So did Isreal do the right thing?

[JoeE SP9]

Israel should use some of their nukes and bomb the rest of the Middle East. The only way to have peace there and by extension the world is to get rid of Muslims.

[Feanor]

Israel should use some of their nukes and bomb the rest of the Middle East. The only way to have peace there and by extension the world is to get rid of Muslims.

Yep, sounds like the "final solution" to me.

Or the US could nuke Isreal and be heros to the Muslim world, take your pick.
Let's do some math: 6 million Isrealis, (some of them Arab, granted), or 1.126 billion Muslims. Which would yield the greater approbation?

[GMichael]

Yep, sounds like the "final solution" to me.

Or the US could nuke Isreal and be heros to the Muslim world, take your pick.
Let's do some math: 6 million Isrealis, (some of them Arab, granted), or 1.126 billion Muslims. Which would yield the greater approbation?

Sounds good on paper. But I can't help feeling that some radical Muslim extremist (is that redundant?) would point to this act as final proof that America is a heartless devil, bent on destroying the world. "See what they did to our poor neighbors?"

[kexodusc]

Sounds good on paper. But I can't help feeling that some radical Muslim extremist (is that redundant?) would point to this act as final proof that America is a heartless devil, bent on destroying the world. "See what they did to our poor neighbors?"

There's no moral authority for nuking anyone in this case. I hope everyone is "joking" here. A Muslim Holocaust is not worth the existance of Israel, and defies the principles on which she was founded. These things take times, and some skirmishes will happen.
Egypt and Jordan got over their prior conflicts with Israel. Relatively speaking, the battles with those countries were worse than what's going on now.

Israel pulled out of Lebanon partly to force Hezbollah to cross Israel's border in order to attack it. Well that's exactly what has happened. That strategy failed. And now it appears Israel is reversing its decision by moving back in to Lebanon to setup a buffer zone. To call this response "disproportionate" ignores history. Was the voluntary withdrawl of Lebanon "disproportionate"? Critics of that plan predicted this result.

[Feanor]

There's no moral authority for nuking anyone in this case. I hope everyone is "joking" here.
...

... am joking about nuking anybody, if that can be considered a joke. (Somebody else "started it", so it's was alright to keep going in that vein, eh?)

Let me state up front that I am not calling for the the destruction of Isreal. It exists and it's not going to go away. Palestinians and Arab states ought to face that fact pragmatically.

On the other hand, taking an historical view, Isreal exists only because of the circumstance of European politics and European imperialism in that part of the world. It is not something that the Arabs of the region wanted or deserved. The principles of the Zionist Movement are completely irrelevant to the aboriginal people who cannot be expected to respect them.

[kexodusc]

... am joking about nuking anybody, if that can be considered a joke. (Somebody else "started it", so it's was alright to keep going in that vein, eh?)

Let me state up front that I am not calling for the the destruction of Isreal. It exists and it's not going to go away. Palestinians and Arab states ought to face that fact pragmatically.

On the other hand, taking an historical view, Isreal exists only because of the circumstance of European politics and European imperialism in that part of the world. It is not something that the Arabs of the region wanted or deserved. The principles of the Zionist Movement are completely irrelevant to the aboriginal people who cannot be expected to respect them.

Nobody will deny that the vast majority of the population of the Middle East was compelled to comply with the creation of Israel for the benefit of tiny minority, behind the backing of Western countries with no vested interest in the region. So yeah, I'm sympathetic to their disagreement with how things were done.

But upon the formation of Israel (the first day in fact) instead of continuing to negotiate or pleading their case, the neighboring countries (all of them) attacked Israel (who at the time were probably the least responsible for the creation of Israel). Counter-attack, after counter-attack has been ongoing since then.

At some point you have to wonder why Israel doesn't try to negotiate a concession based compromised, with meaningful concessions. Surely the land her people were promised didn't include an eternal war against an overwhelming population surrounding her on all sides? But it comes back to history - there's a reason why Israel's national phrase is "Never Again".

[Feanor]

...
Surely the land her people were promised didn't include an eternal war against an overwhelming population surrounding her on all sides?

Well, I'm not so sure that isn't the price to be paid.

Yes, it does come around time and again: the notion that that the land of Isreal is the God-given right of the Jewish people. Certainly you can't seem to keep them out:

• Abraham migrated to Palestine from Ur, (where possibly he had pissed someone off);
• Times got tough so many moved to Egypt, but ..
• They pissed off the Egyptians who tried to enslave, so they moved back to Palestine, kicking out the Philistines, et al.;
• The Babylonians conqured and dragged many off to that city, (Babylonian Diaspora), but ...
• The Persians beat the Babylonians, and they went back;
• They pissed off the Romans who destroyed the Temple, etc.; many left, (Roman Diaspora);
• A LONG time passed during which they pissed off a lot of people, culminating with A. Hitler, but ...
• The "Final Solution" didn't work so they when back, this timing kicking out the Palestinians;
• They are still there, still pissing off a lot of people -- who are saying, "'Never again'?!? How about not this time".

I guess it never will end.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

... am joking about nuking anybody, if that can be considered a joke. (Somebody else "started it", it was alright to keep going in that vein, right?)

Let me state up front that I am not calling for the the destruction of Isreal. It exists and it's not going to go away. Palestinians and Arab states ought to face that fact pragmatically.

On the other hand, taking an historical view, Isreal exists only because of the circumstance of European politics and European imperialism in that part of the world. It is not something that the Arabs of the region wanted or deserved. The principiles of the Zionist Movement are completely irrelevant to the aboriginal people who cannot be expected to respect them.

Feanor,
You cannot undo what has already been done. European imperialism has left its damage all over the world. However, I have sympathy for both sides here. Yes Israel was plopped down in the middle of Arab territory. Its done now. However not totally willing to give Israel a pass, I think they have been over aggressive just to maintain a perception of invincibility. I can understand this, because of any of the Arab countries smell weakness from Israel, they will attack it no doubt. What I find troublesome is that many have no problem pointing to the hypocracy of Israel, but how about the hypocracy of the Arab world? It has become very apparent that Hezbollah is using Lebanese citizens are human shields. Why is this not a problem to the world? When Hezbollah fires rockets from civilian neighborhoods, and Israel destroys the launchers killing people, why isn't hezbollah condemned for bring the war into the neighborhoods? Why is the burden of responsibility always on the Israel, or the United States? When the world condemns Israel, doesn't it understand that this emboldens the terrorist?

So here is what we have. We have one country, and one area, both controlled by known terrorist. The authorities, and country leaders cannot ask them to leave or it will destabilize their governments. Isn't anything wrong with this picture? You have the Lebanese PM on television screaming the Israel is destroying his country, but never did he ask hezbollah to leave. You have the Lebanese people crying and screaming on television, but never do they say that hezbollah is the reason they are suffering. I am finding that I am very troubled by this kind of hypocrasy. You have the Palestinian people crying the blues about how they are treated by Israel and how they are suffering at the hands of Israel, and then you have a supposed elected leader for(who by the way died) who's wife lives in the lap of luxury(I understand that Arafat was worth 130 million dollars) off of money donated by the US and Europe, and they don't complain about that.

I think that Israel and the United States is becoming the whipping boy for all of the troubles of the Arab world, and nobody has the insight to look in their own backyard.

Please everyone, no more talk about nuking anyone or everyone envolved in a certain religion. Did anybody desire to kill all white males after the Oklahoma bombing? Throwing the baby out with the bath water doesn't solve anything.

[CookieFactory]

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.