Manny, Israel has had the power to commit genocide for decades. What do you suppose it’s waiting for?

Frank, the freedoms that were being demanded in the days of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and in the struggle for the end of South African apartheid, were entirely available to the Palestinians, with Israeli agreement, from 1947-1948, and up until 1967. Do you understand that what was being demanded by the Palestinians is something quite different?

“Sadly Glad”, assuming “we” means the U.S., the answer is: because, beyond religious specifics, the people of the U.S. have much more in common politically, culturally, philosophically and morally with Israel that with anyone else in the region (without pretending that all aspects of the commonality are pristine and savoury).

All of your posts demonstrate a complete absence of balance on the problems between Israel and the Palestinians. You are openly hateful, and your comments add no insight to a discussion of these problems. You seem to think that by speaking of Israel as an exceptionally despicable murderer-state in the mold of those created by Pol Pot, Idi Amin and Saddam that you can manufacture hostility against Israel. Perhaps, given a suitably ignorant audience, on this point you pseudonymous haters may be right.

I would remind interested readers that there is exactly one country in the region where: voters can boot out their government at regular intervals; educational institutions offer among the finest education available anywhere, as attested to by enormous successes in technology and medicine; an overwhelming majority has no illusions about expanding their territory and eliminating their opponents as a society; sites deemed “holy” to various religions, majority and minority, are energetically safeguarded.

The situation out there is lousy, and it will take some pretty impressive personalities on all sides to work things out. Ask yourself if you wish to align yourself with extremists and rejectionists, or, with those who might one day hammer out an agreement that each side finds equally but tolerably distasteful.

Level practically an entire country and kill and maim thousands because one group of people, not acting as the legitimate military of that country captures two of your soldiers?  Rather sounds like level a whole country and kill thousands of its citizens because you don’t like its leader. 

Welcome to war Israeli/American style.  (I wonder if we’d level France if some “terrorist cell” in that country captured two Americans.  Probably.)

Israel is simply degenerating (or blossoming?) into the militarist, expansionist, ethnic supremacist, megalomaniacally delusional monster that inhered in its founding premise.

“Chosen” indeed. Why the hell must we remain shackled to this abusive, greedy, ungrateful, and withal outrageously sanctimonious “ally”?

Perhaps the Zionist zealots have given up, or have been replaced by men of reason or weaker ideas of dominance by Heavenly Decree. Most of the current generals of the IDF got their combat experience by shooting at kids, old men and women. They know a lot about house demolition and targeted killing, but little about peace and human cooperation. They know nothing at all about the will of a suppressed people determined to live free or die. They should read the history of the American Revolution, and the Civil War. They should study the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s movement. And they should take the history lesson of South Africa. They should even study their own history over the past 5000 years, especially that part where they became slaves and when they massacred neighboring tribes on the order from God, as passed down by their Patriarchs.

If they really want a lesson in peace, they should read the pleas for justice from the leaders of Palestine.

Israel is under the delusional impression that it is unbeatable in warfare.
Maybe because they have been killing
Palestine women and children that going to Lebanon was just a piece of cake. Well, certainly killing Labanese women and children was right up their ally but dealing with Hezbollah was a another matter. I think the new Israeli generation will continue the policy of genocide towards the Palestine people but also Israel will have to deal with a new breed of Arab. They have arrived and the world is coming to terms with their reality.