Foxy,

Pretending that AL and RF are not deeply biased and viscerally anti Israel is vile and dishonest.

They treat Israel's right to self defense on par with a desire for high speed broadband, and Hamas's 20 000 odd rockets fired at Israeli civilians on par with a teenager blowing off steam.

To make it worse, they air brush over the murderous tyranny that controls Gaza, and ignore the regular executions of opposition members and the appropriation of aid money to accrue weapons and build tunnels into Israel.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Have you read Loewenstein's or Fisk's works?
Historians and Middle-Eastern experts disagree
with your false claims. Both men are investigative
journalists and ask relevant questions concerning
this conflict. They don't air-brush anything.
On the contrary. They present both sides of the
conflict not just the accepted Israeli version.

However I am not going to argue with you any further.
I no longer have the patience.

Instead -

I'm off to visit my mum at her nursing home and then
go see the movie, "Lion."

Cheers.

Foxy,

To the contrary, I have read quite a few articles from both authors, and I can see almost constant criticisms of Israel and as yet not one piece of serious criticism of Hamas. Their bias is so extreme that I am comfortable in describing them as activists for the palestinians.

As for Historians, I have read widely on Israel and the middle east from 1914 to today and I have yet to find any historians of renown that are so bent against Israel, and I would contend that far more agree with me than you.

It is patently ridiculous to expect Israel to make concessions whilst the palestinians are unwilling to even sit down to negotiate or even acknowledge the right of Israel to exist.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Dr Ilan Pappe, the former Senior Lecturer at the
University of Haifa, Israel, would totally disagree
with your take on the issues as would one of Israel's
leading journalists - Amira Hass and many others.
By the way Both Fisk and Loewenstein have reported
on the actions of Hamas quite extensively so for
someone who claims to have read both authors your
arguments do not stand up.

Writing a book like "My Israel Question," was as
Loewenstein explains a collaborative affair.
Over several years he did his research with quite
a number of people in Australia, the USA, Israel,
and Lebanon. People like Mohammed Alawi, Tariq Ali,
Uri Avnery, David Bernstein, Barbara Bloch,
Gidon Bromberg, Scott Burchill, the late Richard Carlton,
Matthew Carney, Chantal Chalier, Noam Chomsky, Fadia
and Said Daibes-Murad, Shraga Elam, Dror Etkes, Norman
Finkelstein, Amira Hass, Jonathan Holmes, Jane Hutcheon,
Gideon Levy, Robert Manne, David Marr, Chris McGreal, Alex
Mitchell, Ed O"Loughlin, Jon Henley, Matan Kaminer, Ali
Kazak, Randa Kattan, Ron Pundak, Stuart Rees, Tanya Reinhart,
Craig Roberts, Mumammed Rodaina, Peter Rodgers, Amin Saikal,
Chris Sidoti, Guy Spiegelman, and Mara and Sam Wisel.

There are some whose names Loewenstein is unable to mention -
subject to personal and professional threats - however
he still thanks them for standing up and being heard when it
is much easier to remain silent.

There's many more names - but I won't continue to list
them all. We should all be grateful to all these various
experts and advisers who have provided invaluable
assistance to Loewenstein's work, ironing out the bugs
and improving clarity.

May they continue this conversation until the conflict is
resolved. As for me? - I have no further patience with
you.

I'm not a therapist. Solve your own skewed perspectives.

Foxy,

Your reference to quote:

"Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and socialist activist."

A random sample shows that the other references are also anti Israeli activists. Very popular amongst the left whinge.

Secondly here is an article by AL on life in Gaza. Note that while Hamas is mentioned, there is not a jot of criticism.

So Foxy, I would suggest you find you own therapist for your own skewed perspectives

Even Amnesty international thinks Hamas are war criminals:

"Rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian militant groups during last summer's conflict in Gaza amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International says.

Militants displayed a "flagrant disregard" for the lives of civilians during the 50-day war, a report found. Six civilians in Israel and 13 Palestinians are believed to have been killed as a result of such attacks."