin the situation. Its history and proven that Israel came to existence through injustice, they demolished my own home, so who is the racist, stupid Jim?
Anyway I won’t get anymore into this mess. You can say whatever you want, your true colors are coming out slowly but surely to the whole world except the US sadly
I’m trying to avoid getting drawn into the it did/didn’t happen discourse but there’s also this to remember:
Jenin: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/218vnicq.asp
Massacre of the 21st century debunked in a month.
Anyone with any background in journalism should understand why with terrible circumstance there needs to be hard questions asked. Qana may be a case of terrible mistakes and cost. It might also be something else and posing that question shouldn’t be a crime or deserving of castigation.
Mocking honest grief and horror by making half hearted claims is equally shameful.
Jim
It appears that the body count has been exaggerated according to the Red Cross’s numbers:
http://www.americanthinker.com/comments.php?comments_id=5726
Also, the very same “rescue worker” who paraded the dead children in front of the cameras has been seen before:
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/07/who-is-this-man.html
Just a correction to what Heiko Gerhauser said, Arab Jews did not flee from Arab countries.
the majority of Arab JEws left Arab countries and immigrated to Israel in 1948.
Here’s the situation: Arabs were fighting Israel in ’48, and regardless of what you think of that war, all Arabs viewed ISrael as an enemy. When Israel won, Arab Jews left their countries and decided to become citiziens in what should have been their enemy. That kinda tells you something about their loyality to the countries they lived in.
All my respect to the Jews who decided to stay in their own coutnries, but the majority did not.
http://confederateyankee.mu.nu/archives/188768.php
Hmm.. Why am I not at all surprised…. Its how terrorists work. Wait until bombs are going off, stage a fake massacre, then sit back and wait as all the idiots join them to fight the great cause. It happens, over, and over, and over again, how many times have we seen it in Iraq.., but they know that the people closest to the event, and thus most effected by it, will act like normal gullible and shocked humans, believe the most acceptable answer, not imho the worse one, which is obviously traitorous betrayal, then immediately stop thinking.