Aaaah.. mr Str_LIES :)

let's deconstruct.

1/ a)No liberation organisation has spotlessly clean hands....

Amennnn brutha.. testify ! Ur right. The Israeli liberation movement, to re-claim land that they were disposessed from in AD70-135 is indeed not without blemish. You say the Israelis disposessed 85% of the Palestinians....ok..the ROMANs disposessed more like 95% of the Jews. Now.. "WE ARE BA-ACK" (putting words into the Israeli mouths) "We return, to reclaim the ONLY land that was ever truly 'our's by divine mandate". and if you don't like "Divine Mandate" then perhaps "MIGHT" will do ? which of course is the basis of EVERY..repeat EVERY other state in the world..... once more just for effect.. E_V_E_R_Y modern state was 'founded' by 'might' and REMAINS by 'might'.

Take Australia. You know the story.... but today, would be 'upsetters' are on trial, are incarcerated... backed up by the ultimate sanction of the firearm on the hips of our police. Or our Armed forces.

So.. Liberation....shliberation.. they take what comes. If they win.. well and good for them. But if they fail.. then its the rough end of the stick of life for them/us/whoever. Firing squad (Indonesia/Thailand) Indefinite Internment without trial (Singapore/Malaysia etc) Singapore is the closest state I know of which jails journalists simply for the IDEAS behind their sentences.
Even if vailed and only implied.

2/ "Some of the conduct of the IDF".....

Better still, lets look at conduct of THE PLO

LOOK AT THIS ! (every gut wrenching image)
http://www.truelebanon.bravehost.com/pics/dampics.html

...of what the PLO did to innocent Christians of DAMOUR... why ? revenge is often claimed for an attack on Karantina refugee camp (aka Palestinian Military support base) but that is unlikely, more likely is the simple fact that it was smack bang on the main highway back to Israel from Beiruit. i.e. STRATEGIC value.

Jesus said "Seek first the kingdom of God, and its righteousness"

Who let the dog out?

Daniel M: “…Israel has the 4th largest army in the world…”

Actually, it is the 28th largest. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_size_of_armed_forces

Or by another measure, the 31st: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops

Or by another measure, the 15th: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

Considering that Greg Barns thinks Australia is a racist backwater (see http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3993 ), his question should not be whether Australians should be warned about serving in the IDF, but whether Israelis should be warned about serving in the Australian military.

Keith: “One other question needs exploring. Where would the loyality of these people lie if Australia happened to go to war against their organisation or Army?”

The only way Australia or another liberal democracy would ever go to war against Israel is if the values of one or the other had radically changed, and then the choice would presumably be obvious.

Wobbles: “I believe that at least 22 US Congressmen hold dual Israeli citizenship….”

Your belief is based on what? Can you name them?

Wobbles: “…so I have little doubt there are several Australians fighting for Israel right now.”

And the connection between US Congressmen supposedly holding Israeli citizenship and Australians fighting for Israel is...?

I am sorry wobbles but all of the "incidents" you have mentioned have been disputed by some quite reputable agencies who have used properly based analysis.

There is no certainty that any of these deaths were caused by Israel. Given reports of four day old bodies of children being shown to press photographers after Qana (the bodies and the rescuers were suprisingly clean for those leaving a collapsed bomb damaged building!) and video material showing gunmen entering and driving off in an ambulance (since when does the Red Cross carry kalyshnikovs?) it may well be simply Hezbollah and Hamas propaganda.

There is no doubt that innocent Lebanese have been killed by Israeli forces but literally thousands of rockets were launched at Israel from amongst civilian villages. The UN aid chief made this criticism accusing Hezbollah of cowardly hiding benind civilians.

If Israel had used the same approach against Hezbollah as the Allies used against the Nazis they would have completely fire bombed complete villages in a way we have not seen. And Hezbollah attacked Israel with the the same ferocity, but far less competence. that the Nazis used against Israel.

Logic you really are disgusting piece of work aren't you? The rescuers got to Qana within hours of knowing about it but before they got here babies smothered to death next to their buried mothers and none of the journalists who attended had a skerrick of doubt that the massacre was new. Why on earth are you so full of hate that you presume to be so revolting.

Were the BBC, CNN, ABC, SMH, AGE, Guardian and every single paper on the planet all misguided about the massacre do you think? What about the UN, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch?

As for flattening villages and towns - that is precisely and exactly what Israel did in places like Bint Jbeil, which was a town not related to Hezbollah but rather rich US tourists, Nabatiyeh is hardly standing, 60 bridges are gone, 600 km of roads are unuseable, 7,100 homes are totally demolished - and so far the aid agencies have not been able to get to the real deep south of Lebanon where thousands were stranded.

Israel smashed everything - absolutely everything because they planned and plotted a dirty little invasion and land grab and lost.

Some of you people make me sick.

Keith, regarding Qana:

True, the IDF did not know about terrorists in that particular building. What it knew, and it was filmed, is that terrorists used to launch rockets at Israeli towns from this village, then park their launchers inside this group of buildings. Also, Israel had no idea about the presence of civilians there. Giving you the benefit of doubt since Israel was unable to prove it definitively, there are indications that Hezbullah placed a bus-load of invalid Lebanese children in that shelter as a deliberate trap for Israel.

By-the-way, most bombs dropped by the Israeli air-force are not precision bombs: those simply cost too much and are reserved only for special operations.

Marilyn,

An Israeli invasion of Lebanon is only what you wish for in your wet dreams, turning Israeli soldiers into lame sitting ducks. No Madam, Israel will never again repeat this mistake. Just because Lebanon does not belong to Iran, does not mean that it belongs to Israel. Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese people and they better take more responsibility over their country and protect it from terrorist Iranian elements next time. Israel has not fallen into your trap, it is already withdrawing now and should be completely out of there in about 10 days.

All you "progressive" intellectuals: you really care nothing about the Arabs, the Lebanese or the Palestinians (or aborigines or American-Indians for that matter), they are just pawns for you, you rather see them all flattened provided that Israel is flattened as well (fortunately you did not succeed). You do not really care at all about the middle-east, but mis-directing your early frustration with authority (parents/teachers), you just use it as a battlefield to promote your post-modern hate and destructiveness against the Judeo-Christian social order.