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Presumably there will also be a review to determine what went wrong and to prevent it happening again.

What is the point of pushing the narrative that is demonstrably false? Jesus:

The woman who made false rape allegations against a Texas DPS trooper will not face any additional charges.
Girl made false accusation of rape after her ex-boyfriend rejected her
Woman Who Lied to Police About 3 Black Men Raping and Kidnapping Her Faces Zero Years in Prison
Woman who made false rape complaint receives suspended sentence

Two very different groups care
"The Army Needs Anthropologists" July 28, 2015
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/...
Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons (28.02.05)
".. a low security clearance"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...

Different sections of the UK mil and gov want their own skills.
GCHQ wants languages and to shape education to ensure a good career.
GCHQ staff teach 'future spies' in schools (9 March 2011)
http://www.bbc.com/news/educat...
Long term the view is to get the tech sector back to the pre Snowden days of weak crypto and effortless gov/mil/private sector sharing.
GCHQ boss: Tech firms should co-operate over encryption (7 March 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-357...
That will have to start with more charm and winning over smart people.
The other issue is to find staff that won't be caught up in "MI5 staff repeatedly overrode data surveillance rules" (10 Aug 2016 9:00)
http://www.computerweekly.com/...
As for 'Valuable skills" been lost the thinking on that is more interesting. Imagination, smarts, skills and creativity can come with personalty traits that gov/mil have tested for and find difficult to shape.
Army frowns on Dungeons and Dragons (28.02.05)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...

The Israeli spy agencies have a huge reputation in the spy game for skill, guile and ruthlessness.

And war crimes.

A great body of which are fabrications and deceptions.

Goldstone: You Cannot Undo a Slander
Richard Goldstone, the formerly respected South African jurist who disgraced himself by lending his name to a sinister and libelous U.N. report condemning Israel for war crimes, has now issued a very public retraction. “If I had known then what I know now,” he wrote in the Washington Post, “the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.” New information has persuaded him, he said, “that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy” by Israel.

U.N. Report Rejects Claims of a Massacre of Refugees

The United Nations issued a cautious report today dismissing as unsubstantiated Palestinian claims that 500 people were killed when Israeli forces invaded a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin in April.

As Israel strikes back, fake Gaza images dominate social media

A BBC report has found that many of the photographs used to illustrate the situation in Gaza are from years ago, and even from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

CNN Uses Faked Palestinian 'Casualty' Video in Coverage

CNN isn’t the only Old Media outlet that falls for fake Palestinian videos. There is a famous video that caused a contentious court case in France back in 2008. It was a fake video supposedly showing a young Palestinian boy named Muhammad al-Dura being shot at by Israel’s Defense Forces. At first, the video caused international outrage, but in time it was proven to be just Palestinian street theater. No Muhammad al-Dura was ever shot.

Explosives Found in Palestinian Ambulance

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

Of course the Jews never instigate anything, do they?

I know these sorts of articles are wildly popular these days, showing HOW DUMB ALL OF YOU OTHER PEOPLE ARE. I understand, it's very reassuring to see yourself placed in the top position where you can shit on everyone else. Thousands of years of tyrannical human elites agree with you. But you don't need everyone to see it. It just takes a single person to spot that something is wrong, point it out, and the viral internet takes over from there. That's how Tom Brokaw's fraud was exposed, someone said, "Hmm, that looks just like MS-Word" and then made the animated .gif that changed the world. Thinking that everyone needs to be a Photoshop expert is just naive and misanthropic. Reuters was also caught red-handed altering photos to conform to their narrative. It just takes one person to utter the sacred phrase "Hmm, that's funny".

Umm, no.

reason #1

reason #2

reason #3

reason #4 (which obviously wasn't a translation error)

You know how I know you don't know any Iranians?

Know how I know that you cannot respond with facts but instead respond with angry little hysteria?

This is how... and then there's this... ...this... ...and of course this (you may need Google Translate for that last one.)

Mind you, the people quoted are, I suspect, quite Iranian.

But you know, maybe you just forgot to check "Post Anonymously"? ;)

Maybe it is.

On Tuesday evening, big screens were set up on the streets and squares of the Syrian town Raqqa, the stronghold of the self-styled Islamic State. As word spread of the show that was about to begin, thousands of men and young boys gathered around the screens and the projectors. ... [M]ale residents stood transfixed watching the entire 22-minute segment, many chanting "Allahu Ahkbar" and "Takbir" (another form of "God is greatest") as the caged Kassasbeh was consumed by flames. "I would have burnt the pilot with my own hands," said one boy who looked on in fascination as the clip was replayed over and over.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...

Typical, perfect time for a few JDAMs and not a bomber about.

Maybe it is.

On Tuesday evening, big screens were set up on the streets and squares of the Syrian town Raqqa, the stronghold of the self-styled Islamic State. As word spread of the show that was about to begin, thousands of men and young boys gathered around the screens and the projectors. ... [M]ale residents stood transfixed watching the entire 22-minute segment, many chanting "Allahu Ahkbar" and "Takbir" (another form of "God is greatest") as the caged Kassasbeh was consumed by flames. "I would have burnt the pilot with my own hands," said one boy who looked on in fascination as the clip was replayed over and over.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articl...

Oh you want precise data? Like large support across muslim countries, where terrorism is supported. 20% of muslims support the 7/7 bombings 1:4 muslims in the UK say the bombings were justified 31% of muslims in turkey support suicide bombings against westerners 32% of palestinians support the murder of jews, including children. 55% of muslims support hezbollah 26% of young muslims in america believe suicide attacks are justified 26% of egyptian muslims believe that suicide attacks are justified

You're now enlightened to this "tiny minority." Which is roughly 25% having extremist views, out of 1.6 billion that would be a "mere" 400,000,000 individuals. You know, I could keep going and posting, so again--there is something fundamentally broken with islam and muslims. And I haven't even gotten to the stuff on specific groups, which vary between 6% as a low to 51% support across muslims. Or the 50-75% that believing that killing apostates is a good idea. I guess none of that is large swaths.

According to Wikipedia ISIS has around 100,000 people fighting for it. The world's Muslim population is around 1.6 billion. Therefore ISIS contains 0.006% of the world's Muslims fighting for it.

Interestingly that's around the same percentage of the US population (0.006%) who were convicted of murder in 1994 (source), so is Islam really any more broken than, for example, 1994 America?

That's how many soldiers ISIS has, where did they get money for weapons, outside support. Where are they getting rations, outside support. Where are they getting vehicles, outside support. It was 20 years ago but I don't remember a Guns for Murders program, I do remember a Jail for Murders program that still continues today. Again it was a long time ago but I don't remember there being support for murders, even congress has better approval numbers then murders. When you look at Muslim support for terror groups and their activities it is much higher then 1994 US support for murders, 32% of Palestinians support Itamar attack which was a brutal murder of 5 family members including a 3 month old. 89% of Palestinians support attacks on Israel. 20% of British Muslims sympathized with the 7/7/7 bombers, 16% of French Muslims support ISIS, 51% of Pakistanis grieved for the death of Osama Bin Laden, only 16% though the killing of Bin Laden was justified, the majority of Muslims in the middle east have positive or mixed feelings of Bin Laden. This is not a small percentage that approves of this behavior it's 25-50% of all Muslims.
sources
http://www.ynetnews.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org
http://www.pewglobal.org
http://www.pewforum.org

Many ultra-orthodox rabbis who demand their followers not use uncensored smartphones or uncensored internet access. In 2012, a big anti-Internet rally for ultra-orthodox Jews was held in New York. "The siren song of the Internet entices us! It brings out the worst of us!" The event was streamed live and is summarized on YouTube.

There are ultra-orthodox ISPs with filtering. The filtering is very stringent, based on a rabbi-approved whitelist. "That's all you get, and nothing else."

There are kosher cell phones. "Kosher Phone has no camera, no Bluetooth capabilities, no memory card slot and cannot be connected to a computer."

That's in the US. In Israel, kosher cell phones are so locked down that only approved numbers can be called. Even rape crisis centers are blocked.

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...

The lawyers tell me that under the Geneva Conventions, collateral damage including the killing of innocent civilians is acceptable if it is necessary to achieve a military objective.

Why don't you explain the military necessity of blowing up a hospital when the IDF itself admits that the only military objective was 100 meters away.

Obviously that isn't really possible ..... when you omit critical information. Fortunately I can address that.

Terrorists fire rockets from Gaza hospital

The IDF said that after days of consideration it has begun to attack the Wafa Hospital compound. The military claimed the hospital has been a hotbed of terrorists activities, with gun and anti-tank missile fire originating from the cite. ....

The al Wafa hospital was evacuated last week after a number of phone call warnings from the IDF.

The hospital, which serves as a rehab facility had gained attention after a group of activists moved in to be alongside 17 patients could not be evacuated.

Nevertheless, they were moved last Thursday to a nearby hospital as Israel struck targets that rattled the facility.

So it appear that there was more than just rocket fire coming form the site, which addresses the question of military necessity. Also note that the Israelis actually called ahead to warn about the coming strikes. That humanitarian gesture could reasonably be expected to permit some of the Hamas fighters to escape.

Best way to evaluate that claim is to look at the facts.

I look forward to you gathering relevant ones. So far you seem to be providing pointers to Hamas war crimes. You can't use protected structures or civilians as shields.

Terrorists fire rockets from Gaza hospital

(From the article: "The photos claim to show rocket launchers inside the grounds of a mosque and a playground as well as a rocket launcher that appears to be adjacent to al-Wafa hospital.")

Israel says Hamas uses Wafa hospital compound to attack soldiers, fire anti-tank missiles; ground, air forces attack Gaza City where they claim 'an entire Hamas brigade is active'; 10 terrorists killed.

To repeat:

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/...
Israeli military destroyed el-Wafa hospital even though it knew there were no weapons inside
Allison Deger on July 19, 2014

“We’ve seen a lot of launches of rockets that came from exactly near the hospital, 100 meters near,” said a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), continuing, “Obviously the target was not the hospital.”

[The director of the hospital said] “My authority, my control is within my premises, it is my hospital. I cannot control what people do 100 meters from me.”

IDF campaign shows rockets in schools and hospitals

On Monday afternoon the IDF publishes visuals displaying rocket launchers placed at a number of civilian sites, like playgrounds, schools, and hospital .... Last week, prior to the ground incursion, Israel was criticized for an aerial bombardment of a rocket launcher in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood. The IDF said then that the launcher was in an empty structure adjacent to el-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital. Hours before the strike the hospital received an automated phone message from the IDF saying its staff had to evacuate all patients as they could get hurt in the strike ...."The strike was on an unpopulated structure that used to serve as the hospital's geriatric ward," he said.

The lawyers tell me that under the Geneva Conventions, collateral damage including the killing of innocent civilians is acceptable if it is necessary to achieve a military objective.

Why don't you explain the military necessity of blowing up a hospital when the IDF itself admits that the only military objective was 100 meters away.

Best way to evaluate that claim is to look at the facts.

I look forward to you gathering relevant ones. So far you seem to be providing pointers to Hamas war crimes. You can't use protected structures or civilians as shields.

Terrorists fire rockets from Gaza hospital

(From the article: "The photos claim to show rocket launchers inside the grounds of a mosque and a playground as well as a rocket launcher that appears to be adjacent to al-Wafa hospital.")

Israel says Hamas uses Wafa hospital compound to attack soldiers, fire anti-tank missiles; ground, air forces attack Gaza City where they claim 'an entire Hamas brigade is active'; 10 terrorists killed.

To repeat:

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/...
Israeli military destroyed el-Wafa hospital even though it knew there were no weapons inside
Allison Deger on July 19, 2014

“We’ve seen a lot of launches of rockets that came from exactly near the hospital, 100 meters near,” said a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), continuing, “Obviously the target was not the hospital.”

[The director of the hospital said] “My authority, my control is within my premises, it is my hospital. I cannot control what people do 100 meters from me.”

IDF campaign shows rockets in schools and hospitals

On Monday afternoon the IDF publishes visuals displaying rocket launchers placed at a number of civilian sites, like playgrounds, schools, and hospital .... Last week, prior to the ground incursion, Israel was criticized for an aerial bombardment of a rocket launcher in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood. The IDF said then that the launcher was in an empty structure adjacent to el-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital. Hours before the strike the hospital received an automated phone message from the IDF saying its staff had to evacuate all patients as they could get hurt in the strike ...."The strike was on an unpopulated structure that used to serve as the hospital's geriatric ward," he said.

The lawyers tell me that under the Geneva Conventions, collateral damage including the killing of innocent civilians is acceptable if it is necessary to achieve a military objective.

Why don't you explain the military necessity of blowing up a hospital when the IDF itself admits that the only military objective was 100 meters away.

Best way to evaluate that claim is to look at the facts.

I look forward to you gathering relevant ones. So far you seem to be providing pointers to Hamas war crimes. You can't use protected structures or civilians as shields.

Terrorists fire rockets from Gaza hospital

Israel says Hamas uses Wafa hospital compound to attack soldiers, fire anti-tank missiles; ground, air forces attack Gaza City where they claim 'an entire Hamas brigade is active'; 10 terrorists killed.

IDF campaign shows rockets in schools and hospitals

On Monday afternoon the IDF publishes visuals displaying rocket launchers placed at a number of civilian sites, like playgrounds, schools, and hospital .... Last week, prior to the ground incursion, Israel was criticized for an aerial bombardment of a rocket launcher in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood. The IDF said then that the launcher was in an empty structure adjacent to el-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital. Hours before the strike the hospital received an automated phone message from the IDF saying its staff had to evacuate all patients as they could get hurt in the strike ...."The strike was on an unpopulated structure that used to serve as the hospital's geriatric ward," he said.

Best way to evaluate that claim is to look at the facts.

I look forward to you gathering relevant ones. So far you seem to be providing pointers to Hamas war crimes. You can't use protected structures or civilians as shields.

Terrorists fire rockets from Gaza hospital

Israel says Hamas uses Wafa hospital compound to attack soldiers, fire anti-tank missiles; ground, air forces attack Gaza City where they claim 'an entire Hamas brigade is active'; 10 terrorists killed.

IDF campaign shows rockets in schools and hospitals

On Monday afternoon the IDF publishes visuals displaying rocket launchers placed at a number of civilian sites, like playgrounds, schools, and hospital .... Last week, prior to the ground incursion, Israel was criticized for an aerial bombardment of a rocket launcher in Gaza City's Saja'iyya neighborhood. The IDF said then that the launcher was in an empty structure adjacent to el-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital. Hours before the strike the hospital received an automated phone message from the IDF saying its staff had to evacuate all patients as they could get hurt in the strike ...."The strike was on an unpopulated structure that used to serve as the hospital's geriatric ward," he said.

The reason why Hamas rockets "didn't hit a single person" is because of a combination of interceptor systems, early launch detection, and well-developed civil defense in Israel.

Those helped, but nowhere near close to them being primitive gunpowder rockets based on the finest 14th Century hardware available. Even the IDF dismissed Qassams as any kind of military threat before Iron Dome was rolled out:

"Clearly everyone wants to be surrounded by concrete block, but we need to remember that Qassams are more a psychological than physical threat. Statistically they cause the fewest losses, and therefore we must develop prevention systems but not invest all the money in this aspect."

You seem to be arguing that if a guy attacks me with a knife on the street, I can't use any force to defend myself until he actually manages to land a stab on me. If that's your notion of "proportional response", it's bullshit.

There's the willful obtuseness again, as flatly ignoring the fact that the person with the knife here would be the IDF rampaging through Gaza in response to kidnappings in the West Bank. And if anyone is defending themselves, it's Hamas defending the Palestinians from the latest round of slaughter from the IDF.

Seriously, how do you manage to compare with the straight face of the killing of a single person (first qassam death since 2012) with 500+ deaths with a straight face?

The news agency was probably jumping to a conclusion, not the judge. Like reporting over here, the press agency put their own spin on it.

Zuckerberg personally claims to be an atheist, which presumably is not really compatible with being a Zionist. In addition, it seems that he's not too popular in Israel or with US Jews either....

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4425238,00.html

Running a weapons warehouse and shipping Libyan weapons to 'freedom fighters' is Syria is a bit more than a "mess"....
Who is getting the flow of arms in Syria? The best friends the USA ever had: Al-CIA-da.
The black flags, battlefield bbq, one faith only types.
"CIA moved missiles out of Libya to Syria's rebels"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4413289,00.html
"CIA 'clamping down on Benghazi operatives'"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10219347/CIA-clamping-down-on-Benghazi-operatives.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2383654/Congressman-cries-cover-claims-Obama-administration-hiding-Benghazi-witnesses-relocating-giving-new-identities.html
http://world.time.com/2013/05/14/we-will-slaughter-all-of-them-an-interview-with-the-man-behind-the-syrian-atrocity-video/

Plenty of it... Just a couple weeks ago they made a major advance in plastic surgery by removing a mole from a monkey IN ORBIT.

Plenty of it... Just a couple weeks ago they performed a major breakthrough in plastic surgery by removing a mole from a monkey while IN ORBIT.

Nonsense

Your nonsense. All of your examples are from before the end of WWII, before the fourth Geneva conventions, and some territory disputes from long gone empires (Prussia and Ottomans). Not one apples-to-apples modern comparison of Israel's 1967 land grab, following a war it started with a sneak attack on Egypt.

The USA would have to give back a large chunk of territory to Mexico.

And if this were the year 1912 (64 years past the concession), you'd have a great point. But we're a hundred years past that point, so you don't. Whereas there are still Palestinians who have keys to the houses they were forced out of in 1948 (64 years ago), much less 1967 (45 years).

Acquisition of territory by force has happened all through history, is continuing to happen, and will continue to happen for the forseeable future. The supposed illegitimacy of this practice is used as a tool to demonize Israel, but it's completely ignored when anyone else does it.

Demonize Israel? Bitch please. Everyone knows that America was built on apartheid and land theft of the native population. Some of us even know that this happened over a hundred years ago - as opposed to Israel's apartheid and land theft, which is happening right now.

What's the alternative? If Israel evacuated the West Bank today, it would have rockets landing in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem tomorrow.

Drivel. The two recent rocket barrages - first in 2008 and the second in 2012 - followed a cease fire violated by Israel and the Israeli assassination of the Hamas official who was....busy trying to negotiate a cease fire.

The best Israel can do is keep a lid on the violence and make sure it only proceeds at a low-level.

Snort. You say that like you're from some alternate universe where Israel isn't and always has been the primary, secondary, and tertiary aggressor:

For example, in 2011, the projectiles fired by the Israeli military into Gaza have been responsible for the death of 108 Palestinians, of which 15 where women or children, and the injury of 468 Palestinians, of which 143 where women or children. The methods by which these causalities were inflicted by Israeli projectiles breaks down as follows: 57 percent, or 310, were caused by Israeli aircraft missile fire; 28 percent, or 150, where from Israeli live ammunition; 11 percent, or 59, were from Israeli tank shells; while another 3 percent, or 18, were from Israeli mortar fire.

Through September 2012, Israeli weaponry caused 55 Palestinian deaths and 257 injuries. Among these 312 casualties, 61, or roughly 20 percent, were children and 28 were female. 209 of these casualties came as a result of Israeli Air Force missiles, 69 from live ammunition fire, and 18 from tank shells. It is important to note that these figures do not represent a totality of Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza but rather only Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza which cause casualties. The total number of Israeli projectiles fired into Gaza is bound to be significantly larger.

Meanwhile,, you have a greater chance of being killed by a bus in Israel than by a qassam rocket. No, not just car accidents, but car accidents involving buses. Even the IDF admits that "Qassams are more a psychological than physical threat".

Eventually, it may find a real peace partner in the Palestinians.

Israel has no interest in peace, it has an interest in solidifying it's control over it's acquired territory and waiting out the clock. If they delay and deny p

19,187 separate attacks? Can we get a citation for this? Or some methodology?

4.75 attacks per day in the world is a lot? Hardly.

You'll need to follow up on this yourself, but just to get you started.. . . .

If memory serves me, there are at least 20 countries experiencing either an Islamist insurgency and/or terrorism include: India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Somalia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Yemen, and others.

577 glorious pages of incidents at Iraq Body Count (The observant among you will notice that attacks against Iraqis haven't stopped despite the US pullout, so no, the war didn't end.

Taliban Attacks 100 Times per Day

Afghanistan: Update. Daily reporting from Afghanistan indicates the Taliban have sustained at least 100 attacks and security incidents per day since the start of the spring offensive. That is a high number for a group supposedly on the ropes.

From 2010 - Afghanistan: 57 Insurgent Attacks a Day (the insufferable)

Negotiations are certain to be part of the mix in any attempt to resolve the crisis. The military situation is getting worse. There were 400 attacks in the past week in Afghanistan, 60 percent of them by roadside bomb There were over 1,000 roadside bomb attacks in April 2010, twice as many as in April 2009.

This number of attacks per day, some 57, about 34 of them roadside bombs, is breathtaking. That level of violence is what characterized Iraq in March, 2005, before the Sunni-Shiite civil war. The year 2005 was a bloody year in Iraq, and nobody but then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld doubted we were mired in a vicious guerrilla war.

That is only two countries out of the many marked by Islamist violence. What about Thailand?

Terrorism in South Thailand

Looking at the Thai news, one can notice that almost every day people are being killed or injured due to terrorist attacks in South Thailand. Federal Foreign Offices around the world warn tourists to visit these areas because of mortal danger

That doesn't include Iran's attempts to kill Israeli diplomats in Thailand, as they have in various other nations in the last several months.

Pity the Yezhidi.
The Vanishing Yezidi of Iraq

The worst incident occurred on August 14, 2007, when four coordinated truck bombs exploded in two Yezidi villages, killing at least 500 people and wounding more than 1,500. It was the second deadliest terrorist attack in world history after 9/11.

Of course there are plenty more mass casualty attacks. I'll leave that as an exercise for you. You could check out the Bali bombing, the 7/7 bombing, the Madrid bombing, plenty of markets being bombed in Iraq.

The US has been fortunate in that it has been able to foil many attempts by would-be Jihadis, but sadly not all, including the "workplace violence" of Major Hasan at Fort Hood (13 dead, 31 wounded). (May Justice be done upon him.)

Just a few recent reports from the US:
FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending January 27, 2012

Denver: Man Arrested for Providing Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization

Thai official: Iran terrorists targeted Israeli diplomats

Iran’s End Times Documentary

Well..if the US government (stuxnet for example) can do it (with no declaration of war), then it mustn't be illegal right? /ironyoff

If Iran can do it without a declaration of war, then it mustn't be illegal, right? (After all, what is a string of assassinations and a little planning for genocide among friends? No doubt the Iranians are envious because they didn't think of it first.)

At least they have a clear vision for the future, one that seems remarkably free of Jews in the Middle East.

The "framing" of photographs is a long standing practice and almost seems to par for the course these days. When you have as many photojournalists as participants in events ... and you see it standard practice ....

http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/145812.html

Take a look there, while it captures a dramatic moment in a frame that is designed to cause "outrage" at the treatment of Palestinians at the hand of the "evil" Jews ... it doesn't tell the whole story. In the following link is a video of the entire scene and one thing you'll notice, is that these were not "innocent kids playing in the street" being run over, but part of a Photo Op setup to capture just exactly what they ended up capturing. Count the number of people tossing rocks, and the number of photographers (aka Photo Journalists) there to capture the entire event.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3966413,00.html

It is only by examining the entire scene, up close, and from a distance can one ever get the "whole picture". Mind you, I'm not talking about the plight of the Palestinians vs Israelis nor am I taking sides here, but using this as an example of how by capturing the "truth" might mislead people because it isn't "the whole truth"

Photo Journalists are not journalists. They are Photographers with an agenda (maybe even legitimate agenda) As they say, a photograph is worth a thousand words, the problem is those thousand words are left up to the Photographer and the interpretation of the viewer, and may not reflect the truth.

Nah. I get my news all over. Pretty much everything is better than the BBC, though. Well, they have some good shows, but their news is biased, evil shit masquerading as truth. Seems you're too dense to see it.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/islamic-movement-head-charged-with-incitement-to-racism-violence-1.238209
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/sheikh-raed-salah-arrest-london
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3733099,00.html
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/europe/3629-leader-of-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-congratulates-sheikh-raed-salah

Any attacks aiming purely for civilian targets are terrorists in my book.

Civilians living on land that was stolen from you. Civilians who, thanks to Israel's laws on compulsory military service, are either 1) active duty soldiers defending the occupation 2) future active duty soldiers defending the occupation 3) reservists who can be called back into service to defend the occupation.

And even, then, there is no comparison in the levels of civilian-killing even if you want to call it terrorism. Israelis stand a higher chance of being murdered by another Israeli than dying in a "terrorist attack". You have a higher chance of being killed by a bus colliding with your car in an accident (not car accidents overall, but accidents involving buses) than in being killed by a Quassam rocket.

Whether the Judean desert is stolen and occupied is IMHO a big grey area which I don't want to discuss

Any particular reason why? The U.N. partition plan that the Palestinians (rightfully) rejected would have given the majority of the land to a minority of the population. The vast majority of whom were not people to the area, but immigrants. Furthermore, blockades are an act of war according to Israel. Meaning that according to Israeli logic, attacks on Israel in response to the far more draconian blockade of Gaza are perfectly justified.

As for your accusation of the IDF terrorism, I'll have to go for a [Citation needed].

Sure thing. This isn't the most ironclad example as both the attacks (did shelling hit the building directly or indirectly?) and the death tolls are heavily disputed. So I'll talk more about things that are not in dispute:

What could the IDF even gain from just massacring a school with no military target as you suggest?

What would the IDF have to gain from full scale bombardment and invasion when even the IDF admits that Hamas had stopped firing rockets and that Quassam rockets are more of a psycological than military threat?

And furthermore, if terrorism is the bane of Israel's existence, then why has the current prime minister celebrated the 60th anniversary of an Irgun (Zionist terrorist group) attack on a hotel used by the British as a headquarters before Israel's "independence"? How about the nuclear scientists assassinated in Iran, undoubtedly carried out or funded by Mossad?

You mean, like the dozens of Israeli Jewish people who convert to Islam every year? http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3274735,00.html

Christians believe first in the New Testament.

A lot of Christians also believe in the Old Testament.

the basis of our law system is ~90% Judaic law

No... The basis of U.S. law is English common law, which followed rulings made by the King's judges based English tradition and legal precedent. There was influence from some other legal systems, including the Roman one where Christianity was the state religion (as it was in England), but no direct link to Judaic law. Some laws developed that were heavily influenced by religious views - the death sentence for blasphemy and homosexuality being two obvious ones (see Thomas Aikenhead, John William Gott). Both of those were argued from Christian religious perspectives, primarily based on passages in the Bible.

Judaic law is far better than islamic law in that it's not racist

613 mitzvot: Wipe out the descendants of Amalek (every man, woman and child). Genocide of another ethnic group is inherently racist.

There are plenty of others, for example, there are explicit passages that mandate setting a Hebrew slave free after 7 years, whilst Canaanite slaves must work forever.

And more recent racist religous law:

Say no to rabbis’ racism: Back in 2010, some 50 of Israel’s most prominent rabbis issued a religious edict against Jews renting property to gentiles, "Leasing land to non-Jews blasphemous, anyone violating ban may be ostracized, rabbis say" Thirty-nine of those rabbis are on the government’s payroll, although their opinions vary drastically from the State of Israel’s official laws and ethos. After this incident, no rabbi was fired or brought to court for incitement.

Killing Non-Jewish Infants is Permitted: "There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.”In a chapter entitled “Deliberate harm to innocents,” the book explains that war is directled mainly against the pursuers, but those who belong to the enemy nation are also considered the enemy because they are assisting murderers."

King's Torah splits Israel's religious and secular Jews: "Rabbis Dov Lior and Yacob Yousef had endorsed a highly controversial book, the King's Torah - written by two lesser-known settler rabbis. It attempts to justify killing non-Jews, including those not involved in violence, under certain circumstances."

does not have slavery

It does, it is even explicitly permitted for a father to sell his pre-pubescent daughters into slavery as a "last resort" to get money. Judaism and slavery: "Judaism's religious texts contain numerous laws governing the ownership and treatment of slaves."

I of course, sadly, know the justification given in islamic text. Because he won military battles and his tactics will supposedly give his followers military domination over everyone else.

As opposed to the religious law that you apparently support, where the complete genocide of every living thing in a city is ok when "ordered by God"? Where followers are instructed to Wipe out the descendants of another tribe, To burn a city that has turned to idol worship, To destroy idols and their accessories (y

They blow themselves up in defence of their religon.

Even if it weren't idiotically false, it would just prove that they (some of them, not all) are completely freaking insane.
Now let's look at some of the more infamous examples of their "defence of their religon":

Sbarros bombing- was it the children or the pizza that were threatening?

Three Year Old Stabbed in the Heart, Baby's Throat Slashed- again, it must have been the children. Maybe they were threatened by the pacifier?

4 Israelis killed in shooting attack- I guess if there's no children around, might as well shoot a pregnant woman? Point blank? Sounded good to them.

One common thread among these and the many other terrorist attacks is that no matter how many children, women, or non-combatant men are killed, the Palestinians are completely unrepentant, often even celebrating the murderers.

Blowing up a symbol of the same religion is against that line of thought.
  Now if you consider the age old: "If I can't have it nobody will have it" this does not mean they'll not attack.

No, but the fact that they (Iran) have been funding terror groups which are currently attacking Israel sort of implies that, well, they're probably fairly willing to attack Israel. Need me to chart that out for you?

Implying that's happened before? Israel warned AGAINST the Iraq war. It was bush, NOT Israel, that cried wolf. Please stop repeating that tired old big lie first conjured up by Arafat.

I can't argue about the security theater, obviously.

  On the subject of El Al, here's a bit more reading.

    2002 El Al LAX shooting is terrorism

    2002 Security guards on Israel's national airline El Al overpowered a man who tried to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul

    2006 El Al bombing foiled by German authorities

    2010 - Former head of El Al security says "... we have learned nothing from our past security breaches, including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ... "We changed from FAA to TSA and guys with new uniforms. The only group being punished is the American traveler who must now endure longer lines."

    Shit. Even El Al says the TSA is dumb.

    But at least several contractors have made an awful lot of money in the process. Oh wait.. Our taxes are paying for that multi-billion dollar mistake. That was an estimated $6.9 billion estimate in 2010, and the number keeps climbing. But hey, it's the US budget. We can always burn up as much as we want, and raise the debt limit. I asked my bank, they said they wouldn't raise *my* debt limit, so I'm a bit confused how this whole thing works. Maybe I shouldn't have said I needed to raise it by $1.2 trillion.

I'll do two better - not just hamas - many "unaffiliated" gazans, and not a blind rocket - children were specifically targeted and killed at close range - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041106,00.html

Jew burning the Christian bible, the New Testament. Big News... Big Deal... ;)

"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak oversees burning of a New Testament"

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html

It gets worse. The same dork is now burning tv sets...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html

"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak held a protest against television and its products on Tuesday evening, during which 1,000 (relatively old-fashioned) TV sets were thrown into large garbage bins. The modern "Tashlich" ceremony was held outside the Israel Broadcasting Authority's building in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yitzhak is famous for his activities which are centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant. Leader of Dushinsky Hasidic dynasty threatens to expel members caught with 'non-kosher' cellular phones, computer with Internet connection"

Published? December 9, 2011... So much for progress into the 21st century.

What I am getting that these Amish-like sheep brains are all over. The Amish, the Hasidic and now some Moslems. I am sure that there has been symbolic burning amongst "peace-loving" Buddhist too...

Why can't people get over their religion. Sigh...

Jew burning the Christian bible, the New Testament. Big News... Big Deal... ;)

"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak oversees burning of a New Testament"

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html

It gets worse. The same dork is now burning tv sets...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html

"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak held a protest against television and its products on Tuesday evening, during which 1,000 (relatively old-fashioned) TV sets were thrown into large garbage bins. The modern "Tashlich" ceremony was held outside the Israel Broadcasting Authority's building in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yitzhak is famous for his activities which are centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant. Leader of Dushinsky Hasidic dynasty threatens to expel members caught with 'non-kosher' cellular phones, computer with Internet connection"

Published? December 9, 2011... So much for progress into the 21st century.

What I am getting that these Amish-like sheep brains are all over. The Amish, the Hasidic and now some Moslems. I am sure that there has been symbolic burning amongst "peace-loving" Buddhist too...

Why can't people get over their religion. Sigh...

So we can't condemn religiously driven, government backed discrimination because some individual US citizens are bigots? I certainly disagree there.

Disagree? So does Hillary Clinton.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced deep concern on Saturday over a wave of anti-democratic legislation in Israel and in particular a bill proposing to limit donations to human rights organizations. Clinton also criticized the growing exclusion of women from Israel's public life.

In a closed session at the Saban Forum attended both by Israeli and American decision-makers Clinton addressed the issue of discrimination against Israeli women. She expressed concern for Israel's social climate in the wake of limitations on female public singing and gender segregation on public transport....

Clinton, a longtime advocate for women's rights, noted she was shocked at the fact that some Jerusalem buses have assigned separate seating areas for women. "It's reminiscent of Rosa Parks," she said, referring to the black American woman who refused to give up her seat to white passengers in the 1950s.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4156562,00.html

Of course at the same time, we need to have "Come home to Moses" talk with Israel about changing their stance to one of causing peace in the Middle East instead of undermining it.

Seriously? You blame Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East? The amount of provocation from the Palestinians that you are ignoring is staggering.

There are so many brilliant Israeli people, who want an end to hostility, and are more than willing to work out coexistence. The ongoing growth of illegal settlements only destroy options and nail the future to rails that lead to inevitable violence and ultimately the genocide of Palestine. Certainly there must be a better answer.

How about if the Palestinians stop firing rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians almost every day? That might help peace. How about if the Palestinians stop murdering children in their own homes and then celebrating the murderers? That might help peace.
The Palestinians were shown the route to peace, the route that would have stopped the settlements, the route to their own state. They have so far chosen not to take it.

Of course at the same time, we need to have "Come home to Moses" talk with Israel about changing their stance to one of causing peace in the Middle East instead of undermining it.

Seriously? You blame Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East? The amount of provocation from the Palestinians that you are ignoring is staggering.

There are so many brilliant Israeli people, who want an end to hostility, and are more than willing to work out coexistence. The ongoing growth of illegal settlements only destroy options and nail the future to rails that lead to inevitable violence and ultimately the genocide of Palestine. Certainly there must be a better answer.

How about if the Palestinians stop firing rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians almost every day? That might help peace. How about if the Palestinians stop murdering children in their own homes and then celebrating the murderers? That might help peace.
The Palestinians were shown the route to peace, the route that would have stopped the settlements, the route to their own state. They have so far chosen not to take it.

Well, actually there has already been unusual quake in Israel this year. Perhaps Mother Earth is shaking people off?

It isn't at all surprising that UNESCO was the first part of the UN to recognize the Palestinian state. UNESCO has long been the most anti-Israel of any part of the UN I don't like the terms "pro-Palestinian" and "pro-Israel" as counterparts, one can be in favor of both. Focusing on that sort of approach creates way too much of a dichotomy. But, UNESCO is just anti-Israel. This is an organization which kicked Israel out temporarily once before, and at one point tried in an amazing example of historical revisionism apparently tried to claim that Maimonides was a Muslim. (See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4097506,00.html). Maimonides was for those who are not aware a premier Jewish philosopher and doctor in the Middle Ages who wrote the 13 principles of faith that Orthodox Jews generally as their founding beliefs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides. UNESCO has also accused Israel of damaging archaeological sites even as the archaeological community has praised Israel for its preservation work. The bottom line is that UNESCO has a long history of not doing its actual job of promoting peace in the region and cultural/scientific cooperation but instead pushing an anti-Israel agenda. The Maimonides example is probably one of the worse, but it is the sort of nonsense that some people are talking about when they say that some forms of anti-Israel behavior really are just motivated by anti-Semitism.

Because everything every historical person ever wrote was obviously meant to openly represent their own beliefs regardless of the environment it was published in.

How about some facts?

The Islamic medieval scholars took very keen notice of Maimonides (and would ofc refer to him by his arabic name).

Then there is Leo Strauss who insisted that "Maimonides in his beliefs was absolutely no Jew".

The outrage in the article you linked is basically the equivalent of Arabs being angry because you call Ibn Sina Avicenna because that makes him sound Christian.

It isn't at all surprising that UNESCO was the first part of the UN to recognize the Palestinian state. UNESCO has long been the most anti-Israel of any part of the UN I don't like the terms "pro-Palestinian" and "pro-Israel" as counterparts, one can be in favor of both. Focusing on that sort of approach creates way too much of a dichotomy. But, UNESCO is just anti-Israel. This is an organization which kicked Israel out temporarily once before, and at one point tried in an amazing example of historical revisionism apparently tried to claim that Maimonides was a Muslim. (See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4097506,00.html). Maimonides was for those who are not aware a premier Jewish philosopher and doctor in the Middle Ages who wrote the 13 principles of faith that Orthodox Jews generally as their founding beliefs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides. UNESCO has also accused Israel of damaging archaeological sites even as the archaeological community has praised Israel for its preservation work. The bottom line is that UNESCO has a long history of not doing its actual job of promoting peace in the region and cultural/scientific cooperation but instead pushing an anti-Israel agenda. The Maimonides example is probably one of the worse, but it is the sort of nonsense that some people are talking about when they say that some forms of anti-Israel behavior really are just motivated by anti-Semitism.

All of that said, defunding UNESCO is a bad idea. They do some good work in the Middle East. And they do very good work on the rest of the globe. Moreover, recognizing a Palestinian state isn't that big a deal. This isn't like UNESCO's attempt 35 years ago to just kick Israel out.

The people most likely to be harmed by this are the Palestinians. Which is sad. The UN could for example have used this as an opportunity to push for better protections for minorities in the Palestinian territories, especially gays and Christians. UNESCO itself could have used this as an opportunity to get better protection of non-Islamic historical sites by the Palestinian governments. The people who are really hurt by this sort of thing are the Palestinian refugees in areas like Jordan who aren't being given citizenship in this new state, which means even if all of this goes through they will still be stateless people without a government to genuinely represent them.

Two sources for the quote are ynet and Haaretz. The NYT passed it along too. The BBC reported on documents obtained by Gisha from the Israeli government detailing the blockade and containing estimates of the calories required by Gazans to stay alive.

It took five minutes to Google this up. Open your eyes and see that what has been happening for decades now is real and not just some "narrative." Of course, I'm sure you can cook up some explanation of why it's a military necessity to prevent food from entering Gaza.

Reminds me of N. Korea ranking themselves as #2 in the world for happiness.

As I said in some other posts, two are known dead. Five reactors at two plants may be losing containment. You can see the explosion at 1:22 in this video. That's the outer containment being blown off a nuclear reactor, so if the inner steel containment is breached, the worst will happen. And it looks like that's going to happen, though it's not reported to have happened yet.

There's a time for blame assessment, for dispassionate analysis of the costs and benefits, for discussion of how modern technologies are better than the technologies afforded these plants from the dark ages of fission. Today is not that time. Today is for expressing regret for the loss of life, the pain and suffering of those affected, to rally what support we may. Today would be a good day to express hope that all five reactors don't go up.

Also, some backup planning would be good. Prevailing winds and ocean currents take the output from this particular location in Japan past Hawaii and then curve back for another tour of Southeast Asia. On a bad day for the US though, the winds and currents tend a bit further north, and deposit their gifts on the West coast of the US, falling as rain in the Sierra Nevada range and the Rockies. If you're downwind of this thing now would be a good time to review your knowledge of the physical effects of radiation exposure. On a bad day I'm downwind from this thing and that matters to me personally, no matter what my opinion of nuclear energy is. Generally I'm for it, but today would be a bad day to hit me up for support for it because this event could, in the worst case, decrease the lifespan of my children.

Now, do you really want to argue about this here and now, or maybe wait a bit and see if the worst case didn't happen?

Two are known dead.

Nuclear power may be completely safe if done correctly. Near the shore of an island formed by volcanic activity may not be the correct place. That may be a better place for geothermal power. But I haven't got the heart for the argument today. Today my heart goes out to the families of the lost, to those suffering now, and to those who may be soon.