[quote]Further, people also have the right to question the whole concept of a Jewish state.[/quote]

On what grounds?

There are 100s of christian and islamic countries - why pick on the smallest, singualr one, who has an existential reason to have a state?

Israel, unlike other nations, was re-established legally via the UN, and that document reconises her as a jew state. It is clear Israel cannot survive without this, so those who favor such are inadvertantly promoting a genocide.

One cannot use the term Jewish state to distort Israel's histotical, factual rights - this was the Jews' ancestral homeland, and they were barred from returning by the medevial church. If anyone should be question, is that such an evil man is beaitified, when he proclaimed genocide, while persecuting the Jews in Europe:

'WE WILL NEVER SUPPORT THE RETURH OF THE JEWS TO THEIR HOMELAND BECAUSE THEY REJECTED JESUS' - Pope not so Pious.

For sure, that Pope will have to answer for his crimes. I doubt he will meet Jesus and get a tap on the shoulder plus 70 vestal virgins.

If Israel's rights are question, why not the other Muslim states, all created at the same time, by the same British Mandate, for corrupt reasons of oil. The Jews, like the copts and kurds, pre-date both islam and the Arab race, and none of their borders are based on historical veracity. The arab states are made of oil borders. Jews have never stolen anyone's lands in all their 4000 year history - those who accuse her have an opposiite history.

THE TRUTH CAN SET YOU FREE - OR CALL YOU TO ACCOUNT.

logic: "how do you expect it to behave?"

I expect the State to behave as a responsible and worthy member of the International community that voted to give the land to Israel in the first place. As it stands, the hypocrisy of the State and its Zionist apologists is quite breathtaking. The desperate behaviour of a few rag-tag slum-dwellers, even if they have minimal support from elsewhere cannot be used to justify the behaviour of an entire modern, highly-industialised, wealthy nation. The State has enormous resources that could be employed in improving the lot of those in Gaza, but chooses to spend its efforts acting like a totalitarian State in a perpetual war with its citizens. The Palestinian is to Israel what the Jew was to Nazi Germany and that is a disgrace. The most significant difference I can see is that the Palestinian is fighting back.

Israel is not the only state to behave badly and the Israeli model of disproportionate response to perceived threat is now the norm for the US, thanks to the Zionist neocon influence. That doesn't mean it is a policy worthy of respect.

Antiseptic

"The desperate behaviour of a few rag-tag slum-dwellers".

Here is where we are at odds. These slum dwellers have been given enormous amounts of international aid, some from Israel, who supplies them with water, electric power and hospital treatment, even when the Israeli border towns are bombarded with thousands of rockets and mortar shells. And what have they to show for it?

Greenhouses left to them by the departing Israelis were bombed by hot heads and can no longer be used. Sewerage pipes given to them to fix their sewerage systems were used instead as the barrels for rockets. Their administration squirreled away millions of aid money for themselves in Swiss banks. Their education system, instead of teaching their people to do things which would benefit them instead taught them to hate the Jews and glorified suicide murders. Their TV has a children's program which shows a Mickey Mouse like puppet character who became a martyr!

All of this is being sponsored by money from Iran and Saudi Arabia (who will not allow Churches in their land).

Take a note from history, the anti-Israel left are saying exactly the same as things their counterparts said when Hitler was in charge. Admittedly the ME lacks the military capacity and manufacturing skills to do most us harms, but keep away from Bali, London and Spain.

Criticise Israel by all means, but make sure you understand what is behind it, and consider what we would do if we were faced by a fanatical group doing to us what Hamas and Hezbollah are doing to Israel.

I agree with some of Cohen's comments and conclusions, but others I think are quite unreasonable. I might as well say that 'some of my best friends play the victim card.'

In some instances, the jewish people are indeed victims. Nobody would deny that about the holocaust, nor would any reasonable person excuse Chandler's nasty comments.

But stop for a moment, and think about this comment by Thomas Friedman, which Cohen repeats:

"But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction, out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East, is anti-Semitic and not saying so is dishonest"

Opprobium and international sanction out of all proportion to ANY other party in the middle east?

Ahem. Sorry, but no. Considering the 'opprobium' visited upon Iraq at present or the talk about sanctions against Iran, I hardly think this comment is at all sensible.

I'm not saying the talk on sanctions against Iran is unreasonable, and there is much debate about Iraq - my point is, that there is significantly higher comment and indeed action in other places in the middle east, who receive far worse from the international community, whether that action is justified or not.

Israel, cops little from the West, save for some harsh rhetoric from certain quarters, though it receives significant symbolic and practical assistance from the US. Again, without needing to go into significant detail on whether it's justified or not, we have a situation where ultimately Israel receives help and succor from the west, while the other middle eastern nations often are often embroiled in military action. Yes, sometimes it is needed (sometimes not) but this "oh, poor Israel, isn't it so terrible they're being criticised!" really does seem like a tad much.