Dave — Your comment sounds a bit like victim blaming.

Seb maybe 10 years ago, but I don’t think the Israeli GOv take much notice of The White house anymore

I’m sure if America stop sending Israel money, weapons and use of their military satellites plus voted against them in the UN, Israel would take notice.

Seb the Israeli, war machine is quite self sufficient! A lot of it’s equipment is domestic, Tanks, rifles,drones ( which the sell to the Irish defence forces), munitions, iron dome etc. If the US withdrew it’s support I suspect that the Israeli position would become more entrenched & aggressive

FFS Wayne, if the UN authorised air strikes against military targets in Israel, that would be the end of that!

Seb, calm yourself & try to think rationally, who would you suggest carry out these strikes? The IDF have quite a substantive air defence capability spread across SAM batteries and aircraft. With experienced, capable and well practised pilots

The US would never participate, so that leaves Russia, Or NATO to do it am I can’t see either wanting to get involved. Chances are anyone carrying out air strikes will incur significant losses

That’s exactly what Israel thinks. Time to call their bluff.

How long more will the world stand by and watch innocent civilians being murdered?

Wildlife has more protection around the world than Palestinians in Gaza – this absurdity has to be addressed.

I’m all for a final solution – let’s just get on with it.

Wow Seb your irrational hatred is just what this conflict needs.

Again I will ask the question who do you suggest will do the bombing?

“All for a final solution”? Your hatred towards your fellow man is sickening, I am sure there is a peaceful solution were Arab and Israeli can live together but you would rather exterminate an entire people!

Obama has left the USA incapable of doing anything anywhere.

There is, and will never be, a lasting peaceful solution – that’s about as rational as it gets.

@Wayne

Interesting that you mistake Seb’s comment about a final solution in reference to finding peace and state that he is trying to exterminate an entire people.
Was that accidental by you or have you been trained to think that way

Seb, the only group bluffing here is Hamas. And Israel has called if. The ordinary and innocent citizen suffers because of it.

“I am all for a final solution lets get on with it” used in a context about bombing someone, I am curious as to what you interpret that as???

I have been not been trained to think anyway thanks, I am not naive enough to think withdrawal of US funding would soften Israeli attitudes, and I certainly don’t believe that bombing either side I to oblivion will solve the situation or that there is no solution.

@Dave o shea, using Hamas and humanitarian in the same sentence is akin to using feminasm and Sharia law in the same breath. (Leaving aside the Israeli conflict for a second) Remember these are the same “Government” that hang or shoot (any) drugtakers and women can get 6 years in jail for having a baby outside of marriage.

So going on the 2 to 1 red thumbs I must be wrong, I missed have missed the millions of protesters on the streets, dozens of countries closing their embassies, Egypt scrapping their peace treaty (the one where Israel handed back an area as big as Israel it’s self, won at a cost of many Israeli lives, which funny enough had they hung onto some, Hamas wouldn’t have able to get Irianian rockets in by the lorry load at night through Since and we probably wouldn’t be having this thread )

@Seb , so you have a final solution to all the middle eastern conflicts , let’s hear it. I do hope it is a little more sensible than the UN doing airstrips.

@Wayne.

No, I reread his comment again and I interpreted it that he was looking for a final lasting peaceful solution.

I do agree with you in that there isnt a hope in hell that NATO or the UN will call in air stirkes or that Russia will intervene. Thats just plain silly.
But I do think that withdrawal of funding by the US would have a huige impact on the region.
George Bush Snr held back on the delivery of a few F-16′s a few years ago and they sat up and listened very intently.
What is the solution then? And I am asking a genuine question here.

@ yossi, Well since he couldn’t be speaking about 100,000,000 or so Arabs, there is a fairly good chance he was speaking about the Jews ( as Christians are getting as scare as snow in the Saraha, in the middle east , including Gaza, EXCLUDING ISRAEL.)

@Yossi Mac – Why is it plain silly? If this was happening anywhere else in the world, or if the roles were reversed, the UN would have passed resolution after resolution by now and would be approaching full scale military intervention.

@Wayne – I truly do not believe that a lasting peaceful solution is attainable. I lay the blame for this firmly on the shoulders of the Z.i.o.n.i.s.t. agenda – this is about world domination.

“By way of deception, though shalt do war” – Mossad Motto.

@Seb
Because everytime there is a reolution to sanction Israel, the US puts a block on it with their veto. NATO are the US with their allies so thats not going to work and Russia and China arent going to do it, so the only way forward is if the US pull the strings and insist the Israel goes for a proper peace deal involving a 2 state deal, where Palestine has genuine nation status with right of access and passage, a chance to exercise their own determination and above all hope for their future.
Its the current lack of hope that drives them to carry out atriocities but the Israelis dont have that excuse, they currently hold all the cards and have the US government, (no matter who is in power) in their pocket. yet they deny any hope or future for all Palestinians and make everyday of their lives more miserable than the last one with the intention that they will evantually leave altogether and leave the land behind.
If it was happening anywhere else in the world every country would be falling over each other to issue condemnations but because its Israel with the US backing them it is not going to happen.
The real serious worry about all of this is what will happen when the Palestinians are gone, and if things dont change, it will happen, they will be swept away. Israel will have to make up another bogeyman to gel its people together.
Israel will never be at peace, and thats the way it likes it.
Thats why its silly Seb

Hamas is indeed putting their people in a difficult position, but they are right to insist on a lifting on the complete and total economic blockade as part of any truce. Its on a grander scale, but ultimately no different to the IRA fighting our occupation army, the British in our war of Independence.. the Black and Tans burned Cork and arrested, tortured and killed a great many of our own civilians!

But pretending that Rocket fire or the murder of three young settlers is the cause of the latest fighting is incorrect.

The fact is that Israeli forces had killed at least 4 Palestinian children and approximately 35 Palestinian adults in 2014 BEFORE the abduction and murder of the 3 settlers. It is also a fact that Rocket fire is a response to Israeli land sea or air attacks, not the cause of them.

Also, one of the largest group hunger strikes in history was going on among Palestinians who were being held illegally in Israeli prisons — these “administrative detainees,” Israel’s Orwellian term, are prisoners who have never even been charged with a crime, yet are held for months or years. Many are tortured.

Even JJ Goldberg, a fervently pro-Israel journalist, says that Israeli “politics and lies” are behind Israel’s current aggression, and the pro-Israel spin, so feverishly delivered by the Hasbara just doesn’t survive the facts.

Thanks Yossi Mac. That was an excellent answer.

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Many people are familiar with this quote, attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as he led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. And he was proven right.
So at what point do we say Hamas have to take responsibility for their actions? It’s not as if they didn’t know what the consequences of firing ten of thousands of rockets into Israel would be, it’s not as if they didn’t deliberately prove the giant beside them.
If anyone here dares question Hamas’ responsibility in this conflict it’s automatically equated as agreeing with mass murder. Hamas cannot be questioned. EVER. Why?
They’re doing no favours to their own people and have broken every ceasefire, including this most recent one. I’ve even seen someone here the other day posting prior to the ceasefire that when Hamas break it, it’ll be the fault of Israel. Of course it will, everything is their fault. Everyone knew in advance they’d break it, they always do, but they’re never called to take responsibility for this, instead blame is given to Israel.
Others question the $3 billion in aid America gives to Israel per year, ignoring the fact that they’re forced to spend an enormous amount of this on defence, every missile the Iron Dome fires shooting down a missile fired by Hamas costs Israel $100,000. And that is only 87% effective. What about the billions of dollars per year of international aid given to Gaza, where’s that spent? Where’s the hospitals, the schools the bomb shelters, the infrastructure projects? Israel didn’t rob their money, Hamas did, they spent it instead on weapons, mortars, missiles, Ak47′s for children and tunnels into Israel.
Hamas break every convention of war, using civilians as shields, firing missiles from civilian areas, from schools ect, even storing them with their children in the schools and then holding Israel to those conventions. And still nobody expects them to take responsibility for this?
Make no mistake, this is not blaming the victims for their own deaths and injuries, this is laying the blame at the foot of Hamas, their own government, who are quite prepared to use those people as pawns, to sacrifice them. Most of those people had no part in this conflict, Hamas used them and was prepared to have them killed, they filmed, or allowed it to be filmed, as much as possible.
Hamas has a Facebook page, in Arabic, it instructs followers;
“Begin [your reports of] news of resistance actions with the phrase ‘In response to the cruel Israeli attack,’ and conclude with the phrase ‘This many people have been martyred since Israel launched its aggression against Gaza.’ Be sure to always perpetuate the principle of ‘the role of the occupation is attack, and we in Palestine are fulfilling [the role of] the reaction.”
It goes on to say never to reveal images of rockets being fired into Israel as this would provide a pretext for attacking, it also tells them how to discuss the conflict with Western or Arab friends online, how to begin the conversation etc. And you thought the Israeli’s were the only ones with an online service?
Any government has a responsibility towards its people, we hold our accountable often enough, so why are Hamas given a free pass. I well understand they have grievances, but no government should be prepared to sacrifice the people, their children for the sake of them by deliberately attacking another state, by provoking them and causing them to fire on their own people. There’s better ways of settling grievances then killing your people by proxy, and that’s what Hamas have done, they may not have pulled the trigger or dropped the bombs but, ultimately, they’re responsible. They have caused the deaths of their own people, mass murder by proxy.

@Jed I. Knight

A sleeping giant? A slithering snake, more like.

Go easy there on the mental gymnastics.

@Jed I

No one is giving Hamas a free pass. Everyone here I’m sure was just hoping for an accepted ceasefire that will last.
But Israel will continue to provoke and prod and push the boundries until Hamas crack and fire a few more rockets into the desert or wherever.
Moshe Dyan stated that they used to armour plate the tractors and then get the farmers to drive further and further into Syrian territory and when the Syrians would fire on the tractors that was a good enough reason to launch an assault because their innocent farmers were attacked.

With respect Yossi I no more want to see innocent people, children, killed than you do, but every ceasefire so far Israel have abided to whereas Hamas have continued to fire rockets into Israel, as they did with this one. Yet Israel are somehow portrayed as provoking Hamas?
Every time I raise issues like these people counter with historical issues, as you have done, we’re debating the current conflict, Moshe Dyan died in the early 80′s.
For my trouble of daring to question Hamas someone has even tried to hack my Facebook account, I’m attributing it to this as it’s never happened before.

@ Jed-I

Noone here is defending Hamas, merely their right to resist. You paint a wonderful picture there but as per usual its blatantly out of context…

Hamas are a rag-tag bunch of Pseudo-Religious fighters who only came to power because Israel refused to make a real and comprehensive peace with Fatah and Yassar Arafat. The Palestinian people are basically a third world people suffering over 50 years of constant occupation, poverty squalor and despair. It is simply wrong to expect first world values from them even though they majority of them do Islam proud and just try to get on with life as best as they can despite being slowly and deliberately ethnically cleansed from their native land.

Contrast this with Israel: a first world country with a strong economy, and the combined investment of most of the worlds Jewish and many Christian organizations behind them. In addition to the 8-10 million they get weekly from the US for military use. To show that Israel is indeed as Dr. Norman Finkelstein puts it “A lunatic state” you have politicians and lawmakers calling for acts that are simply inhumane and can hardly be comprehended by someone from a first world country.
What it demonstrates is that Israels moral compass is set the wrong way up…

Here are the views of two leading Israeli politicians and a professor:

Ayelet Shaked, of economics minister Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party, calls on her Facebook page for murdering the mothers of what she terms Palestinian “terrorists” (a very broad concept indeed in current Israeli thinking) so that they cannot give birth to more “little snakes”:
They have to die and their houses should be demolished so that they cannot bear any more terrorists. They are all our enemies and their blood should be on our hands. This also applies to the mothers of the dead terrorists. …
[The terrorists] are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.

Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer on Arabic literature at Bar Ilan University, believes the sisters and mothers of Palestinian “terrorists” should be raped:
A terrorist, like those who kidnapped the boys [in the West Bank on June 12] and killed them, the only thing that will deter them, is if they know that either their sister or mother will be raped if they are caught. What can we do? This is the culture that we live in.
Note that his university did not reprimand him. They defended his comments:
The purpose was to define the culture of death of the terrorist organizations. Dr Kedar illustrated in his words the bitter reality of the Middle East and the inability of a modern and law-abiding country to fight the terror of suicide bombers.

And finally we have Moshe Feiglin, a deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, urging the Israeli army to kill Palestinians in Gaza indiscriminately and use every means possible to get them to leave:
[Netanyahu] announces that Israel is about to attack military targets in their area and urges those who are not involved and do not wish to be harmed to leave immediately. Sinai is not far from Gaza and they can leave. This will be the limit of Israel’s humanitarian efforts. … All the military and infrastructural targets will be attacked with no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’. …

The IDF will conquer the entire Gaza, using all the means necessary to minimize any harm to our soldiers, with no other considerations. … The enemy population that is innocent of wrong-doing and separated itself from the armed terrorists will be treated in accordance with international law and will be allowed to leave. Israel will generously aid those who wish to leave.

And dont even get me started on the funds that the Hamas is secretly hoarding, as everyone knows Israel and the US keep a firm grip on, only releasing a drip feed. Why do you think we have UN schools and food warehouse in Palestine? Ask UNICEF and other aid agencies… and they’ll tell you its not because of Hamas!

@Jed I.

Thats not a real facebook account… just another Hasbara attempt to pretend your comments are genuine… open since 2012… hmmm are you one of the students being paid €2000 a year to spend 5 hours a week posting Z.i.o.n.i.s.t. propaganda on social media… hmmm or are you getting the free University year for being extra annoying!

@Adrain Look a few days ago you accused me of working for Hasbara because I dared to have an opinion that differed from yours.
I have absolutely no doubt that there are ultra right wing zealots, but they’re on both sides and they would like nothing better than to kill each other. Do they exist? Of course. Are they right? Are you crazy, what have you been smoking? There’s no question that these lunatics exist in Israel, what you don’t say is that the other elements within Israel were, understandably, horrified by these statements and, thankfully, they are a minority.
Whereas in Hamas this belief is state policy, I can show you video’s of competitions with small children training to shoot Ak47′s and bee little jihadists. Video’s of children on TV in Gaza saying their life’s ambition is to fire rockets into Israel, the list goes on. This is where it differs. In Gaza this lunacy is not with a small minority, it’s State sanctioned policy, and it’s effected on a daily basis.
If you want religious lunatics then Islamic jihadists win that title every time, they’ll blow themselves up on buses, in cafes, in libraries and they have done, as everyone knows they’re the suicide bombers, the shaheed.
But what Hamas are doing is provoking Israel, getting Israel to attack them and putting holding their own people up in front of the bullets and bombs, murder by proxy, so they can film it and say look what Israel has done.

@Adrian Were you messing with my Facebook account? Tut tut. For the last time, pay attention. I’m Irish, born and bred, I haven’t been in university in a long, long time. I wish someone was paying me €2000 per year, and no I’m just naturally annoying.
Do you not get it yet, people can have opinions that differ from yours. I happen to deplore the violence and deaths but believe Hamas have a responsibility towards their own people and are failing miserably in that regard. They continue to attack Israel rather than negotiate for peace, the persist in putting obstacles they call pre-conditions blocking any peace, for their part Israel would like Hamas to recognise their right to exist, a reasonable request. Hamas still insist they would like to kill every Jew and destroy Israel, but it’s all Israel’s fault. Seriously?

@Seb
suggest the same terms for Palestine, Wayne would be agree with you.

what about if they lift up blockage, and stop making Palestine’s people life miserable, what about stop land grabbing? what about the check-posts where Palestinian are stopped for hours to check and go through every day? What about innocent people and pregnant women who are stopped at the check point as long as they give birth to the child on the road? what about abusing and torchering them day in day out? remember Hamas is only a creation of Israel itself, because they want an excuse to thug around and grab more land. If they wouldn’t have done it Hamas would not need to exist would it?

Seb you silly person the UN doesn’t have a military and China, France, Russia, the UK and America have a veto.

Israel is a nuclear armed country, you’d have to be mad to think that attacking it will improve the situation in any way.

I see the Israeli embassy is working overtime again

Why do people engage with people like Taxi Bill…..they have no arguments that stand up. Anyone that supports the Israeli government are helping them to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. They do not want peace they just want to remove the Palestinians so they can steal their land and use self defence as an excuse. People should ask themselves one question……. What would the world do if Palestine was Israel and the Palestinians were committing the atrocities??? Those that support this Israeli crime have blood on their hands. Regardless of the provocation by Hamas if they truly supported Israel they would campaign to stop their government from committing this war crime.

A final solution Seb?, why not set up massive camps round up all the Israelis and put them in these large chambers add plenty of gas?

Well said Chris. Seamus, I’ve said it before, people can have an opinion that may differ from yours, and when you say things like, “Regardless of the provocation by Hamas” you make my point for me. In your eyes Hamas can do no wrong, regardless of how they provoke Israel they’re not held responsible for their own actions, like an errant child.
Hamas are the government of Gaza, they are responsible for the tens of thousands of attacks on Israel, they are responsible for holding their own citizens as shields and ultimately for their deaths. This is murder by proxy so that they can attempt to blame Israel and gain the worlds pity. It’s one of the most despicable acts in modern history.

@Jed I
Im not sure your point about raising historical issues helps your argument as you raise enough hiistorical points to try and back your own arguments.
Moshe did die in the 80′s, whats that got to do with annything.
This is the MO of the Israeli army, whether its in the 50′s, 60′s, 70′s, etc.
I also think you are purposely not being honest about Israel abiding to all ceasefires.
We rarely hear anything about attacks by the IDF on Gaza, however we do hear about every rocket, stone or fart that comes from Gaza into Israel. Thats one of the points a lot of people, not just me, have been making on theses threads endlessly and Im sure you have seen this yourself.

Facebook account….? No idea. I have better things to be doing than trying to hack into anyone elses account…Maybe its Hamas’s cyber terrorist unit. Either that or you are just plain paranoid

@Yossi I was referring to something said in a previous post when I said Moshe Dyan died in the early 80′s.
If you care to refer back to the previous posts Adrian got it into his head that I am Israeli, work for the Hasbara and was paid by them, someone did try to hack my Facebook account. In this context I asked him, no I’m not paranoid.
I do find it a tad annoying that there are those who have a passionate belief, an opinion, but will not tolerate anyone else having an opinion that differs from theirs, they resort to insults and shouting down any opinion that differs from theirs. Christ it’s like being married.

@jed ….Bang on the nail

@ yossi. .
“Everyone”gives a Hamas a very free pass, ( except Israeli supporters!)

Most hated, and yet arabs, and most of the world, dress like americans, watch american movies and listen to american music.

Also, you live in la la land, thats obvious

Jedi is the only one to make any sense here, you on the other hand are a genuine fruitcake

God willing

Yes I took a look at your fake facebook account… now feck of back to the Israeli embassy or whereever you came from.. you are a FRAUD!

@Adrian You’re at it again, you’re abusing anyone who doesn’t agree with your opinion, accusing them of being Israeli, of working for Israeli intelligence. And I’ve been called paranoid? How many people have you accused of this?
This is not debate, this is dictatorship, where the only opinion allowed is the one assumed to be correct, King Adrian’s.
I’ve said it before, I’ve no doubt you are passionate about your beliefs, but that doesn’t give you the right to railroad them over everyone else’s, my beliefs and opinions are just as valid as yours. Now for the last time please pay attention.
Judging from your Facebook account I’m old enough to be your father (I’m tempted to add Luke) I’m Irish, I’ve never been to Israel, though I’d like to see it, although my health isn’t great so that’s unlikely. My “Darth Vader” moniker is because of the noise I make while breathing and the nebulisers I have to take, it’s tongue in cheek, an in house joke. I can’t remember when my daughter set up my account, but it had to be set up some time, didn’t it?
When you point the finger at everyone who has the temerity to contradict your opinion and accuse them of being “Hasbara”, working for an Israeli online intelligence group, it really makes you appear like a crazed lunatic seeing Israeli’s everywhere. Who knows, maybe I’m Mossad, Aman or Shin Bet? I could be Lekem or Shabak?

This isn’t about differing opinions, Jed. I, this is war. People take sides in a war and most neutral observers, over time, take the side of the oppressed rather than the oppressor. If the roles were reversed, I would be on Israel’s side – I presume most people would do the same.

Israel receives up to 8 million dollars in funding everyday for the US….. How is that self sufficient?

You are a Fraud! YOU ARE A FRAUD Hasbara bot… with your Fake facebook acount!

FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!

The idiots on here and other sites saying its all Israels fault – still don’t seem to get that HAMAS are obviously goding Israel to attack them and win world support – must like the ‘blood sacrifice’ ideology espoused by Padraig Pearse.

They must be complete morons so!
Hope you’re going to hand this information over to the IDF maybe they will stop the slaughter if they know this.

If you really care about Palestinians then stop supporting Hamas and the other Islamofascists who are grinding them down

Nigel. Whilst I condemn Hamas and there actions. It does not mean that I condone in any way the occupation of Israel in Gaza or the loss of life on either side

Unfortunately with Zi onists at the helm in Israel further loss of life on both sides seems inevitable.

Kind of easy words to use aren’t they?

Dear Journal, where are the following news:

- Hamas violates its own ceasefire
- The UN school where 17 pupils died confirmed by UNRWA to be hit by Hamas rocket
- Hamas executes 25 Palestinians without trial during the ceasefire
- ISIL kills and expels all Christians from Mosul thus bringing to an end 2000 years of Christian culture

Diarmud O’Shea, let me update you as you seem to have hibernated for a decade, the Israeli occupation of Gaza ended in 2005.

Dom. As we speak Israeli forces are currently occupying Gaza territories. As stated

Israel is doing no such thing. There is a bit of a difference between between a military incursion and an occupation. An occupation includes setting up an authority (military rule or martial law) over the occupied territory. This is as per the international law and commonly used terminology.

Dom the IDF admits hitting the school. The rest is social media news…

Seamus Larkin, IDF confirmed a shell hit the school yard BUT at the time there was nobody there and no shells hit the building. This was acknowledged by John Ging, the operations manager of UNWRA in Gaza and published in the Canadian The Globe and Mail. Hardly social media news, buddy.

In other related news, Hamas rockets routinely located in UNRWA schools.

http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-condemns-placement-rockets-second-time-one-its-schools

Dom you are normally a rock of sense in a wilderness of halfwits, but I absolutely cannot agree with you this time. Israel is well out of order here.
Can I suggest that you read this article by the former head of Mossad, which clarifies who is driving the agenda here and why Netanyahu is navigating Israel into extremely dangerous waters.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4537532,00.html

Dom you kno the airport in tel aviv is open you can leave at your own leisure and join your brethren for here in ireland we do not condone the murder of children

Sean, Israel has been cooperating with Fatah and Abu Mazen for years to no avail. Hamas rockets continue to rain and the tunnels are numerous and wreck havoc on border areas. Competence of Israelis and systems like the Iron Dome stand between Hamas and much greater Israeli civilian casualties (to much annoyance of the Wester left and press who erroneously judge the morality of Israel versus Hamas based on the body count – as if the fact that Nazi Germany had 100% more civilian casualties than Britain would had given Hitler moral superiority over the Allies). ISIL is a fact of life and for Israel ISIL and Hamas are in the same bag regardless of the (usual) bitter rivalry between Islamic militant fractions. So I don’t understand what are the alternatives offered here? Befriending Hamas in fear of ISIL? Head in the sand?

Two friends of mine live and work in Israel. They are Irish. The cease fire was broken before the deadline. The people in Gaza have no chance with Hamas on one side and Israel on the other.

If Hamas had called for a unilateral ceasefire which Israel had not accepted and they launched a barrage of fire, killing a Palestinian terrorist, how different would your response be? You’d say it was a war crime. Hamas do not want peace, Hamas wants Israel gone. No ifs or buts about it.

@brian apologies. I should have said they broke the extended ceasefire.

Now Wesole, are you reading this Israel are going to resume killing innocent children by land,sea and air they won’t be happy until they driven the people of gaza into the sea and then build more illegal settlements on the West Bank, because their is no room left to build one more house in Israel, nathanyahu, is guilty of the horrific war crimes.

@Valerie in 2012 Hamas kept a ceasefire for 5 months! In that same period, israeli forces carried out 103 airstrikes in Gaza and killed 8 people in total …so do you want to start your comment again!?

Somebody buying the unending fiction and spin that the idf and israeli authorities are well versed in

Ive 3 friends in Ashdod and they said it wasnt broken!?

Thats right Martin and the Arabs/Palestinians won’t be happy until every last Jew in Israel is either massacred or driven into the sea, and when thats done we’ll sort out the Christians.

@ Wesole and @ Valerie you are somewhat more rational in your views than Charles et al so Im happy to engage in a meaningful debate.
Very very few of the people on here who are sympathising with the Palestinians in their awful loss and the awful circumstances within which they are forced to live, still do not support Hamas in terms of any rockets they fire! We do not want to see innocent people killed or injured on either side!
I would say, however, when you, the idf and journalists speak about these ‘Hamas terrorists’…who do you think these people are and what their motivation was!?
Surely, one can acknowledge that a lot of the Hamas ‘fighters’ today were born out of the grief and anger they suffered upon losing family members during the last israeli bombardment and invasion a couple of years ago – ‘Operation Cast Lead’ !!!!
Israel has its beef with Hamas, ok..let that be the case even, israel has the best secret assasins in the world- Mossad, so why doesnt israel go to war with Hamas directly!?? The problem is that they are waging war on babies, families eating their evening meals peacefully in their homes, schools, hospitals, pregnant women….this what people here are rising up against as that war is just 100% wrong and the crux is again that by creating so many orphans, with no school left to go to, israel is creating the next batch of suicide bombers and Hamas extremists!!! That reaction is an understandable human one

@Valerie…..so your Irish friends no more than the IDF ?

An excellent point Nigel, and the inverse could be said of the young OSF conscripts who will hold memories of the near 800 Israeli citizens killed by suicide bombers in the noughties.

Obviously there was an attempt to extend the ceasefire last night on one side and the other choose to resume, for a purpose best known to themselves, (some incident that is not being reported maybe)

However the resumption of hostilities puts a full long term ceasefire further away not closer. What is needed is a full cessation of violence and an agreement to talk from both sides

True Waynw although conscription is obligatory in israel..thats a big difference..though not disputing motives for revenge for any conscripts who lost a family member to a suicide bomb attack

Israeli forces used the ceasefire to continue with invasive search for tunnels and munitions. That is in breach of a ceasefire.

Nigel, that’s why I used the words conscripts, to show it was not optional. All to often on here there has been attempts to dehumanise either side, when the reality is very different

Nethanyahu is always in killing mode. He was the same when in power the last time. He is the personification of evil and injustice.

Is Hamas still allowed to use hospitals as rocket launching sites? Surely they should stop this tight now on humanitarian grounds? The unfortunate Palestinians deserve better leadership that this crowd of terrorists and thieves.

@Nigel

Great Post!

I must confess its almost unimaginable to me how the pro-Israeli side on here can just so blatantly disregard the almost Holocaust levels of suffering going in Palestine… but when you dig deeper you find that most of them are posting from abroad, with hastily arranged twitter accounts.

The International worldwide movement for spreading Z.i.o.n.i.s.t. propaganda is called the Hasbara, which like Z.i.o.n.i.s.m. itself began with good intentions and has warped into an instrument of evil… but dont be disheartened… keep posting on Facebook and sharing the pictures of the genocide of the Palestinian people! And get onto your local politicians to kick out the ambassador and impose a boycott of Israel!

Hamas get applause from the jihadis when they fire rockets and from the dhimmi when Israel fires back. They see this as a win-win situation and never mind the dead and wounded on either side. Hamas is bombing the Palestinians by proxy and the more deaths the more they cheer. Meanwhile the dhimmi who post on the journal are unable to refute comments highlighting the evil of the head-hackers and so they are desperately trying to denigrate those of us who see what is going on in the terrorist quarters.

Fog copy and paste again I see, no thoughts of your own?

Fog….copy and paste again and again and again and again. Getting so boring now. Time for you to get reprogrammed I think.

I wrote “Hamas get applause from the jihadis when they fire rockets and from the dhimmi when Israel fires back. They see this as a win-win situation and never mind the dead and wounded on either side. Hamas is bombing the Palestinians by proxy and the more deaths the more they cheer. Meanwhile the dhimmi who post on the journal are unable to refute comments highlighting the evil of the head-hackers and so they are desperately trying to denigrate those of us who see what is going on in the terrorist quarters.”
This reduce the dhimmi to hissing and spitting as they can never refute what I say and I will keep on saying it copy and paste or no copy and paste.
PS I wrote that, all my copy and paste is from my extensive archive of ‘responses to the useful idiots of the Islamofascists’

Israeli’s go and hold parties ,and construct huge screens, so that they can cheer on and watch huge bombs being reined down on defenseless kids .. Disgusting .

@Thomas If Israel stopped, if they called a halt to the violence do you think the government concerned about their people, Hamas, would? Would they jump at the opportunity for peace, looking at their 1,000+ dead, the children, would they stop the violence too?

The Palestinians have no army ,so they cannot defend themselves ..

You’re not answering my question. Once again, if Israel stopped the violence would Hamas also stop?
They claim to be concerned about their people, to as disturbed as everyone else by the rising death toll, so it’s a simple question, if Israel lay down their weapons do you honestly think Hamas would follow suit, no nonsense pre-conditions?

You’re asking me to guess what Hamas would do if Israel stopped the violence ..The answer then would only be an opinion ..

Yes… I’m asking for your opinion.

My opinion going by the last ceasefire in 2012 would be that Israel will carry on with their aggression.

I’m guessing you’re not going to reply, I can understand that. On every occasion that there has been a ceasefire called, Israel have laid down their arms but it’s been Hamas who have broken those ceasefires, some of which they themselves called. This is not the action of a government claiming to be concerned about the welfare of its citizens, this is the action of a government murdering it’s citizens by proxy.
Israel were NOT the aggressors here, when you consider how many rockets, mortars and attacks Hamas carried out against Israel, it’s hypocritical to then call Israel an aggressor.

Blah blah blah foggy

Nobody knows ….because israel have never and will never lay down their arms and more importantly they will never stop bulldozing homes and will never stop settlement building

The people of Gaza have no chance because of a big bloody wall on one side and the sea on the other.

I see foggy is still using the tactic of abusing the irish and our way of life just because we are against the murder of children…..to him we are dhimmi because we dont condone child murder….go home foggy ur not welcome in our country

@Thomas

Step one in the Hasbara strategy is to cloud the issue…
What if Hamas were robots from the future? What about the Christians in Mosul?
Don’t play their game and keep them focused on the only thing that matters… the facts!

Palestinian dead: Over 1000 with between 5-10,000 wounded, many horribly. (80% civilians, well over 200 children dead with new born babies being c-Sectioned from the mothers dead bodies).

Israeli dead: 40, 38 of whom were soldiers. With many in the civilian population suffering deep psychological trauma as they run for their nearest Starbucks when the air raid siren goes off.

Petr ,WE voted Enda and fine Gael into Power too the yanks voted Obama . Your Argument is null and void. People do desperate things in desperate situations.

Petr, Palestinians don’t have much of a choice when it comes to voting in the right leaders. Condemn Israel all you want but please don’t defend Hamas.

And petr, you sound like an apologist for Hamas.

Chris, why don’t you turn that around. If Hamas are the only people that the Palestinians can turn to, why is that?

- The Palestinian Authority was told by Israel that the Israelis wouldn’t deal with them because they didn’t represent the terrorists Hamas.
- People voted for Hamas to get some representation so that the Israelis would talk to their representatives.
- The Palestinian Authority and Hamas formed a Unity Government so that the Israelis could talk to them.
- The Unity Government was recognized for a time (at least) by the EU and the US.
- The Israelis maintained they would not deal with Hamas.

So what can the Palestinians do?

@peter , yes they elected Hamas, because old Arafats crowd robbed and brutalised their people,(how many hundreds of millions have the “International community” put into their black hole?…….
but a tiny bit like us , we voted FG/Lab but didn’t vote for water, property taxes etc, but we sure got them, next time we might vote for SF, wonder what we might get from them?? It might surprise us!!!!

@RH they could stop firing (militarily usless) rockets for a start, what has it achieved? Perhaps they think that killing 50 Israelis is worth it something like a giant suicide bombers using their own people as the “bomber” there is no other explanation.

My point is that Hamas did not sit idly by, as the first poster insinuated.

Did you see them stopping ? Did you know they did not pull their tanks back. If you actually read the facts… Israel broke the cease fire! (Not Hamas supporter just someone who cares about basic human rights and the truth)

The idf stated they would continue to target the tunnels. I am unaware of any palestinian civilian deaths during the ceasefire. What’s the problem?