its truely a horrible reality indeed ....you are a Racist blinded by arrogance and power ,if anyone should learn from history it should be you ...keep on dreaming ,life is like cucumber one day in your hand ,next could be in your salad MR. converter .

Do you mean if a Canadian "group" kidnapped an IDF soldier and the Canadian government only offered a "wink and a nod", and refused to help? Are you puposely being ignorant?

I think you're wrong - the Hamas have lot's of power. They have the power to convince their citizens that the Jews are their whole problem. They have the ability to turn off the power and water in Gaza by not ending this charade. They have the ability to make their citizens forget that they don't have jobs or income. The sad part is they coould use their power to change so much so easily but refuse too.

I hope next time the IDF launches the operation straberries and cream on your family's heads. This is when you're going to understand.

No I am not being ignorant, otherwise I wouldn’t be posting here would I? There are all kinds of allegations from both sides but one thing is certain that as of now IDF is occupying Gaza!

"there is a price for attacking a soveregin state with rockets guns and terrorists." But that is not all! And what about the tragic and painful concession Israel has made last year by disrupting (uprooting)10000 people from their lives in Gaza ;people who had been living there for almost 40 years ? What about that? This fact doesn't count in Justice views? What did Israel get back from this sacrifice? Kassams? Tunnels underground bringing arms into Gaza to kill Jews? Increased terrorists cells? So,what about this element on the whole history? Hence,it is better not to call it a self defense war only,but as well call it "taking back the merchandise"that was delivered but not payed. This fundamental element must be taken into acount too and ,OBVIOUSLY,not be forgotten.

That is true, the IDF is in Gaza. But they did not go in on a whim, they were provoked. Do you agree that there is no partner on the Palestinian side to negotiate with? Don't you think if the Hamas actually intervened and returned the soldier it would be a Public Relations success for them?

"Israel's statement on Wednesday that it has no intention to re-occupy Gaza"

Isn’t Israel being extremely aggressive over here ? They destroyed bridges and the only power plant in that city. More than a million people’s lives’ over there would probably be pretty miserable right now. No power, no water, impending siege of the city, airplanes flying overhead and dropping bombs here and there. Isn’t the Palestinian leadership right in calling this a ‘collective punishment’ ? Why should innocent folks (many of them small children) suffer and die because 1 soldier got kidnapped by a bunch of thugs / terrorists ? This has got to be one of the most stupid and inhumane actions.

I agree to that for aggression the answer will always be aggression as we are still uncivilized unfortunately and witnessing this happening, but in my opinion if it will continue like this it will never stop. Israel should not be there in the first place but I agree to that there should be a country for the Jewish nation. Therefor I concluded that the only and rightful solution should be PEACE and PEACE and again PEACE. And both nations should respect each other and each other's history. There was time when the Muslims in that area created a very peaceful and prospering culturally rich society where arts and sciences were upheld above many things. Thanks to the Greek's heritage. And there is a time that we all part of it now where Jews are at the top of many-many things, but this does not mean that it will last for eternity. Hence I do not agree to any aggression. I do not agree to the IDF soldier kidnapping and I do not agree to the present Gaza invasion. No matter what is happening, there are no only one guilty nation at fault, since there are always more sides of a story than just one. IDF should have been wiser in this occasion not to give way to an invasion as a solution. Invasion has never been a real solution and the nations of this World of ours should be civilized enough to realize this.

This is Israel, not America. America is a great country, there is no doubt of that. Nonetheless, there is a difference here. The area in which Israel has entered is literally across the street. One side is Israel and the other is called Gaza. If Israel allows the kidnapping of her people to go unanswered it will become a common occurance. Imagine if the Canadian or Mexican governments were to enter the US and kidnap soilders? What would American then do? Further, of the world population, there are approximately 25% of 1% Jews alive today, thanks to the Holocaust. More Jews were murdered in the Holocaust than there are Israeli Jews. A little less than half of the world's Jewish population are Israeli. We can't afford to allow even one more murdered. Most importantly, the loss of one life is as the loss of one world. Jews are a people of life. We want peace, and are willing to give up much for peace, but we are willing to fight for life. Israel is in a position that if she does not fight for life, she will not live. Israel Will and Must Live.

"Isn’t the Palestinian leadership right in calling this a ‘collective punishment’ ?" Shouldn't the be insisting on the return of the soldier? They can stop it THIS MINUTE and they know it. The Hamas is the Palestinians own worse enemy.

I see from your comments you are neither Jewish nor Canadian!

Apparently one half of the world at large doesn't know there is a war. It should be declared, and the final result to terriorists, and terrorist countries like Syria, Iran and Palastine should be total capitulation as experienced by Germany, and Japan. The methods used should be the same as experienced by those countries. A line has been drawn, but not many have seen it.

Why do you assume that I am not Canadian or Jewish?

And let us not forget the shelling of palestinian civilians on the beach, the shooting of a 9 year old girl who walked too close to the illegal security barrier etc., etc., who introduced this terror? Israelis like to forget the Stern thugs, the Irgun gang, the murder of United nations envoys, the bombing of hotels, the hanging of british soldiers from light poles, the killing of US sailors on the USS Liberty... (that took 26 years for an apology).... get out of the occupied territories and you will receive the respect of the world give up this barbarous occupation ... security measures are a furphy.. israel has reportedly over 200 nuclear missiles enough to wipe out every muslim on earth and Europe as well. Resistance has always been universal against occupiers, the Warsaw uprising being a prime example. Peace cannot be forced through the muzzle of a tank . An even handed approach may achieve surprising results.

Before the 67 war, when the Arabs were all talking about the "push the Jews into the sea", the foreign minister of Israel urged "restraint" Prime Minister Eshkol called him a "gelernter naar" (an educated idiot") The US never worried about "proportionality" when it bombed Dresden, Berlin, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The population supported genocide and therefore lost all "rights"! Proportionality, says that ONE innocent Israeli, is worth more than all the genocidal supporters of terrorists. The Gazans want to live in the pre-Abraham, pagan murderous mentality, and they should! No electricity, no modern plumbing and no suitcases full of zillions of currency, Let them go back to camel riding, goat hearding etc, until they accept some "modern morality" circa 3500 years ago. They voted to "push the Jews into the sea" and therefore, they belong there! Academic idiots, who want "proportionality" between the terrorist supporters, and their victims, should be forced to move to Sderot!

You obviously are not aware of our respect for our soldiers and their lives. Our obligation is to bring him home. The palis knew that when they carried out their assault on OUR sovereign territory. Now they will pay the price. I realize Canada does not have our experience in dealing with enemies - you have the US to protect you. We take OUR responsibilities seriously, and one of them is the safety of our IDF men and women!

B"H Don't you dare think for one minute that the blood of a Jewish soldier is worth less than the blood of a so-called "palestinian". The barbaric Hamas/Fatah/Hezbollah factions should have thought twice about digging a tunnel and murdering two Israeli soldiers in the first place. But that's what rats do, they dig tunnels. It is also remarkable to see official palestinian spokesmen make the argument that the disengagement from Gaza remains “occupied” territory in spite of the disengagement from Gush Katif and other plans to evacuate Jewish citizens from their homes in the future. It is very often necessary to create peace only through what seems to be an act of violence. One must remove those things that disturb peace and that create tensions between peoples in order for peace to exist. And it is not always possible to remove the items that block peace through non-violent means. Does anyone seriously think that the Nazis could have been dealt with non-violently? Can Osama bin Laden be dealt with non-violently? Ariel Sharon has always said that the path to peace in the Middle East must begin with decisive military action against the terrorist infrastructure. Only once violence, as an option, is rooted out can peace be achieved. May HaShem provide a sukkot and protect the soldiers who protect Israel, their families and the thousands of Jewish families continually being attacked by the godless who continue to choose war all the time over peace and loving-kindness.

No, it is not only about the soldier. It is also about the incessant Kassam attacks on Shderot. Israel had been very patient since they left Gaza. But, the Palestinians, instead of rebuilding Gaza, concentrated on sending almost every day Kassam rockets onto Israel. The soldier Shalit kidnapping incident was only the last drop. No democratic country in the world would sit down and do nothing in the face of constant attacks over its border. Israel has every right to defend itself.

Whether you agree on Israel's rights or not - it is there. You may not like the fact that America is on Indian land, but it is. If the surrounding Arab countries (Arab League) would stop their silly political ploy of 60 years much of the middle east problems would subside. The Arab world turned it's back on their Arab population (there was no such thing as a "Palestinian" in the 40's). Israel accepted Jews that were "displaced" from the surrounding countries, yet those surrounding countries turned their backs on "displaced" Arabs. Only two Arab countries will officially trade with Israel (apparently a lot goes on unofficially) and pretend to care about the Palestinians. Yet some cutoff funding when they sided with Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait. Kuwait kicked a few hundred thousand Palestinians out, but the no outrage there. Syria jailed Arafat - no outrage there. Arafat tried to start a war in Jordan - no outrage there. Face it - the Palestinians have had problems with just about EVERYONE thanks to their own leadership - but there is only outrage when the Jews are involved. For once I'd like to see Palestinian peole not betrayed by their own leaderhisp. Let Hamas do the right thing and call for an end to this kidnapping.

If the govrnment of Canada or any of its agencies kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Israel would have the right and duty to return that soldier by force of arms.

Israel is forcing the people of Gaza to pressure their government to release the kidnapped soldier, as well as warning the terrorist Hamas government that discomfort levels will be increased until the soldier is released alive and well.

If you were Jewish, you would understand the importance of each individual. It is the basis of Torah. If you were Canadian, you would agree with everyone.

Unfortunately the hard-line Palestinians-and Moslems in general understand ONLY the Law of the Jungle: Weakness INVITES abuse. And they see moderation and restraint as weakness.

This is a simple case of ACTION causes REACTION. How easily you leave out the Palestinian responsibility and action that causes the Israeli reaction!

There is nothing to prevent Israel from doing whatever it feels is necessary to rescue the soldier or damage saboteurs (terrorists) and their infrastructure. Proportionality is only a limiting factor if the action is purely retailiatory. For example, if they kill him or if Israel says that the sole reason for further action is to retaliate for other illegal activities, such as: -the attack on the outpost that killed 2 -the other hostage that was killed in the West Bank -the Qassam attacks -the sabotage (suicide bombers) in Israel, and elsewhere in the world, that killed and wounded Israeli citizens. In theory, Israel can do whatever it wants to get the soldier back, so long as it isn't 100% arbitrary (there must be at least a shred of reason). But Israel has reasons for doing everything that it has done. Israel has not even begun to do additional damage on the basis of retaliation, of which proportionality would allow Israel to do quite a bit of damage to the Palestinians. Retaliatory damage can be random, and include innocent civilians, so long as this is proportional, which it could be because innocent civilian Israelis have been targeted in attacks by Palestinians (of course).

Israeli are a people of colonization, land theft, oppression, occupation and wars. That's what Israeli have been doing since 1948 and little before that. Please correct me if I am wrong. I think because they couldn't have a country for 2000 years, and now that they have one, they have become crazed. It is like a little kid who was deprived of something for so long.

to #41 Please let's not bring in the Holocaust here because that has not much to do with the Israel - Palestine situation. Otherwise many-many other nations have had their own Holocausts in the number of hundreds of millions perpetrated by different nations (including Jews, too!) in different and very unfortunate historical situations. to #50 Damn right you are that this invasion is not just for one soldier. to #51 Certainly. On the American continent there were more than five hundred million Native Indians killed!!! But that has happened more than five hundred years ago and here in this situation you are talking about the last 60 years. Now, aren't we supposed to be more civilized than we were half a millennia ago? to #54 Well I should not answer to assumptions because they are just assumptions… and you may be surprised. Not only that but the issue you brought up here is off topic in my humble opinion. Yet, I make an exemption here and I answer to your assumptions with some more questions if you don't mind. 1. Where was the principle of importance of each individual of Yigal Amir when participated in the deadly plot against Yitzhak Rabin? 2. If I would be Jewish, would that make me -by your assumption and your short interpretation of the Torah- a bad Jew? 3. If I would not be Jewish, would that make me don't understand the importance of each individual? 4. If you were a real Jew -who would understand the importance of each individual- would you make an assumptive generalization about Canadians?

Guess what. You're wrong and I'm correcting you. You're a typical arab mouthpiece charading as someone who is intelligent. What you really are is a hypocrit. You want to talk about colonization, land theft, and oppression? Fine, let's talk about the Western Sahara a large strip of land subjugated by Morocco, your "homeland", which resides along northern Africa's Atlantic coastline. Apparently, arabs like you and the rest of the world are too busy berating Israel for defending itself against "palestinians" to take much notice, particularly since it is an Arab state (i.e. Morocco) that is doing the "occupying." Cases such as Western Sahara provide the most compelling proof of the international community's double standard regarding Israel and various other global conflicts. For all the attention that is devoted to every IDF roadblock that is set up, every curfew that is enforced, and every palestinian terrorist's home that is demolished, virtually nothing is said nor heard when it comes to other land disputes, such as Morocco's brutal occupation of its neighbor. Let's talk about how the Moroccan army invaded, seizing control and claimed the Sahrawis as its own. In October 1975, the International Court of Justice ruled that Morocco's claim to the area was illegitimate, issuing an advisory opinion stating there was insufficient evidence to support "any tie of territorial sovereignty" between Western Sahara and Morocco. But that has not stopped the Moroccans from pursuing their expansionist aims. Since the very beginning of their occupation, they have been pouring money, resources and settlers in to the area, in a brazen attempt to "Morrocanize" Western Sahara and undermine any chance of it achieving freedom. Meanwhile, some 200,000 Sahrawi refugees languish in camps in neighboring Algeria, living in terrible conditions and afraid of returning home. But the world, it seems, has little patience for such matters, preferring to court Morocco's King Muhammad VI rather than confront him about his country's policies. As a result, barely a peep is heard about the plight of Western Sahara. So my advice to you, Karim, is to stay off of forum boards and go prostrate yourself on your little rug. You're impotent here. Now move along.