His nutty Christian fundamentalist base genuinely believe Israel's ascension would speed up the rapture and bring back the Messiah.
This is all too true. The Arab world couldn't care less for the Palestinian plight outside of paying lip service to their population. The focus for them is Iran, so in that respect they consider Israel a covert ally.
No, again, it is not.
The clue is the words: Islamism and Islamist are relatively new terms. There was no terrorist activity in Iraq, Syria, Libya, or any other Middle East countries prior to last few decades. Iraqi invasion was the making of ISIS. The facts are there was no terrorist activity in the world prior to Russian aggression in Afghanistan when Al Qaeeda were created. The only flashpoints were in the land occupied by Israel.
Hear, hear.
Fair enough, I read the first sentence as agreement with @Sultan's post which in my understanding amounts to just that. The points I made were an answer to that particular argumentation, so it's probably better to take the discussion over there.
Recent narrative suggests Muslims invented terrorism.
Until very recently in the UK you would not be eligible to contest a Parliamentary seat unless you signed a "friends of Israel" declaration. Our local MP and her Jewish husband are barred from entering Israel for questioning and debating their conduct in Parliament. So much for being the only democracy and a beacon of free speech in the Middle East.
That's going to be one lonely embassy. Although based on UN voting records on the status of Jerusalem, maybe Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu will join them.
There still remains a gap that you cannot bridge with this interpretation. How do we come from 'anger about imperialism' to killing Muslim 'apostates', throwing gays from rooftops, oppressing and violating women by law and deed, committing massacres in mosques, synagogues, bars, schools, kindergartens? Where is the missing link?
Depending on how it is put, I don't deny that, but I specifically criticized the way you depicted it.
Hamas, ISIS, Al Qaeeda and their likes in my opinion have done a massive disservice to the legitimate causes of Palestinians. They deserve to be called out on their actions. However, I rarely, if ever, hear any acknowledgement from friends of Israel the devastation, massacres and misery they have caused the Palestinians. State sponsored terrorism by Israel under the guise of self protection is on a another scale. Just because the Israelis' are suited fundamentalists, elected by a fundamentalist population does not make them any better than any other terrorist group. Basically Fundamentalists have created counter fundamentalists. That is the reality of the region.
As ugly as many aspects of Israeli wars and the occupation were and are, I don't think it has been on another scale to what has happened in other ME war zones. Both currently and historically. Also not to the methods of the Arab/Palestinian militants over the decades, whose damage was only limited (in relative terms) due to being the weaker side. So a different scale in terms of military power, absolutely, but in terms of general brutality, no.
Would guess some of the following might fall outside your time line.
Sure, a unique relationship between Israel and the US exists for many reasons, I already meant to acknowledge this in the post you quoted. But my general point was more that any discussion on these issues has to first seperate facts from fiction. And as various recent discussion strands in this and the Iraq/Syria thread show, that is a major problem. There's just so much stuff made up, left out, blown out of proportion about Israel and the Middle East in general.
Agreed. But I wonder what the Israeli right wing have in mind. They must have known that this would kill the 2 state solution. And they definitely know what a one state solution with equal rights for all would mean.
The settlements are the focus of the ICC preliminary investigation. Violation of Fourth Geneva Convention is a war crime.
There was a UN General Assembly vote passed on Jerusalem last week. It passed 151-6 (Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, United States). The usual. Not one state in all of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America supports Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
The use of white phosphorus on civilian populations, the brutalisation of the last two to three generations of Palestinian children (i.e. the fact that you can get years in jail for throwing a fecking stone at a fully kitted out soldier), and so many other aspects of Israeli rule in the region betray the image you are trying to present of Israel... And I won't even begin on what happened in Hebron, where an innocent population was punished for being the victims of a terror attack perpetrated by a squatter-settler. If you want to see what the Israeli apartheid regime will look like if taken to its nth degree, then you need look no further than Hebron.
Yes, WEST Jerusalem. Once again. 151-6
