out of jail.

the political environment in US is slowly moving away from supporting Israel, its not an overwhelming majority any more. the demographics of this country is changing an in another 8 to 10 years US will not back Israel for all the atrocities it commits, then what. It is best to resolve this issue which US support is there, after about 10 years there might be no Israel, after all how long can an artificial situation be sustained.

Are you sure you from Gaza? Because from what I know you don't have any electricity. You confirm you will not hurt Israeli civilians after they live Gaza and the West bank, you mean to what already happened after the disengagement and you, instead of starting to make peace, started to make more terror. you chosed the Hamas to sit in your government, launching more qassams to Israel.

I once was told by a co-worker, "Send in the marines, and finish the job". This pertained to one of (US) small wars. Instead, several American boys were killed in the ensuing battles. I ask, why is Israel not utilizing it's powerful airforce? Is it because they are afraid of the Big 4or the Big 8, or the Arab League, or those that pity the Palestinians? Or are liberal, leftis Jews dictating Israeli policy? Israel must have a 0 policy for Jewish deaths. It's airforce can wipe out the Palestinian terrorists, murderers and criminals in 1 day. If the reverse, the Arabs would slaughter we Jews, in a Jihad minute. So why the mercy? I am ashamed to be a Jew and supporter of Israel today. As far as releasing prisoners...a 12.00 noose by Israel would suffice. Israel is tooooo soft. It's time to win this war..and stop the nonsense of feeling sorry for the Arabs. They hate US.

To the editors of ynetnews.com: Earlier in the day I tried to answer Yehuda Bassel's father's question about endangering his son. I tried to explain to him the complete stupidity of both the Gaza invasion and the Israeli occupation in as few words as possible. I was blunt. The Israeali government is as corrupt as any on earth. The ideals of Israel as they relate to the Palestinians are as base and filthy as motives or ideals can be. It is easy to see it from the USA, where we don't have to live with a bunch of loony Israelis who can't get it through their heads that they are no better than Murder Inc. or the Mafia. I tried to clarify that to Mr. Bassel. It was an honest comment. It was meant to somehow teach him something in his moment of grief. It was not published. I don't understand why, but you are dead wrong. Your values are misplaced. You have part of the disease that is part of every Israeli. If you can't let us from the outside who see your nation for what it is, a bunch of thieves drunk with temporarily-given power, tell you what we see, you can't change.

#7,or#30. i agree with # 7.

#48,learn to speak ENGLISH,and we will negotiate.

i THINK YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR NAME TO ABDULLAH.AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A COHEN. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!

I hope his family will find the strength and courage to live normal lives after this tragedy!

All here suggest Occupying soldiers be greeted with Flowers!! Well, I'm glad he's down.. Let them taste the bitterness of death.. Occupation should end. In the meantime, PAY THE PRICE..

From afar, given my broader perspective, may I then offer you my advice? By your logic you should be compelled to take it. Maybe you could see the conflict in less black and white terms and understand that Israel has, time and again, made moves toward the Palestinians in peace that were, time and again, found wanting. Other parties, even the Saudi Arabians who are not friends of Israel, thought our offers were very credible, and even acceptable. The Egyptians were so freaked out after Taba that they made an announcement, so sure they were that the Palestinians would accept the offer, that "just because the PA and Israel make peace does not mean that Egypt will normalize cultural ties", as they agreed to do in their peace agreement with Israel. So what happened? The offers we made were from our perspective, and as noted above, generous. Moreover, they were feasible. And to the degree that they did not meet the dreams of Palestinians, they also did not meet our dreams. But the Palestinians didn't even make a counter offer that we could accept. The entire time, even now, they had the alternative of making a reasonable counter offer in the context of peaceful negotiations. That they didn't, and that after a withdrawal from Gaza has proven, the Palestinians are not interested in gaining a state, they are far more interested in us losing ours. Don't you get it, Jerrold? We don't have to play along with that, Jerrold. A "loony" person would then be someone like yourself who'd advise us that indeed we SHOULD play along. We're entitled to feel differently without being branded as "no better than Murder Inc.". Maybe you'd be better served by actually opening your mind, and living here for a few years, before you presume that your perspective from the quiet beaches of California gives you standing to tell us how horrible we are. Otherwise, I suspect that your real motivation for coming to Talkback is not to offer advice or insight, but rather to preach and make yourself feel oh so clean as you toss thunderbolts of ethical rage from your ivory tower. Well, I'm sure that when Mr. Bassel puts himself and his son on the line to protect what he believes in that the intensity of his belief is greater than yours. That counts for something. If you are really intensely a believer of what you say, make aliyah and try to convince the rest of us from within. Do miluim and see what the rest of us see. Read our newspapers and meet the victims of Palestinian violence and rage against us. Maybe then, from here, you'll have the license to preach.

That terror assisting civilians are worth more than our soldiers, adopting fake Christian morals, and it costs us in blood to keep this "Tohar haneshek".

I see these outcomes, think fof this thing as game theory ... - in a few years Israel will have to fight this war alone without US support, I dont think it will be able to do that very long - Israel in trying to save itself will go on comitting atrocities slowly each subsequent one more atrocious that the previous one, each time feeling justified in doing so ... still wont make a dent in Palistinian population which is growing by leaps and boundsm. After all Israel will have to commit atrocities of the level of holocaust to wipe out all palis and have jerusulem all to iself, I dont think the world will allow that. So I dont see Israel winning this way. #3. only solution I see is single Israelistine, one secular nation for both jews and palistinians living together. After all 21st century is not the era to establish religious states by displacing/killing millions, that is so 1940s. This is the only oucome where the jews can resolve this matter and still maintain their position of power in the combined society.

There can never be any justification for the deliberate murder and threatening of civilians and soldiers to exact political concessions. The only effective way to combat terrorism on an international scale is to view all terrorists equally and not to differentiate between good and bad terrorists. The biggest success terrorists have had in the twentieth century has been getting people to accept the idea that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". An idea which seems to be embraced by the likes of Jerrold Cohen & his ilk. Nevermind the fact that In 2000, the Palestinians unleashed a savage and lethal intifada against Israeli civilians, the vast majority of whom are Jews whose parents and grandparents survived pogroms, the Holocaust, mass expulsion from Arab lands and five wars of self-defense. From the fall of 2000 until late spring 2006, Israel lost 1,113 civilians and soldiers to terrorist violence. Adjusting for population size, in U.S. terms that’s 50,274 killed – an average of 728 per month. This is why the Israelis built the “security fence,” or as it is known to anti Israel haters, the “exclusion wall.” For the crime of defending themselves, Israelis under siege were characterized by some far leftists as “worse than Nazis” and as perpetrators of “genocidal policies” that justified the rash of Palestinian suicide killings. Such leftists, however, did not condemn the anti-Jewish, genocidal Islamist propaganda that turned countless adolescents into brainwashed, brutal killers. Hmm could it be because they approve of such actions? I am guessing the answer to that would be , YES!

and helping us remember who we are, where we came from, and what it is we are doing here. because of them, we are all rallying together behind our army, our nation and our country. Thank you leftists, for making us stronger and more determined in our struggle than ever before : )

May First Sergeant Yehuda Bassel rest in peace...he sounded like he was going to be a great man! If a soldier gets killed in combat in a fight that his side started...how is that the enemy's fault? #14 from http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3272308,00.html Let's play a fantasy game to check on our belief in human rights. Let's suppose that in a mythical state, a governor announced a campaign to punish African-Americans for alleged violence. Step one is to confiscate the land owned by African-Americans, evict them from it and use the land to build massive new subdivisions. Only white Protestant Christians may live in these subdivisions. Step two is to connect these all-white Protestant Christian settlements to each other by a highway on which African-Americans are forbidden to drive. To facilitate control, the automobile tags for African-Americans will be a different color from the tags issued to white motorists. Checkpoints would be set up all around the state capitol to search and harass African-Americans trying to enter. Would you support such a plan? Would you hail that mythical governor as a man of peace? Would you go to your church congregation and ask the members to send money to the occupants of these white settlements? Would you lobby the federal government to subsidize this new apartheid state in our midst? I don't think so. I think most Americans would consider such acts an abomination, un-American and a mockery of everything both Christianity and the United States stand for. Well, if you would condemn such acts here directed against African-Americans, why won't you condemn identical acts committed against the Palestinians by the state of Israel? Those settlements you hear about are built on Palestinian land, and they are for Jews only. New roads that Palestinians are forbidden to use connect them. The entire West Bank is riddled with Israeli checkpoints, where innocent Palestinians are daily humiliated and harassed. A trip to a nearby village can mean waiting in line at checkpoints for hours. Palestinians have died in these lines. After all of these humiliations, abuses, the houses destroyed, the children killed, the olive trees uprooted, how do you think Palestinians feel about Americans who support the Israelis no matter what they do to the Palestinians? Don't take my word about these abuses. Check out the Israeli human-rights organization at www.btselem.org/English. If you cannot condemn the flagrant abuses of Palestinians by the Israeli government, then you are undoubtedly a bigot, the worst kind of racist pig who believes that Palestinians are some kind of subspecies of the human race. If you do condemn in your heart these terrible abuses, but are afraid to speak out about them, then you are a damned coward. I listened in disgust to a congressional committee hearing on the Palestinian elections. It was all about what the Palestinians have to do. It was as if the cops, interviewing a child who had been raped by an adult, lectured the child on dressing provocatively and of being in places she should not have been in. The Palestinians are the victims here. It is their land that is occupied. They have no army. They are at the mercy of the Israeli government. They don't have a superpower protecting them from international sanctions and supplying them with billions of dollars. The United States should be telling Israel to get out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to dismantle its settlements and checkpoints, and to allow Palestinian refugees to return to or be compensated for the land the Israelis stole.

since 2000 OR 13,500 Palestinians a month since Jan 2000. On any scale, there is no match for Jewish terror & occupation in Palestine.

Israel's last gasp won't be had without taking our enemies with us. The world won't stand for that? Well, the world better stop the Kassams from being launched, and the terror being launched on Israel by the Palestinians. Or we'll do it ourselves. That's the tragedy of not allowing us to win our wars more decisively. In the end, it results in a situation that neither side survives. Face it - you don't see Israel winning "this way" or any other way. The only good result is the dismantling of Israel for "Israelistine" in your eyes. This crackpot idea is being served up by Libya's chief dictator Qadafi. It's of no interest to Israelis, and you can't force it on us, just like a myriad of much better solutions the world won't allow us to impose on Palestinians. So it's a non-starter, and you should forget about it and stop bringing it up. A better idea is that the Palestinians won't have a state, but that they'll be Jordanian or Egyptian, and the areas under them will be annexed to Jordan and Egypt. Of course, Egypt and Jordan don't want that. But they are not any more in their right to refuse it, than Israel is in its right to refuse your proposal. So why don't you support this more sensible proposal? We see how mixed ethnic governments only work in theory - just look at Iraq. Wouldn't Iraq have been better of being split into 3 governments, Sunni, Shia and Kurdi? Best for them, but not for the Turkish neighbors. So what. So, go bark up that tree, Al. Speak to the people. And as far your statement "after all 21st century is not to establish religious states by displacing/killing millions, that is so 1940's", huh? What, the UN passed a resolution about what we're going to do in the 21st century? Obviously, the consensus on this matter has certainly not reached the 3rd of UN states that are Muslim. Well, let's see. How many "muslim governments" are there? About 50. And how many of them allow Jews who weren't born in thier countries to become citizens? I don't think any of them do. How many of them are secular governments, like Israel's is? Not a single one, by western defnitions. How many wars by them and between them have killed how many millions since the 1940's? There's one for you to research. Once you wikipedia the matter, report back to us at talkback the answers, which surely will disappoint you, and fill us in on your revelation.

you probably are an idiot thief. Why Israel is a thief? Israel's land was legaly designeted to Israel in 1948 by a legal partition. It received still more land ,that was grabed from Jordan. After, Israel WON more land through a DEFENSIVE war. Where is the robbery ,you idiot? There are 7 million people in Israel;don't they must be protected,or do you think they must be left to die? ARE YOU DRUNK?

is a small price to pay for the state sanctioned terrorism, demoralization, and dehumanization of the Palestinians. The sickest part is that none of the Israeli IDF murders of Palestinians ever make it to the US news due to omission of the news stories by the Associated Press Israeli filter (see http://ifamericansknew.org). Israel's policies, from its beginnings in the 1940s, have been condemned by some of the greatest Jewish minds in history. On December 4, 1948, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, Sidney Hook as well as 13 other prominent Jews signed a letter, published by The New York Times, comparing Menachem begin and the "Freedom Party" as "closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties...for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a 'Leader State" is the goal." While millions of US taxpayer dollars A DAY go to Israel, I have to wonder when the US population will wake up and divorce itself from the brutal, narcissistic, and murderistic actions of the IDF. For Yehuda Bassel's family, I feel deep remorse. One life, any life, is too much to pay. I realize that this will most likely not be published, and I mean no insult to the millions of Jews who are distraught over the Israel-Palestine situation and who are praying and working for peace.

Can you explain to me why these guys have to be placed in so much danger....he gose on to say we(israel) have an Air force ,ok now what dose he wants to do with it (fighter jets)??? carpet bomb the whole Gaza strip and kill thousands of Palestinians , what planet is he on , that is a insane and shamful ...and is not a jewish value , what ever happen to Never again , we must see and feel other people pain and suffering through our natural histroy ,might dose not make right , the story of the red indians and the cowboys will not be repeated in the middle east ....sooner or later the rest of the Arabs will wake up from their "deep sleep "comma .... lets talk peace now before its late .

this operation will create hunderds of new suicid bombers Israel will suffer from them in the next 50 years , Israeli governments don't learn ... how many operation like this did the Israeli governments in the last 20 years and till now Israel has no security and will never have as long as the situation like this .... all those who is celebrating the big victory of the huge war arsenal against the big army of the Palistinias (joke) will change their minds and will attack the government and the IDF after the next suicide operation , you complecated the situation much more than before ... the Palistinians will become wilder , the children will not be children any more but wild suicid bombers and they will be easy brainwashed .... Israel failled in everything and all the goals they went for it on this land starting with the dream of the great Israel from the Nile till El Forat till the safty Israel ... all were just dreams became nightmares .... keep on killing the Palistinians but they will never finish they are your nightmare which you will not get rid of it by power and America is an example the bigest power on the earth can not get rid of some terrorists and the Palistinians has stronger reasons to fight than those terrorists ... when you make a tost to celebrate the victory of the IDF don't forget to prepare some black dresses for the next victims of the next suicid bomber ... and for the father ... God help you for your lose but it would be better to ask the IDF to stop killing people because you know now how hard to lose one of your family insted of asking them to shoot the Palistinians from the sky ..... shalom

Israel is in the midst of a dirty and merciless war where it´s enemies are intent on her destruction. This war cannot be won being nice but neither can it be won being stupid. To go into Gaza with heavy armour, artillery and air force and have a lot of Arabic casualties including elderly persons, children and women would be just stupid. You would have an international outcry against Israel, possibly sanctions(EU) and Hamas and Co. would have scored a major victory. As things are you have no other option than to put your soldiers in the line of fire with inevitable casualties. This is the price to be paid for keeping the Jewish state. Is it worth it? Only you can decide. But as long as you have the IDF and Israel you are at least not reduced to defenceless victims.

Nonsense. The Palestinians don't need and never have needed an excuse to kill Jews. The suicide bombers were active killing Jews in the midst of the highest of the highs of the peace process, and they'll be there during the lowest of the lows. There is no equation like concessions=peace that Jews believe in anymore, and the fault for that lay with the Palestinians. So put that blame where it belongs.

He went to kill and destroy. He got what he deserves. Hopefully the pals will become stronger and better equipped, so that they make Israelis drink their own medicine.

The Geneva Convention is abundantly clear : it is not permitted to hide among protected persons when conducting military activities and doing so does not inhibit the enemy from conducting military operations against you. Indeed, the actual onus for their deaths falls on the personnel (terrorists) who are hiding amongst the protected persons. Translation: the deaths of Palestinian civillians killed by the IDF conducting operations against terrorists in their midst rests squarely on the shoulders of the terrorists. The only shame and outrage I have is that Israel has failed to repeatedly emphasize this point to the international community (esp. the United States) and act upon it. Instead we play the game according to their LIES. Its utterly ridiculous - as is your faux shame and outrage.

Dear Father and mother of this dead soldier ..... Im sorry for ur lost , i know it hurts a lot to lose a son or a daughter or friend. i have seen lots of mother's crying, do u think my Madam ur tears worth more than a palestinian mother tears ? Or do u think they would feel the same ? Your son was killed in a battle , but not in his home , he lives far away from Gaza , i wounder what he was doing there ? He was going to kill people in Gaza , he might have killed some innocent people , thats if he didnt already , to kill people in thier own houses . You wanna send some Air Forces to kill and bom people in thier own houses ? My Madam and my sir , Isnt it the real time to raise ur voice on ur goverment and ask them to stop ? Dont u wanna raise ur voice and ask them to give these people thier right back ? And to stop making some people's life's Cheap ? I hope so , although im sure u wont

Liars and Jew-haters are utterly devoid of all ethics. Ynet and Ynet readers knows that I love Israel. I love the Jewish people. I am a strong supporter of Jews and Israel. Israel has just lost a hero, a precious son - dear Yehuda Bassel.

Rogue State Department By David Bedein August 25, 2003 11. The US State Department, mandated by the US Congress to monitor PA education, has hired a leading PLO advocacy organization known as IPCRI,which has whitewashed the PA school curriculum as a 'peace curriculum while not citing any specific reference in that same curriculum, That US-funded IPCRI report is being used as the rationale for US AID and the EU to renew funding for the PA schools. Meanwhile, the US State Department is ignoring the text analysis of the newest PA school textbooks provided by CMIP, the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, whose work is located at www.edume.org 12. The US State Department, mandated by the US Congress to provide a critical analysis of the status of religious freedom inside the Palestinian Authority, issued a report in which it described the PA "transformation" of "Kever Yosef", Joseph's Tomb,into a mosque as an "act of religious freedom". 13. The US State Department acts under binding legislation which mandates that the US state Department not deal with the PLO unless and until the PLO cancels its covenant which calls for the dismemberment of the state of Israel. The PNC, the Palestine National Council, met in special session on April 24, 1996 and on December 14, 1998 to consider the question of the PLO covenant. In both cases, the PNC did not cancel the PLO covenant. Even so, US State Department falsely claims that the PLO cancelled its covenant. In other words, the US State Department's negotiations with the PLO remain in flagrant violation of US law 14. The US State Department recently dispatched emissaries to the middle east, John Wolfe and William Burns, both of whom met with Israeli political organizations that lobby for the PLO. However, Wolfe and Burns refused to meet with Israeli organizations which critique the PLO, leaving pro PLO groups as the only Israeli organizations which are in a position to provide feedback for the US State Department 15. The US State Department, mandated by the President to seek ways to facilitate a two-state solution, has allocated a special grant of $26 Million to UNRWA, the UN agency which runs Arab refugee camps under a policy that promote the "right of return" for four million Palestinian Arab refugees to take back Arab villages which have been replaced by Israeli town collective farms and woodlands within the 1949-1967 lines. 16. The US State Department, mandated by the US Congress to facilitate the creation of a "democratic state of Palestine", describes the one party elections in which Arafat was elected president of Palestinian Authority in January 1996 as "free and democratic" despite the fact that all candidates had to be selected and approved by Arafat in order to run. PA Foreign Minister and Palestinian State Constitution author Nabil Shaath has confirmed that Arafat would again be the only candidate for president of the Palestinian Arab entity. 17. The US State Department, mandated by the US Congress to facilitate a system of human rights in the Palestinian Authority, turns a blind eye to the fact that the PA has placed more than 200 dissidents on death row for the crime of criticizing the PA. The PA calls them "collaborators" for media consumption. 18. The US State Department has authorized the resumption of direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority, before it took any steps to disarm and disband Arab terror groups which act within the PA. That aid to the PA was supposed to be predicated on that PA crackdown on organizations that plan and conduct acts of premeditated murder against Jews. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=9521