From that woman?

So taking the B’Tselem numbers (which are lower than IDF-reported numbers of 57 civilians / 120 militants), that’s 60% accuracy. That fails any test I’ve ever taken, and we’re talking about *people dying* here.

I think your issue is that you’ve convinced yourself that Israelis are still an underdog in this story. I’m utterly unable to figure that out for you, if the blatant political, economic, and especially military oppression of Palestinians isn’t yet clear to you.

Laughable. Even the US State Department has reported the deplorable treatment of Israeli Arabs and the general acceptance of widespread racism against them.

Just in case anybody is interested in some simple stats and graphs via well-documented sources: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

Interesting stats you’re finding on Pillar of Defense. The especially interesting part is that they don’t seem to be right according to either Palestinian or Israeli reports. Hey, you found a Palestinian newspaper with a radical op-ed. That’s like finding a nutjob on Fox News, good job.

Your reason for violence against Palestinians seems ever-changing. You’ve certainly cooked up a lot of reasons for a second holocaust. Freedom House is hardly a reliable resource when it comes to judgement of anything remotely entangled with the US, and I’m sure you know this. It’s interesting that you bring up Cyprus. Greek Cypriots attempted to expel Turkish Cypriots, and Turkey resisted based on the Treaty of Guarantee signed over a decade earlier. So how are those settlements illegal, exactly? Also, please enlighten us as to how Arabs are granted more freedoms than in Arab-majority states, because I see this nonsense thrown around but I’ve never actually seen anybody even attempt to substantiate it. It’s another finger-point at the Arab boogeyman that has no basis and relies on an imagined state of the Arab citizens of Israel.

To further illustrate how silly that initial point is, I’d certainly oppose an attempt to remove Bavarians from their households due to the misdeeds of their predecessors. There’s no such movement, however, because there’s no tenuous religious claim to the lands involved.

The simple fact is that if we are truly concerned with the state of the Muslim world, we’d do more to end the occupation. That is far more in the interests of US security. We have plenty of military bases out in the Middle East already, and we’re pretty much in bed with the Saudis, so the “last-ally-standing” argument is a bunch of bunk. Israel is just the easiest one to sell to neocons. And I say all this fully supporting a two-state solution. I don’t think that Israel should suddenly disappear, I just truly believe that there is a peaceful solution that does not come at the expense of the claim of Palestinians to their ancestral homeland.

These are all post facto arguments conflating Amin al-Husseini, an undeniably despicable man, with modern Palestinians. Modern Palestinians have no interest in the extermination of Jews, despite the desperate flinging of this claim upon them. There are extremist groups within the populous, yes, but the general Palestinian voice is in favor of a two-party state and an end to an illegal occupation and apartheid system rather than an “us or them” ultimatum. This is in contradistiction to an extremely racist and aggressive Israeli agenda that is determined to create a wholly Jewish state (and Sephardim need not apply) at the expense of any other faith or ethnic group, the basis for which is defined only by their own beliefs. Anyway, the adoption of radical parties such as Hamas is only due to the Palestinian Authority being so anemic when it comes to the state of Palestine (as well as secretly setting up Israeli water projects, etc., all the while Palestinians themselves are rationed far less resources than they actually need). Terrorism is unforgiveable, but ignoring the factors leading to it is stupid and applying the actions of few to the entirety of the Palestinians is disingenuous and manipulative. And let’s not pretend that this illegal violence from Palestinian sources is met with appropriate precision and force in the Israeli response. This Israeli administration is rather unique in that peace has only been offered in fleeting sound bytes. Meanwhile, it falls into line with the formulaic expansion of illegal (and this is an internationally agreed-upon *fact*) settlements, pre-election “defense” bombings (which egregiously violate the Geneva Convention), and the other usual destructive and discriminatory policies.