u gadi?....you and your arabs buddies you want to suck up to now?maybe we should have a national day of mourning for the people of gaza now...make it a national holiday

The israeli troops struck Gaza in the so-called depth without taking into account that the area was crowded with innocent people who generally have nothing to do with political matters. Your troops were shooting randomly, why? To break a record? To show the world a version of the victory manufactured in your media labs. We have to accept things as they're. You can use all words you want to describe your opponent's 'bad qualities' in this weird 'confrontation' between, on the one hand, well-armed young soldiers and a totally helpless people. On the ground, things weren't equal and you've to admit that. It's very easy to strike from the sky or from the sea! You can the break the record of human slaughter! It's actually funny to see civilians or soldiers feeling proud of their accomplishment of damage and destruction, while dead bodies of innocent people are torn under the wreckage. Let's develop our vision of things and be objective. Let our judgement be well grounded.

Go and live in Sderot. Maybe you will understand then.

That's why it took so long to go in and deal with Hamas. We know how they work. We know they abuse their population. But we felt that our government was indifferent to the suffering in Sterot and the areas around Gaza. That is our primary humanity. And if you feel we are still indifferent - already the collections for Gaza residents are starting, no celebrations on our part. But Hamas celebrates the death of people, and continues to through rockets at us.

Has returned. We have chosen to value the lives of our sons more highly then those who sing for joy and hand out candy's whenever we experience the pain of an attack on our civilians. It appears that Gadi is a sensitive soul - and that is good. His energies should however be channeled more selectively.

Just because we dont go in for another public mea culpa, which we've had more than enough of at the behest of our commentators and prophets, doesnt mean we're indifferent at all to the suffering of the gazan citizens. But we cannot repair our own peoples' sufferings over the hizbullah rockets, let alone the 8 years of hamas rockets. And they are our priority. When and if we have any energy and emotion left over, yes we can sympathize with the gazans abused as human shields by their democratically elected government Hamas. The UN supports still their violation of international law, the world dismissed it, and the gazans were --at best-- too terrified to stop it, if they indeed wanted to, which we'll never know. And Israeli supposed indifference is simply a reality quotient: we know our feelings can't change Hamas behavior, Arab education to hate us, or the world's indifference. We're not barbarians, we're not indifferent, we're just awake, trying to stay alive, and just a bit tired of being criticized for the failures of the wide world....

For the messianic dreams of the Extreme Left, Israel mobilized its entire army to assault 10000 peaceful and law abiding citizens. Teams of psychologists conditioned entire military units, including the ultraviolent YSM shock troops, to expel Jews from their home, beat children and women and dig up Jewish graves. Later in Amona, peacefully protesting doctors, parliamentarians and IDF veterans were beaten to a pulp by crazed police under supervision of the Attorney General. If Israelis were taught that a violent ethnic cleansing of their own brothers is "justice" and "rule of law" requires that they look away while police beat protestors, why should they worry about collateral damage caused in a just war against a genocidal enemy? Gadi Blatiansky should visit the squalid refugee camp in Nizan and ask himself where he was and why was he silent.

Through King Xerxes, Mordecai and Esther made such law and sealed with the king's ring that the Jews in every city and province will be allowed to get together and defend themselves. They may destroy any army that attacks them and they may kill all of their enemies including women and children. In this present day and age, the truths of the bible are pitted against humanity. Unlike the days of Esther, the Israel army, with humility and humanity in their eyes, warned the Palestinians of their approaches. Mr. Blatiansky forgets about biblical history. God knows there will be the demise of innocent people. As humans, we mourn that type of death; but as I have professed during the past three weeks, to condemn Israel for defending herself is a condemnation of God's promises to the Jewish people. I'm sorry Mr. Blatainsky forgot about that part and negates the importance of the lives of the innocent children and women and men who have suffered emotionally and directly by death at the hands of an enemy. And from past readings and in talking to people, I have not seen a celebration of the deaths of the innocent Palestinian people but that of a feeling of anguish, for we as humans do know they have suffered. If anybody is numb, Mr. Blatiansky, it is those of the world who believe in self-defense but judged by the rest of the condemning world to be on equal footing as a terrorist.

i will tell you how it happened.... for 100 years nothing has changed in our neighborhood. we have been terrorised, killed, mutilated, insulted, fired upon, bombarded, made war upon and generally lived under constant fear in a neighborhood of hate, bullies and murderers. yes, one finally goes mad after years of suffering, after years of terror and killing our people. yes, one goes mad at the end ahen they see there is no end in sight, no end to terror, no end to the killing of our jews in israel and abroad. yes, this can make one, after 100 years of patience and nothing working, to finally go mad. the jews have a land where they build to protect themselves form antisemitism, hate and holocausts and terror. we found that we have to put up with these for 60 more years after the holocaust. enough is enough. we have reached our end of patience and what you see now is the result of hundreds of years of persecution and especially arab terrorism and murder of our jews in israel. enough is enough. we have not gone mad. we have finally responded after 8 long years of living in terror and fear and we are 100% justified. the bleeding heart should not be you. it should be hamas and arab terrorists who subject their innocent people to suffering for an ideology of hate and terrror against a nation they can never defeat. but, stupid as they are, they keep on trying and keep on failing. it would behoove you to open your heart not to the terror supporters, but to those on our side that have nedured 8,000 rockets and lived in terror for mostly 2-8 years in bunkers and shelters with abnormal psychological damage and economic damage. liora shkedi sderot, israel

I can feel the pain of the author, but after reading the six comments of the article, I can UNDERSTAND that pain. It is clear that an internal dialogue is a MUST. A similar dialog is also needed for Palestinians and Arabs.

Gadi, a person need only read the talkbacks to your article for proof of what you say is true.

that is like asking "How come Jews don't support the National Socialist German Workers Party right to self determination"? But then, what do you expect? This is the left's true face. When it comes to self defense, the left is always against us.

It used to be that arab armies would come to fight on the battlefield. Men only. Now the arab-islamists only fight from within schools, homes, UN centers, hospitals. They use ambulances as troop carriers. They use small boys and human cell phones. They strap suicide belts to old men and young women. They fire grads into Israeli cities HOPING to take out a school of children. The question is what happened to them! They are the ones who have chosen the path of inhumanity.

We don't intentionally order or allow our troops to kill innocents for the sake of killing innocents. Hamas do, and that's the difference between us.

Afther I have seen them time and time again, dancing with body parts (and taking them home and keeping them as mementos), passing out sweets and dancing in the streets on news of a killed jew, making songs about pieces of jewish flesh in trash bags, etc, I completley lost my empathy for them. Not even nazis had so much hate that they would sacrifice their own children to kill jews. They are a nation of psychopats, they should be treated like violent psychopats, isolated, restrained and sedated.

I'M FRANKLY AMAZED AT THE GADI ARTICLE. I'LL REFRAIN FROM CALLING HIM NAMES BECAUSE HE PROBABLY WROTE IT TO GET A LOT OF READER ATTENTION & TALKBACKS LIKE THIS ONE. I, ON THE OTHERHAND MEASURE HUMANITY BY WHO ADHERES TO THE BASIC PRICIPLES OF HUMANITY, AND WHO TEACHES THEIR YOUTH FROM EARLY AGE TO HATE ISRAEL & JEWS (SIMILAR TO THE GERMAN YOUTH TRAINING IN NAZI GERMANY) , AND ALSO TEACHES THEM THAT IS ACCEPTABLE ADMIRABLE TO KILL JEWS, AND TEACHES THEM TO GIVE UP THEIR OWN LIVES BY WEARING EXPLOSIVE JACKETS TO KILL ISRAELIS AT NIGHTCLUBS ? .... I URGE GADI TO APPRECIATE HIS POSITION & GET RE-EDUCATED ON HUMANITY.

Achmad, go and live with Hesham #41 in Egypt.

You became a nation of murderers, thieves, and vandals... any questions?

We just see accumulations of arsenal, every day qassams that slowly eat into the psyche, and a population of women, men and children who pass out candy at every suicide bombing that is proudly committed by one of them against Israelis. That is what we feel. But in the back of my mind is a memory: on a vacation to the Dead Sea, in a 5-star hotel that also had Arabs, which promised free nightly entertainment, which turned out to be a play about how the IDF beat the Arabs in the War of Independence. The Arab vacationers paid the same money the Jews paid. They were on vacation. Was there any reason to hurt them? Is it possible that is what we have been doing under the table for years? Is it possible that we want them to hate us, in order to preserve the status quo?

israel lost all it's moral compass during this war. Initially people supported the op but seeing all the dead children and babies has finally shown the nation of israel for what it is. A nation drunk on power and aggression. Israel, what happened to you?

then you would know... i think that most israelis or lets say most people on this web site do not know that the reason for all palestinian rockets is that we took their land 60 years ago without asking them. and since we are treating them with hate, we disriminate and kill them. why dont we go back to the boarders of 67? (self defense is a bad excuse) it is greed.

I speak for myself, after 8 years of living under rocket attacks,maybe after living in Israel for over 38 years and lost count of how many terror attacks and deaths there were during this time. After my whole life of 71 years and experiencing ant-Semites and being accused of killing Christ ( this is way before my time) Yes maybe I have become indifferent,maybe because I turned my cheek so many times and hurt so much Now as an Israeli I am being cast as the evil one and not the terrorists Maybe because I have seen the Arabs dance and sing for joy,when an Israeli was killed by terrorist. Lets not forget the holocaust,and the powers fighting the Nazies,didn't care or were not interested in saving the Jews Maybe because of all that I am today indifferent

We never stole any land from the Palestinian,first of all there were no Palestinian people until Arafat invented it. Give them back the 67 borders,well they still used terror against Israel,well go back to the 48 borders,o tyes they still used terror,well go back before Israel became a state,well they still used terror against the Jews. Stop using the word we,you are not we,you are a ---,well so this will be posted, I will not use the words I wanted to say.

Mr Blatyanskyn I was told this story by a man who witnesed this event,it was in Russia , ww 2,as a Jew he served in a slave batalion under the Romenians and Germans,1 day the Germans gethered the people of the village,men women and children,and marched them of toward the Russian position while the Germans using the people as a shild,were hiding behind them with arms,the women and children were crying,as the people came close,the Russian comander ordered his men to fire on his own people and the Germans. Mr Blatyansky,you believe ,the Russian comander should have surrendered the position to the Germans and saved his people, with babarians you have to talk, barbarian,othervise,they will defeat you.

If Israel does not take decisive action against Hamas,it will be a matter of months before rockets will---G-d forbid---fall upon Tel Aviv,Haifa,and Jerusalem. One hit on a chemical factory might well cause untold damage and wreak a horrible toll of human lives.Hamas is out to kill and destroy.That in fighting Hamas many civilians were killed is their fault.How could anyone in his right mind write an article like this and not even mention Hamas' use of civilians as shields, their deliberate placement of rockets in the heart of civilian areas,and the months Hamas spent building tunnels and booby trapping homes,etc?Compassion is not something to use blindly to rationalize and morally defend the actions of willful killers.Compassion uis not a conclusive logic that can be used to justify silence and inaction out of pity for killers. The troops were sent in when Hamas refused to stop firing rockets.When they were sent in,the goal was not to send the troops to their death--to commit suicide out of compassion for the Gazans. Israelis have a right to live in peace.Whatever military action is necessary to bring about that end is morally justiified.

YOU WOULD NOT LIVE IN GERMANY PERSECUTIONS, CONFISCATIONS OF PROPERTY, DISCRIMINATIONS , RACISM OF THE WORST KIND AND FINALLY THE FINAL SOLUTION IF YOU KNEW YOUR HISTORY............YOU WOULDN'T PREACH TO REFUGEES FROM GERMANY AND SURVIVORS...................

As a proud Moslim American ( former Catholic) gay I am outraged. We don't need those " apologists like Terri. We in our community had a wanderful party with nude salsa dancing and collected $18000 for our community in Gaza. My husband is from Gaza and we also adopted 2 boys from a refugee camp. We hope to help Gaza as much as we can.Instead of useless post why don't you collect money for Palestinians?

What misplaced idealism you profess! How lofty. Have you forgotten the two kids in Gush Katif who had their legs blown off a few years ago? Or the 3 year old in Admonah who got shot in the head at contact distance? Perhaps David HaTuel's pregnant first wife and four dead girls escapes you? BUT, according to you, we shouldn't 'lose our humanity' by ignoring the death of Gaza children. Our kids are bleeding. You and your kind have not lost your humanity. You've lost your mind.