ISRAEL: WHEN WILL THE WEST DO SOMETHING?

[donnie]

Am I alone in feeling outraged that Blair et al have said and done nothing about Israel's incursion into Gaza following the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier?

I have been very outspoken on MN about my opposition to the Israeli Government in the past and make no bones about the fact that I do regard it as verging on being a rogue state. Their sustained oppression of the Palestinians is repulsive to me and I see them as legitimised terrorists.

Opinions please.

yes edam , but since America is the biggest supplier of arms and money to Israel, can you honestly blame them? they view the US as their oppressors. and they are pretty much right.

Didn't we get "involved" in Iraq?

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No Donnie, you are not alone in your outrage. The Israelis seem to be able to get away with the most unspeakable actions (their soldiers killing palestinian children, demolishing houses as punishment etc etc)and the world turns a blind eye. If this was any other country behaving in this manner the US would be champing at the bit to get in there and do it's World Policeman act but because it is Israel the West backs them all the way.

Pruni-me too!

Nearly lost my job once for (in my naievity aged 21)for daring to question whether my Jewish boss thought that the Palestinians might have a point.
This was 17yrs ago now but he went ballistic,called me anti-semitic,didn't speak to me for over a week and told me I was lucky ot keep my job.

Didn't feel too lucky at the time but compared to what many,many poor Palestinians suffer every day it was nothing.

Also outraged. A typically disproportionate Israeli response to an (unjustifiable but possibly understandable) act of frustration.

Of all the people of the world, that the Israelis should be doing this shows that WW2 served as a "do as we say, not as we do."

It is disgusting.

Does the Israel government think the terrorists are the least bothered by how many houses they bulldoze, how many families they slaughter? Like the Americans they go on the principal that if you drop enough bombs eventually you might hit something or someone you meant to.

Oh Wish,they have played that anti Semitic card far too long.
It has bloody expired now and they should give it a rest.

Anti Semitic?
No,anti bullying arrogant arseholes.

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Oh yes,and democracy only worth fighting for when it brings in someone the bully boys approve of.
Iti s so unbelievably wicked.

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Did you know that in Germany the press is pratically not allowed to report anything that might show Israel in a negative light? My parents are always stunned and amazed at the articles in the Indy when they're here visiting me. Whenever any politician there dares to criticise the state of Israel's actions mildly they end up resigning and being called anti-semitic.
This level of censorship and name-calling is vile, it's wrong and has no place in the 21st century.

Geek,I knew they were very sensitive about Nazi stuff but no idea about this.
Bloody hell!!

Not sure what I would expect US and Britain to do. They both seem to be 'surpised' that Iraq hasn't exactly gone according to plan so I don't think they have much hope of knowing how to solve the Israel problem. What do you think they should do - have sanctions against Israel? Iraq has also shown that Blair and Bush think it is perfectly OK to do what they want regardless of other country's opinions, so why should Israel take any notice of what the rest of the world thinks?

I think that the only way of solving the problem in Israel would be to have a huge mind shift in the way Palestinians and Israelis think and have a shared state. Somehow I don't think this is going to happen any time soon. (I also think that the problems in Northern Ireland will only be solved when everyone can just live and let live, but the Northern Ireland peace treaty was something like 8 years ago now, and they haven't made much progress, despite arguably being in a much more stable position than Israel).

Has anybody else read "When I Lived in Modern Times" by Linda Grant? I think it gives a really great background to the situation.

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And still they get away with it

I am enraged also
40 palestinains dead to 1 israeli yet the israelis accuse the Palestinians of being terrost agressors
Hardly short of motivation are they
I do not agree with terrorism but in the case of palestine I understand it more than I ever could have before.

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. I don't condone violence, ever - but there's only so much fucking oppression/fear/illegal occupation you can subject people to before retaliation becomes inevitable. The suicide bombings are terrible, but they were avoidable. I was pregnant with ds2 when I saw an interview with a Palestinian mother who said of her 4yo son, playing in the yard in the background, that she would be proud if he grew up to be a suicide bomber. What must a people be put through for a mother to feel that way? I cried with disbelief. It's horrendous.

I agree with moondog that the universal "anti-Semitic" get-out-of-jail-free card has long since expired. They are a rogue state.

they call them holocaust apologists

I too consider Isreal to be a rogue state and am disgusted by the Isrealis of all people to be behaving like this. Historically the most oppressed race on the planet are behaving with a visciousness that is doing them no favours. And as for the anti-semitic card being pulled every time anyone mentions it, makes me puke.

I have to say I find this verging-on-hysterical 'Israelis = bad, Palestinians = good' attitude that some display very disquieting - it is seriously skewed. Perhaps the fact that the Jews were so badly treated in the past makes you (and me too if I'm honest) judge them far more harshly than you might others. The historical image is of lambs going meekly to the gas-chamber & people can't square that with modern images of Israelis acting militarily.
Try, try, TRY for fuck's sake to read the history of the situation and arrive at a slightly more balanced viewpoint. Yes, ordinary Palestinians suffer, yes, Yitzhak Rabin said 'we did not come to an empty land' but yes, Israel was attacked from all sides from the moment of its inception. What the heck would you do?? The truth is always somewhere in the middle & I'm afraid it doesn't just come from the bloody Guardian!

Actually Aelita, I fond the idea that 'Jews went meekly to the gas chambers' horribly offensive. You make it sound as if they colluded in an opression so extreme and absolute. Whatever I think of some aspects of modern daye Isreal, I would never imagine that Jewish people of 65 years ago were implicated in their own suffering.

I think the difference between the images from then and now is indeed a powerful one, but not necessarily relevant to a view of political and military might and the way it is used now.

And no-one necessarily has to believe that Isreal has suffered no harm. I was actually quite shocked when i read the charter of the PLO, for instance. But you can take into acount a whole range of rights and worngs and still come to the conclusion that what is happening is beyond right.

Erm,I'm a ranting right wing Telegraph reader......