The meek will inherit the earth? Get a grip.

Once more, this is not 'collective punishment' it is WAR. Please feel free to point out to me how exactly any democracy is supposed to respond to incessant artillery & rocket barrage when it's citizen's overwhelmingly support military action, then point out where that is different from what Israel is doing at this moment. There are no innocent's involved, even those that did not support HAMAS or Hisbollah at the ballot box, as this is the price of democracy. Majority rules, comprehend? The lebanese & the Palestinian's chose to allow Hizbollah & HAMAS to remain armed, and for them to continue to bombard Israel. That being so, given that there was no declared war, they broke International Law. If you refuse to be governed by International Law, equally you cannot rely on it's protection.

Israel, unfortunately for some on this forum, has the right to defend itself under international law. The defence in this instance, requires nothing more than the implementation of the disarming of both Hizbollah & HAMAS. Nobody else can or will act, and Israel is their target.

The way things stand at the present time, I suggest that Israel is fully justified in launching a pre-emptive nuclear strike at both Syria and Iran. The Middle East would not explode, the Saudi's and others would prefer both no longer existed. The willingness of people to become targets for Israeli weapons would, I am sure, decrease to an all time low.

Inshallah

2 bob

Col Rouge and 2bob you are spot on.

I repeat, for those who seem not to want to comprehend.

If someone was saying repeatedly that they wanted to wipe me off the face of the earth, then I sure as hell would be using whatever force I had to neutralise their idiot threats.

The fact that these threats emanate from the mouths of complete religious nutters would make me even more determined.

As a writer in todays Australia said.

If the Arabs were disarmed there would be peace. If the Israelis were disarmed there would be a massacre.

Irfan – please read again my post – very slowly - and point out where I may have said anything derogative or racist.

My knowledge of the ME and particularly the Palestinian / Israeli conflict is beyond your guessing.

Your contribution to this article is next to zero.

Is this because you have nothing good to say about your Muslim brothers and sisters in the ME?

BTW I don’t recall any Christian Palestinian blowing themselves in a Jerusalem café or shopping mall. Coincidence perhaps? Or is their something inherent in the muslim blood going back to their unresolved Abrahamic inheritance: God giving the land of Israel and all its surrounds to his nation the Jews and not the Arabs?
___________

And for the historical ignorant people who are trying to divorce religion from the current ME war – get a life or better still open a history book and start reading – you might learn a thing or two.

It is refreshing to read a couple above of comments regarding Jesus and religions.

Jesus was a radical revolutionist and anti-religious establishment. He certainly did not start a new religion in Christianity. It was the religious priests who condemned Him to death for blasphemy.

Please refer to his teachings and prove me wrong. In the whole New Testament you will not find any legal rules. jesus was the fulfilment of the mosaic law the same law that Muslims and Jews are still so attached to.

Religion is man-made and the cause of all evil.

[Finally we agree on one point Alchemist].

In Mathew 24 Jesus prophesised:

6You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Jesus has never predicted peace in Israel – so get used to it and repent before He comes back and find you caught up with the wrong crowd or religion

• Pierre Tristam ..."Force, that appetising recourse of the post 9-11 era, has been every crisis' most-lethal-seductress. So to suggest that Israel is looking-for-a-solution here, to suggest that it's playing-for-peace, is to-be as-cynical as-those-imbeciles who claim Israel is being 'humanitarian' by raining leaflets-of-evacuation-warnings before dropping its tonnage-of-barbarism in civilian zones. When rogue goes against rogue, and a rogue-in-chief stands by from his Roman-themed-colonnades a Potomac away, a just-solution is not only not being sought; it's a virtual impossibility".

• Bushbred ..."Historians and social scientists know all about it, as do journalists, but as reported in last week's Guardian, US neo-cons have been given free reign in the media to whitewash the crimes-of-empire, and as what is happening in the Middle-East today is only the carrying on of the crimes of empire, a situation that has not changed, but only got worse, hidden either by immoral craftiness or by very-careless-management by our leaders pertaining to the true meanings of freedom and liberty. The Israelis whom we were so passionate about giving a go in the Middle-East after their genocidalisation in Nazi-Germany, have now spoilt themselves in the Middle-East with their US-backed arrogance, pepped-up not only with US supplied planes and tanks, but also with two hundred nuclear-capped missiles all ready to go. Why this was all allowed by America"?

• Marilyn Shepherd ... "It is said that some of the (Hezbollah) weapons are coming from Iran - well who the hell is supplying Israel and who the hell is itching to blow up Iran? The same self-righteous, moronic hypocrite who had to blow up Iraq due to WMD that didn't exist, the same hypocrite supporting the murdering thugs in the new Afghan government and the same snivelling moron who got a resolution against Nth-Korea in the meantime for firing off a few dud rockets. The sooner Bush the moron is gone the better off the world will be. As for the constant insistent support of Israel - who gave them the right to collectively punish the entire population of Lebanon and the Gaza for the crimes of a few?

• Keith ..."The Israeli's have massively over-reacted and are using propaganda to justify their desire to squash any resistance to their domination of the Palestinians. I would have thought the lessons from their last war efforts against organised Arab world resistance would have sobered their drunken-like militarism. Have they forgotten how they retreated through Sinai in the face of a superior Egyption effort? Have they forgotten how Hezbollah successfully pushed them out of Lebanon"?

• Leo Braun ..."Without any doubt there is an indistinguishable continuum-malignancy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Gaza. So let's us attempt to explore it, for instance as one is faced with the-evil-event, resembling elders-of-zion intrigues pattern. Some may charitably to label it, as an-error-of-judgment. Then as such an-inherent evil's devised stratagem becomes profoundly entrenched fascist-ideology, amazingly some careless sucker heads still to-doubt, waver and continue to think that there may-be-some-other explanation. As miasma engulfed dill-flock carried-on in-a-chit-chat across-the-threaded-topics, limited solely to the issues of moral corruption by the jellyback spiteful pollies, while still doubting as to the common-denominator ... conscious intent by the global-echelon-masters. However as elders-of-zion prima-facie blueprint resembled now unmistakably Israeli junta adhered policy, openly acknowledged by US totalitarian regime as a fully-conscious-choice, that has been adopted worldwide by the-political-elite-allies of so uniquely shared genome within the 'rule-by-the-best', voted-in by the majority of the utterly deceived-world-populous ... at last the awaken minds from the protracted hibernation recoiled now to face the gigantic magnitude of the moral-bankruptcy afflicted world".

• John Pilger ..."Yet we need-not to-accept any diabolically plagued hegemony, if we recognise that there is-a-real-choice once in-a-life-time to-make a change for the children of better tomorrow via earnest peoples opinion. Now striving all over-the-world, definitely as never before. Make no mistake, it's an-epic-struggle. Where alternative (if we fail-to-speak about it right-now), is-not just-a-conquest of far-away-countries, it's the conquest of us. Of our minds, our humanity and our self-respect. If we to-remain silent, the victory over us is assured".

As to the diminished democracy exposé, please proceed to ... http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=4625#47660

David Jackmann

I think you are very close to the mark. The occupation of the West Bank and those land-grabbing settlements are the crux of the problem.

I think democracy is closing in on Syria, Iran, Egypt and Israel... and faster than they all think. The Saudi's will hold our forever. They have history and Islam on their side. They deserve it.