Keith,

Why do you continually spout the Hizbollah position that the ‘Shaba’ (Sheba’a) farms have something to do with Lebanon? I invite you to visit this site, it is owned & maintained by the Canadian Lebanese Community:

http://10452lccc.com/

Remember that this community has lost 8 of its members to an IDF airstrike, remember also that Hizbollah, whilst nominally supported by the largest minority in Lebanon, is in no way the representative of the majority of Lebanese, who abhor its actions, policies and ‘sacred’ cause.

I realize that it is difficult for the majority of the anti-israel lobby to understand, but sometimes force is necessary (please examine the article on the site above for the letter from the Lebanese Army Officer). The current situation is extremely intricate, and the anti-Israel brigade appears to espouse the writings of anybody who resists Israel, at the expense of the other sides to the conflict. If you wish to preach fairness, please demonstrate your open mindedness by reading the articles on this site.

I do not see why Hizbollah should be saved, in order to cause further harm to the majority of peaceful Lebanese, simply because they picked a fight with Israel. The people on this website, including professor’s, activists, political lobbyists, are not unthinking tools of Israel, but they are vehemently opposed to Hizbollah, why is their voice not being heard?

They do not wish for a ceasefire to save Hizbollah, so why do you?

In particular see what some of these commentator’s say about the position you so carefully espouse regarding the farms. However, I do not judge your position, but please read there commentary on the current situation carefully, and make a reasoned decision as to where your support would be best directed?

An open mind is all I ask, that and a reasoned debate, without resort to preconceived notions of right and wrong.

Inshallah

2bob

Bigmal,

Because of paranoia from people like you all governments in Aust. have made counter-terrorism an absolute top priority with no-funding spared. However, even with their draconian powers and wealth of resources those nine arrests have all been people brought in on trumped up charges, the prosecutions evidence has been consistently weak, and after an initial media circus, charges have been downgraded and juries have acquitted most. The conviction of the melbourne man was based on weak evidence and he was not convicted of any violent crime, only of intent, and most involved could see there was no way he had the resources to carry out what he supposedley intended to do.

Wake up Bigmal, please try and see the truth, your govt. wants you to fear these people but THEIR IS NO SERIOUS THREAT OF TERRORISM IN AUSTRALIA, your energy is better spent worrying about something else, global warming perhaps, and don't give me any bulls**t about Bali because that was Indonesia, not Australia.

Carl,

Today Australian Sat 22nd has an extensive editorial,Entitled "Foes Must accept the Jewish State" and subtitled:

"Israel's opportunistic enemies deny peace to an entire region".

Not much in it which one would disgree with. If that still makes me a paranoid bigot, then I am in good company.

BTW I dont believe that I have said that Islamic terrorism its own, and in Australia, is the biggest issue, but the antics of Islamicists in general is the problem, an example of which is terrorism. That is not disimilar to the editorial.

The other point I thought I was making was that at least people are now starting to calling it what it is, and labelling it as being Islamic in origin.

I left unsaid the obvious statement that Muslims are not a homogenous group and like Christians do take many forms, but I do say that their belief system does have homegenity, and many common ideological matters.

I also dont believe that, in Australia, terrorism per se is a major issue, and may not be, as along as the Federal govt maintains its approach. The issue about the number of court cases was a part response to another blog post. I thought I was making a case for the general problem with Islam, based upon its near global propensity for violence.

PS You also might find the piece by David Selbourne on Page 20 interesting. It is subtitled " The Islamists are Winning ".The reasons why, are not incompatible with some of your own points.

2bob

Why do you spout the israeli propaganda re Shaba Faems?

Mate face it; the Israeli's for their own reasons are the aggressors in Lebanon. They started the current conflict in Lebanon for their own reasons. They have a snowballs chance in their own hell of destroying Palecstinian resistance whatever group they are now or in future. And they know that. History shows that. So while the Israelis know that, why are they really attacking and now proposing to re-invade Lebanon.

ANSWER: Land grabbing.

keith,
Stop wild guesing what are Isreal's motives. You are merely stating propaganda - your opinion. Does Israel have a right to exist, and protect its citizens from attack?

Bigmal,

I fundamentally disagree that the problem of terrorism is Islamic in origin. I believe that generally, religion is a weapon, or an accelerant for war, the origins of wars, including this one, is history.

The origins of this war stem from the dispossession of the Palestinian people, western economic and military support for despotic regimes, e.g Egypt and Saudi Arabia and general Western meddling in the region. Western meddling is of course driven by a dependency on Middle Eastern oil.

Your choice of reading material is not at all surprising. No, I haven’t read it, and I don’t really plan to. For me, reading anything published by Rupert and his lackeys is as good as a White House media release. They are just as, if not more complicit in manufacturing the ‘global threat of terrorism’ as are Howard, Bush and the rest of them. Or perhaps you are unaware that Fox News in the US is nothing more than a Republican propaganda channel, whose CEO was in fact a communications strategist for Nixon and Reagan. Or that every single editor of Rupert’s Newspapers, (I think there are nearly 80 of them) supported the war in Iraq, despite the fact the majority of world opinion did not