war in Gaza

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
I can see how someone can get confused between 10 and 12 bodies, but do not understand how a medical worker can get confused between 12 and 70 bodies. There is a difference.

Of course, as I pointed out, nobody confused 12 and 70 bodies. There is agreement that 10-12 bodies were inside the house. An ICRC volunteer also reported an additional 60 bodies outside the house. The Times article, which showed no evidence that the reporter interviewed anyone who had been at the scene, did not mention bodies outside the house. Obviously, the 60 bodies outside could be a lie or exaggeration, or this could be a failure by the Times to conduct adequate reporting. Clearly, the best way to clarify this is for Israel to allow the international media in so that first-hand reporting can be conducted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

480 in ten years

and 750 in 13 days

You didn't know? A Jewish life is worth more. There is an order. White Europe lives at the top. You kill one of them, it is like killing say 1000 Africans.
Jews and Arabs are in between, but Jewish lives are still worth a lot more than Arabs.

are you for real???? this is an absurd comment.

[Anonymous]

Absurd, yes, but there is some truth behind it.

[jsteele]

Just to follow up on my earlier posts about the killing in Zeitoun. It was correctly pointed out that the story of a massacre of up to 70 people has not been reported in the major media outside the Telegraph. I've just come across a first-hand account of the killing that was reported to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem.

http://www.btselem.org/english/Testimonies/20090108_Soldiers_kill_and_wound_members_of_a_Samuni_family.asp

There are some differences in this story from the Telegraph account. Namely:

1) The B'tselem report says that the number of people initially rounded up in the house is 70 rather than 100;
2) The number killed according to the B'tselem report is closer to 30 than 70 (and 70 would be impossible if the total number in the house was 70 because there are survivors).

What is clear is that a significant number of civilians were killed by Israelis in a house in which Israeli soldiers had confined them. Moreover, the ICRC was kept from reaching the location for several days.

Obviously, when over 700 people (including 257 children according to the UN) are killed within a few days, there are lots of incidences like this.

[Anonymous]

Wrenching story. I can't imagine what it must be like to have your family killed around you like the poor woman whose testimony is on the B'tselem site. And to have nowhere to go to find safety.

[Anonymous]

Why would anyone put 70 people in one house? That by itself is a bit suspicious. I would not go into a house with that many people after the Israelis said to. It was a set up.

[Anonymous]

Can someone please tell me why the US always sides with Israel even when they are wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please tell me why the US always sides with Israel even when they are wrong?

Do you know what happens to politicians who don't side with Israel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone please tell me why the US always sides with Israel even when they are wrong?

Do you know what happens to politicians who don't side with Israel?

It's only recently (like in the past 10-ish years) that you could even talk about Israeli oppression of Palestinians without automatically being labeled an anti-Semite (although it still happens an awful lot). Further, those who throw around the term "anti-Semite" often don't know / have forgotten / choose to ignore the fact that Arabs are Semites too.

[Anonymous]

Do you know what happens to politicians who don't side with Israel?

Politicians, authors, professors, journalists, actors...remember the whole rucus that surrounded Mearsheimer and Walt's book on the disproportionate influence of the pro-Israel lobby on US policy? Book stores wouldn't even CARRY their book or schedule them for appeareances. In my mind, that whole incident was nothing short of disgusting. Whether you subscribe to that view or not, it is ridiculous that the work wasn't even available in many serious book stores. (Kudos to our own Politics & Prose for both carrying the book and scheduling them to talk, by the way!) Also, remember the controversy surrounding that "My Name is Rachel Corrie" theater piece, about the American woman that was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza? Theaters all over the place were forced into cancelling production of that. There are lots of examples like this, and in my view, it is a really serious issue when there can't even be open discussion - including discussion that questions Israel - without fear of reprisal.

[Anonymous]

And let's remember why Rachel Corrie was killed in the first place. This was another example of Israeli disregard for human life outside of Israeli lives.

She was crushed by a bulldozer while non-violently protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you know what happens to politicians who don't side with Israel?

Politicians, authors, professors, journalists, actors...remember the whole rucus that surrounded Mearsheimer and Walt's book on the disproportionate influence of the pro-Israel lobby on US policy? Book stores wouldn't even CARRY their book or schedule them for appeareances. In my mind, that whole incident was nothing short of disgusting. Whether you subscribe to that view or not, it is ridiculous that the work wasn't even available in many serious book stores. (Kudos to our own Politics & Prose for both carrying the book and scheduling them to talk, by the way!) Also, remember the controversy surrounding that "My Name is Rachel Corrie" theater piece, about the American woman that was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza? Theaters all over the place were forced into cancelling production of that. There are lots of examples like this, and in my view, it is a really serious issue when there can't even be open discussion - including discussion that questions Israel - without fear of reprisal.

So, does this get you to question the freedom that we are so proud of in the US?

[Anonymous]

So, does this get you to question the freedom that we are so proud of in the US?

More than a little...

[Anonymous]

Look, it scares me. My husband is Jewish, and we are thinking of raising our kids Jewish, but this one issue, namely the Israel lobby and Israeli politics makes me wonder. I 'm not sure that I want my kids to be a part of that mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone put 70 people in one house? That by itself is a bit suspicious. I would not go into a house with that many people after the Israelis said to. It was a set up.

Of course it was a set-up, but they would have been shot anyway. They did not have freedom of choice to protest the Israeli's orders.