@Maurice O Neill: Have you seen the videos Maurice of Palestinians being kicked out of their own homes during Trump’s presidency so settlers can move in? Your beloved president Maurice, absolutely outrageous that you pretend to care now, don’t remember you calling on the UN to do something about Trump and the US recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I cannot believe you are sat there and pretend to care about the Palestinians when for 4 years we all had to put up with you supporting Trump and Israel being besties. The audacity of you of all people.

@Ally Mc Culladgh: the settlements are provocative but the Palestinians aren’t helpless here. They can negotiate for their own state and not walk away each time it’s politically convenient to do so.

@Squarepeg01: Palestinians are being kicked out of their homes to make way for settlers, this is happening, this is in part Trump’s fault for backing the Israelis to do this. Palestinians can neogtiate? So what’s your neogitating advice to families being kicked out of their homes, I am sure they would love your advice.

@Ally Mc Culladgh: get better leaders that don’t use you as political pawns.

@Squarepeg01: I’ll be sure to pass on your wonderful advice to the murdered children’s families. To the family who slept together so that if they died, they would die as a family and not be left alone.

@Ally Mc Culladgh: The likes of them don’t care Ally. They’re the unkind. They don’t have the empathy to understand where you’re coming from. Their only retort in this situation is to pretend that anyone opposite their view must be a hamas supporter. Nuance also seems to escape them.

@Squarepeg01: “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in is mouth”.

@Ally Mc Culladgh: absolutely spot on. He’s a hypo-crite and a trumptard.

@Bill Spill: that’s what it’s about, isn’t it. You get to feel like a kind person, rather than having to sit down and work through the hard choices Israel has to make when under attack. But the feelies are so very important to too many people here, many of whom have said they DO support Hamas over Israel.

@Squarepeg01: You don’t have to support Israel because you are against hamas. I don’t. You don’t have to make excuses for state-backed murder of civilians including dozens of CHILDREN. “Oh but hamas are using them as human shields”, yeah we know, they’re despicable. BUT so are Israel for shooting through the human shield hoping to hit a target. Equally despicable, maybe even more so imo. If you choose to factor in the death children in your actions, you are evil. Israel is absolutely no better than hamas. Only zealots believe otherwise.

@Bill Spill: IDF pilot suspects children in vicinity, calls off airstrike – watch

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/idf-pilot-suspects-children-in-vicinity-calls-off-airstrike-watch-668343?utm_source=jpost.app.android&utm_medium=share

@Bill Spill: in case that wasn’t clear, the IDF does not shoot indiscriminately through Hamas’s human shields. It does what it can to avoid civilian casualties, but it’s impossible to avoid casualties altogether, given it’s a military operation What would your solution be for stopping Hamas’s rocket attacks?

@Squarepeg01: The Palestinians agreed to a 2 state solution but the Israeli government renegade on it & installed more illegal settlement , Israel does not want any peace settlement they want all the Palestinians land & yes the Palestinians are helpless when a heavily armed army calls to your house to evict u & take your land,
I suppose u think that OK,

@Squarepeg01: where do you stand on the IRA and British soldiers?

@Christybhoy67: fro the Wikipedia entry on the Camp David summit: “The failure to come to an agreement was widely attributed to Yasser Arafat, as he walked away from the table without making a concrete counter-offer.” The Palestinians have form here, having walked away from similar negotiations in the past.

@Squarepeg01: The use of human shields is a well documented Occupation force tactic, it is called ‘the neighbour policy’, it involves civilians being forced at gunpoint to walk in front of Occupation forces and has been reported by Breaking the Silence, it was widely used during the Jenin massacre. Israeli deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is also well documented, it is known as the Dahiya Doctrine, you can read about it on TRT World, Israel’s’ Dahiya Doctrine’, a plan for mass civilian deaths in Gaza.

@Squarepeg01: Well that’s not true. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth due to israeli occupation and land grabbing for settlers. Therefore the reason that there are so many civilians there is purely down to israel and its occupation. On top of that Israel know all this and know how densely populated it is but still bombard it without a care in the world. And one pilot calling off an airstrike out of all the airstrike that have happened is hardly an argument.

@GClare: oh I’m a total West Brit. Seriously, what kind of an answer did you expect from a question like that?

@Squarepeg01: Nethanyahu has openly stated he will never allow a Palestinian state to be established. Israeli governments have transferred hundreds of thousands of colonists onto Occupied land, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, since the Oslo accords were signed. John Kerry said after his attempts at mediation for the Obama administration that the biggest obstacle to a peace process was the Israeli government. If anyone wants to see the concessions the Palestinians were willing to make for an agreement, look up the Palestine Papers. The Arab League peace plan has been in place since 2000, Israel has ignored it.

@Squarepeg01: an honest one!

@Squarepeg01: There are lots of Israeli soldiers who refuse to shoot civilians or even serve in the Occupied territories, many of them belong to Breaking the Silence, their website is well worth a visit, unfortunately there are plenty of others who are willing to snipe at kids ,women , reporters and medical workers from the siege line. A fifteen year old boy was killed on the occupied West Bank a few weeks ago, he shot twice in the back.

@Squarepeg01: 60 children dead. Truly shameful from hamas and Israel. That you think Israel has no choice but to kill innocents is truly sad.

@Gavan Duffy: never heard of any of that and it sounds suspiciously like the Jewish blood libel. As for Jenin, the Palestinians mined the patways into the camp so the Isaelis decided to bulldoze their way through houses to make way for their tanks in an effort not to risk their troops. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/16/israel.readersyear

@Gavan Duffy: Kerry said that in 2016 after years of stalled talks with Palestinians. I can well imagine Ariel Sharon pulling out of Gaza for strategic reasons but to think that Ehud Barak and later Ehud Olmert weren’t interested in a lasting peace deal is just plain cynical.

@Squarepeg01: Transferring hundreds of thousands of colonists onto Occupied territory is just plain cynical. You are not doing Israel any favours by apologising for the Occupation, it is destroying the country. There are lots of Jewish writers who can explain just how, try Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, Miko Peled, and the late great Uri Avnery.

@Squarepeg01: Jewish blood libel? That’s it? Convenient way of burying your head in the sand.

@Gavan Duffy: let’s steelman your points: so the Israelis aren’t interested in a 2 state solution and covet all of the land, are they still justified in taking out Hamas’s rockets? Yes, because they are acting in self defence. You don’t have to think the settlements are a good idea to hold this opinion. The Palestinian resort to violence is out of intolerance of living with their Jewish neighbours. They could have had a state several times over if their leaders had been serious about obtaining one, even with Israeli obstruction.

@Ally Mc Culladgh: Jesus you need to get over yourself, if someone prefers Trump to Biden or more likely Republicans over Democrats that’s none of your business, your comment is so typical of an American leftist hysterical c lown trying to cancel someone because they don’t agree with you.

@David Bohane: Ah David get over yourself yourself! If someone thinks trump supporters are eejits that’s none of your business. So typically of the right-wing ever-the-victim brigade. Stop trying to cancel people because they don’t agree with you.

@Bill Spill: Try write your own comment kid, oh wait, you did, I seen one earlier when you tried teaming up with a commenter to force your agenda, and now you defend him

” The likes of them don’t care Ally. They’re the unkind. They don’t have the empathy to understand where you’re coming from. Their only retort in this situation is to pretend that anyone opposite their view must be a hamas supporter. Nuance also seems to escape them.”

You bill or ally?
Ironic and pathetic

@David Bohane: Are you ok? Not everyone has an agenda dave! Except Bill Gates, of course. But I’m sure you onto him too. And bill or ally? Well, it’s Bill, or Richard if you want to be formal. Not sure why you think that is ironic or pathetic? Do you not dictionary much?

@Squarepeg01: Maintaining an Occupation and collective punishment siege is not self defence. Palestinians suffer from Israeli violence on a daily basis, both from the Occupation forces and Price Tag terrorists. The PA is both corrupt and powerless, even their ministers have to ask permission to travel from the Occupation forces. There will be no chance of a settlement until there is significant pressure put on the Israeli government from the rest of the world, much like how South African apartheid was ended by grassroots pressure, the same is already happening world wide, Israel needs to act now from a position of strength, end the Occupation, end the violence.

@Squarepeg01: wow do some research on IDF tactics over the years. Look what the brittish army ended up doing in isolated incidents in Northern Ireland… IDF are a way harder case.

@SPQH: there is 600 miles of tunnelling under Gaza constructed by Hamas, the Israelis faked a ground invasion to force them all into the tunnelling, Hamas are known to tactically embed themselves among the civilian population…

@Kate Flaherty: tunnels tend to happen when living in an open air prison.

@Mr Bordello: it wouldn’t be an ‘open air prison’ if Hamas wasn’t constantly trying to smuggle in ordinance with which to attack Israel. Even with the blockade, they were able to stockpike 14000 missiles.

@Squarepeg01: supplied and supported by Iran….

@Squarepeg01: wee history lesson…Hamas did not exist in 87, it was created as the only defence after the first intifada by is rael in 87
against the Palestinian people, as the previous PLO were in exile.
But hey let’s not let facts stop people justifying apartheid and attempted genocide.

@Mr Bordello: and what have events in 1987 to do with how Gaza is being run today? Here’s a more recent history lesson for you: Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005. Hamas moved in and destroyed all vestiges of the former settlers that could have been used to improve the lives of Gazans. They went on to win the election the following year (and haven’t held another one since) and proceeded to gear their economy not toward encouraging startups and business opportunities, but to the war effort against Israel. If you elect a group whose stated aim is to wage war against your militarily stronger neighbour, nobody should be surprised by the results.

@Squarepeg01: only elections a foreign occupying force allows.. enough said.

@Mr Bordello: that’s a lie. Do you think it was Israel that cancelled the proposed recent West Bank elections? No, it was Mahmoud Abbas, who knew he would privably lose to Hamas.

@Squarepeg01: are you really as big a plank as you sound ?

@Squarepeg01: what about the civilians shot dead in the westbank by the Israeli army & settlers ,

@Kate Flaherty: u obviously have been in Gaza with that kind of knowledge, can I ask u about the Palestinians civilians who live in occupied Westbank who have been murder by the Israeli security forces & settlers have they no right to defend themselves is it only the Israeli who are allowed to defend themselves,

@Squarepeg01: A quote from Dov Weissglas, spokesperson for Ariel Sharon, ‘The significance of the disengagement plan(from Gaza) is the freezing of the peace process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. All with (US) presidential blessings and the ratification of both houses of Congress.’ Hamas destroying what the colonists left behind is a lie, they destroyed a lot of it themselves, or took it with them.

@Gavan Duffy: sources? His wikipedia entry says he denied saying similar sounding things. His letter to Condi Rice, where he ourlines Israeli supprt for the Roadmap can be found here: https://www.haaretz.com/1.4782863

@Kate Flaherty: The Occupation forces will be very reluctant to enter Gaza not as some ‘fake plan to drive them underground’, but because Hamas managed to kill over ninety of them the last time they did. The one thing the Israeli public will not accept is dead soldiers, this is the same reason they left southern Lebanon, the Hezbollah chased them out of it.

@Squarepeg01: Ha’aretz 6 Oct 2006. It is also quoted on p248 of Ilan Pappe The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

@Gavan Duffy: selective quoting on your part, I think. This from the same article you referenced: “…and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns.” This has always been the Israeli position – the Palestinians do not want peace. The Israelis won’t accept a deal without iron clad security built in.

@Tom Ripley: Back trolling again for the IDF support with your fake account..

@2thFairy: slightly obsessed? Good one.

@xDemo17: eh, no actually. 34000 Gazans displaced and 200 dead. Why is the death figure not closer to the displaced figure? Because the IDF gives warnings to civilians near a target they are intending to strike. Hamas, on the other hand, would like to kill every last Jew in Israel. The moral difference between the two sides is plain as day.

@Squarepeg01: oh so cause they give warnings as they drop their 100lb bombs that’s ok? F me

@xDemo17: if the situation were reversed, you can bet the only warning Hamas would give would be to say they were about to level the place and kill every last J ew they could find.

@Squarepeg01: what about the Palestinians who live in the occupied Westbank who on a daily basis are murder by the Israeli security forces & settlers I suppose that OK because the Israeli can take there land ,

@Brian Kelly: absolute rubbish. People have been killed by Hamas’s rockets, including a migrant worker from India and Gazans themselves when their rockets fall short. The reason there haven’t been more Israeli deaths is because the Iron Dome intercepts the rockets and the Air Force intercepts the slower bomb-laden Hamas drones. Gaza, as it turns out, also has an Iron Dome missile defence system: it’s called ‘Don’t fire rockets at Israel.’

@Squarepeg01: is still all about Israel isn’t it?! Israel robbing the Palestinian land, trying to wipe them out. The Palestinian fight back with catapults and stones. What do Israel use? Yes live rounds. The Palestinian fire homemade rockets… what do Israel do? Drop massive bombs. So Squarepeg01 it’s just a massive difference in fighting fair. I say the rest of the world should arm the Palestinian people THEN you just might have a fair fight.

@Brian Kelly: you have a cartoon notion of how violence works. Neither side is interested in fighting per se. They are interested in achieving their objectives and fighting is a mere tactic in pursuit of those objectives. No side in a war has the luxury of considering some wishy washy notion of fairness. Quite the opposite – they try to stack the odds as much in their favour as they can.

@Brian Kelly: 375lbs……it’s a good amount.

@John Mulligan: it’s OK that Israel provoked the response? If you could just give over your freedom someone in prison might walk free! Nonsense post.

@Paul Cunningham: a few fireworks. Oh that’s brilliant lol. Almost like saying the IRA rifles are just like nurf guns because the British had tanks :)

Come on lad. Try not to let your bias show that much. Call a spade a spade.

@SPQH: it wouldn’t matter what Israel did, Hamas would still find a pretext to attack the Jews. They want to look tougher against Israel than their Fatah rivals.

@Tom Ripley: I’ll call a spade a spade. You are a troll with a suspended twitter account. How’d that happen? Was it the woke brigade, or maybe the MSM, or even Bill Gates?! You don’t answer hard questions though. AND you support trump. You. Are. A. Joke. ;)

@John Mulligan: if the Israeli stopped killing Palestinians & evicting them taking their land in the Westbank so they can install more settlement,

@Squarepeg01: ehm, I think it’s a lot less facile than you make out…

@John Mulligan: I would suggest you go an look at the testimonies or videos of Israeli soldiers floating around to know exactly what is going on here….

@Kilkenny Friends of Israel: Kilkenny Friends of Israel.
Do ye play hurling…what joke..ffs

@Diarmuid O’Braonáin: among those ‘protesters’ were militants carrying balloons laden with bombs. And rushing an international border with hostile intent is liable to get you shot, anywhere. I don’t particularly like the theocratic right in Israel, but I still accept the need for a Jewish state that exists primarily as a haven for Jewish people, because without the protection of such a state in the ME, Jews cannot live there with any degree of safety.

@Squarepeg01: you really think that having a Jewish only state in the birth place of 3 major world religions is a good idea. Not only that but forcefully evicting the native populations of Christians and muslims. Where are they gonna go, into the sea? Not only that but Jewish people all over the world are invited to live in Israel granted automatic citizenship even though muslims who family lives there for generations are denied citizenship. They are 2nd class citizens based on religion. Secular states work but as in Northern Ireland prioritising one religion over another caused conflict. Happened in Northern Ireland. There will never be peace in the middle east as long as Israel goes down the road it’s on. Equality of opportunity for all or conflict. Do they really think that bombing and killing the Palestinians is going to make them stop trying to defend themselves and fight for a better life and existence. Look at the US war in Vietnam. The Vietnamese won because where else were they gonna go. Doesn’t matter how many bombs are dropped they will continue to fight and never stop. Is the Israelis expansion in the west bank helping thing?? Nope. Is the stealing of resources from the west bank helping things? No. Are the Israeli soldiers in the west bank helping things. No. What you are talking about means nothing there are bigger issues.