Darryl,
As you say, no-one will supply weapons to Hamas. I believe that includes Iran. You deny that this is because of the American threat and suggest that Egypt is not concerned about the Americans. Well I beg to differ. The US give something around $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt each year. If they supplied weapons to Hamas that aid would be immediately cut off. That is a significant threat to a nation whose tourist industry which comprised a significant portion of its GDP has collapsed. The reason other nations won't is due to American hegemony.
I quite like Ahmadinejad. I don't like his religous fanatasicm but at least he is willing to stand up to the likes of America and Israel and speak the truth while sycophants like Australia will continue to trumpet lies on behalf of the Israelis.
I do not believe war is the answer to this conflict. However, whilst Israel can slaughter the Palestinians with impunity, there is little incentive for them to negotiate a settlement.
You may believe that the Palestinians fight only due to some irrational hatred of Jews, and that the Palestinians enjoy living under a military occupation. Having followed this conflict closely for many years I do not buy it. People living under the yoke of another race will always fight for their freedom. When judging the violence, try to bear in mind who is the occupier here and who is the occupied. Think how you would respond we were living under those circumstances.

This article is far from being balanced.Palistine has been oppressed decades.Israel is worse than Apathied South Africa.

The Zionists through AIPAC put a lot of money into the Romney campaign for no result.Obama then did a purge of the Govt and Military with reports of sacking 30.Apparently Obama wanted to rid himself of the Bush neo-cons since they wanted to attack Iran.

Bibi Netanyahu threw a hissy fit and attacked Gaza to annoy Obama and garner support for his coming election in January.

NATO did not expect Russia and China to stand up to them over Syria and Iran. Obama wants to expand the empire via their usual methods of proxies and subversion.

The “right of Israel to exist”, defended by the likes of Ms Bishop, centres on the demand for a Jewish homeland. But there are lots of Jewish homelands - Australia, France, Holland, Britain, America, the list runs to DOZENS of countries where Jews are citizens like everyone else - no more “special” and no less. This is not good enough for Zionists and they hold the world to ransom with endless wars and threats, each putting world peace at risk, to hang on to stolen territory in Palestine where Jews from all these countries with merely equal status can be MORE “special” by (their) law than everybody else. The locals resist (strength to their elbow!) and there’s yet another massive Zionist slaughter, another threat to world peace.

May I again as before put in a word for the Celts, people who count at least one Celt in their ancestry? There are some 1-2 billion of us. Why can’t WE grab someone’s land for a Celtic homeland and exile the inhabitants? Could call it Celtia, and wage daily war to stop the excluded and non-“special” inhabitants getting nasty with us. I wouldn’t be settling there though, I have a homeland I love where I'm a citizen like everyone else and am not pig-arrogant enough - like those who settle in Israel under its “Law of Return” - to want to grab someone else's.

Once again I am amazed by the vitriol displayed against Israel in so many of these comments, and cannot help but compare this to the attitude in parts of Europe in the decade before the Holocaust. Julie Bishop has posted an article that should, surely, appeal to every fair-minded individual on The Forum. Instead it has, once again, stirred up further anger against Israel. I cannot fathom why such bias exists against such a small nation which has fought for its very existence ever since its founding in 1948.

It is Ahmadinejad who has been heard to deny the Holocaust and, along with Khomeini, repeatedly uttered threats against Israel. Has nobody considered why, over the past four thousand years, Israel has, though small in number, repeatedly conquered her enemies. Throughout history this tiny nation seems to have been the object of hatred out of all proportion to its size. Why do you think this is so? Most would argue that it is simplistic to trust in God to bring deliverance against one's enemies, and yet that is what has happened, repeatedly, throughout history. In WW2 alone there are many recorded instances of God's supernatural intervention when prayer has been made to Him for deliverance.

And still today, Israel recognizes that their right to exist is not based on their moral superiority, nor on any numerical advantage, but on a promise made to their ancestor Abraham in the distant past. With that promise came a responsibility: They were to be "a light to the nations". I cannot help but feel that this is what stirs up so much hatred against them.

Finally, little has been said about the fact that for the past decade Israel has suffered constant rocket bombardments by Hamas, and has shown remarkable restraint. I wonder how many of those who criticize this nation would be prepared to put up with this level of unrelenting attack on their own land ...