Jeff Danziger for May 13, 2021

Hammurabi with ESCALATION: Two deaths for an eye, 10 bombs for a rocket, several women and children for a man…

Both sides appear to use the other as a ‘foil’ to distract their populations from the inherent weaknesses in their own position – neither side has ANY desire for a peaceful resolution to their respective problems other than continued lip service while continuing the fighting.

Once again: sickening!

Isn’t religion just grand.

For a different viewpoint how and why things are the way they are there, read “Green Almonds: Letters from Palestine” Anovel by Anaële Hermans and Delphine Herman’s.

Israel is a war crime. They commit war crimes every day and the US and UK provide cover at the UN and help finance genocide against the Palestinians.

Ah, the things we do for our theocracies … or do we misinterpret the ancient script, embellishing it with modern biases?

And so it goes.

In the last “exchange”, 10 times as many Palestinians died as Israelis. Almost exactly. Whatever your position, it is fair to agree that all people would like a safe, secure home where they can move to and from their jobs freely without harassment. The current situation is nightmarish for those caught in it. Ten times more so on one side.

Evidently that anti-rocket defense system that we sold the Israelis isn’t worth poop. And we only spent 2 trillion dollars in development costs.

The Israelites are apt pupils.

I vaguely remember a satirical video of the last living Israeli fighting the last living Palestinian. Two guys rolling around in a pile of rubble. I got nothing to say about it. It’s what I think of whenever this happens.

There will never be peace.

The Eastern world, it is explodin’. Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’. You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’. You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’? And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin’.

Apologies to Barry McGuire

First, it needs to be pointed out that the Israeli/Palestinian problem is not really the same as the general Israeli/Arab problem. There are both Muslim and Christian Palestinians, the common factor being the land on which they lived, who were displaced by the formation of the Israeli state. It also probably needs to be pointed out that not all Israeli Jews are religious Jews so much as cultural Jews, and there is a segment of those who are arguing for rights for the Palestinians. Basically, this is a type of racial problem, which should be familiar to us in the USA, and the leadership of Israel bears much of the responsibility for the current crisis by its dog whistles to the more fanatical elements in its constituency.

Another bad case of religion vs religion aided by way too many people and not enough resources for the lot of them. It really doesn’t help that the US military industrial complex is draining the US working tax payers to feed high margin military toys to the crazed right wing government of Israel so they can steal more land from the Palestinians.

Please stop the killing. It doesn’t matter what you call your diety, I don’t think he or she wants the children slaughtering each other

Wonder what the ratio was for the Trade Center 9/11 incident.. 3,000 odd on the American side vs how many in the Middle East.. (and still counting)

Some are seeing oil and theocracy as the root of the problem in the middle east. And, whereas, their religions do play a part in the overall equation, they aren’t the major player in the troubles. The nation of Israel’s Zionist approach to non-Jews has been pushing towards an All Jewish state. Toward that end, the government of Israel has been systematically pushing the Palestinians off their land so the property could become the home of more Jewish emigres.

Back in the 70’s I would watch the evening news and see Israeli forces order the family of a Palestinian youth out of his home just before the house was bulldozed. The youth had been found guilty of participating in the Intifada, but rather than punishing just the youth, they would punish his family, too. Thus another Palestinian family would be removed to the refugee camps in Jordan. Their land would be legally condemned and acquired for settlement of other Jewish emigres. I viewed this planned carnage for years till the Israeli government stopped the press from filming the urban renewal projects.

In Pres.Jimmy Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” he admits to being unaware of these evictions that most of us viewed on national news along with our supper. Now, with the two nation solution, the Israeli government continues pushing Palestinians off their land as well as making existence in the Palestinian areas almost unlivable. While Israel is virtually Covid free with their heavy doses of the vaccine, in the Palestinian areas barely one percent are vaxxed.

While I don’t approve of Hamas’ attack on Israel, I understand its root cause. Zionism.

All to keep Netanyahu in power!

Those Palestinians sure get upset with ethnic cleansing.

If for some sick reason you wished to encourage terrorism you could do no better than to emulate the British in Ireland or the Israelis in the middle east.

At this point, I wonder if it’s so ingrained in their culture that they cannot quit…

Christianity was revolutionary in that its basic tenet was love of thy fellow man. And as we know from history many wars were fought over religion.. Chiefly found among the shirking GOP, is the modern abandonment of faith for greed and power but vouchsafe they do crucify their own party members to their detriment.

And each side claims “They started it…!”

One side has systems to protect their civilian population and the other side has nothing to protect their civilian population. “An eye for an eye” is so misinterpreted.

War is good for business.

Which side is God on? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6K3PmJ9zb8

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth just makes for a bunch of blind and toothless people.

The beginnings of the problem started in the late 300s when John Chrysostom (aka “Golden Mouth” because of his skill at rhetoric) Arch Bishop of Constantinople, decided that his Christians were too friendly with Jews and started preaching that Jews were Devil worshippers who sacrificed their children to Satan as a way to drive a wedge between the two. Other Church officials took up the “cause” and continued with the lies. Since then, many kings and other leaders persecuted Jews, killed them and confiscated their properties. This continued through modern times. The fraudulent treatise, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” was written by an official in the Court of the Tsar and was used to further the persecutions. Some White Supremacists are still selling copies of it to further their cause. Zionism arose in the late 19th century because Jews wanted their own country where they would be free from persecution by the countries they were living in. They chose the lands in the bible, Canaan, as their goal. After WWII and the Holocaust they pushed harder. England, which at that time controlled Palestine (as well as India, Pakistan and other lands) was giving up their Empire and gave the lands to both the Jews and the Arabs, without any concern as to what would happen after they left. Jews moved in and the Arab countries surrounding the area convinced the Arab residents to flee to the Arab countries and live as refugees rather than taking them in as brothers and sisters. The Jewish settlers were often somewhat belligerent since most other countries, including the United States< gave little or no help during the Holocaust in Germany. The other Arab countries pushed the Palestinian refugees to attack Israeli civilians as often as possible. Many countries ignored the Palestinian attacks but reviled Israel for any retaliation. It has only been since the 1980s that I have heard any rebuke of Palestinians for attacking Israeli civilians.

’Twas ever thus,so there ya go…

An eye for an eye leaves us all blind.

The basis of every religion is do unto others as you would have them do to you and love.

Sad. Makes me want to cry.

Except Israelis kill 30 times as many Palestinians