Protesters arrested at Gaza conflict demonstration
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January 8, 2009 11:15 AM
(George Rizer/Globe Staff)
One of the protesters being led out of the building.
By Globe Staff
Boston Police arrested several people today when protesters opposed to Israel’s military incursion into the Gaza Strip rushed the lobby at the Park Plaza Building, which houses the Israeli Consulate.
Overwhelmed lobby personnel scuffled briefly with the demonstrators, who then lay down on the floor. Police were called and some of the protesters were arrested.
Judith Glaubman, a spokeswoman for the protesters, said four people were arrested.
“The people who did civil disobedience are in solidarity with the people of Gaza, who are being held in captivity,” she said. “There needs to be an immediate cease-fire and an end to the siege.”
Nadav Tamir, consul general from Israel to New England, defended Israel's actions, saying, “I think most Americans understand that what we’re doing is self-defense and we’re doing what any government would do, which is protect our citizens.”
Police said they found about 20 protesters on the scene when they were called at 8:13 a.m. and some arrests were made. Neither the exact number of arrests nor any other details were immediately available, a police spokeswoman said.
Israel's military campaign, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians, follows years of terrorist rocket fire from Gaza on Israeli civilians. Wire services reported this morning that Israel; Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip; and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have begun talks with Egypt to try to reach a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
Members of Boston's Jewish community were expected to rally tonight in support of Israel at Congregation Mishkan Tefila, a Chestnut Hill temple.
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What better way to protest and alleged incursion, than with a real one.
This groups next moves WILL BE violent. mark my words.
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
get a job you hippies.
i didn't see any protests against the palestinians when they were hurling rockets at israel before all of this started
Don't these protesters realize that once they break laws and create spectacles they lose any point they may have had?
Beside, Israel is completely right in attacking Hamas. Should they just let them continue to lob rockets at civilian centers?
I think Israel has made their point already. Enough killing innocent civilians.
God forbid a nation defends itself from a governing body made up of Islamic extremist terrorists. Death, especially for civilians, is horrible on either side, but Hammas is using the media and all its leftwing, terrorist sympathizing power to gain opposition against Israel for retaliating against their violent aggression. On top of that, these cowards purposely position themselves in densely populated areas so that civilian casualties will be imminent should their enemies use deadly force. For once, can't we take sides with those who fight AGAINST Islamic extremists?
Can't wait for these religious nuts to kill each other off........then we can have world peace.
If Mexico or Canada lobbed hundreds of missles into the U.S. would these
knuckleheads still protest our right to strike back?
Seems more and more U.S. citizens like terrorism these days.
Ah, reminds me of the old days when I worked downtown at Ropes and Gray. The Harvard morons decided to invade the offices over Harvard's interests in South Africa, and the senior patner sat on the board (but he didn't come in that day, advance warning maybe?) Who do you think got sent in to deal with them? Us young guys who worked in the mail room. These people are idiots. I'm sure the Israeli authorities, and Hamas, will take into account a protest in Boston. "We must stop, twenty people in Boston are upset."
Why dont these hippies go live in Gaza?
Don't the numbers speak for themelves? Over 700 Palestinians killed, with only half confirmed as militants. Less than 10 Israelis have been killed. Life is precious and death cannot be measured through numbers. But, does this look like a fair war?
How could England and the U.S. in 1948 give the Jewish people land that did not belong to any of them - how does this happen?
How would we feel if the Mexicans took over Texas, armed and back by China, what would the residents of Texas and the U.S. do, let them take over?
Why do we feel the Eastern European Jews belong in Palestine, what is there connection there? Please don't say they are Semites , They are NOT!
Please look into the history of this area yourself - don't believe what you see the news.
You would think all those freaks would be in Harvard Sqaure this morning celebrating Harvard's upset win over BC
didnt you read the article about protestors being arrested for demonstrations against Hamas for injuring and killing the "innocent Israeli citizens"
oh wait...
Good for them! Its time we stop sending $$ to the Zionists to kill the Palestinians. We (the US) should be helping the Palestinians by sending in the USAF to bomb the Israeli Air Force, the Knesset, the Israeli Navy. We (the US) should not stoop to the levels of the Isreali armies and skip over bombing schools and we should not shoot up relief trucks. But we (the US) should take out all Israeli military and political targets.
I bet you this people are just pacificist who don't even understand or know details about what is going on
Disagree with any side as much as you want. If you decide to interrupt businesses, and create chaos as a form of demonstration, you are simply an arrogant, biased person. What did you achieve? Taking your picture in handcuffs? So now I will be sympathizing with Palestinians or Hamas? Violence is wrong, and it is also wrong to demonstrate that way. Israel is responding (and one may disagree on the degree) to direct attacks on its people. Palestinians are still fighting for what is considered unfair division of land in 1948. What is next? give the right to any nation that lost a war to reclaim lost territory after 100 or 200 yeas through violence. Let us all move on. Read history.
The irony in all this is one of the first statements the Israeli military published when this started:
something to the effect of "the attacks will continue until peace is achieved"
Does anyone else see anything fundamentally flawed about that statement?
That's like saying
"the beatings will continue until morale improves"
I hope the average person realizes that all of these protests are nothing more than a chance to express anti-semetism. There are many people who like nothing more than finding a way to express hatred for the Jewish religion. Israel is not a perfect country by any means. However, I ask these "protestors" would what they do if someone was shelling northern Vermont. The kind of answer they give to this question will tell if they truly are making a point or expressing hatred.
Alex and Tim, just a correction of facts - Israel is the one who broke the truce and ceasefire and started this whole mayhem. They broke it on Nov 4 and 6 when they attacked Gaza and killed 6 and 4 Palestinians an incident after which Hamas resumed firing its rockets. Check cnn's rick sanchez report on youtube. Most western media has been uttering the Israeli story only and rarely showing Palestinian viewpoints, you deserve to know both sides of the story.
"What better way to protest and alleged incursion, than with a real one."
That is one of the best lines I've read in quite some time-- nicely done :-)
And how refreshing it is to see a thread in the Globe with people being rational...although I suppose it's only a matter of time before we get inundated with ridiculous posts telling us how Israel is worse than Nazi Germany for protecting its citizens, etc. Sigh.
I thought these people were protesting AGAINST violence and invasion of soverign territory? If so, then why are they busting into a hotel and fighting with security there? I smell hippiecrits.
In return for a stop to the Hamas rockets, Israel must stop its seige of Gaza. Israel imposed this seige after their backing of Fatah in a brief civil war against Hamas ended with a rout of Fatah. If the US is serious about promoting democracy in the Middle East, then we must allow the people of Palestine to be governed by the people they elect. In this case they elected Hamas.
The majority of people dying are cilvillians. Did England call in airstrikes in Dublin and Belfast in response to IRA bombings?
The best way to stop the violence is for hammas to STOP LAUNCHING ROCKETS IN ISRAEL - pretty simple...
I know very little about the israel/ Palestine situation. However I do know that Israel is our allie and those who appose our allies get short shrift in the US media and US minds. I know this because I am an Irish Republician and support Sinn Fein and the IRA. It seems that the Palestinians along with the Republicians and Nationalist of the North of Ireland, want a homeland, civil and equial rights and the right of self-determination.
What is wrong with that?
Those who oppose the protesters at the hotel this morning, simply do not know what you are talking about.
This is not defense against anything. Israel is the terrorist organization right now. 700 palestinian deaths to what, a dozen israelis? Those rockets they fire are glorified bottle rockets. Hamas has no tanks, no aircraft, no laser guided anything.
The death is disproportionate and the US is silent about it because we enjoy israel taking our heat for us in the middle east. Neither side is right but israel is without question MORE wrong right now.
So, let's see...how many Israeli's were killed or injured as a result of the qassam rockets fired by Hamas? I believe before the Israeli action in December, the number was around 13.....since 2001. So...let's put this in perspective......so the 13 killed since 2001 were murdered....murdered for being Israeli living on contested land. The Hamas truce ends - much to the relief of Hamas and Israel - giving Hamas an excuse to fire more rockets and providing Israel with the casus belli to launch a full scale invasion of Gaza (timed to occur during the last days of the Bush administration). How many Palestinians have been killed during the recent attacks by Israel? About 689 and counting....a third of which appear to be children.
The Israeli army has killed more journalists than these Hamas rockets have killed civilians (around 2 people a year). I don't think that justifies killing hundreds Palestinians. And enough with the O'Reilly-esque Islamo-fascist chat - one of the main practical reasons the Palestinian people have ever supported Hamas was because they were the only ones who could offer education and fund hospitals (albeit with money from Iran etc) because the Israelis had shut down, and Fatah had terribly mismanaged, the local infrastructure at every opportunity.
Why do people feel the need to alert the media to watch them express their jew hate? These "protesters" need to be culled.
I'm sick of these jobless professional protesters showing up anywhere on a whim. Got a beef with what's going on? Then have the guts to go over to where the problem is and protest.
Bring back the billy club.
As great as the cease fire was for stopping violence, it kept Gaza's borders (with Israel and Egypt) sealed, thereby providing zero economic opportunities for the people of Gaza ... all in hopes of having citizens turn against their elected government. The terms of that cease fire were unsustainable.
Should Hamas fire rockets at Israeli civilians? No. Should Israel kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza in their counter-attacks? No. And perhaps the reason the media comes down harder on Israel is because the number of dead Palesitnian civilians is much, much greater than the number of dead Israeli civlians.
Give them a one way ticket to Gaza and let them protest over there
I'm sure the Israeli government just went online and said "Wait a minute! Twenty losers without jobs just laid down on a floor in Boston! Let's change course immediately!"
20 years ago they threw sticks......15 years ago they threw rocks.....10 years ago, flaming bottles of gasoline... 5 Years ago small rockets....now larger rockets. At what point does a nation have a proper excuse to excercise it's right to protect it's citizens?
Good for these people! The US is so pro Israel it's pathetic.
Why is it that we denounce Palestinians who have far less superior firepower to defend their land? It was their land. I never understood the logic except that we have people in the US with lots of $$ who keep are tax dollars streaming steadily to the Israeli cause. The US sided with The British in Northern Ireland too didn't they? See a pattern here.
Hammas is asking Israel to open the borders of Gaza. Israel refuses to do so because the borders are used to smuggle in more rockets. Gaza claims they need the borders open to imports food..... What is the solution and who should we believe? We all know the state of Israel was created on Palestinian land. That was over 60 years ago. The people who live in Israel now think of it as home. It is too late to deport all Israelis and return the land to the Palestinians. It will not happen no matter how many rockets Hammas or Hezbollah lob into Israel. Can Hammas be trusted ? No. The solution is a lot more complicated than many may think. If Israel does not erradicate Hammas' fire power and cut their financing from (too many to mention), this conflict will last forever. If the Palestinians remove Hammas from power, then Hammas will act is just a fighting liberation army, not a government.
Kudos to the Boston protesters! The world needs to know that there are Jews who do not support Israeli war crimes in Gaza and who want the attacks on civilians to end NOW!
Moral of the story to Hamas? "Don't Poke The Bear"
Can someone please tell me why ISRAEL IS IN THE WRONG by protecting itself? Answer me this! If a 1000 people showed up in front of your home and started throwing bricks, and molotov cocktails at it, how many seconds? minutes? hours? days? will it take for you to act? WELL ISRAEL HAS WAITED YEARS!!!! By defending Hamas YOU DEFEND THE VERY PEOPLE THAT KILLED OVER 3000 PEOPLE ON 9-11. These protesters fuel the emotional fire that Hamas and Hezbollah long for...why wasn't there any protest when Hamas launched over 3000!!!!!!! rockets into Israel this past year alone!!!!! The ignorance of these people is beyond comprehension. Democracy Rules!!!! Read Alexis de Tocqueville's DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA and educate yourself before you go and protect terrorist!
Hamas put their own Palestinian people's lives at risk by directing fire at Israel. All actions have consequences. This consequence for Gaza is war. War holds no boundaries. Do you think we played nice with the Germans and Japanese during WWII? Thousands of civilians died. It's sad, but it its te cost of WAR. Think about it. Israel has the right to show force. Everyone has the right to defend themselves. Even liberals believe it or not. Stop feeding into the media. The terrorists want you to feel bad for them so they get public feeling bad for them, can come to a cease fire, re-organize and do it again. Before there were dead children in Gaza, there were suicdal extremists and rockets slamming into Israel killing Jews.
"Why dont these hippies go live in Gaza?"
Because if they expressed ideas of free love, gender equality, equal opportunity, freedom of speech, press, gay marriage, freedom of conscience and peace in Gaza...they'd be executed.
This is like the small annoying jealous kid constantly throwing rocks and spitting on the big high school quarterback jock who gets all the girls, until he snaps and beats the crap out of him, deservedly so.
Stop supporting terrorists, you tree huggers.
Where are the protests when these animals strap bombs on themselves and blow up buses full of civilians (and women and children) in Tel-Aviv?
Hypocrites...
These people kill me.....where were they months/years ago when Hamas was launchin rockets? You choose this to protest? What about stuff that is going on in the city....ya know...like taxes, recession, homeless, joblessness, MBTA craziness, cig butts on the ground everywhere........I agree....get a job or a life....Israel has every right to go back at them and I am damned glad they are taking these terrorists out in high fashion. Not like they have been patient at all..... Did they forget the 90,000 phone calls Israel made to the civilians of the strip prior to defending themselves? What about the aid they allow in....cause Hamas has done that when they launch Iranian rockets at civilians. I guess these "pro terror" protesters really know what they are protesting....
The Palestinians hate Israel more than they love their own children. So the violence will continue. Hamas is a bunch of gutless punks firing rockets from the roofs of hospitals and the playgrounds of elementary schools.
The Israeli military has consistently pleaded that they have done everything to make peace with Hamas and the Palestinians. To understand this conflict, one needs to know the history of the conflict. The Palestinian had nothing to do with the horrors of the Holocaust but have dearly paid the price with seizure of their property and land. In fact Palestinians lived in union with Jews prior to Zionism. The Israeli military has had numerous episodes of reigns of terror inflicted against the native population, i. e. Palestinians (who are the native people of this land)--such as Deir Yassin and Jenin. Israel has denied the Palestinians equal access to their own property, movement within the country, education, job opportunies, health care, business opportunities, building on their own land, raising and harvesting their own crops, access to water, food supplies and utilities. They have seized land not for security purposes but to populate Gaza and the West Bank with Jewish only settlements in strategic areas that control the population and access to land and water. Ariel Sharon and others consistently said that Israel must grab all the land. Palestinian males have spent years in prison for no reason other than they were male and could be a threat or a protestor. The Occupation is illegal. Israel has consistently violated UN resolutions. Homicides of Palestinians by Jewish settlers and the miliary have been ignored or treated nonchalantly on a regular basis. The US spends 10 million dollars a day to support Israeli. PLEASE educate yourself about this situation. Visit websites such as Jewish Voice for Peace, End the Occupation, Democracy Now, etc., then make an INFORMED DECISION. If you feel that rascism again native people is legitimate, you can answer to your own GOD if you have one. The behavior of the Israeli government toward Palestinians, including Israeli Palestinian, is immoral and a violation of human rights. Those who speaks out about this have courage. The Israelis have a massive propaganda machine in place, AIPAC, and do not want Americans to know the truth.
"Israel imposed this seige after their backing of Fatah in a brief civil war against Hamas ended with a rout of Fatah. If the US is serious about promoting democracy in the Middle East, then we must allow the people of Palestine to be governed by the people they elect. In this case they elected Hamas."
Democracy can never prevail when religion is the center of your laws. unrest will prevail in this case. Democracy, good or bad, works in the western world simply because religion does not dictate our laws. Religous leaders do not tell you to do this or that in the name of whome ever or you will be prosicuted by the law. A world where one demands thier god's be viewed by all and only thier god is a world of kahos and violence. With few exceptions, the middle east is governed not by laws of human kind, but governed by men in cloth supposedly speaking for their god. They make laws based on a whim and carried out in the name of their god with a fatah. No country or a group can can force a country to govern by law and not religion. It is up to those internal to remove through civil war if needed, the laws of god and replace them with laws of the people. Then demacracy can prevail.
The level of venom spewed against residents of Gaza in these comments is astounding. These are people and families like us, trapped in a narrow enclave and completely dependent upon Israel for access to fuel and necessary supplies. The Hamas government, while nominally elected several years ago and perpetuated partly by force, is not the people of Gaza, and their acts do not justify the deployment of massive armaments and military activity in city neighborhoods. Hamas' provocations, while more serious than, say the cherry-bomb fights of 1950s teen-agers, are largely psychological provocations, which have inflicted anxiety on Israeli villages and inflicted humiliation on Israeli leaders, but with little actual harm. The danger to Israel appeared to be the escalating porosity - via tunnels - of the Egyptian border, and the fact that Hamas is also a client of surrounding Arab states that have no interest in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict but rather hope to provoke it by supplying more dangerous weapons. In that context, inflicting massive casualties on a captive population is a disproportionate use of force that is evil in itself and is against Israeli interests - it may well set the stage for another forty years of conflict and alienate the international community. The local protesters here in Boston appear to retain their consciences and a have strong sense of decency. Let us hope that such minds prevail and the violence in Gaza is controlled quickly under conditions that allow the enclave to enter normal activity.
To the protesters: get a life! You are supporting both terrorists and cowards. Hamas hides among poor innocent civilains. They stock pile their weapons in schools, mosques and hospitals. They use civilians as shields. And like rats, they hide in tunnels. I hope the IDF blows them all to hell. That will be their future home land. They were given Gaza and blew it. Cowards and terrorists to the end.
Has anyone asked why Hamas continued to send missiles and rockets over the border? They wanted Israel to retaliate so that they could hide behind the skirts of their citizens to get the awful pictures out to the world press. Hamas spent more time worrying about so-called "resistance" and rearming and goading Israel than providing opportunities for its people. And don't tell me it is all Israel's fault that the economic opportunities aren't there... stop the missiles, talk peace instead of revenge, and the borders will open up.
I suggest that everyone google the Palestine Mandate. Learn a bit about the history of the Middle East. Check out the 1967 War while you are at it. Be careful that you are arguing the facts not the vitriol of anti-semitism.
There are billions of Arabs in the world and the Arab countries out-number Israel a dozen to one. Where is the protestors' or moderate Arab outrage that Hamas uses civilians as shields and where is the Arab outrage against Islamic terrorist organizations (Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda) who do far more harm to Arabs than Israel does in collateral damage when they exercise their right to protect their population against rocket attacks? Most importantly, where are the wealthy Arab countries who could reach out a hand to help the innocent Palestinian civilians who are caught up in this mess? Arguing over the tiny state of Israel's right to exist is about as stupid as as arguing whether we should give Alaska back to the Russians since it looks like that was an unfair deal.
oh please, Boston is dying to feel important. The Globe I guess is really hurting.
I think Israel is doing the right thing by protecting itself. Unfortunately casualty will take place but that is the price Hamas will pay for allowing rockets to be lobbed in Israel. Remember, the people have elected Hamas as thier rulers. The people makes up the government. Don't worry Israel, GOD is with you. My Bible does not lie.
Now might not be the most convenient time to mention this, but...
We shouldn't be sending $50 billion / year to another country (Israel) when we're facing a ONE TRILLION DOLLAR DEFECIT.
No individual state receives that much... and California could use it ($6 billion defecit).
Let them figure it out themselves - then we can be the GOOD GUYS when they come crying to us to fixthings
This is happening now because Israel realizes they have unilateral support from the Bush White House. Israel is unsure what kind of support they will get from Obama, hence the need to strike now.
Israel's "eye for an eyelash" approach to this conflict is grossly out of line. I only hope Obama has the guts to at least intervene in some way. American politicians from both sides of the aisle are afraid to even voice any sympathy toward the Palestinians as it is the equivalent of political poison.
Does anyone realize that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization? They launch rockets into Southern Israel daily until finally Israel had enough and decides to do something about it and they are the ones at fault? Most of you need to get a grip. The Jewish people were established in this area for thousands of years and were constantly pushed out by different Arab nations over time. They are a tiny country surrounded by enemies on every side. If they ever lay down their weapons they would be wiped out in a matter of days. They were given this land that they were originally on thousands of years previous after 6 million were wiped out during WWII in case you forgot. A lot of you remind of the people that have already forgotten about 9/11. Like a couple of previous posts say if you don't like it go to the Gaza strip and protest.
Didn't realize liberal Boston had so many antisemites.
Israel shouold just trade a rocket for a rocket. Just be sure it's a nuke!
There are other ways to protest. This display is simply rude. Tenants of this building, like myself, pay tens of thousands of dollars monthly and my clients are scared and it is resulting in loss of business.. The consolate most ikely occupies less that 2% of the entire building and we must all suffer for it?.
But of course they couldn't care less-and most likely (as aforementioned) they probably have no jobs themselves.
All the Islamofacists need to do is stop firing rockets from civilian areas into civilian areas. Remember The Islamofacists lost gaza due to a sneak attack on Israel, and were given Gaza back by Israel.
T
I have substantial respect for the events of this morning and the motivations of those who took part. The root causes of the struggles the Palestinians experience are, as is the case with foreign affairs generally, woefully unexplored in the US. These individuals are trying to expand the dialogue on these issues and are using peaceful civil disobedience to do so. This tactic has a storied history in the US--civil rights organizing, 8 hour work day, women's rights etc. I seriously doubt that, in that context, any reasonable person would offer the "leave the country" comments regarding this morning's events. I only wish coverage had been on the issues these individuals are trying to get covered and not on a numbers game of how many were arrested.
Where were all these protesters prior to the Israeli incursion when Hamas was firing rockets? I don't recall seeing them out there protesting for peace.
If these are just glorified bottle rockets launched from Gaza, and the results are hundreds of civilians killed - then WHY do Palestinians / Hamas keep firing them off? Is that Really their only option? I think not.
Palestinians have not done themselves any favors electing and supporting a corrupt gov't followed by a declared terrorist one. Kind of hard to get world sympathy that way - which is why they fire off rockets and then hide in refugee camps.
And what do we hear about the West Bank? Remember - Gaza is not the Palestinians only home. But Hamas doesn't rule there. And as a result you see how patient and friendly Israel is toward them and can be toward Gaza when those people there find a moral compass and get their act together.
Why are they protesting? Why lay on the ground? Hamas put their own Palestinian people's lives at risk by directing fire at Israel. All actions have consequences. The consequence for Gaza is war. War holds no boundaries. Do you think we played nice with the Germans and Japanese during WWII after Pearl Harbor and the genocide of Jews? Thousands of civilians died. It's sad, but it was and is the cost of WAR. Israel has the right to show force. Everyone has the right to defend themselves. Even liberals believe it or not. Stop feeding into the media. The terrorists want you to feel bad for them so they get public feeling bad for them, so they can come to a cease fire, re-organize and do it again. Before there were dead children in Gaza, there were suicdal extremists and rockets slamming into Israel killing Jews. You can't believe every headline.
I commend this protest. The US supplies weapons to Israel using our tax dollars, so they have a right to voice themselves. The killing of innocent civilians in Gaza must stop NOW. Why isn't the media analyzing the fact that, with staunch US approval, Israel continues to bomb the Palestinian people, and the democratically elected Hamas government. It is interesting which democratically elected governments the US decides to recognize.
Whenever Israel lifts the blockade,the terrorists rearm. All of the ceasefires are excuses for the terrorists to rearm. Meanwhile, the knuckleheads protest against the one democratic government in the region, supporting the anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-free speech terrorists in Hamas. Now obviously, except for their hatred of the USA, Jews and Israel, these people have nothing in common with Hamas. It's just another example of the moral and intellectual vacuity that has overtaken the american left.
I love the mental midgets decrying Israel for the fact Palestinian civilians are dying.....because Hamas is holed up in the middle of them.
One can only come to a limited number of conclusions:
1) You hate Israel
2) You have no clue
3) The Palestinians either support Hamas or don't have the balls to make them stop.
Amazing....Hamas started it....and I want Israel to end it, Israels way. Equally amazing is how no Muslim leader in the free world or otherwise ever condemns terrorist acts.....
And hey Jack-wake up.....While the government may have sided w/ Britain, the majority of American people sided with the people of N. Ireland....becuase they made sense...Extremist Muslim nations and governments don't.
Stand outside and protest all you want. If you rush a building you will be arrested, as you should be. Idiots. Stop defending the type of people who fire mortar shells from the roofs of buildings where civilians are hiding, knowing very well the building will get hit if you fire mortars from it.
It is one thing to protest Israel's settlement policy (which I strongly condemn), another to defend Hamas...a group that even the P.A., Egypt and other Arab states do not support.
"Over 700 Palestinians killed, with only half confirmed as militants. " #11
actually, over 3./4 are confirmed militants. and proportionality has nothing to do with it. It is a lame argument. Israel provides bomb shelters for its people and thus less die from the inaccurate rockets. Hamas purposefully uses human shields. Try watching some of the videos filmed by the IAF and IDF.
Westof128, you say: "Can Hammas be trusted ? No."
I reply, "Can Israel be trusted?" and again the answer is no. This is the same country that helped apartheid South Africa acquire nuclear weapons, this is a country that actively develops OFFENSIVE biological weapons, and this is a country that denies a native ethnic plurality not only basic rights of citizenship, but of human necessity and free movement. Hammas does not fire rockets into Israel because it is anti-semetic or because it hates freedom or these other knee-jerk reactions, but because Israel is an occupying force denying the most basic rights of the Palestinian people. Forget what we would do if Mexico or Canada were firing rockets into the USA, and consider what we would do if were denied our basic human rights by an occupying force. I think history is pretty clear that we would react violently as well. You're right that Israel has been there for too long and is too entrenched to negate it, and inevitably the only solution will be to find a way to develop two states, but to pretend that the occupying, stronger force is righteous and the other is terrorist is a gross oversimplification.
We should all be in front of the Israeli Consul shouting our outrage! I applaud the courage and humanity of these protesters! To the trash with all the rhetoric apologists are spewing in defense of the IDF murders and destruction in Gaza. Their military action is the mass murder of defenseless people and therefore a war crime, plain and simple. It must stop!
We should have given Iraq to the Palestinians.
How is the Jewish protest at the Palestinian consulate going on?
Well behaved? Orderly?
Wouldn't it be great if Hamas focused their attention on making Gaza sustainable rather than spend what little money the do have on rockets?
Remember when there used to be Jewish settlements in Gaza? Remember how those settlements had nice homes, greenhouses to make food and many other things to make them self sustainable?
Why can't Hamas build solar and wind power farms to provide energy so they don't have to rely on handouts from Israel? Why can't they use desert farming technologies to provide sustainable food sources so they don't have to rely on shipments?
Why doesn't Hamas prove to their citizens that they are worthy of self governance rather than trying to get pity from the rest of the world?
Emily wants a "fair" war. I guess a few hundred Israelies will have to kill themselves to even up the score.
Tony- You asked, "If Mexico or Canada lobbed hundreds of missles into the U.S. would these knuckleheads still protest our right to strike back?"
The answer is NO.
Lisa- as for your inability to understand the Israeli's comment: "the attacks will continue until peace is achieved" It means they will wipe out Hamas and then there will be peace. It's like when we took out Hitler and then there was peace. Is that so hard to understand?
Mennace- Israel is at least trying not to kill civilians, which is more than I can say for the Hamas missile launchers.
Chris- Being effective at war does not make you a terrorist organization. Targeting innocent people makes you a terrorist organization. Hamas targets innocent people; Israel does not.
Jack- I feel sorry for you if you can't figure out which country is our friend and which is not. Do you recall the reaction in Palestine after 9/11.
Attention to all those wishing to harken back to 1948: Practice what you preach and kindly pack your bags and head back to Europe. Make sure you sign your property over to a Native American while you are at it. Have a safe trip!
Israel is doing the world a favor. These protesters are simply anti-semites
Why do we defend those arrogant, self centered jerks in Israel? They are at the root of every single war that has ever been fought, they were the Original terrorists after WW2, doing suicide bombings just like there enemy does now. Seems a bit contradictory to me.
Israel is the reason that everyone hates the USA. It is the reason why people blow up our buildings with airplanes and are trying to smuggle in Nukes and poisons for water supply's, etc. And not that I am religious, but for those of you that are, didn't they murder your Lord?
SO why do we support this group of whny, arrogant, cry babies?
Zionist hatred of Gentiles and the justification of any and all violence against them and more so against those in the Muslim world resisting Jewish fanaticism and extremism. Those political leaders who are mute or have become mouth peaices to Israeli proparganda as to the bombing the hell out of innocent women and children are appaling These horrors and murders of entire families being blown to bits with laser-guided bombs are paid for by our tax money. The deliberate campagin to discredit opposition to this genocide by calling people anti-semtic is when disagreeing with the slaughter of women and children could be called such is “beyond the pale”,
WOW!!! I am puzzled over ignorance of many Americans. Israel was there three thousand years before Muslims came into being. Israel began the city of Jerasalem when most people there were wanderers. The Romans, Turks, and other Arab countries conquered Israel--but it is still there after all these invasions and occupations. The point is, Muslim countries cannot live with their neighbors--especially when they are prosperous. This little country is the most educated per capita in the world. Back to the war---every time Israel opened it's gates, Gaza started the missles. Don't compare casualties--just competence
Hamas is the Goverment of the Palastinian people! Hamas are terrorists...FACT! You people have short memories of how you felt when the attack was on US soil. Hamas started this conflict by shooting missiles at civilian areas. They are attempting to kill as many Israelis as possible. Do you think they are not trying to kill children? They want to kill all Israelis. If they stop shooting at Israel then Israel will have no reason to defend itself.
Jack-
Hate to burst your bubble, but many of the original Jewish settlers from the 1880s to 1948 purchased their land from the original owners. Tel Aviv was a desert and was purchased for next to nothing, but with hard work, it's become a thriving city. Even after the 1948 War, Israel allowed some Palestinians to stay within its borders. The original lines were drawn so as to centralize major population centers and to separate the two demographics; this isn't like Israel invaded the entire area, kicked people out of their homes, and squatted there for tha last 60 years.
I have substantial respect for the events of this morning and the motivations of those who took part. The root causes of the struggles the Palestinians experience are, as is the case with foreign affairs generally, woefully underexplored in the US. These individuals are trying to expand the dialogue on these issues and are using peaceful civil disobedience to do so. This tactic has a storied history in the US--civil rights organizing, 8 hour work day, women's rights etc. I seriously doubt that, in that context, any reasonable person would offer the "leave the country" comments regarding this morning's events. I only wish today’s Globe coverage had been on the issues these individuals are trying to get covered and not on a numbers game of how many were arrested.
I just want to know if I'll get in trouble for stepping on them on my way to work. I mean they are blocking the entrance and lobby, so what am I to do?
"We all know the state of Israel was created on Palestinian land."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but through history didn't '"Palestine" refer to a geographic region? There was never a Palestine "state." And in this geographic region haven't Jews lived pretty much continuously for thousands of years? So whose land is it? You can spend all day arguing how "Palestine" post WWI was divvied up, but how far back do you go to who lays claim to some region of land that was never an official Palestinian state?
The people that support Israel on this do realize that -
1. Israel is in complete control of the media coverage not the people of Gaza.
2. The Israeli action only garners MORE support for Hamas among Gazans.
3. If the US was blockading the borders of Canada or Mexico, and rapidly increasing illegal developments inside those country's borders then - Yes you would have protests against retaliation for rocket fire.
4. When are people going to remember that it was through terrorism that the Jewish people took Palestine from the Brits - try googling King David Hotel Bombing. Imagine the cries of antisemitism if Britain had bombed the Jewish refugee camps - no different than current Gaza!
I am not in favor of Hamas or any form of terrorism but this unrelenting support for Israel seems to be based on a lot of misconceptions.
It's disgraceful the lack of coverage the (censored) US news gives this when it is making headlines across the rest of the world....What do we get here in Boston, some news about a cat that got frozen to death but then resuscitated back to life. Please.
Fact's are that more women and children have died in this attack that anyone.
A UN school was targeted and 500 children were injured, 57 dead.
F16's were used in over 160 bombing raids in Palestine, a place that house 1.5M people in an area about twice the size of Boston, Cambridge and Brookline.
It needs to end now.
Eddie, You are correct. We do deserve to hear both sides of the story, but it will never come from CNN, so stop depending on them to give it to us. CNN has a very strong bias against Israel because it wants to keep a large readership, and it can only do so with sensationalistic stories. Read a variety of reports and descriptions and then make suggestions. Did you see the Fox News report on Sunday from the son of a Hamas leader who left Gaza and converted to Christianity because after growing up and being trained to be a terrorist, he saw what Hamas was doing to its own people? Hamas has had Gaza since August of 2005, and it still bombs Israel. What's the sense of it?
Why don't they also protest the attacks Hamas does? it is really easy to say "While we do not support the actions Hamas takes we feel that Israel is going to far in the actions to defend themselves"
It would not put you in the groups who are protesting Israel demaning that everyone is Israel be killed or people who
I guess you don't get press that way.
The bias in the reporting positively drips off this article. In one paragraph alone, it's "Israel's military campaign" and "Israeli civilians" as opposed to "terrorist rocket fire" and "Palestinians." The imbalance in the fire power and the number of casualties somehow doesn't make it into the text, either. The powers that be in the US are terrified of not being seen as pro-Israel, so they continue to support a state which perpetuates apartheid.
The only reason "civilians" are being killed is because cowardly hamas hides behind them. The Jewish people have roots in the land going back at least 4,000 yrs so they were not just arbitrarily given the land by England in 1948. It is said Jerusalem would be a stone that shatters whatever comes against it--so it seems true. I only hope the fools in this country don't shatter this country by going against Israel. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you!!
The amount of hate displayed on this message board is embarrassing. You'd think the readers of the Globe in an enlightened city like Boston would have more tolerance and class than this.
If the Hamas stopped launching rockets, Israel would stop military action. If Israel stopped military action, Hamas would continue to launch rockets as it has over the years.....over 5000 rockets in the last 5 years.... ISREAL IS ACTING IN SELF-DEFENCE!
I HOPE AND PRAY THAT A CEASE FIRE CAN BE REACHED. THE LOSS OF ANY CIVILIANS IS A TRAGEDY, BUT ISRAEL HAS FULL RIGHT TO SEEK OUT AND DESTROY THE RADICAL EXTREMISTS WHO LAUNCH ROCKETS EVERY DAY INTO ISRAEL!
I am all for people who cannot support the policy and politics of Israel, but no human should say to any other human "go back to the ovens" as a Hamas supporter did in Flordia.
I just returned from Israel. Was supposed to visit relatives in Be'er Sheeva, but instead they had to come visit us in Jerusalem. They needed to get their children out of harms way.
That said, Hamas creates the deaths of many of its citizens by using them as human shields. The hospital and school basements are all armories. They have created a tunnel system to smuggle arms through Egypt.
As for work for these people, what did they do with the $100 million a year agri-business the Israelis left behind when they gave Gaza back?
No one should protest for human rights. Not ever. Look what type of things it has resulted in; Womans sufferage, voteing rights for all citizens, the seven day work week, etc...
Come on people. Read some books on the subject of this situation, or even articles on the Haaretz website for insight.
Do you really trust what the U.S. media "reports" about this conflict, or any conflict for that matter? Believe what you want, this is America--but at least accept the fact that what you believe, may not be based entirely upon actual fact, try to discern jingoism and propaganda from fact. There is plenty of the later being disseminated by both “sides” of this conflict.
Remember what this country did to the Native American population? Took their land, waged starvation war, put them in camps, massive retaliation campaigns against their attempts to defend their populations...
Why should Israel stop or negotiate? Not doing so worked just dandy for this country!
As a US citizen, I am opposed to the US government giving billions of dollars of military aid to Israel which is used to commit atrocities against the Palestinians like we are seeing in Gaza. I think the US needs to pressure Israel to stop the war and stop the economic blockade which has allowed people in Gaza almost no food, fuel, or medical supplies. I commend those who risked arrest or were arrested today for standing up for justice.
Eddie (#20, above), what media are you talking about? NPR and the BBC, which together reach many millions worldwide, both on air and online, give tremendous exposure to the Palestinian side and trivialize or ignore the Israeli side. They've been doing this for years and they're doing it now. Israel's actions are rarely reported in context. Israeli and Jewish suffering is trivialized, merely glossed over, or ignored altogether, while tremendous coverage is given to anything that happens to Palestinians. Listen to the BBC or NPR for just a short time if you don't believe me. Some people think that if even one word is said in support of Israel, that it's too much.
to: Denis Ohainle
The people protesting in Boston may not know what they are talking about...but you don't either. Newsflash: The Good Friday Agreement worked in Northern Ireland and now there is peace...the war in the North is over. Paisley and Martin McGuiness are flying around the world doing photo-ops together and you're still supporting the IRA? The IRA de-commissioned.
mennace334 makes a good point....when the IRA took its war to London...did the English respond by dropping bombs on the Catholics in Derry and the Bogside?
be
To the person that so astutely said:
"The Palestinians hate Israel more than they love their own children. So the violence will continue. Hamas is a bunch of gutless punks firing rockets from the roofs of hospitals and the playgrounds of elementary schools."
Um, have you heard any of the "military targets" that Israel is hitting? Two UN hospitals, universities, regular infrastructure. I just wish that Americans would view Palestinians as to what they really are -- not military collatoral, but human beings!
Last Saturday, about a thousand people turned up in Copley Square to protest Israel's incursion into Gaza. The Boston Globe printed not a word of this peaceful gathering. Instead, you've focused on the arrests of four protesters this morning. Typical. Your lobsided coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is both unprofessional and immoral.
Israel is an apartheid state, plain and simple. If it was not, they wouldn't have exiled all those Palestinians in 1948, never to allow them to return. Only 10% of the current Jewish population of Israel descends from people who were there in 1910. The bottom line is you can come into Israel from anywhere in the world if you can prove you are Jewish, but the majority of people who have been there for thousands of years are banished to refugee camps and essentially what have become prisons in the West Bank and Gaza. (to make matters worse, the Israeli settlers continue chip away at the West Bank). So far the toll is 4 Israelis killed by rockets vs. 275 Palestinian CHILDREN killed.
I am sickened by many of these posts. Many of you have forgotten that the Palestinians are humans beings. The criticisms of Israel are too easily confused with anti-semitism. What is so stunning to me is that many of these posts are pro-Israel and decry anti-Semitism, yet ignore the fact that Palestinians are Semitic as well. This is a "war" with big guns on one side, and many defenseless victims on the other. And if you do not believe me, watch what the International Red Cross and the U.N. have to say. Even more troubling - WE will end up paying for Israel's murderous adventures.
after years of suffering from rocket attacks on it's towns and cities which killed or injured it's civilians and created a great deal of damage, the government of israel finally decided to try to put an end to it. they saw that there is no negotiating with terrorists as people with no honor never keep to their end of any bargain. who was israel to negotiate with anyway? the president of the palestinian territories, mahmoud abbas? he has absolutely no say or power in gaza. the palestinians have only their own leadership to blame for their dead women and babies. they should stop firing rockets at israel from neighborhoods where civilians live in great numbers so that the retalliatory attacks will not kill any innocents. they hide behind their women and dress as women to carry out their attacks on israeli citizens who are at busy restaurants and clubs too. these are not men, they are cowardly whiners who make sure that the television cameras are there only to record the injuries to their children. it is all so poorly staged really. obviously, none of these imbeciles went to emmerson college.
this small group is representative of thousands more people in massachusetts, the US, and the entire world who know the israeli government is committing severe and grave war crimes in gaza. good work in getting this message out to the public! everyone can argue any part of the situation they wish, but it all comes down to basic human rights: gaza is THE most densely populated place on earth, filled with mostly refugees in extreme poverty, and held completely captive by a US-backed colonial state. israel continues to bomb gazan homes and communities, killing over 700 people in a few days. no one deserves this.
I have read most comments here and would like to reply from here Israel in the danger zone.( sorry for my english........)
Most of you heard about this issue due to the defence action from last week.
They do not know the history behind it so here is a short summary.
The Hamas has been firing Israel for 8 years !!!!!!!!!
Yes , thire weapons are less efficiant then those of the IDF but , would any of you accept that. Would the goverment of the US accept even small rockets daily fired against Boston for ex. ?
Within this 8 years , belive or not the Israelie goverment did not do much because of the "what would the world say" point of view.The Israelie goverment even avacuated Katif area from the jewish pepole in a one sided move intended to give Hamas no motivation or reason to attack Israel any more.The answer was missels .Half a year ago there was a Tahadia ( arabic ward for cease-fire ) , but it was broken many times by the palestinians.
Sometimes , belive it or not , the palastinians traders did it because this would mean Israel will close the border for few days and it will help them get better market prices at Gaza due to the closer.
Anyway two weeks ago the cease-fire has ended , although it was not kept from Hamas side espcially at the last month and they said that there will be no more cease-fire and they were very sure they would continue these attacks unanswered.They were wrong and this is what you see now.
Regarding remarks no. 5 & 11 - this is not a game and we do not count the score ! How about counting it a different way 8 years of Hamas attack 13 days of bf Israels payback time....would this sound more reasonable for you.
By the way.....MOST victoms were HAMAS pepole and in any case they are a terror group ellected by thire own pepole and they say they will not give up and they dont care sucrifising thire pepole ....especially those big hero leaders of Hamas hiding in Gaza caves or in other arab countries , letting thire own pepole die.
As per 12 .....were did you get your history books , at Mien Kamp book store ? Try reading the bible and go on from there to real history book.Who do you think built Jerusalem ? Wasn't Jesus a jewish guy from Nazert ? sounds fimmilier ?
again sorry for the english errors. I have no time to check and correct them but I think you will get the point !
Have a nice day Boston !
to evelyn, these european jews have now been there since 1948, and most of the jewish residents of israel have actually been born there. was making the jewish state there in the first place a smart move? maybe not, but that is where the jewish state of israel was created. it was the UN WHICH CREATED IT BACK IN 1948. the jews who survived the holocaust were not going to be safe in their homelands of poland, ukraine, estonia, russia, and lithuania as these countries were so anti-jewish prior to the war and immediately after it. it made sense to the UN at the time to make the jewish homeland in it's ancestrial area. the world is not fair place, and the israelis are not going anywhere, so their neighbors must recognize that and accept that they are a legitimate country...as legitimate as any other. what is a legitimate country anyway? what about the countries of the native americans before the europeans came to our shores? are we giving land back to them? live with the reality that israel is a sovereign country with a duty to protect it's citizens from those vermin!
People Gazans have no where to go!! Do you get that?
If Israel was interested in peace, then why continue to strangle Gaza with embargoes and blockades? What would you do if Canada and Mexico built walls, sank your fishing boats and crippled your businesses? Would you starve to death or fight to death?
the bulk of the western media would have us believe that the cause of this war is Hamas's firing of mostly home-made rockets into Israel - which no state could tolerate without retaliation. In this myopic fantasy land, there is no 61-year national dispossession, no refugee camps, no occupations, no siege, no multiple Israeli violations of UN security council resolutions and the Geneva conventions, no illegal wall, no routine assassinations, no prisoners and no West Bank.
Israelis stole land from the Palestinians? Are you nuts? People who live in glass houses shoudn't throw
Please - I've sure that everyone here in the Boston is living on land stolen from Native Americans. If you are moral, then please leave immediately. In Israel, one can argue about borders, but surely Jews have a more justifiable attachment to their ancestral homeland than any of you European-descended colonists have to the territory of the United States. If your logic prevails, then you must refer to yourselves as as occupiers, colonists, and land thieves. Please do the right thing and end your occupation of the Americas.
Consider that Noam Chomsky's office at MIT is in "Cambridge, Massachusetts". What an interesting juxtaposition of geographical terms - a British colonial city name sitting right on top of a Native American name. He, like you (like all of us) is a European colonizer benefitting from stolen land.
The one big difference is that Israel did not massacre the native Arab population like European colonists did here. Indeed, for the record, Jews were always present in the territory called Palestine throughout history.
To all you ignorants suggesting these protestors should go over to Gaza, perhaps you aren't aware of this, but Israel is NOT ALLOWING foreigners, including the media, into Gaza because they do not want the rest of the world to know the full extent of their attacks..
I applaud these protestors. They are brave people of conscience willing to say the truth about what is going on in Gaza. And they are exercising rights of protest and free speech we are fast losing in the U.S.
By what moral code is it okay to kill unarmed starving adult and child prisoners while all the exits are blocked? By what moral code is it okay to bomb universities, homes, and places of worship?
Gaza is a prison holding 1.5 Million people (50% of whom are children), many of whom are refugees or descendants of refugees from the Sderot/Ashkelon area. Gaza has been under siege for 18 months and Israel has not allowed in sufficient food, medicine, fuel, and other basics and has destroyed much of the electrical power supply. Before the invasion 12 days ago, survival was tenuous and the ill, elderly, and weak were dying. Israel controls all exits and entry to Gaza and does not allow people to leave. And then 12 days ago Israel started bombing and invading an area more densely populated than Manhattan using tanks, troops, gunships, and F16s. A handful of Israelis have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza since 2005. More than 500 Gazans have been killed by Israel in the last 12 days, 30% of them children.
This is not a fight between equal adversaries. The Gazans have no army, tanks, ships, or planes. The facts and the history speak for themselves. Please learn them.
We, the U.S. taxpayers, provide the weapons, diplomatic cover, and money that allows Israel to now massacre these already terrorized people.
to anne lambert, the israelis won the war in 1967 where they took their ancestral land in the west bank and gaza back from egypt and jordan. who says that they need to ever return it to anyone? are we reyrning land to native americans? who has been wronged more than native americans on this earth anyway?israel gave most of the land it won in that war back in the form of the sinai peninsula to egypt already. they were perfectly willing to give up more land over the years for peace, but there was no peace offered by the arabs and even more importantly, no recognition of israel by the arab countries. textbooks in most if not all arab muslim countries' schools merely call israel the zionist entity. there are to be no negotiations until the arab states recognize israel's right to exist. when that happens, the process wil;l move more fluidly and in the right direction.
Hamas should be thankful that Israel didn't do to them, what the US did to the Native Americans when we took over. The other thing I dont understand is if both sides are at war, why is everyone complaining about deaths. People die in wars, all protests should be for peace, not the anti-Semitism we are getting from from well-off fake hippies.
To Jeff, everything you say is wrong... "ISRAEL HAS WAITED YEARS!!!!" Is wrong... Israel has never waited and has used any excuse it could to attack, bomb, and bulldoze Palestinian settlements..
“By defending Hamas YOU DEFEND THE VERY PEOPLE THAT KILLED OVER 3000 PEOPLE ON 9-11." Ummm.. In case you didn't know this, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban are from Afghanistan, not Palestine...
"These protesters fuel the emotional fire that Hamas and Hezbollah long for.." Wrong again.. Israel is fueling the fire by killing hundreds of innocent Palestinian women and children and killing UN aid personnel and bombing attacking UN schools where there were NO HAMAS militants...
"Why wasn't there any protest when Hamas launched over 3000!!!!!!! rockets into Israel this past year alone!!!!" Perhaps because these tiny unguided hommade missiles have killed only a few Israelis as opposed to the hundreds of innocent Palestinians that have been killed..
“The ignorance of these people is beyond comprehension.” Wrong, your ignorance is beyond comprehension.
If a population elects a terrorist organization to represent and lead their government, it shouldn't be surprised when that government 1) uses innocent people as shields, and 2) provokes a powerful neighbor by constantly and randmoly firing missiles into civilian populations. I can't imagine that the Palestinian people are OK with Hamas setting up firing sites in and around civilian homes, schools, mosques... If they are OK with it than they should get used to getting their building's blown up. The protestors should simply get a clue. They live for protesting something or another. But where were they when Israel unilaterally pulled out of the Gaza in 2005 and then faced years of unprovoked missile launches into Israeli civilian populations?
"We should all be in front of the Israeli Consul shouting our outrage! I applaud the courage and humanity of these protesters! .... Their military action is the mass murder of defenseless people and therefore a war crime, plain and simple. It must stop! " REALLY? why are there anti aircraft guns on people's houses in GAZA? search IDF on youtube and see the video's. The only way to stop terrorism is 100 or 1000 to 1 retribution/response. Isreael is doing what the US, UK, Japan, China, in post Nazi Germany. They executed tens of terrorists and suspected terrorists ON SITE. NO TRIAL.. US, UK, china and japan executed anyone near a terrorist..out in the open. 10 to 1 reprisal and it stopped eventually. exponential response to terror works. israel just waited too long.
True Americans would take a good look at all sides of this story before they comment. It seems that the whole mess has become so emotionally charged that the side which markets the loudest will win this war. We are in BOSTON, folks - remember bunker hill? We were called terrorists back then and we prevailed against the mightiest nation on earth at the time. Please think about flinging epithets before you respond. Thanks.
In response to: "A fair war" by Emily. Sweetheart there is no such thing as a fair war. War isn't a gentlemanly game. You kill the other guy before he kills you!
Hamas started it the last time. Israel responded, but stopped short of wipeing them out. Subsequently Hamas has started it again. They are dirty scum with no regard for human life. They fire rockets and operate from civilian centers, next to schools, hospitals etc. knowing Israel will respond. This action and strategy is premeditaded to kill civilians. Goal: to inflame the rest of the Arabs and bleeding hearts like todays demonstrators to condemn Israel from protecting it's civilians.
All that land belonged to Israel long before any Arabs were there. The only reason the Palestinian's are there is because Israel let them have that land. Israel should just take it back and kill all those Palestinian terrorists if you ask me. I'd be happy to go over there and help them do it. Bunch of Arab terrorists. They don't deserve to have a country.
protecting Israel citizens and land. I say evacuate all Gaza citizens then go in and eliminate every lst one of them. Israel has a right and a duty to protect it's citizens and country. If Hamas would cease and pledge to live in peace with Israel, Israel would be happy to agree to live in Peace with them.
What you bleeding hearts don't seem to comprehend; Hamas and other RADICAL ISLAMISTS have vowed to wipe Israel and it's people from the face of the earth! So all of you bleeding heart idiots go on and play right into the hands of the same type of people that has vowed to kill all Americans whereever they find them. Remember the thousands they have killed of our friends and families? Way to go you bleeding heart idiots! Just spit in the face of all the Americans that lost friends and families on 9/11! You people make me sick!
if we felt this much love for Israel, perhaps we should offer them an entire state - they would be able to live happily and in peace with their neighbors. We have enough room. Perhaps move the entire state of Rhode Island out of there and give it to the wonderful Israelis.
Why put in so much grief and loss of life and limb over there when we could actually do something for our semitic brothers and sisters? Is there anyone in here who believes SO much in Israel and in world peace as to actually champion this idea and make it happen?