Many of our friends on the political Left bend over backwards to defend vituperative critics of Israel from charges of anti-Semitism.

Gee, is that why the Jewish-American vote broke down this way in 2004:

Bush: 24%
Kerry: 76%

So, let me get this right. American Jews love the fact that leftists defend critics of Israel. That's why they vote more than 2-to-1 for Democrats over Republicans.

Riiiiiiigggggghhhhttttt!!!!

Kaz,

Many Jews are still voting for FDR and Truman. It is a curious kind of schizophrenia, since it was Bill Clinton who welcomed Jew killer Arafat more times than any other world leader to the White House. GW Bush invited Arafat exactly zero times, because he knew that as long as Arafat did not renounce the extirmination of Israel as a goal of the Palestinian people, there would be absolutely no possibility for resolution in Israel. Most Jews in Israel know that conservative Christians in America (as opposed to liberal church groups who want to divest themselves from Israeli investments) are their biggest friends and supporters. Most Jews in America, sad to say, just don't get it.

What's the source of Kaz's numbers? I'm 65 and have never seen 'too dumb to vote retired military' (IAW Hanoi John's description of everyone asociated with the military) on any document remotely connected with my voter registration. Figures don't lie, but liars figure. You might say approx this or that percentage, but anyone that uses an exact percentage is too stupid to breathe, approx a 99% chance they are also a waste of oxygen. Akgore should kill them to reduce the warming of the earth.

Time for the dim't to start rebuilding the bridges they've burned behind them. Well maybe not, the terrorists they've invited in may want to use them to kill their families.

Smiling and laughing about the election and the daily idiotic statements from the left. Still no plan, not even a clue about the booming economy nor the terrorists threat they are facing. Maybe one (plan) will come to them in a nightmare.

I've long volunteered and helped out the Jewish Daughters Of Hadassah organization which supports a hospital in Israel that offers nondoscriminatory medical help to both Palestinians and Jews. However, there were many things that I did not like about the recent Israeli war in Lebanon including the use of cluster bombs before the U.N. peacekeepers came in. These bombs acted like thousands of unexploded landmines, and were an unfair form of warfare in which Israel made many areas unsafe and endangered the lives of Lebanese civilians and U.N. peacekeepers both.

A wise person must seperate the good works of many Jews in Israel from some of the outrageous military abuses of the Israeli government. A wise person cannot blanketly condone or condemn many actions of this state, although done in the name of national security for a tiny state only 11 mile wide at it's narrowest point.

But as a whole THE NATION does offer some very insightful journalism on some issues. The magazine is nearly as old as the Lincoln administration, far older than most surviving publications. You don't survive that long without some substance.

Don't be so hard on the NY Times.

They aren't really the smartest people in the room. They just assume that legal immigration and illegal immigration are the same thing.

It's not that they have anything against the Minutemen.

It's just that most of the people who work there are morons. The Times of yore could afford to hire top-notch people, but that's just no longer the case. Take a look at their stock charts and circulation.

They can't afford to be good.

"These bombs acted like thousands of unexploded landmines,"

No, landmines are designed to explode when stepped on or otherwise disturbed. Firstly, most submunitions in a cluster bomb explode on impact. Usually 5% or less (can be 1% or less with a well-manufactured bomb) fail to explode. Secondly, they're not designed to explode when disturbed if they fail to explode initially. Many of them do not. Of course there's always the danger some of them could be unstable, but most of them simply fail to explode and won't unless you toss them in a fire or otherwise abuse them.

"...and were an unfair form of warfare..."

U-Boats were considered an unfair form of warfare too. So were aircraft. "Unfair" is just another word for "effective" when it comes to a weapon.

"...in which Israel made many areas unsafe and endangered the lives of Lebanese civilians..."

Hiz'ballah endangered the lives of Lebanese civilians when they started the stupid war. Israel, just like most Western countries, uses cluster bombs because they're effective. They could have used plain, ordinary bombs and just dropped thousands of them, totally annihilating the target area, and hopefully the target too, instead of one well-placed cluster bomb. I'm sure you would have been OK with that?

If you're so worried about the lives of innocent Lebanese (like I am) how about criticizing the idiots who not only started a war, but then proceeded to use human shields in order to maximize casualties so they could demonize Israel in the media?

By the way, there are weapons that are just as effective as cluster bombs on unarmored targets, which don't leave behind unexploded sub-munitions. They're called fire bombs and fuel-air bombs.

Unfortunately, both of them are outlawed because, while cluster bombs kill people nicely, by tearing them apart with shrapnel, fire bombs burn, and fuel-air bombs pulverize and asphyxiate.

Personally I would choose to use a fire bomb or FAE because they don't leave behind unexploded sub-munitions. However, it's against various treaties. Pity that. I'd say this problem is covered by the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Paul: "I've long volunteered and helped out the Jewish Daughters Of Hadassah organization...there were many things that I did not like about the recent Israeli war in Lebanon including the use of cluster bombs before the U.N. peacekeepers came in."

I suspect that with the United States standing behind her, Israel was perhaps a bit more emboldened than she might have been otherwise in Lebanon.

I'm not suggesting that's a bad thing. I'm a big fan of the Israeli military mind, and in my mind they can do no wrong. They are precise and efficient. We can learn from that.

Paul Hooson: no one is perfect and no one is claiming that Jews or the Jewish state are. The point being made is not against what you have stated. It's against the defense of those thinly veiled, all-encompassing, anti-semitic views of so many. I think you missed the point of the post.

What the HQ is saying is that no matter who says what about Jews or Israel, there is a large group of people that never see the blatant anti-semitism behind the statements some make and will defend them with words and sentiment never used or implied by the one making the statement. I think it's called "putting lipstick on a pig".

I'm a big fan of the Israeli military mind, and in my mind they can do no wrong. They are precise and efficient. We can learn from that.
Lee, you must be kidding, I take it you were not referring to the most recent conflict in Lebanon..unless you are talking about the rapid resignations of key Israeli generals, following 'a war which most Israelis view as a failure'.

I have to admit that while reading posts at Huffington a very anti-Semitic poster will sometimes unabashedly pop up. It makes me sick, and most others will pounce on their stupidity. I just read several like this in the story about Borat using poor villagers.

I'm a big fan of the Israeli military mind, and in my mind they can do no wrong. They are precise and efficient.

uhh....do you ever read the news?

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has said an army artillery barrage that killed 18 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip was the result of a "technical failure".

Many Christians support Israel so strongly because they believe in the Biblical prophecies about the second coming of Christ which state that the Jews will be in control of the territory of Israel when this happens. Just ask these people whether they would support bringing all of Israel's Jews to America and giving that land back to the Arabs and watch the response.

Watch the response if someone asks that the land be given back to the Jews since they had it before pretty much everyone. Oh yeah, we've already seen that response.

Kaz--another with shit for brains.

Jhow - now that's an insightful and intelligent contribution to the discussion. Vulgarity and name-calling is about all we ever get from you in here anyway.

Israel's recent military efforts in Lebanon don't look like a failure to me. Three months later, we have this;

Arab League proposes new Mideast peace conference

CAIRO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Arab League foreign ministers meeting in an emergency session in Egypt on Sunday called for a fresh international peace conference to resolve the Arab-Israeli dispute based on the principle of land for peace.

The Arab ministers also pledged to break financial sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, but gave scant details as to how that would be accomplished.

The ministers, who convened at the Cairo-based Arab League over Wednesday's killing of 19 Palestinian civilians by Israeli fire in Gaza, said in a communique that permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Israel and Arab parties would be invited to attend the peace conference.

The meet would be aimed at "reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict on all tracks according to the relevant international resolutions and the principle of land for peace", the communique said.

Opposing efforts like this, and pushing for further military actions instead, is noting short of stupidity. There are signs of that kind of stupidity all over this blog. I guess it just hurts them too much to admit that they were wrong.

Anti-Zionism is by definition anti-Semitism.
Zionism is the movement and philosophy of a Jewish national homeland and state on the land of the biblical Jewish nation.
Since there are fifty seven Islamic Republics those who are against a Zionist State would also be against those republics as well if they are intellectually honest and consistent, otherwise they are just being hypocrites or more to the point anti-Semites.

Many Christians support Israel so strongly because they believe in the Biblical prophecies about the second coming of Christ which state that the Jews will be in control of the territory of Israel when this happens.

Or maybe we think that they've been attacked, routinely and consistently, and that they deserve to protect themselves.

But keep believing that there are lots of Christians eagerly awaiting the Rapture. The vast majority of us are pretty much aware that the Rapture won't exactly be, you know, a good time.

Just ask these people whether they would support bringing all of Israel's Jews to America and giving that land back to the Arabs and watch the response.

So, if you oppose sending all blacks back to Africa and giving them land there --- you're a racist and not, you know, SANE?
-=Mike

If you support the existance of Armenia, Albania, Bangladesh, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, or any other ethno-state founded after the collapse of a larger empire and formed via border skirmishes and massive refuge flows...but you do not support the existance of Israel, then you are an anti-semite.

If you support the existence of Israel in at some - even a reduced - fashion, then you are a Zionist.

I run into anti-semitism on almost a daily basis. This is on a college campus (no surprise). I can't really understand how it gains such a foothold among people with advanced degrees.

It doesn't even seem to be just a matter of outrage over Palestine, either -- they genuinely seem to hate and resent Jews in general unless the Jew in question bends over backwards to agree with them.

I don't get Muslim complaints. They conquered the land from the Jews. So, using the logic of the Muslims, the land should ALL go back to the Jews since the Muslims "stole" it in the first place via conquest, right?
-=Mike

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