If the boy next door keeps throwing stones at my windows then is it surprising that he gets a kick in the arse?

'You are a strident advocate for the crimes of Israel' Only the gullible or deceivers could believe that rot. I suppose Hamas who clubs their own people trying to leave are the angels. You really have no idea SteeleRedux and its obvious you want to stay that way.

Dear David Singer,

You quoted this in your article;

“The [Hamas] Ministry of the Interior and National Security calls on our honorable people in all parts of the [Gaza] Strip to ignore the warnings [to vacate areas near rocket launching sites before Israel bombs them] that are being disseminated by the Israeli occupation through manifestos and phone messages, as these are part of a psychological war meant to sow confusion on the [Palestinian] home front, in light of the [Israeli] enemy's security failure and its confusion and bewilderment.”

Those bracketed additions were not in the original statement.

Why did you feel the need to embellish it to such an extent? It was a clumsy attempt at propaganda. Admittedly it doesn't compare to the outright lies offered by your military spokespersons but at least they are being exposed by some of the online shows in the US;

http://youtu.be/ktzKMW3su5E?list=UU1yBKRuGpC1tSM73A0ZjYjQ

In future try and restrain yourself.

I agree that the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel is against International Law although if the lethality is so limited then I'm not sure it can compare in any direct fashion to the list against Israel;

“The UN Human Rights Council, as well as many non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch, have accused the Israeli government of violating international law as regards collective punishment, targeting civilians, proportionality, of prohibiting access to medical assistance,  and of using civilians as human shields.'
Wikipedia

In fact I consider it an outright insult that someone like you would even dare to lecture another about International Law when the country you so enthusiastically support has defied the UN and the Geneva Convention. I remind you again of the Convention's prohibitions on occupying powers;

“Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”

“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

#SteeleRedux

I take extreme care to ensure there are no factual errors in my articles and interestingly note yours is the first ever claim
that I have ever received.

I supplied the source for the quote you take exception to in my article. It was clear that the bracketed words were explanatory of the quote and they were not inserted by me but included in the quote by my source.

Did you even check the quote before you made this extraordinary comment:

"Why did you feel the need to embellish it to such an extent? It was a clumsy attempt at propaganda...

... In future try and restrain yourself.

Here is the source once again for you to check containing the bracketed words you wrongfully attribute to me:

http://www.palwatch.org/site/modules/print/preview.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12019&section=all

Dare I hope to receive an apology from you for wrongfully accusing me of embellishing a quote and making a clumsy attempt at propaganda?

At least we are making some progress with your following comment:

"I agree that the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel is against International Law although if the lethality is so limited then I'm not sure it can compare in any direct fashion to the list against Israel;"

"Lethality" has nothing to do with the commission of the crime of indiscriminately firing rockets into civilian populations.

So far 2500 such crimes have been committed in the last three weeks by Hamas and other terrorist groups embedded in Gaza.

You claim that these admitted war crimes do not compare in any direct fashion to the list against Israel.

Please specify one event constituting a war crime in these same last three weeks that you can point to that has been committed by Israel and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

Allegations will not be good enough - not what "might" be war crimes. Allegations must be proved - not merely mouthed.

I mean clear and demonstrable war crimes - such as those rockets fired indiscriminately into Israeli population centers.

Come on - there is a challenge for you and all the other Israel bashers

#mikk

You obviously cannot distinguish between murder and self defence.

Israel has an inherent right to self defence under article 51 of the UN Charter.

Whilst Hamas and other terrorist groups continue to cowardly secrete themselves, their rockets, rocket launchers and tunnels among Gaza's civilian population, its mosques, schools, hospitals and ambulances - and urge Gazan civilians to stay in their houses despite warnings by Israel to leave - the number of Gazan deaths and casualties are certain to increase.

It is horrible to witness and very distressing - especially when you consider much of it it could have been avoided if Hamas had not rejected the ceasefire brokered by Egypt on 16 July which Israel accepted.

#Emperor Julian

My idea of taking sides involves choosing between good and evil - not David against Goliath or resistance against occupation.

Hamas is evil in its intent to eliminate Israel off the face of the map and consign 6.3 million Jews to the fate currently being suffered by Christians in Syria and Iraq by another evil group ISIS.

It is blunt and honest and expresses its intentions openly in the Hamas Charter:

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?"

Hamas is also evil in trying to achieve its objectives by conducting a war embedding itself among 1.8 million Gazans without caring how many of them are killed or wounded or rendered homeless.

You are perfectly entitled to choose evil over good. Just be man enough to admit it.

Dear David Singer,

Of course I looked at the source material and I was very careful with my words.

You did not say it was an embellished statement from a dodgy website called Palestinian Media Watch but rather you told us;

“The psychological platform is evidenced by Hamas's Ministry of Interior spokesman Iyad Al-Buzum calling on its civilian population on 12 July to ignore Israel's warnings and remain in their homes in spite of the danger:”

His statement to the media did not include the bracketed words did they. You had the true source material in front of you but chose to include the bracketed words despite it being clearly obvious they were not part of the original statement. By retaining them you are rightly accused of embellishment. I can understand why a site like PMW might engage in such enhancements but I would prefer articles on OLO were free from them.

Given the video below the one we are discussing does not contain its bracketed material in the direct quote underneath it I suspect first may have been a mistake on their behalf. You sir however are supposedly a trained lawyer. I repeat, yours was not a mistake but a conscious decision to retain material clearly not part of the original quote.

You wrote;

“Hamas is also evil in trying to achieve its objectives by conducting a war embedding itself among 1.8 million Gazans without caring how many of them are killed or wounded or rendered homeless.”

Could just as easily written as;

'Israel is also evil in trying to achieve its objectives by conducting a war using a false premise to kill and wound scores and to kidnap hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, to destroy hundreds of homes, businesses and charities, and to strike at the Gaza Strip thus provoking Hamas to strike back with rockets which ultimately put Israel's own citizens in danger and has lead to well over a thousand civilian deaths among a beleaguered, blighted and abused peoples. All prosecuted without caring how many on both sides are killed or wounded or rendered homeless.'