Anti-Jewish double standards

a step in the right direction

if you're interested

How come they hit their homes, and their children, then?

Gaza is very heavily populated. The people firing rockets into Israel do so from heavily populated areas. Israel has the choice of not retaliating at all or retaliating and risking harming the civilian population. The leader of Hamas is living in Qatar, by the way. Let's pray the ceasefire holds this time.

Well, what a surprise, the leader living in Qatar!! what a brave man he must be, deliberately starting this awful chaos, and then - curiously not being affected by it!! Israel most certainly does not deliberately target vulnerable people, why else would they drop leaflets and try to warn people of an impending attack - as a previous poster pointed out weapons of destruction are deliberately positioned in public places, no attempt is made to protect the population by their government, in fact the more carnage the better the propaganda - not a thought, a fact!! tunnels will be quickly repaired, buildings will not - surely no right minded responsible government deliberately puts it's own citizens in such appalling danger and suffering. Perhaps the west should be asking Israel to help in the humanitarian relief in Iraq? particularly as the rest of the Arab world, in including the European Muslim population seem curiously quiet in the face of this catastrophe. Where are the marches, where are the banners? If this was Israel behaving like this, imagine the uproar, but in this brutality, brother countries are deafening by their silence! Can't think why!!!!!!

Israel does terrorise Palestinians. It has been documented, photographed and decried by several 'independent' humanitarian organisations and the UN.

Why is is OK to lump all Muslims/Arabs together as the baddies but not alright to say that Zionism, a political ideal, not supported by all Jews, is wrong?

Twenty minutes to get out of your home. If you're "lucky".

No one is lumping Muslims/Arabs as baddies, but surely it is a little odd that there is no outcry at muslim atrocities from anyone in the Arab world, and yet hysteria at Israel retaliating at obvious provocation? Double standards would seem to be alive and well!

I wonder why we haven't seen pictures of the devastation caused by these rockets.

You won't, for the simple reason that Israel has a proper defence system, air raid shelters for civilians and a first class civil defence force; In other words Israel spends time and money defending it's citizens and keeping them, particularly children, out of harms way. Hamas deliberately endangers it's citizens and does little or nothing to defend and protect them.

Read the thread niggly there are lots of digs and comments that imply that because people/countries are arab/muslim they must all think the same. When Northern Ireland troubles were headlines were any other Catholic countries(France/Spain/Italy) expected to support /speak out??

It is an extremely complex situation that I have lived with all my life. I expect many of those of Jewish heritage to find it harder to split the Zionism from Judaism but I do have several Jewish friends who can and do.

I will (& have!) hold up a banner and march to fight anti-semetism but I will also boycott goods and services that benefit Zionist policies that harm my heritage.

There are very many Jews here and in Israel who do separate Zionism from Judaism, too many websites to list but Jews for Justice for Palestinians has more information en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_for_Justice_for_Palestinians

Another good reason boycotting Israeli goods is that some of them are not Israeli at all. In spite of being labelled "Made in Israel", they are, in fact, from the Occupied Territories.

'Digs' 'comments' 'imply' FFS

Nigglie-Israel,doesn't pay, America does

The one thing most people will agree on, I think, is it is silly to not to accept that not all Muslims behave the same, exactly the same applies to those of a Jewish origin.

What I find is the rhetoric against the Jewish people is something that I have heard for many years and I have never liked it. This attitude is being ramped up at the moment using this latest Gaza/Israeli conflict for all it's worth. It's rubbish to hide behind the rhetoric of 'Oh it's not the Jewish people, it's the government I want to bring down'. No it's not. There is a will to bring down anything and anybody Jewish from our so called intellectual elite, media, celebrities, etc. etc. I have posted before, we know where that sort of bile can lead you to eventually. That is the goal for many people, to create an atmosphere so anti Jewish, a sort of brain washing but a very successful tactic. It's plain wrong and tantamount to racial hatred. Hell at this rate the likes of Albert Einstein would never be heard in our universities because he would be classed as a pariah of mankind.

If the boot was on the other foot and Muslims were being targeted in the same way, by the same attitudes and rhetoric there would be, quite rightly, a backlash from the public, as I suppose happens to the likes of the BNP. That doesn't happen though, why, because we intellectually know that you cannot class all Muslims in say Iraq, Syria, Nigeria , Somalia etc. as being murdering b------s who crucify, stone to death, rape, hack to death anybody non Muslim. Yet this happens 24/7 and I have never heard anybody say we should boycott their goods, stop their people coming to our universities, stop their artists from performing. I would be just as concerned if they were, it's not a Jewish against Muslim issue. It is an issue over the dangers of trying to ostracize a nation and it's people.

No I'm sorry I understand the recent Gaza/Israeli conflict has been tragic but it has not been one sided in the use of weapons that are fired with the aim of taking a life. I am not biased toward either nation when it comes to the use of warfare. I do believe that Palestine does have a case against Israel but it looses my good will when it fires rockets into Israel breaking a ceasefire agreement for example.

I just wish this ceasefire holds and there could be a meaningful dialogue between Palestine and Israel but there has to be the will on the both sides and to be honest I don't see it, again and again.

Totally agree POGS
I'm too tired to write much tonight but you've said what I wanted to say.

It does feel like we are talking past each other about whether double standards are being applied. Using rhetoric about anti-semitism to keep those who are disgusted by the Israeli government's behaviour at arm's length is missing the point. You don't have to be anti-Semitic, anti-Jew or anti-Judaism to object to the crushing of a dwindling nation that is trying everything within it's power to resist being wiped out. Desperate acts are being used in Gaza to attract support, but the Israeli/American propaganda machine ensures we get to hear misinformation. They have a massive misinformation dept in Israeli government, whereas some intrepid international war journalists and photographers are bringing evidence of the truth from Gaza. Not that you would see much about that in the popular papers and TV news channels.

Israel's leaders have been pushing their luck for some time. Yes, Jewish people have suffered from abominable treatment over centuries, but the disproportionate onslaught by the Israeli government on Gaza can't be justified or rationalised by claiming people feel this way because they hate Jews. This is all occurring within a current climate of Islamophobia from some parts, genuine objection about terrorists murdering Christians in other parts of the Midde East, and conspiracy theories about oil reserves and duplicitous western foreign policy. We are being fed sensational news of fresh atrocities every day. Surely there is agreement that we want our governments to pitch in, send humanitarian aid, and negotiate until a settlement is reached. That might mean a climbdown for Israel because so much of Gaza and the West Bank has been seized from the Palestinians.

To those that say Palestine was virtually a wasteland devoid of people, statements made by Israeli officials and politicians seem to confirm that there was indeed a resident Palestinian population but there were plans afoot to drive them out:

Joseph Weitz, Head of the Jewish Agency Colonisation Dept, said in 1940 "Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country...... There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighbouring countries - all of them. Not one village, not one tribe."

Professor Ben-Zion Dinur, Israel's First Minister of Education, said in 1954 "In our country, there is room only for the Jews. We shall say to the Arabs: Get out! If they don't agree, if they resist, we shall drive them out by force."

The military action taken against the Palestinians was authorised by the government of Israel. Boku Haram and ISIS are not governments and are not recognised by international law. The majority of people abhor the brutality of these disgusting renegade movements but who would one demonstrate against - other than the countries that have supplied these rebel groups with arms and funding?

There is criticism of the US because it gives huge funding to Israel and, despite responding to international opinion by making disapproving speeches occasionally, it continues to provide arms, PR expertise and vast amounts of money to it. Henry Kissinger was quoted in the New York Times in 1988 as recommending that Israel put down the Palestinian uprising "as quickly as possible - overwhelmingly, brutally and rapidly. The insurrection must be quelled immediately, and the first step should be to throw out television, a la South Africa." (South Africa - that great, democratic country!)

As to the comment about the EU and UN being ineffectual, I tend to agree. Israel has completely ignored dozens and dozens of resolutions relating to its treatment of the Palestinians.

All goes back to that wonderful version of democracy which is totally addicted to huge donations to election campaign funds.

Can you explain then pogs how I express my opposition to the occupation and blockade of Gaza by the Israeli government without being accused of being anti-Jewish. Or am I not supposed to voice my opinion because Israel is a special case and can annex and destroy a place without opposition?

This thread is increasingly depressing, so can I say thanks to Wheni'm for her most recent post

On the radio early this morning they referred to the event a year ago when Israel agreed to release a number of terrorist prisoners, on the understanding that peace talks would be held. One Israeli man, amongst others, was understandably very angry about this. His pregnant wife and five year old son had been killed by a Gaza rocket.

So yes, I can understand Israelis being angry. It's just the disproportionate-ness of it.

I guess when you have been persecuted to the horrific extent the Jewish people have been, you would feel very protective of your people.

The Jewish people know all about persecution, and they have a lot of symapthy from non-Jews because of that. That is why they now have their homeland in Israel.

However, they are now in a position where they can (and do) take advantage of that sympathy to usurp the (diminished) homeland of those who were evicted to make room for them. Surely they have enough insight to see that colonising the Gaza strip puts them into the position of persecutor? That land was not part of the deal.

If they were to stop the expansion, they would have clean hands on one aspect, and perhaps could negotiate peace on others.

Jewish residents were cleared out of Gaza in Sharon's days. (2005).
It's the settlements in Yehuda and Shomron which are considered illegal by many.