Bloodthirsty.

[Gourmander]

I see that Israel has broken the ceasefire in Gaza, wouldn't trust them with a bent shekel.

[anotheoldgit]

I think ou have it wrong it was Hamas who broke the ceasefire, not Isreal.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/arti cle-1120732/Hamas-announces-immediate-ceasefir e-gives-Israel-week-leave-Gaza.html

[Lonnie]

And here's a visual link that proves it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7 836008.stm

Gourmander , you really should check your facts first.

[amonty1144]

I saw the post and thought I had alzheimers, I'm sure the news said hamas started it...and you lovely people proved my marbles are still intact lol

[jno]

tut tut, as you very well know Israel only breaks UN resolutions...

[anotheoldgit]

Still no apology forthcoming from Gourmander who started all this, with their false statement.

[Gourmander]

Birdie, if French terrorists fired rockets into the Kent coast, should Britain retaliate and destroy Paris in the process?
I don't think so. Troops could be there in a couple of hours by Eurostar, take out the positions and be back home the same day. No need for all that bloodshed and destruction. I don't understand your thinking, you seem to agree with Israel taking over the whole of the Middle East.

[Lonnie]

Well said birdie,

Gourmander, why don't you come out and say your in accord with the aims of Hamas, to 'Wipe israel off the face of the Earth'.
Are you anti-Israel, anti Jewish, or maybe both?.

And maybe you'd like to explain your statement about Israel 'taking over the whole of the Middle east'?.

[Quinlad]

Is it possible to criticise the actions of Israel without being accused of being a Jew hater?

[jake-the-peg]

Or Birdie if a paramilitary organisation was to be working out of the republic of Ireland and bombing Britain and killing British Citizens should British tanks not roll south of the border and kill 1500 Irish citizens in their attempt to stop it?

Enough is enough -t ime for a total weapons ban in the middle east.

No more Weapons to Palestine

Us to stop military funding to Israel.

I've said it once and I'll say it again "A plague on both your houses!"

[sqad617]

Gourmander.....your analogy would be that a strip of the French coast which was launching rockets into Ramsgate, Deal etc.and that the British would "flatten" that part of France....semms reasonable to me.
Paris would have nothing to do with it and that comment you made is misleading.

Hopping over World War 2 Commando style would be inappropriate, as the Hamas are smuggling arms into Gazza via tunnels from Lebanon and Egypt and these have to be identified and "dealt with.
Collateral casualties are indeed upsetting but unfortunately are a fact in any war.

[Lonnie]

Quinlad, of course it is, i've replied to many posts without being as strong as this, as you should know, but i'm going on the Gourmanders post, posted and biased without checking facts, obviously felt he/she didn't need to, and then on this reply to birdie,

Question Author

'Birdie, if French terrorists fired rockets into the Kent coast, should Britain retaliate and destroy Paris in the process?
I don't think so. Troops could be there in a couple of hours by Eurostar, take out the positions and be back home the same day. No need for all that bloodshed and destruction. I don't understand your thinking, you seem to agree with Israel taking over the whole of the Middle East'

Somehow, Gourmander has the idea that Israel is taking over the Middle East.

There's an obvious pre-conceived bias, and i'm trying to find our how deep it is.

[jno]

birdie, just to anwer your question in the same was as jake did: what Britain did was negotiate (while pretending not to). Negotiation assumes you may have to compromise, and that suggests you may have to give something up.

In 2007, 13 Israelis were killed in this sort of fighting, seven of them civilians. 373 Palestinians died (that's about 30 times as many), about a third of them civilians. That response is very disproportionate. With 1500 Palestinians dead in the latest offensive it is getting more so.

I don't think the 1066 analogy quite works. The Palestinians' land wasn't taken a millennium ago; it was within the lifetimes of people living today; so the wounds will doubtless be more raw.

[Lonnie]

jno, much as I like the measured way you reply to various posts, I don't think you can talk reasonably about what is proportionate and disproportionate.

on the Israeli side, going back to 2005, when Hamas started launching their rockets, If Israel didn't have warning systems in place, and prepered bunkers for Israelis, (Jews and Arabs, their dead and wounded would have run into the thousands/
If that was the case, what would be proportionate.

Now, just to take one case of possibly a proprtionate response, a Suicide Bomber, of which Israel has never done, a proprtionate response would surely have been to send one back.

Unfortunately, its a hard fact, thate whatever response Israel gives, it will be seen as the aggressor., unless of course, it sits on its hands and does nothing at all.

Its between a rock and a hard place.

[Gourmander]

Birdie, you call my statement insulting and ludicrous, just because I don't agree with your views. That's the typical Israeli response, always looking for confrontation. Any excuse to kill innocent Palestinians.

[Lonnie]

Gourmander, have look at this link, and watch the video. I don't expect you to believe any of it, but have a look anyway.

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/458847 34/critiques/new/Israel_at_War_-_Day_15.asp