Yet another Israeli atrocity

[Gamblor]

Flag burning does not defend well against terrorists.

No Israel burns Palestinian or Iraqi flags in the street. That might give you a little insight on who's really all about peace.

[ACPlayer]

As usual you did not read the post. I just pointed out that what you criticized as being non-peaceful (flag burning and shouting) are actually peaceful.

I further pointed out that firing from Apache helicopters is not peaceful.

How can you argue with that?!

[nicky g]

Largely a reasonable response.

"Only a racist could turn the acts of one man into an "atrocity" of an entire nation. "

The minor charges he faces tie in with the point I've made in the past that IDF atrocities, while often the responsibility of an individual soldier (the "bad apple" theory), are so rarely and so lightly punished by the Israeli government/IDF high command, as to give effective carte blanche to whackos like this guy. Perhaps I should have written Israeli army atrocity, but then it wouldn't have been as obvious a counterpoint to your "Israelis are great/Palestinians are idiots" post (after which I find it amusing that you are bandying accusations of racism around).

[nicky g]

Clearly that is exactly what I meant - right???!!?!?!?!?!?! [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[nicky g]

"Notice your subject title? Israel wasn't responsible for this, a whacked out soldier was."

Israel is responsible for punishing him. See my response to Gamblor.

"funniest part is that Israeli authorities are the ones who are charging and prosecuting the soldier."

With what? Murder? Manslaughter? No. Utterly insulting minor charges such as "Conduct unbecoming an officer" and "Illegal use of a weapon" (as if there he had merely fired in the air inappropriately, rather than emptied his magazine into a child), while a previous internal army investigation tried to let him off altogether. He murdered an innocent little girl who posed no threat to anyone and was walking away from him and his men, and if he's convicted of these absurd charges he'll get maybe a few weeks in jail at most, just like the Israeli soldier convited for deliberately opening fire on a 98-year old woman sitting in a parked taxi for absolutely no reason at all.

[Gamblor]

Perhaps I should have written Israeli army atrocity, but then it wouldn't have been as obvious a counterpoint to your "Israelis are great/Palestinians are idiots" post (after which I find it amusing that you are bandying accusations of racism around

That is not what my post was about. My post was a celebration of a technological advancement Israel has given the world (rah rah) and an indication of what occupies Israeli consciousness, contrasted with the innovations of a people for whom violence is a way of life.

[Gamblor]

Israeli soldiers tasked with defending the country against terrorists are 18-21 years old.

They are scared shitless kids who have been given reason to suspect each and every person, from 14 year olds to pregnant women. Suppose you're an 18 year old soldier, it's your 6th month in the army, you're at a checkpoint, and a taxi driver (who just as easily could have a bomb as a falafel in his front seat) misunderstands your directions and continues to drive towards you? Now what if he reaches down to grab something from the front seat?

But more than anything, you have exactly ZERO idea how stressful it is and how hard it is to maintain rationality in these situations. Zero. Whether you were shot at yesterday and were this close to getting killed, or it's 40 degrees and you're in full fatigues and you've been up for 20 hours, or your girlfriend at home is crying because you're not there, or family problems (maybe your parents are getting divorced or something), maybe your commander ripped you a new asshole last night because you didn't prepare your unit properly for inspection, you're not thinking on the same level as someone sitting in front of a computer typing out posts on 2+2 who just cracked open a beer and got a blowjob last night from his girlfriend.

[SomethingClever]

This whole Israel/Palestine thing is so stupid.

You'd think Israel would have the moral high ground here. I mean, the Jews have had to overcome an awful lot, and a lot of Palestinians are total [censored] terrorists.

But... many, many Israelis I've met take this moral high ground and run amok with it. Don't support Israel 100%? You're anti-semitic. If you even question something like this the tiniest bit, you're a racist. And from what I've read, for all the terrible things Palestine has done to Israel, Israel has done just about as many back to Palestine.

Both groups of people have done awful things, the situation is out of control, yet nobody has been able to take a step back and realize this. Even observers seem to be completely polarized.

The whole situation makes me think of two kids arguing over a toy. They both have some claim to the toy, but they simply can't share it. What do you do? Take the damn thing away until they can get along.

Everyone in the Middle East should be relocated to Greenland until they're friends. In the meantime, France will occupy the disputed territories.

Problem solved.

[daryn]

it's nice to know at least somebody out there has a clue.

nice post SomethingClever

[spamuell]

[ QUOTE ]
You'd think Israel would have the moral high ground here. I mean, the Jews have had to overcome an awful lot, and a lot of Palestinians are total [censored] terrorists.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is ridiculous. The Palestinians have had to deal with a lot as well, such as living in squalor, with curfews, under occupation, with almost intelorable border control and a complete lack of security without any real form of government or representation.

Just to be clear, I'm not completely blaming Israel for this and I'm certainly not saying that it makes terrorism acceptable, I'm just saying that it's absurd to claim that Israel would/should have the moral high ground because there are a lot of Palestinian terrorists and because the Holocaust happened.