Yep. Guess you missed the thread(s). IIRC, he may have apologized for his words, but he made his feelings quite clear. Now he just takes every possible opportunity to take biased shots at Israel. As far as I have noticed or can discern, he is the only openly anti-semite who posts regularly on the BBS. Others may disagree and think some others are also, but I don't assume anti-Israeli-policy automatically means anti-semitic.
cohen, 1) it's obvious we disagree. 2) your personal attacks do nothing to prove your point, but does point out a lot about your own character. the reason i consistently speak out against israeli policies is because i believe they are the dominant power in this quandry. however much the palestinians and other arab terrorist groups may foolishly blow themselves and others up, they can never change the realities on the ground and remove the root cause of all this strife, namely the occupation of palestine. similarly, for all the clamor the arab league and the rest of the world may stir up, none of them can remove the settlements, the fences, the blockades, or the tanks, and certainly nobody is going to march against a nuclear-armed israel. only israel can effect the key changes. and hence on them the onus for change falls. in this situation, i see both parties unwilling to change. however, the PLO has been obviously powerless to rein in terror even if it tried, while Israel could stop its provocations if it was convinced to try. hence, that's where we, as the US, need to exert pressure.
bbnp4l, i once made a comment that the lessons of the holocaust, namely compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, and understanding, seems to have been lost on the jews themselves and that the holocaust has been overused and abused to justify hate in general, during a discussion about kurt waldheim and arnold schwarzenegger. cohen insisted on the existence of a link between this historical/social observation and anti-semitism. even though i apologised for the potential misunderstanding this may have caused, cohen continued to make personal attacks against me then, and he's making them again here in an entirely different discussion. coincidently, cohen also believes that the UN, and all the countries that didn't vote against condemning israel (that would be everyone except america and israel), are out to get israel. woe to anyone who steps on his fragile sensibilities!
A racist complaining about a personal attack, and questioning some one else's character. Now that's classic. I begin with the assumption that each human, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, sex, etc. deserves my utmost respect. Racist folk lack respect for others, and I lose all respect for them. You earned my disdain.
There was no misunderstanding. Your comments were much more elucidative than you would apparently have preferred.
why don't you start one? and perhaps in the process show me the proof that these two events are at all related? and if you're real good, maybe you can also show me how one among hundreds of suicide bombings justifies provoking an international incident which could potentially turn the entire middle east into flaming hell?
I must be tired, because I can't remember (or didn't look into the thread). Anyone have a link? I guess I'm missing how the Holocaust is supposed to have taught compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and understanding. I do think the current Israeli government is extremist, as is the Palestinian Authority and several of the remaining Arab states, to one degree or another. I don't think the tag applies to the people living there, in the main, just their current governments.
i don't know what's more classic. your paranoia or your ignornace. i begin with the assumption that each human, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, sex, etc. has the potential to be decent, compassionate, and well-adjusted. paranoid and ignorant folk have lost this capacity, and i feel sorry for them.
i entirely agree here. i know there are plenty of israelis who do not support their govt's current extremist policies, and i've applauded them on this bbs. but how can that be possible? after all, i'm supposed to be racist right?
Paranoid ... I recall 2 two anti-semites on this boad in 4 years. Hmmm. Ignorant? Reagrding what, specifically?
Name one Israeli or Jew on this board who is COMPLETELY against Israeli policy. The hardest response to a suicide bombing is to determine what justice is. The murderer has already been killed, so does that mean that Israel should just forget about it? All of this seems so F'ing hopeless. Why are there always attacks around Jewish Holidays? The Yom Kippur War, the huge hotel suicide bombing at a passover dinner, the Rosh Hashanah murder this year, and now more violence around Yom Kippur? My point? These terrorist groups want ALL Jews DEAD. The worst thing that they can do is attack on a holiday to strike fear in Jews to do the thing that is most important, observe the high holidays. Even today in synogauge, I had a thought of "what if someone comes in here with a bomb?" Last week a pro-palestinian hacker, hacked into my synogauge's website. The funny thing is, even if Israel had proof that the Syrian Islamic Jihad base existed and was being used, the UN wouldnt give permission to Israel to do anything. Why should Israel trust the UN when it has repeatedly denounced its every defensive action? Screw International law, screw the UN, screw the terrorists and the countries that harbor them.. you hit me, I hit you 3 times harder. Israel could wipe out all the terrorist organizations if it wished. You terrorist apologists should be thankful that they show restraint.
Lil, misread the first part.. thought you meant Israeli's/Jews on this website that are against the war. And those Israeli's that are against the policies are a very small percentage of the population. In a democracy there will always be people who criticize the government, so it is expected.
well, i can off the top of my head list 10 israeli policies i admire. can you? 1) maintaining a true multi-party democracy in an inhospitable political environment 2) having an open immigration policy (even if only for jews) 3) building the world's finest military and intelligence services 4) reclaiming the negev desert 5) allowing access to jerusalem for most people 6) building a high-tech economy in a resource-poor land 7) conducting a first-rate education system and world-class research 8) turning the kibbutz system into a viable economic model 9) reinvigorating jewish culture and the hebrew tradition after millenia of diaspora 10) allowing a multiplicity of opinion to exist in the press in a largely free society however, i do NOT admire other israeli policies, such as: 1) illegally occupying foreign territories 2) building settlements in occupied territories 3) violating human rights in occupied territories 4) assasinating political leaders with tenuous linkages to terrorism 5) bombing/bulldozing residential areas 6) denying the right of return to millions of refugees 7) hypocritically possessing nuclear weapons while demanding others give them up 8) kidnapping and executing 90-year old men who are citizens of other countries 9) unilaterally violating other nation's sovereignty through invasion or bombing 10) taking US dollars to develop weapons which they then sell to enemies of the US i could also find 20 things to condemn about the PLO. but i digress. --------------- is this racist or biased? i guess in order to please some people, i've got to start a thread singing praises of Israeli democracy for every thread i start lamenting the occupation. and one condemning suicide bombings for every one condemning foolhardy israeli military operations. it's almost like demanding that we rehash the unjust treaty of versailles every time we discuss the atrocities committed by nazi germany. what's wrong is wrong. it's a sign of culpability to have to look for excuses every time someone examines Israel's actions. what IS biased is the title of this thread. it should simply read Israel attacks Syria. Nobody (at least on this BBS) knows yet whether it's really an Islamic Jihad base, and to state it as if it is a fact shows that a person has been receptive only to the Israeli version and justification of events, when even America's closest allies, UK, Germany, etc. believed that this attack was unacceptable.
Hey. on what basis are you calling Lil anti-semitic? or racist? Put up or shut up. Now that you have gotten more explicit in your name calling, including using the types of personal cuss words that have gotten other posters banned, I think you should state your case.
A good article on the Israeli attack on Syria. ********* Israel's attack is a lethal step towards war in Middle East Robert Fisk in Beirut Israel received the Green Light. It came from what is called the Syria Accountability Act, moving through the United States Congress with the help of Israel's supporters, that will impose sanctions on Damascus for its supposed enthusiasm for "terrorism" and occupation of Lebanon. Speaker after speaker in the past week has been warning that Syria is the new - or old, or non-existent - threat previously represented by Iraq: that it has weapons of mass destruction, that it has biological warheads, that it received Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction just before we began our illegal invasion of Iraq in March. The Israeli lie about "thousands" of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon has been uncloaked yet again. In reality, there hasn't been an Iranian militant in Lebanon for 20 years. But who cares? The dictatorial Syrian regime - and dictatorial it most decidedly is - has to be struck after a Jenin woman lawyer, who has probably never visited Damascus in her life, blows herself and 19 innocent Israelis up in Haifa. And why not? If America can strike Afghanistan for the international crimes against humanity of 11 September 2001, when 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis, and if America can invade Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with 11 September, why shouldn't Israel strike Syria? Yes, Syria does support Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But in Iraq is based the Mujahideen Khalq, which bombs Iran, and the Americans have not bombed them. In Jerusalem exists a government that openly threatens the life of Yasser Arafat but no one suggests action should be taken against the Israeli administration. In Jerusalem lives a prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who was adjudicated to be "personally responsible" by Israel's own Kahane commission of enquiry for the massacre of up to 1,700 Palestinian civilians at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut in 1982. But he is not going on trial for war crimes. Of course, Syria is going to take the air strikes on the 'training base" of Islamic Jihad to the United Nations. Much good will it do Damascus. When the United States cannot bring itself to support a resolution condemning Israel's threat to murder Arafat, when it will not stop the Israelis building 600 more houses - for Jews and Jews only - on Palestinian land, air raids on Syria simply don't matter. Perhaps Lebanon will benefit. Perhaps Lebanon can now be spared Israel's retaliation for Palestinian violence - unless, of course, Israel decides to strike a Palestinian "training base" in Lebanon. No one asks what these "training bases" are. Do Palestinian suicide bombers really need to practice suicide bombing? Does turning a switch need that much training? Surely the death of a brother or a cousin by the Israeli army is all the practice that is needed. But no. Yesterday, we took another little lethal step along the road to Middle East war, establishing facts on the ground, proving that it's permissible to bomb the territory of Syria in the "war against terror", which President Bush has himself declared now includes Gaza. And the precedents are there if we need them. Back in 1983, when President Reagan thought he was fighting a "war on terror" in the Middle East, he ordered his air force to bomb the Syrian army in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley, losing a pilot and allowing the Syrians to capture his co-pilot, who was only returned after a prolonged and politically embarrassing negotiation by Jesse Jackson. In an era when America is ready to threaten the invasion of Syria and Iran - part of that infamous "axis of evil" - this may seem small beer. But Syria itself has seen what has happened to America's army in Iraq, and is emboldened by its humiliation to avenge the attacks of Israel or America, whatever the cost. If America cannot control Iraq, why should Syria fear Israel? link
first let me say that i feel bad that jewish people have to live in fear. as a taiwanese, i know exactly how unpleasant and unfair being constantly threatened with destruction can be, and it ain't no way to live. but i see the palestinians in a similar plight. don't you? also, i want to dispel the myth that terrorist groups want all jews dead. mostly they just want them out of palestine. and i do think many can be reasoned with and be amenable to two-state solutions. see the previous ceasefires, particularly during rabin's tenure. obviously there will be extremists (in a relative sense) on both sides, and these should be eradicated. however, in times of despair extremism always finds plenty of willing ears. only hope will bring moderation. the least Israel could have done was inform us, the US, in advance. right now, this feels like pre-WW1, and we've just issued a blank check to israel to provoke any country they please. and in the end, it's us american taxpayers that's going to have to go in hat in hand, pay the bills and clean up after them. israel can never wipe out all the terrorists. so long as its unjust policies persist, where they kill one terrorist, ten will rise to take his/her place. right now, israel is killing a lot more palestinians than vice versa. but it's only a matter of time before terrorists get their hands on WMD. what then? oh and one more thing, this thread was never about apologising for terror, it's about israel bombing syria.
