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Think Shakespeare. Shylock wants his pound of flesh. Soon he may get it and the debtor can in Israel BUY a printed heart. With interest etc, Soon the modern day shylocks can ply their trade, and can say one kidney, and some bone marrow, and we will sell you a heart.

Well, at least with 3D printed organs they won't have to carve poor people up for parts anymore: https://www.haaretz.com/israel...

Ex-Putin Adviser Who Died in U.S. Had Broken Neck, Report Says

The official ruling was that Mikhail Lesin, 57, died accidentally of blunt force trauma after falling repeatedly in his room while intoxicated

https://www.haaretz.com/world-...

Go ahead and insist that you're right.

Well, Turkey is a capitalist country and they blocked Wikipedia too.

If you really, really want to go to war against Germany again in 50-100 years from now and if you enjoyed the total destruction of Europe by the Nazis or the communist occupation of Eastern Europe, then please continue to insist that Germans should enjoy full freedom and speech, no matter how despicable, and to abolish constitutional safeguards against inner takeover by totalitarians.

Oh, my sweet, summer child. What makes you think we're not going to get into that position anyway? Even though it's illegal to publicly be a Nazi, Germany still has Nazis, in part because these laws only hide the truth.

There's nothing right-wing about it except that it's aimed at someone on the left of American politics.

Birtherism is the most glaring manifestion (yet) of the right's ongoing obsession with race and othering the left as unamerican. Its a common refrain with the right, in 1994 Newt Gingrich was going around saying that democrats are the enemy of real americans. That's the man who became speaker of the house, the titular head of the party, just one year later. The fact that you don't see birtherism as extremism is a testament to the GOP's hypernormalization of their extremism.

but are you really going to tell me that's exclusive to the right?

I am going to tell you for the 4th time that there is no equivalent on the left. You don't see anybody even remotely like d'felon anywhere near anything resembling a mainstream liberal publication. Not to mention a god damn senior editor of a magazine like The New Republic calling conservatism fascism - y'all lost your shit when Hillary said merely half of you were good people.

No, the Left absolutely overuses the term. I've been called a Nazi for saying Jose Zarate, the person who killed Kate Steinle, should be deported after he's released from jail. Nazi and fascist are not the same thing

So, you are a fascist who does not consider himself of the right. Yeah, kinda not surprised. The thing about you guys — "nazi" is the one n-word y'all just won't stand for. If your objection is nothing more than an pedantic argument as to what precisely constitute nazism, you've so completely and utterly lost the thread that you might as well just go full nazi.

, I really can't see anyone who supports the state of Israel being a Nazi.

Fuck that shit. Supporting the extremist government of Israel is not the same as supporting jews. Netanyahoo and his son have gone so far to the right that they are embracing modern-day nazi memes and David Duke is backing them up. Christian nationalists love Israel, but they don't love jews, they just want to kick off the rapture and if the jews won't convert at that point, they are happy to let them burn in hell.

FYI, some of the children haven't been reunited with the adults they came with because the adults were either not their parents or were convicted of things like child abuse.

Yeah, how many? Name ONE. Wait, you can't? And yet, your knee-jerk response to 2500 kidnappings and 450+ deportations of asylum seekers nearly assuring that they've permanently lost their children is to cite something, that at most, could be counted on one woman's fingers? You've been drinking deep from the well of right-wing propaganda. WAKE THE FUCK UP

“The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

— Aldous Huxley
The Olive Tree (1936).

Great story bro. Too bad the Iranian foreign minister already said the "agreement" was no longer sustainable for Iran whether or not Trump decides to kill it: https://www.haaretz.com/middle...

The word "Iranian" comes directly from the word "Aryan".

Persians are in fact Caucasian. That word comes from the region of the Caucasus which, if you consult a map, is directly adjacent to modern Iran (and was historically where the Persian people originated).

The Iranian regime is going to blame Jews and Americans no matter what. Might as well take the opportunity to kick 'em while they look a bit unstable given they'll accuse you of it anyway.

Here's Netanyahu explaining that Israel isn't to blame but wishing the demonstrators well

https://www.haaretz.com/israel...

Look into some details. The crime reporting rate is higher than for crimes by Germans, and the immigrant camps are stratified by immigration eligibility with only overbearing environmental influences breaking the trend of non-violence for immigration. The idiots who bandy about idiotic nationalist rhetoric are one goose-step away from outright Nazism only because that would put them in prison.

They seem quite good at it - for them it is a matter of life and death.

http://www.haaretz.com/1.74329...

Their screening policies are viewed as necessary for survival and political correctness does not factor into their policies and procedures.

Meanwhile we're expected to believe that those 11.5 million people were gassed in shower rooms with wooden doors with insecticide used to get rid of the lice that cause typhus.

This is erroneous; considering just Jews, Eichmann's estimate is that about 4 million of the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust died in concentration camps (from all possible causes), and that the remaining two million were killed under other circumstances. Gas chambers with Zyklon B were used to kill an estimated one million people, and it definitely did work, given that the main ingredient was hydrogen cyanide. Surely you've seen this? Further reading: this and this.

I'll grant that "emotional blackmail" on "various stances on issues unrelated to Jews" sounds unethical from how you've summarized it, but de-legitimizing the Holocaust won't allow you to get back at your teachers.

even by twisted u.s. government standards

Blaming America is always good Karma — as if we invented Universal Jurisdiction. I presume, Belgium prosecuting Israelis for war crimes committed by Lebanese in a war, to which Belgium was never a party, was Ok with you?

The war crimes are separate of civil and criminal matters. In your perfect law world, if Belgium were to completely massacre the entire population of the US and colonize it as empty land, who would charge them with war crimes? They are a separate class for good reason.

even by twisted u.s. government standards

Blaming America is always good Karma — as if we invented Universal Jurisdiction. I presume, Belgium prosecuting Israelis for war crimes committed by Lebanese in a war, to which Belgium was never a party, was Ok with you?

So how do we regulate the horizontal boring? Or do we just let it be a free-for-all, and hope for the best?

Not all regulation is bad regulation. Without regulation you end up with this.

There isn't a security company on the planet that isn't hooked into the security services of some nation state. In certain cases the security apparatus of one state is a wholly owned subsidiarity of another states security apparatus.

Behind the Scenes at the Company Behind the Scenes
--
At my fingertips, the zero day is wrapped in code like a Christmas present, then becomes an exploit, the programmatic expression of my will. I live for this shit.

No, but Israel's desalination plants are operating at under $0.40 / 1000L. Costs have come down a lot.

It is horrible what has happened to your family, and the holocaust/shoa is one of the biggest crimes in human history.

The muslim database he proposes can mean many things, some dangerous, some less dangerous, some even good. Perhaps he will use it to adapt a (in my eyes very unfair) model that Israel uses already.

Of course, if that database is used for background checks for important positions it would be horrible, but there are many good uses for it as well, for example in order to coordinate efforts to bring moderate and western-friendly imams to the communities, or to reach out and listen to the problems these communities have in order to prevent radicalisation.

It all depends what you make with such a database, and other countries have such databases already.

The american people always has been very welcoming to people who were oppressed because of their religion. That's why you have the amish, the evangelicals, or the mormons, and that's why many jews moved to the USA after the war. But you became very aware towards one religion, and that's the muslims. Probably because of the attacks on the western world conducted by a few who abuse the muslim faith. So you are very cautious, and Trump's success is just an expression of that cautiousness.

But note his positions on these matters are not why I support him. Building a wall is a stupid thing to do. I really like his economic policies though, and that he wants to make peace with russia. This will bring even more peace upon the world (there are *two* proxy wars atm between russia and the west), and perhaps then the west doesn't have to be friends with medieval regimes like saudi arabia any more.

If LGBT is a choice or a lifestyle and thus not deserving of any protected status, then nor is religion

Religion is spelled out as protected in the constitution; this is similar to the rights to your beliefs.

Religion is protected, Specific religious beliefs beliefs are not.

But let's say that it is well and good and God's will that the Good Christian people of North Carolina not be forced to do business with teh LGTB abomination in Gawds eyes.

Now it is set forth that good Christians are allowed to invoke their will.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-...

God is pleased. his people are now fulfilling his will by not renting to Arabs. Apparently

The same with Palestinians to Jews.

Allah is pleased that the rules are being followed. Apparently

Finally, and as god or Allah wills, perhaps the good Christians shall set upon these abominations? After all, it is his will, and his direct command as per Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Preposterous you say?

http://www.alternet.org/story/...

The only reason why the religious right isn't killing them here is because we don't allow them to kill them.

And if you wonder why people are opposed to you folks - don't wonder.

This article as well as many similar articles in previous years, says you're full of it, knowledgeable guy..

Actually, YouTube removed videos which were encouraging Palestinians to kill Israelis (and were actually faked), and were clearly in violation of TOS. The stories don't say anything about removing videos of real Israeli attacks on Palestinians. If you search YouTube for "israeli human rights abuses", you'll still find lots of hits.

http://www.reuters.com/article...
Israel says Facebook, YouTube videos encouraging Palestinian attacks

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-...
YouTube Removes Inciting Videos Portraying Murder of Jews, at Israel's Request
Hamas uploaded one video dramatizing stabbing death of two Jews, while cartoon reenacted murder of Eitam and Naama Henkin in West Bank.
Reuters and Haaretz
Oct 08, 2015 8:06 PM

Exaggeration works to the advantage of both sides.

The Israeli organizations like to say, we talked to Google and were successful in getting Google to remove videos, we're effective, and please contribute money to our ongoing effort.

The Palestinian organizations like to say, the Israelis are censoring Google, support our organization and fight this.

Do you mean that Israel is rally ruled by a cabal? You probably shouldn't say that in public, at least not anywhere near my family.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-...:

Majority of Israelis Unhappy With Ultra-Orthodox Influence on Society

Annual report revealed that 61 percent of Israelis support increased religion-state separation and 78 percent are dissatisfied with the government’s actions on religion-and-state issues.

Just to make it clear: that's a major Israeli newspaper.

I can't help but wonder how y'all manage to keep electing him then.

But not with a majority. Remember, Israeli elections are not head-to-head races between candidates. Netanyahu's governments have been coalitions that include some rather fringe fanatical parties.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-...

Last year there were at least 592 nut jobs willing to blow themselves up. That's more than enough to make it a legitimate concern, especially when the average nut-job kills 6 more people as well...

First of all, that was an honest mistake. Second, Ukraine hasn't denied it. And third â" and most intriguing â" the missile was fired from Crimea and the servicemen responsible are now all Russians. Temporarily.

First: looks like operating a SAM was too complicated for the regular army, so what do you expect of insurgents? Buk has a certain operating mode for unskilled operators, and this mode ignores IFF and basically just shoots down the first available aircraft. I guess this is exactly what happened.

Second: oh, but they have, very much so. Only when evidence became overwhelming they have finally admitted that a missile possibly maybe might have shot down the airplane by mistake and paid compensation ex gratia, meaning they don't even recognise their liability. Up to this day there is only a court ruling that has decided that there was no evidence for a shootdown by a stray missile. And even then their president mentioned something along the lines of "no big deal, worse things happen".

Third: how would you even know where the people responsible are right now? It is not like the staff of a military base consists of locals, in many countries it is exactly the other way round, the soldiers serve as far from home as possible. In fact, I have looked it up. Here is the commanding officer overseeing the anti aircraft exercises that day. Apparently he is on the Ukrainian investigation board for the MH17. This makes you a liar.

Seriously, you hate Russians so much that you are willing to excuse any atrocities as long they harm Russia in any way. Maybe you should go and see a shrink about this.

is defined by protecting the right to say things you don't agree with.

This is every bit as stupid as people going to jail in Germany for teaching their dog to give a Nazi salute. (they're even trying to re-educate the dog to shake instead ... who's the crazy fuck now?)

Except they give you FDA blacked labeled vaccines. I loved getting multiple rounds of anthrax for no real reason. The reaction rates for anthrax vaccine are 5%-35% , those are good numbers. Also you get booster shots ie multiple shots per year. http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-... .17 seconds in google.

There's another article
http://www.haaretz.com/news/mi...
All it says is:

A second part of the speech will touch on his government's social and fiscal policy over the longer term and is likely to repeat pledges for such things as a rise in the minimum wage and free electricity for poorer Greeks.

"what part of there is no group of genes which can be usefully used to identify race did you miss?"
Well what part did you miss?

http://www.eupedia.com/europe/...

Also see other pages on that site which show other groups. The point is that using an individual's DNA you actually can assign him to a group of humans distinct from other groups. Those groups are called "races" and they do correspond roughly with the groupings that one would naively make "by eye and ear". Yes, there are some overlaps and grey areas, but our knowledge of DNA is extremely limited so it would be a mistake to assume that we already know everything about it.

see also:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-...

http://davidduke.com/are-jews-...

On the one hand some believers in Evolution as the origin of species will have it that all organisms are constantly "evolving", and that would have to include the development of all kinds of intelligence, aptitude, etc..., but on the other hand they want us to believe that Black Africans and Whites and Chinese people and Indians could not possibly have begun to develop separately in these traits and thus arrived in the modern age with a differential between them, which defines race, due to their differing environments, and that in fact we must all be exactly the same, as though we were not in fact separated and subjected to different environments for at least tens of thousands of years!

They have deeply misled and confused themselves to the point where their illogic is so obvious that people are afraid to question it. Like when a Professor of Mathematics insists that 1 + 1 is 3. People are just afraid to call them out and say: Hang on. That makes no sense. That is in fact, nonsense.

Same species, different race. Is it really that hard to understand? It is exactly as predicted by the theory of natural selection / evolution - so what is the big deal? You take a homogeneous population and separate it and subject different parts to different environment for a long time and then you end up with the parts being identifiably different to each other. Why is that so hard to agree with? It is exactly the theory of Natural Selection / Evolution.

White people are different to black people are different to Chinese people are different to Indian people due to the process of natural selection/Evolution. Same species, different race. They have not diverged to the point where they can no longer breed, hence they are the same species, but they have evolved to the point where they look and behave differently. They have evolved to the point where as groups (on average - it is a bell curve, some blacks are more intelligent or less physically able than some whites, but in general the test scores paint a certain picture psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/race_evolution_behavior.pdf) they are more or less suited to different physical, cultural and social environment and will react differently to the same opportunities and will vary in their ability to capitalise on such opportunities.

Blacks tend to have more testosterone:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3455741

Which makes them less apt to create a civilisation:
http://science.slashdot.org/st...

Does it mean we need to hate each other? No. Does it mean we cannot all live on the planet? No. But that does not take away from the obvious fact that race does exist. It is astonishing that a white man can walk up to a black man and tell his Chinese friend to inform the Indian that race does not exist.

Black people (outside of the US where they have received propaganda/indoctrination which is opposite to the truth), Chinese people, Indian peopl

"Mordechai Kedar, a professor at Bar Illan University, last week issued a statement calling on IDF soldiers to rape Palestinian women as “The only thing that can deter terrorists" (Palestinian resistance against Israel’s decades-old illegal occupation)."

Where are the moderate Jews who repudiate this man's extremism? Why don't they come forward. Because there ARE NO "moderate Zionists".

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.606542

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/22/right-wing-professor-raping-arab-women-is-the-only-thing-that-deters-suicide-bombers/

http://forward.com/articles/202558/israeli-professor-suggests-rape-would-serve-as-ter/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/23/1315958/-Rape-is-a-WAR-CRIME-even-for-the-sisters-and-wives-of-suicide-bombers

Israel claims that it is merely exercising its right to self-defense and that Gaza is no longer occupied. Here’s what you need to know about these talking points and more.

Israel has killed almost 800 Palestinians in the past twenty-one days in the Gaza Strip alone; its onslaught continues. The UN estimates that more than 74 percent of those killed are civilians. That is to be expected in a population of 1.8 million where the number of Hamas members is approximately 15,000. Israel does not deny that it killed those Palestinians using modern aerial technology and precise weaponry courtesy of the world’s only superpower. In fact, it does not even deny that they are civilians.

Israel’s propaganda machine, however, insists that these Palestinians wanted to die (“culture of martyrdom”), staged their own death (“telegenically dead”) or were the tragic victims of Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes (“human shielding”). In all instances, the military power is blaming the victims for their own deaths, accusing them of devaluing life and attributing this disregard to cultural bankruptcy. In effect, Israel—along with uncritical mainstream media that unquestionably accept this discourse—dehumanizes Palestinians, deprives them even of their victimhood and legitimizes egregious human rights and legal violations.

This is not the first time. The gruesome images of decapitated children’s bodies and stolen innocence on Gaza’s shores are a dreadful repeat of Israel’s assault on Gaza in November 2012 and winter 2008–09. Not only are the military tactics the same but so too are the public relations efforts and the faulty legal arguments that underpin the attacks. Mainstream media news anchors are inexplicably accepting these arguments as fact.

Below I address five of Israel’s recurring talking points. I hope this proves useful to newsmakers.

1) Israel is exercising its right to self-defense.

As the occupying power of the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Territories more broadly, Israel has an obligation and a duty to protect the civilians under its occupation. It governs by military and law enforcement authority to maintain order, protect itself and protect the civilian population under its occupation. It cannot simultaneously occupy the territory, thus usurping the self-governing powers that would otherwise belong to Palestinians, and declare war upon them. These contradictory policies (occupying a land and then declaring war on it) make the Palestinian population doubly vulnerable.

The precarious and unstable conditions in the Gaza Strip from which Palestinians suffer are Israel’s responsibility. Israel argues that it can invoke the right to self-defense under international law as defined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. The International Court of Justice, however, rejected this faulty legal interpretation in its 2004 Advisory Opinion. The ICJ explained that an armed attack that would trigger Article 51 must be attributable to a sovereign state, but the armed attacks by Palestinians emerge from within Israel’s jurisdictional control. Israel

Lets see...first, you're ignoring the Israeli violence that precipitated the bus bombings. Secondly, uniformed Israeli soldiers used those buses for transportation. Using Israeli reasoning, that makes the buses valid military targets (since the IDF bombs anything they claim has anything to do with Hamas) and the Israeli government a bunch of soulless terrorists for using the bus passengers as "human shields".

Israeli violence? This was 1993-4, the peak of the Oslo peace process. There were no violent events in that time. If you are referring to events that had occurred before that, well, by that logic there is no way to ever achieve peace.
Soldiers use public transportation to get from their homes to their bases and back. It works that way everywhere in the world (I've seen it personally in the US). Comparing that to Hamas' strategy of storing rockets under schools and homes is unacceptable.

Lets see...that's a lie. Even Israeli official will tell you that Hamas had, unlike Israel, been observing a cease fire prior to IDF dropping bombs on Gaza. Not only that, Hamas was arresting those who were firing rockets.

When Israel disengaged from Gaza, it did so under a constant barrage of rocket fire which did not stop for any significant period ever since. Picking some specific period where one Palestinian faction fought with another over whether today is a good day to fire rockets or not is irrelevant. The naval blockade was imposed to stop the incoming flow of GRAD rockets to Gaza.

Sorry to inform you, but that's a pile of racist bullshit. Just because the people of Palestine didn't have a flag doesn't mean there hasn't been a place called Palestine or a Palestinian people.

Before the creation of Israel all its residents were referred to as Palestinians. There were Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs. There was never a Palestinian country or a Palestinian people per se and if there was one, well, my Jewish grandmother was Palestinian as well (and to this day holds a British mandate era passport saying "Palestine"). However your definition of Palestinian seems to exclude the Jews. Sounds a little apartheidish to me.

Other than the constant land confiscations for "parks" or "building code violations", to make way for taxpayer-funded apartments for squatters. Oh, and there's that little system of Apartheid, of course: no right to vote, no right to travel on "Jewish roads", no right to intermarry, and so on.

I have no idea what your first sentence referred to (parks? squatters..?).
Palestinians have the right to vote - for their own government.
"Jewish roads" - these were established as part of the Oslo accords in order to prevent Jews from traveling through Palestinian cities, in order to reduce the tension this caused (Arabs don't like seeing Jews and like to stone their cars). In any case these roads are open for all users and there is no checkpoint preventing anyone's entry.
Intermarriage - you're making this up, right? Or do you have a source?

So if the Romans, the Turks, the British or the Egyptians had wiped out the "continuing Jewish presence" in the area, you would have been okay with that because said Jews were under the thumb of another empire and had no flag of their own?

Of course not. I would fight and establish a state, which is exactly what my grandparents did. What have the Arabs achieved over the past century except for slaughtering innocent people, destroying anything they can, and squandering every opportunity for statehood?

So your solution is that the Israelis roll over and succumb to Hamas rocket fire and tunnel attacks instead?

No, the solution is to not repeat Bibi's Bullshit Propaganda that is debunked if you bother to check with Israeli officials or media. Not only had Hamas faithfully held to the cease fire since 2012 - despite constant IDF attacks - it was arresting those who had.

because Hamas was also attacking Egyptian soldiers in support of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's violent resistance to it's overthrow

So now Hamas are also bad people for resisting a violent coup to overthrow an elected government and the resulting, brutal junta? Gotcha.

Gazans have made enemies with both their neighbours with persistent violent action and that's led to their isolation

You left out the Short Skirt while explaining how they were Asking For It. Do you have any posts that aren't sagely repeating western propaganda as if it were fact?

Checkpoints. Well, once upon a time there were no checkpoints and people were free to move about. Then the Arabs started taking advantage of this freedom to enter Israeli cities with explosive belts and blow up buses. Hence the checkpoints.

Lets see...first, you're ignoring the Israeli violence that precipitated the bus bombings. Secondly, uniformed Israeli soldiers used those buses for transportation. Using Israeli reasoning, that makes the buses valid military targets (since the IDF bombs anything they claim has anything to do with Hamas) and the Israeli government a bunch of soulless terrorists for using the bus passengers as "human shields".

Sea/air ports. All was open and free until Hamas started firing rockets at Israel and importing weapons from Iran.

Lets see...that's a lie. Even Israeli official will tell you that Hamas had, unlike Israel, been observing a cease fire prior to IDF dropping bombs on Gaza. Not only that, Hamas was arresting those who were firing rockets.

Continued occupation of their land. Sorry to inform you, but there has never been such a thing as "Palestinian Land"

Sorry to inform you, but that's a pile of racist bullshit. Just because the people of Palestine didn't have a flag doesn't mean there hasn't been a place called Palestine or a Palestinian people.

The Arab cities in the West Bank are under their own civil control, no one is confiscating land from Nablus.

Other than the constant land confiscations for "parks" or "building code violations", to make way for taxpayer-funded apartments for squatters. Oh, and there's that little system of Apartheid, of course: no right to vote, no right to travel on "Jewish roads", no right to intermarry, and so on.

In recent centuries the land (which the Romans named Palestine as a propaganda tactic - perhaps the most successful in history) was under Turkish rule, British mandatory rule, Jordanian and Egyptian military occupation, and today Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

So if the Romans, the Turks, the British or the Egyptians had wiped out the "continuing Jewish presence" in the area, you would have been okay with that because said Jews were under the thumb of another empire and had no flag of their own? Do you guys think through these talking points at all before regurgitating them?

Hamas rules over 100% of Gaza, and Israel isn't occupying or confiscating any of that

Israel utterly dominates the borders of Gaza, travel to and from Gaza, and what goes into or out of Gaza. Remember when they murdered Americans and Turks for bringing the well known terrorist weapons of food, medicine and shoes to the people living in Gaza? Guess what, Slick, that makes it an occupation.

Perhaps you should ask your leaders why, when Israel repeatedly offered to withdraw from almost the entire West Bank in exchange for peace, they refused, launching more and more horrific terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.

Big Lies, again. All of Israel's territory grabs in the West Bank and Jerusalem are illegal and always have been. All of them. Despite that, Palestinians were willing to make massive concessions in return for their own state and and end to Apartheid. Israel kept moving the goalposts and taking all the water, though.

Perhaps you should also ask your leaders why, in 1967, w

The storyline put forth goes like so: this all started when Hamas kidnapped three teenagers and then killed them in June. Israel launched a search and rescue mission, and Hamas responded by firing rockets.

But it's all bullshit. The month before the teens were kidnapped, the IDF straight up murdered two Palestinian boys in the street. And the month before that Israel tried to provoke Hamas by murdering one of its members the same night that Hamas and Fatah announced a unity agreement. The day before the kidnapping, Israel murdered a member of Hamas they accused of planning rocket attacks. Despite Israel's repeated violations of it's own cease fire agreement with Hamas, the latter did not respond in kind. Finally, not only had Hamas not fired any rockets since the last time Israel violated a cease fire in 2012, it had helped arrest those who had.

But Bibi found the excuse he needed with the kidnappings of the three teenagers. Despite being pretty damned sure they were all dead - you can hear gunshots over one of the teens cell phones and the car was soon found full of blood and bullet casings - they spent weeks arresting Palestinians and bulldozing homes in Gaza for a kidnapping in the West Bank even after the Palestinian Authority was helping search for the missing teens. And even Israeli outlets admit that rockets were only fired in response to IDF attacks:

At least 16 rockets were fired at Israel Monday morning, most of them hitting open areas in the Eshkol region, the army said. The security sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, assessed that Hamas had probably launched the barrage in revenge for an Israeli airstrike several hours earlier which killed one person and injured three more.

Since then, a thousand Palestinians have died, many of them children, for which the population equivalent would be over 200,000 people getting killed in the U.S. If anyone is defending themselves, it's Hamas defending the people of Gaza from racist Israeli provocation and aggression.

You are full of shit. What the fuck has gotten into Slashdot? The numbers show the Israelis to be the aggressors. You'd think that, having lived through a genocide, they wouldn't attempt to do the same to another people.

2008 cease-fire. Look at the number of rocket and mortar *launches*. The cease-fire was honored by the Palestinians. Israel went over the border and killed 6 Hamas members, violating the cease-fire.

On 4 November 2008, the IDF made an incursion at least 250 meters into the Gaza Strip searching for a tunnel, claiming it was intended for the capture of Israeli soldiers and that it intended to continue with the truce, calling the raid a "pinpoint operation".[33] Hamas and, according to an allegation by Dr. Robert Pastor, one IDF source maintained that it was for defensive purposes.[34] As six Hamas fighters were killed,[4][35] Hamas stated that the attack was a "massive breach of the truce".[36]

This year, the Israeli president announces that they can never relinquish control of the West Bank. Meaning they will not accept a sovereign Palestinian state.

"I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan."

Just a week ago, the UN called out Israel for using Palestinian children as a human shield, torturing them, putting them in solitary confinement, and threatening sexual abuse. Their foreign minister said, "Israel must go all the way."

What the fuck are you people smoking? This is a genocide in motion. The US government wholeheartedly, 100%, with NO dissent supports it, when only 87% of the Israelis themselves support it. The House of Reps even called the attacks "unprovoked". I mean, seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?

For the record, I don't support either side shooting at each other, but it's not hard to see that this is some seriously fucked up shit on Israel's part. No person or group should engage in genocide and war crimes. Right now, Israel is doing 99% of the committing war crimes. That may have been different in the past, and it may change in the future, but it is NO EXCUSE.

Israel claims that it is merely exercising its right to self-defense and that Gaza is no longer occupied. Here’s what you need to know about these talking points and more.

Israel has killed almost 800 Palestinians in the past twenty-one days in the Gaza Strip alone; its onslaught continues. The UN estimates that more than 74 percent of those killed are civilians. That is to be expected in a population of 1.8 million where the number of Hamas members is approximately 15,000. Israel does not deny that it killed those Palestinians using modern aerial technology and precise weaponry courtesy of the world’s only superpower. In fact, it does not even deny that they are civilians.

Israel’s propaganda machine, however, insists that these Palestinians wanted to die (“culture of martyrdom”), staged their own death (“telegenically dead”) or were the tragic victims of Hamas’s use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes (“human shielding”). In all instances, the military power is blaming the victims for their own deaths, accusing them of devaluing life and attributing this disregard to cultural bankruptcy. In effect, Israel—along with uncritical mainstream media that unquestionably accept this discourse—dehumanizes Palestinians, deprives them even of their victimhood and legitimizes egregious human rights and legal violations.

This is not the first time. The gruesome images of decapitated children’s bodies and stolen innocence on Gaza’s shores are a dreadful repeat of Israel’s assault on Gaza in November 2012 and winter 2008–09. Not only are the military tactics the same but so too are the public relations efforts and the faulty legal arguments that underpin the attacks. Mainstream media news anchors are inexplicably accepting these arguments as fact.

Below I address five of Israel’s recurring talking points. I hope this proves useful to newsmakers.

1) Israel is exercising its right to self-defense.

As the occupying power of the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Territories more broadly, Israel has an obligation and a duty to protect the civilians under its occupation. It governs by military and law enforcement authority to maintain order, protect itself and protect the civilian population under its occupation. It cannot simultaneously occupy the territory, thus usurping the self-governing powers that would otherwise belong to Palestinians, and declare war upon them. These contradictory policies (occupying a land and then declaring war on it) make the Palestinian population doubly vulnerable.

The precarious and unstable conditions in the Gaza Strip from which Palestinians suffer are Israel’s responsibility. Israel argues that it can invoke the right to self-defense under international law as defined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. The International Court of Justice, however, rejected this faulty legal interpretation in its 2004 Advisory Opinion. The ICJ explained that an armed attack that would trigger Article 51 must be attributable to a sovereign state, but the armed attacks by Palestinians emerge from within Israel’s jurisdictional control. Israel does have the right to

Hamas instructions to lie about casualties and claim all militants are civilians
http://www.memri.org/report/en...

Hamas faking casualty reports and claims
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...
http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...
http://honestreporting.com/sha...

Debunking claims about civilian deaths
http://www.camera.org/index.as...

Hamas using human shields
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://honestreporting.com/for...
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014...

I guess since I used to raise money for Israeli medical research and investments in Israeli industry, that would qualify me as an anti-Semite.

But let's look at what the real anti-Semites are saying -- the Jews who actually live there:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...
Reaping what we have sown in Gaza
Those who turned Gaza into an internment camp for 1.8 million people should not be surprised when they tunnel underneath the earth.
By Amira Hass
Jul. 21, 2014

A book on Israeli military psychology should have an entire chapter devoted to this sadism, sanctimoniously disguising itself as mercy: A recorded message demanding hundreds of thousands of people leave their already targeted homes, for another place, equally dangerous, 10 kilometers away.

In contrast to the common Israeli hasbara, Hamas isn’t forcing Gazans to remain in their homes, or to leave. It’s their decision. Where would they go?

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion...
What does Hamas really want?
Read the list of conditions published in the name of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them.
By Gideon Levy
Jul. 20, 2014

we should stop for a moment and listen to Hamas; we may even be permitted to put ourselves in its shoes, perhaps even to appreciate the daring and resilience of this, our bitter enemy, under harsh conditions.
Read the list of demands and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them: withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops and allowing farmers to work their land up to the fence; release of all prisoners from the Gilad Shalit swap who have been rearrested; an end to the siege and opening of the crossings; opening of a port and airport under UN management; expansion of the fishing zone; international supervision of the Rafah crossing; an Israeli pledge to a 10-year cease-fire and closure of Gaza’s air space to Israeli aircraft; permits to Gaza residents to visit Jerusalem and pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque; and an Israeli pledge not to interfere in internal Palestinian politics such as the unity government; opening Gaza’s industrial zone.

These conditions are civilian; the means of achieving them are military, violent and criminal. But the (bitter) truth is that when Gaza is not firing rockets at Israel, nobody cares about it. Look at the fate of the Palestinian leader who had had enough of violence. Israel did everything it could to destroy Mahmoud Abbas. The depressing conclusion? Only force works.

True, after Hamas started firing rockets, Israel had to respond. But as opposed to what Israeli propaganda tries to sell, the rockets didn’t fall out of the sky from nowhere. Go back a few months: the breakdown of negotiations by Israel; the war on Hamas in the West Bank following the murder of the three yeshiva students, which it is doubtful Hamas planned, including the false arrest of 500 of its activists; stopping payment of salaries to Hamas workers in Gaza and Israeli opposition to the unity government, which might have brought the organization into the political sphere.

I guess since I used to raise money for Israeli medical research and investments in Israeli industry, that would qualify me as an anti-Semite.

But let's look at what the real anti-Semites are saying -- the Jews who actually live there:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/di...
Reaping what we have sown in Gaza
Those who turned Gaza into an internment camp for 1.8 million people should not be surprised when they tunnel underneath the earth.
By Amira Hass
Jul. 21, 2014

A book on Israeli military psychology should have an entire chapter devoted to this sadism, sanctimoniously disguising itself as mercy: A recorded message demanding hundreds of thousands of people leave their already targeted homes, for another place, equally dangerous, 10 kilometers away.

In contrast to the common Israeli hasbara, Hamas isn’t forcing Gazans to remain in their homes, or to leave. It’s their decision. Where would they go?

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion...
What does Hamas really want?
Read the list of conditions published in the name of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them.
By Gideon Levy
Jul. 20, 2014

we should stop for a moment and listen to Hamas; we may even be permitted to put ourselves in its shoes, perhaps even to appreciate the daring and resilience of this, our bitter enemy, under harsh conditions.
Read the list of demands and judge honestly whether there is one unjust demand among them: withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops and allowing farmers to work their land up to the fence; release of all prisoners from the Gilad Shalit swap who have been rearrested; an end to the siege and opening of the crossings; opening of a port and airport under UN management; expansion of the fishing zone; international supervision of the Rafah crossing; an Israeli pledge to a 10-year cease-fire and closure of Gaza’s air space to Israeli aircraft; permits to Gaza residents to visit Jerusalem and pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque; and an Israeli pledge not to interfere in internal Palestinian politics such as the unity government; opening Gaza’s industrial zone.

These conditions are civilian; the means of achieving them are military, violent and criminal. But the (bitter) truth is that when Gaza is not firing rockets at Israel, nobody cares about it. Look at the fate of the Palestinian leader who had had enough of violence. Israel did everything it could to destroy Mahmoud Abbas. The depressing conclusion? Only force works.

True, after Hamas started firing rockets, Israel had to respond. But as opposed to what Israeli propaganda tries to sell, the rockets didn’t fall out of the sky from nowhere. Go back a few months: the breakdown of negotiations by Israel; the war on Hamas in the West Bank following the murder of the three yeshiva students, which it is doubtful Hamas planned, including the false arrest of 500 of its activists; stopping payment of salaries to Hamas workers in Gaza and Israeli opposition to the unity government, which might have brought the organization into the political sphere.

Here's an English version of that article - seems to be a translation as it's similar to Google's translation (albeit much more understandable): http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.582575

Well, one other thing with Iraq and Afghanistan is that most AT weaponry in use there is the good old RPG-7, which is not really adequate against modern composite armor - you need to deploy it in volleys to ensure a hit, with several people firing at once from different angles (like Chechen jihadis did in Grozny in 1994).

OTOH, with something more modern like RPG-29, a single hit can seriously damage a modern tank, even a frontal hit at the turret. Luckily for allied forces, they don't encounter those often in the hands of insurgents in modern war theaters; but when they do, the results are impressive. And IDF had more trouble along these lines in Lebanon because they've got large numbers of RPG-29 from Syria.

And in any conventional large scale conflict, with two national armies on both sides, as WW2 had been, you can be sure that the AT weaponry on the other side will be more modern and more widespread, and it is entirely likely that a light patrol would still have one on them (it's why they are made so light as to be carried by a single person, after all).

its laughable for people to think anyone who challenges deep political and financial power structures are going to 1. somehow be rewarded or applauded for their efforts or 2. get some sort of "fair trial" ... where a positive outcome for the WB would encourage others to follow suit.

You might have missed these:

Former U.S. Officials Give NSA Whistleblower Snowden Award in Russia
In first meeting with Americans since finding asylum in Russia, NSA leaker Edward Snowden gets Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence.

Snowden Among Nominees for a European Human Rights Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, considered Europe’s top human rights award, has been bestowed on luminaries like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. This year, in a slap against Washington, the award could go to Edward J. Snowden, known as either the N.S.A. whistle-blower or a traitor, depending on one’s perspective.

No Contest: Edward Snowden is Person of the Year
In an effort to gin up a bit of publicity for its annual choice for “Person of the Year,” Time has released its list of ten finalists. They include Pope Francis, President Obama, Jeff Bezos, Miley Cyrus, Ted Cruz, and two Middle Eastern leaders: Bashar al-Assad, the embattled President of Syria, and Hassan Rouhani, the new President of Iran. Of these, Pope Francis is by far the strongest candidate, but even the radical new Pontiff can’t compete with another troublemaker on the list: Edward Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who is currently residing somewhere in Russia as the guest of Vladimir Putin, Time’s 2007 honoree.

You might find This wikipedia page and these three articles interesting

Every gov knows what Russia, the UK and US do with their "Consulate" floors

Oh come now A., the club is bigger than that! The majority of countries get in on the spy game at some level.
The Germans: The German Prism: Berlin Wants to Spy
Very involved in the current crisis: Assad did not order Syria chemical weapons attack, says German press
The Finns and Swedes can't be left out: Supo wants expanded net surveillance powers
Nor the French: France 'runs vast electronic spying operation using NSA-style methods'
The club is bigger still: Think US snooping is bad? Try Italy, India orCanada
Thousands of Russian spies in US: ex-CIA agent
Gordievsky: Russia has as many spies in Britain now as the USSR ever did
Chinese Spies Targeting U.K., MI5 Warns
But of course! Chinese use honeytraps to spy on French companies, intelligence report claims
Germany accuses China of industrial espionage
Germany targets Russian, Chinese spies
Spies in Sweden mostly from China, Russia, Iran
Number of Foreign Spies on the Rise in Finland
Austrian capital ‘filled with Iranian spies’
Foreign spies targeting Polish shale - Natural Gas Europe
Spain arrests three suspected of spying for Iran
Russia warns Ireland it will retaliate in spy row
FBI releases papers on Russian Irish spies in US - ‘Ghost Stories’

Sometimes the trails can get very complicated.

For some reason this video comes to mind: Its a Small World

On more than one occasion Israel has bombed Iran

When? There were a few mysterious explosions and assassinations but I don't recall anything other than that.. Syria on the other hand was bombed, as was Iraq.

What I have not seen in this time is Iran retaliate, start a war, or massacre their allegedly sworn enemies.

Then you've been looking the wrong way - Iran has for a long time waged war through its proxies, Hezbollah for example being the main Iranian weapon which it has used many times to bomb Israel and Israeli/Jewish civilians around the world on numerous occasions. There is nothing innocent about Iran, they have plenty of blood on their hands and the extreme islamist regime there is plenty evil without any help from the west.

As for this allegedly intercepted message.. I don't know how true it is but it certainly does not surprise me since for a start it follows their usual method of getting their proxies to do the dirty work and secondly, perhaps more importantly - Iran and Syria have a number of widely publicised mutual self-defence pacts for just such a situation so Iran is now obligated to join the fight with Syria if/when the US attacks.

> Jerzy Kalternerg

> Kaltenberg

> berg

Didn't even read. In other news...

-- Ethanol-fueled

Find it here on Haaretz's English website.

But what's worse is that some anti-semites might compare this to what Israeli is doing. Clearly such a comparison would be unwarranted.

Israel's justification for starting the 1967 war is the Eygptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.

So, Israel's justification for attack was an act of war by Egypt? Brilliant!!

Except that means that any and all attacks from Hamas or Hezbollah in response to Israel's total blockade of Gaza are completely justified, according to Israeli rules.

Wrong again. First, it isn't a total blockade. If it was, the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza would not have been able to build a new shopping center, would they? But weapons are being stopped, like the many Iranian rockets being smuggled into Gaza.

Biggest mall in Gaza Strip opens its doors

Second, Gaza is not a nation state, but a territory. It shouldn't be attacking anyone. Any attacks coming from there are either direct aggression by the Hamas government, or terrorism

Third, it doesn't have an army, navy, or air force.

Just as Israel's possession of a couple hundred nuclear weapons means that they should be threatened with economy-destroying sanctions and military strikes, if Iran is threatened with the same in case they someday decide they want a nuclear weapon.

Israel is not a member of the Non Proliferation Treaty, it has no obligations under the treaty, and its possession of nuclear weapons is unproven. Iran is a member, has obligations, and they seem to be in breach of treaty on top of being rebuked by the UN Secretary General for repeatedly threatening Israel's existence. Note that the issue between Israel and Iran is totally Iran's fault. Israel and Iran were allies when the Shah governed Iran. It was only after the Islamic revolution that the new Iranian government declared Israel an enemy to be destroyed. Israel did nothing to warrant that.

So, you continue to side with would-be genocidal aggressors and repeatedly condemn the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, often on specious grounds. For some reason this comes to mind:

Queers for Palestine

No single group better exemplifies the cognitive dissonance on display at these rallies than Queers for Palestine, also known as QUIT -- Queers Undermining Israeli Terror. What is left to say about the fundamental self-contradicting nature of such a group?

In Israel, gays live openly and happily in a free and liberal society. There is a thriving gay scene, just as there is in the United States and many other Western democracies.

But in Palestine -- as in most Islamic countries -- being gay is not only frowned upon, it is a crime often punishable by death. Tales of what life is like for gays in Palestinian society are horrifying in the extreme. In fact, gay youth in Palestine frequently flee to Israel if they can get a chance.
So why in the world would gay activists in the most gay-friendly city on Earth protest against one of the other centers of gay liberation (Israel) and for one of the planet's most violently oppressive homophobic societies?

This is the essence of cognitive dissonance -- the condition of holding two differing beliefs that are so incompatible and contradictory that the only way to internally reconcile them is to, well, go insane (to use the layman's term). Because, try as I might, I can't comprehend any other justification for being a member of QUIT other than insanity. ...more

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Which, for some reason, also entitled them to seize a great deal of sur