My daughter has worked in Israel, helping children decorate their bomb shelters so that they would not be so frightened during their frequent required visits there, due to bombing of their communities by Hamas. The recent military activities were intended to put a stop to that bombing.
The fact that the military action caused civilian casualties on the arab side is equally tragic, but it was not where the trouble in that particular area began.
If our own communities were bombed in this manner by anyone, no matter how legitimate they might find their claims to land and the propriety of the bombing, we would do the same thing - protect our communities. So would most any country.
As for having 75% of the land taken away, as I recall, most of the arab lands that were taken by Israel were taken in a war that the arabs began in an attempt to wipe Israel off the map. This is not an unheard of outcome of a war when one starts it in a neighboring country and loses; borders shift all the time from such actions -- and even moreso when the attacking country wins.
There is no intent on the arab side to negotiate any lasting peace; they have a long-term goal of destroying Israel.
Sounds like you support that goal.
Israel, on the other hand, does not have a goal of detroying the Palestinians, only the miltant factions that insist on continuing the military actions against Israel.
The conflict there goes back thousands of years, and is not likely to see justice from any perspective, nor a lasting peace, in our lifetimes. That is indeed a tragedy, no matter how you view the situation.
The biggest hypocrisy of the United States is undoubtedly something far worse than foreign aid to some country in a disproportionate manner to its population; most everyone can probably find something bigger.
The joke is funny; while I didn't tell it, as I said, I thought it was funny when the characters were the Taliban and our Special Forces. You may disagree with my interpretation of history (all history is subject to interpretation), and you may be offended by which people were put on which side of the joke, which requires a "side" with military inferiority and a side with military superiority. The joke is of course an exaggeration and arises from a serious situation - a good portion of humor has its origins in that way. Certainly, for any joke, someone may find it stupid, someone else may find it funny, and someone else may find it offensive. That's humor.
--BG
···
==============
2b. Re: Fwd: : TRUST AN ISRAELI
Date: Sun Mar 8, 2009 3:10 am ((PDT))This is one of the stupidist thiings I have ever seen on vpFREE. The joke was
not a joke. It's stupid, period. Try getting 75% of your arable land taken
away from you, all your arms. Get your ass pushed up against the rocks. Let's
see how you will respond. Are you a man or a mouse. What would you do if your
family were treated that way. Try fighting against American weapons. Try
fighting against American fighter planes. How did they get all that crap? Oh,
let's see if we can figure it out.Oh, yeah, that's right. If the communists were going to gain a stretchhold in
the middle east it would be at the hotbet-Palistine. If an American friendly
country were to be formed there it would put a stopper in the Russian ass.How about all that oil that comes out of the Persian Gulf. How about a Suez
Canal that is blocked. If an American friendly country is sitting on the
shoreline it's gonna be very hard for someone to block that canal. Most of that
oil comes down the Persian Gulf, into the Suez Canal, across the Mediterreanan,
then out into the Atlantic, and comes straight across to America, some of it
goes north to the European countries.Israel could not exist without American money. A country that represents less
than 1% of the worlds population gets 20 times more than we give to any other
country. It's the biggest hypocrisy of the United States. That's the bottom
line. They take what we give them then they send some back to American
politicians who will run against anyone who does not back Israel.
====================