ISRAEL - IRAN - SYRIA - HAMAS - HEZBOLLAH - WWWIII?

Again...for the second time....I did not compare Israel to Nazi Germany.

Here is the analogy:

Engliand was attacked, without legitimate provocation, by Nazi Germany. Germany did not have any good intentions of any kind toward the British. The intention was to take England and all it possessed and make it part of Hitler's empire. The Germans didn't mind at all injuring, maiming, or murdering innocent civilians. And they tried very much to do so.

England did fight back and, when able to do so, bombed and invaded Germany at great cost of innocent German civilian lives. England's only alternative was to share the fate of Poland, Belgium, Austria, France and possibly the Jews. And that would have been the case if England had chosen to submit rather than fight and also if others had not come to England's defense. Nobody (except possibly McTag) considers England inappropriate or evil in doing what it had to do to defend itself.

Would England have had less provocation to defend itself against Nazi Germany if Germany had been content to simply send over buzz bombs and V-2 Rockets at intervals over a period of decades?

Would Germans tolerate such a situation now even from people who thought that the German government was being unfair or discriminatory toward them?

Would they lower their defenses and open their borders and invite the enemy in?

Israel has been attacked, without legitimate provocation, by Palestinians and Palestinian sympathisers over the past 60+ years. Israeli citizens in southern and northern Israel are in constant threat of having a rocket coming down on their heads or being where a sucide bomber has been coerced into blowing himself up. Israeli parents can't feel they can safely send their kids out to play or that they are safe on necessary trips to the market or to work.

Hamas is not attacking Israel to obtain independence. It wants Israel. It wants the Jews dead or gone.

It willingly targets innocent men, women, and children in hopes of injuring, maiming, or murdering them and making life as miserable as it can for the Israelis. It hides its weapons and ammunition intentionally among civilians to ensure that Israel will kill as many civilians as possible should it retaliate. It has been suspected of creating its own casualties when Israel is less successful. And then it parades those before the press to convince the anti-Israel and gullible of Israel's evil.

If the USA and a very few others were not sympathetic to and helped Israel, Hamas would prevail.

But a lot of you seem to think Israel should just take it or open its borders and allow the Palestinians have Israel.

But some think Israel should just take it and not retaliate in any way.

Is this not the same McTag who has advised me in no uncertain terms that you do not respect me and that you hold me in contempt? Who refused to take that back when offered an opportunity to do so

The 'embargo' exists because of the suicide bombers and randomly fired rockets. The suicide bombers and randomly fire rockets are not a result of the embargo.

The Israel Security Agency reports a sharp increase in the number of high trajectory weapon attacks, including towards Ashkelon. According to the Israel Security Agency, "this was preceded by an ISA-IDF operation on the evening between November 4th and 5th". Between October 29th and November 6th 48 rockets and 21 mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel.[79] The first of these were fired after the Israeli operation on the Gaza side of the border on the 4th of November to prevent an abduction for which Hamas had dug a tunnel, according to Israeli sources. During this operation, 7 Hamas militia were killed inside Gaza

Any nation has the right to protect its people.

Hamas has complete independence and would have normal and friendly relations with Israel if it acknowledged Israel's right to exist and chose to be a good neighbor.

It has never done that, nor has any other Palestinian government. On the contrary it is on record as intending the extermination and death of Israel.

Egypt and Jordan both decided to make peace with Israel and Israel presents no problem whatsoever to either of those countries. The Israelis have not committed a single hostile act to those who recognize them and allow them to exist in peace.

Israel is tiny with a tiny population. The Arabs have a huge amount of land with a very large population that is growing like crazy. The Arabs could have long ago helped the Palestinians to become self sustaining and prosperous. They didn't. Why? Because they need the Palestinians as victims to justify their hatred of Israel and solicit sympathy from the mushy headed and gullible. Even Egypt and Jordan deny the Palestinians free access to their countries.

To me there is simply no justification for expecting Israel to provide a living to people committed to destroying Israel.

At such time as the Palestinians cease attempting to destroy Israel and the Jewish Israelis, and Israel does not then become a good neighbor to the Palestinians, then I will have serious issues with Israel.

Until then, I cannot see that Israel can be faulted for doing what it must to protect its own citizens and property.

OE I read your response and accept that as your point of view.

I do not believe you when you seem to imply that you would not do everything in your power to protect you and your loved ones against anybody who presumed to injure, maim, or murder, and I don't think you would be too particular how you might do that.

It is in that fundamental point that we are in the most disagreement at this time.

No, we've never bombed Dublin even when the IRA bombing campaign was at its height.
Somebody wrote somewhere recently that no terrorist or guerilla war was ever solved by military means. Whether that's strictly true or not, I still think Israel's recent actions are stupid, and counterproductive.
They are bound to have radicalised the arab "street" for decades. They make it easy for evil-doers in Teheran or Damascus, or anywhere.

Roughly one-fifth of Israel's 7 million citizens are Arabs. Israeli Arabs enjoy officially full citizenship rights - however, today the Central Election Committee banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary election.
(This decision does not affect Arab lawmakers in predominantly Jewish parties or in the country's communist party, which has a mixed list of Arab and Jewish candidates. Besides that, Arab lawmaker will challenge the decision in the country's Supreme Court.)

Israel's Supreme court overruled on Wednesday a parliamentary panel which had decided to bar Israeli Arab parties from running in next month's parliamentary election.

The court issued its decision in response to an appeal filed by Arab politicians against the ban. A spokesman for the Courts Administration said judges overturned the ban in an unanimous vote Wednesday.

In response to the court decision, Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi said: "We have defeated fascism, but this battle is not quite complete, discrimination has become centralized. We will finish this operation in Israel on the day of elections."
The Central Elections Committee (CEC) last week banned the Arab parties United Arab List-Ta'al and Balad from running in February's parliamentary elections amid accusations of racism from Arab MKs.