Opinion
Déjà vu in Gaza
B. Michael
Published: 29.12.08, 16:47
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31. Michael is largely right, but we should still be fighting
Daniel ,   Formerly Israel   (12.29.08)
B. Michael is right. This operation will make the Gazans hate us more, if that's possible, it will not make them want to make peace with us. But territorial concessions will not make them love us either. They hate us for ideological reasons, and because they have been taught for two generations to hate us unquestioningly. We can't make them love us, so as long as they hate us let them fear us, and let them be unable to take their irrational hatred out on our innocents. I am sorry that this operation will make some palestinians who do not hate us yet hate us, but those of them who did not hate us nevertheless did not protect us from Hamas, so if their hatred of us is the cost of peace, so be it.
32. Michael is delusioned referring only to dozens of missles!
Stewart ,   U.S.A.   (12.29.08)
It's been hundreds probably over a thousand. Anyone know the number? If the Palestinians want a terorist govenment, they will have to live with the consequences. Sure we will have a backlash, but we must be strong. Terrorists stop only when they are met with overwhelming force and are eliminated. They have also terrorized their own people, and quashed any moderate Pallestinians.
33. B. Michal
A Schlesinger ,   USA   (12.29.08)
He is totally out of his mind.
34. a pacifist in a war zone
tom ,   toronto, canada   (12.29.08)
fine, you've made your point. now what? after 1,000 qassams, what do you propose to do? do you plan to surrender? do you want to retreat? where do you plan to retreat to. new york, or los angeles? yes, killing civilians is disgraceful, but so is using them as human shields. and gaza wouldn't be a "prison", to use the terms of arab propaganda, if the arabs weren't launching rockets every single day. ("only" 5 or 6 during the ceasefire and hundreds since.) every time the crossings open, they are fired upon until they close. most prisons don;t supply the inmates with 15,00 rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition. but if withdrawal and concessions are the way to peace, why did the withdrawal from lebanon not guarantee peace? why did hezbollah increase its attacks on northern israel? and if the withdrawal from gaza was supposed to stop the attacks, why did they increase ten-fold? you are correct in calling this a cycle, but you are tragically mistaken about its nature: the arabs are conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing, where every concession is seen as weakness, and every retreat is a small vcitory. their objective is not freedom or independence, but the annihilation of israel. helping them achieve their goals is not such a good plan.
35. What utter nonsense!
Mladen Andrijasevic ,   Be'er Sheva   (12.29.08)
There is no cyclical “déjà vu war.” B. Michael displays total ignorance of the causes. How about reading the Hamas Charter first and the hadiths.? Article 7 of the Hamas Charter which reads "O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP109206 is taken from hadith Bukhari (Vol 4, Book 52, No. 177) and quotes Prophet Muhammad http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/052.sbt.html
36. Zion, hear me!
daniel   (12.29.08)
Believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us but if we are to be prepared for it we must first shed our fear of it. I stand hear before you now truly unafraid! Why?! Because I believe something you do not? No! I stand here without fear because I remember. I remember that I am hear not because of the path that lay before me.. but because of the path that lies behind me! I remember that for one hundred years we have fought these machines! I remember that for one-hundred years they have sent their armies to destroy us and after a century of war I remember that which matters most! We are still here! tonight let us send a message to that army! Let us shake this cave! Tonight let us tremble these walls of earth, steel and stone! Let us be heard from red core to black sky! Tonight let us make them remember this is Zion and we are not afraid! http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=V5ZWNOm4r2k
37. Why did YNET withold
Aviva ,   Israel   (12.29.08)
my comment when others called author names and I did not? Perhaps my question about moral equivalences as to not enough Jews being killed compared to Gazans hit a sore note. It was wrong to silence my comment.
38. Not only inane but seditious
Roscio ,   Rome, Italy   (12.29.08)
Mr. Michael, right now young Israeli soldiers are at war with a deadly enemy, so that you can have a nice safe place from which to scribble your venom. Your ridiculous rant is filled with distortions, propaganda and outright lies that are worthy of Al-Jazeera. "Almost half of the casualties are civilians"??? Funny, according to the Red Cross (who are not friends of Israel), only about 57 out of over 320 were civilians. Even the Hamas PR spinners counted the police as non-civilans, knowing full well that their main job in Gaza is to keep Hamas's terror machine unchallenged. There would be even less civilian casualties if the terrorists did not purposefully use their own people as human shields for their warmongering installations. Gaza is "a giant prison", you say? Israelis were painfully uprooted from their homes there, because the Arabs cannot tolerate one living Jew in any of their domains. So, caving in to Muslim racism, every single Jew was deported, in order to give the Arabs a chance to build a viable state and get on with Life. Jews from around the world raised $14 million to donate the world's most advanced, state of the art hydroponic greenhouses to the new Arab territory, to give them a big economic headstart. These greenhouses had been the foundation of the Gazan economy while Jews lived there, and were the single largest employer for Arab workers in the Strip. As soon as the last Jew was dragged out of there, these Philistines destroyed the greenhouses in a few hours, along with burning every single synagogue. So much for state-building. When there was no renunciation of terrorist activity or shelling of Israeli citizens, of course the area had to be sealed off. You resort to the same infantile whine as the terrorists; "It's Israel's fault - they hit back after I only punched them!" This "prison" has a booming economy now - not in anything constructive, however. They have received billions from around the world, and what have they done with it? They have turned the entire Strip into a terror arsenal, filled with tens of thousands of weapons and long-range missiles. Why? Their official Charter says it quite clearly. They have 2 main goals - to destroy all of Israel and to slit the throat of every last Jew on earth. No co-existence, no hope, only death and destruction. That is why they have launched thousands of missiles, purposely seeking to kill civilians. That is why even now they are shooting long-range Iranian missiles into Israel. This has NOTHING to do with "occupation". This is Islamofascism reduced to its nihilistic conclusion - either kill us or we shall most assuredly kill you. While you are safe in your ivory tower, writing lies for terrorists who are only reaping the whirlwind that they themselves have sown, I shall be reciting tehillim for the brave young Jews of the IDF. Shalom!
39. deja vu in gaza
hans ,   stuttgart germany   (12.29.08)
this mess is because people like you if the hamas have fear they have respekt
40. Same old, same old ....
Terry ,   Eilat, Israel   (12.29.08)
Leftists just can't seem to learn any new songs.
41. Half of the dead are civilians?
hi ,   Santiago. Chile   (12.29.08)
According to the UNRWA, 57 civilians have died, out of over 300 dead in total. I do believe that this fighting won't lead to peace and that it will lead to more hatred (and not doing anything won't lead to peace and will lead to more hatred as well). But please, present facts. Thanks.
42. Misplaced blame
Elly ,   Melbourne, Australia   (12.29.08)
Where is your condemnation of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists? They are the ones responsible for bringing this action in Gaza. And isn't it time to call a spade a spade? The Palestinian "groups" you refer to are terrorists who are so indifferent to life they have no problem killing Arab-Israelis going about their daily lives at a building site.
43. the only truth so far
john ,   cork,ireland   (12.29.08)
Its unbelievable how yee treat palestinians as animals.sub human..200,300 a thousand dead and no problem to yee....the result of this will be more suicide bombings and desire for revenge...israelis are intelligent surely theres another way than this.........................peace
44. Well said
(12.29.08)
45. B. Michael does not exist...
Salomon S Mizrahi ,   Sao Carlos Brazil   (12.29.08)
as a person, it was invented by the editors in order probe the reactions of the readers... B. Michael is a ghost... Quite smart these editors...hohoho Merry Christmas and Happy New Year shmendeliks
46. #45
denversteve ,   denver   (12.29.08)
very interesting and very plausible...but why and to what purpose....is this another form of public polling...to see ow people would react... thanks for the possible insight.
47. #38 Roscio, Rome - Italy
Terry ,   Eilat, Israel   (12.29.08)
Roscio, my friend, that was quite eloquent & I thank you so much for having the patience to write such a reply to someone hardly worthy of your effort.
48. B. Michael... You are a complete idiot!!!
Michael   (12.29.08)
And Ynet are leftist retards for putting your article here.
49. Déjà vu in Gaza
George Adamowicz ,   Melbourne, Australia   (12.30.08)
Instead of bleating about the problem and a possibly re-used solution, what do the authors suggest? If there were a reasonable alternative, Israel would have used it.
50. #41
jb ,   Canada   (12.29.08)
UNRWA...now there's a reliable source!!! I'm surprised that they haven't claimed that they are ALL women and children! You can do better than that, but thanks for the humerous interlude.
51. B. Michael.. you are GREAT HUMANIST
Palestine.my.love ,   wonderlands   (12.29.08)
Vast majority of people will not understand you .... becuse you are like Reality and Truth. they like illusions and extrmist opnions. best Regrads my Freind
52. What an idiot. Send him to S'derot from his Ivory Tower.
(12.29.08)
53. brent from lawrence
ari ,   israel   (12.29.08)
agreed. BUT the 2 options you listed are the 2 extreme possible outcome which will lead to many more dead, angry and full of revenge. there are many palestinians who have been driven to extreme reactions (defending hamas) although they started out moderate.. we should appeal to them.. you are feeding their support of hamas by actions such as the raids on gaza that will only lead to more hurt and anger on both sides
54. #43
jb ,   Canada   (12.29.08)
What a dunce yee are, Irish fool. Yee if anyone should know about terror. This is a religious war..its all about religion! Its all about killing Jews because they are not Muslims. As far as treating Palestinians...the Israelis have bent over backwards to be accommodating. And what have they received... terror. What happened to all those great ideas about the Palis living in peace, in a just society with industry, growth and peace, if only the Jews left Gaza. Well they did and what happened? And do yee think those Muslims would treat yee any better. If Hamas is destroyed completely there might be slim hope, but I doubt it. They have educated their generations to hate Jews and Christians and now they are reaping the whirlwind.
55. B. Michael one of the few voices of reason
Jan ,   USA   (12.29.08)
As Israel once again bombs with impunity a people with no means of defense, it is important that there are voices of sanity such as B. Michael. It should be more than obvious that what Israel is doing will only ramp up the hatred against the Jewish state. One day, and this may be the day, it will be too late and Israel will regret that it chose bombs and death over an end to the bloody occupation and peace.
56. #55
(12.30.08)
Oops, you missed the hundreds of bombing attacks against Israel before Israel went to Gaza. You not voice of sanity only pro-Palestinian poster and supporter of terror.
57. This article is the best one ever- thank goodness
GUH   (12.30.08)
a Ynet opinion writer has emerged condemning the bloodshed and acknowledging that hundreds of innocents have been killed, unlike that man who said "few casualties have been inflicted;" B. Michael, you have attracted ridicule and slander with your article, but yours, in my opinion, is the best one.
58. #53--Ari
Brent ,   Lawrence, KS   (12.30.08)
Ari, you must not be much of a student of history. Many years ago, while I was serving in the armed forces of my country, I and some other officers were discussing one day the variouis "intractable" conflicts raging in the world. We discussed the Pakistan-India situation, the US-(then)USSR situation, and the Israeli-Arab situation. We concluded that nations diametrically opposed to each other can exist only in peace when both sides realize that fighting leads to the complete obliteration of both sides. We called this "The Theorem of Implacable Hatred". Basically, when both sides realize that too much blood has been shed or that fighting will result in annihilation, then, and only then, can two people who "implacably hate" each other decide to seek peace instead of war. This is why Egypt sought peace. Too many Egyptian men had died, so Sadat tried a different path. India and Pakistan rattle their sabres but will not come to serious blows because both know the other can inflict massive casualties with their nuclear weapons. Hamas has not yet been forced to this conclusion. Until enough Hamas/Palestinian blood is shed they will not come to this conclusion and war will continue. It is, admittedly, a bloody minded solution but it works, sadly.
59. #57
jb ,   Canada   (12.30.08)
As cynical as that theory is, I do not think it is applicable here. The hatred of Israel and the Jews is based on religion (Islam) not rational or secular thought. Hamas like the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII, adhering to the code of Bushida, feel it is glorious to die a martyr rather than live. and so Hamas who love death more than life feel they have nothing to lose. If they live and destroy Israel and the Jews, they win here on earth. If they die trying they live in Paradise. Genocide is a win/win situation for them. When that attitude is changed there may be some hope, but don't hold your breath. Many Israelis have no illusion about Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the like and their way of thinking. Only fools like B. Michael and their ilk in the western media just don't understand.
60. Oh for God's sake, B. Michael
Cameron ,   USA   (12.30.08)
Wring your hands, rage against fate, and sob in your pillow in the dark of the night, but when the sun arises, walk down the road with a pair in this hard, cold world. You are a man. Face it, and deal with it, like a man. Shames me that I have to repeat this essential, unavoidable truth to you. Save the whining & wailing for the old women.
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