Hamas has fired thousands of rockets on Israel. Yes rockets. Not the fireworks kind but those pointy things which go up in the air, travel for a long distance and when they land go bang causing huge damage and killing people. Has Israel gone too far when the rockets are still being fired?

And have you read the Hamas charter? It reads like Mein Kampf. And have you seen the Hamas propaganda? Those pictures which show the poor Palestinians walking down the street carrying candles, because the nasty Israelis had shut off power. They did make a bit of a mistake and forgot to turn off the neon signs in the shops. Obviously the Israelis had not turned off the switch but the journos just fell for it hook line and sinker. And then the good people reading by candlelight, with sun streaming in around the edges of improperly shut curtains. Do you really believe their figures about their death rate? One claim was 1083 people killed in a raid. Surprisingly accurate after a raid.

Where are your critical facilities? Have you all forgotten the Bali bombing already? Was that the product of a dispossessed people? Islamic fanaticism is alive and well. I pity most of all the poor Palestinians suffering under an evil Hamas government, and their poor children bought up to be suicide bombers.

References

Hamas Charter which contains the following.

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

Of course the completely mad will dismiss this as Zionist propaganda or Jewish control of the media.

"Not only did Israel not 'step over' any line....they have not gone anywhere near far enough!

The only solution to this problem is the total elimination of HAMAS."

Polycarp,

The more correct answer is the total elimination of the zealots who are prepared to do anything for their own cause ... on both sides of the conlict. The problem with this strategy, however, in the world we actually live in is that many thousands of innocent people will die before the Hamas hardliners are killed. (After all, Hamas are hardly likely to set up a tent city in the desert so that the Israeli airforce can have a turkey shoot and kill them all in an afternoon.)

Discriminating between good and bad in the Gazan conflict is just like being treated for cancer - the chemotherapy treatment kills as many if not more good cells as cancerous cells.

the third para is a ripper- Hamas is 'radical, even fanatical' and Israel thru fear and stubbornness is 'as radical as Hamas'. Spot on,(altho i'ii break it gently Bruce, the SA Apartheid regime did not survive).

How many more decades of this sort of insanity? Israel must realise that the Palistinians will never succumb to this sort of brutality and that they are gradualy losing the PR war as well.

Hamas must bear responsibility for the loss of life and liberty of their people. Their Jew hating tactics are about as sensible as Taiwan lobbing missiles onto the mainland. Doh!

My solution

1. we should stop taking sides
2. stop Iran from developing nukes
3. remove nukes from Israel
4. establish UN HQ in and around Jerusalem in a UN protectorate
5. staff UN with the locals, charged with the duty of bringing about world peace
6. make the region truly international as a centre of global universities, galleries and museums

A rather disappointing dhimmi–minded article. Many in OLO are getting emotional about HAMAS, an Islamists organisation bent on destroying secular democracy and establishing shariah law and the caliphate world-wide.

HAMAS rigged the election in Gaza and annihilated members of the secular Muslim organisation FATAH in Gaza.

Not surprising that FATAH is supporting Israel and calls on moderate Muslims not to get emotional over the liberation of Gaza from the Islamists.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231950868927&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Punter57,

You very kindly say of lefties "...but I can't accept that ALL of you are that dumb."

I have tell you that they are ALL THAT DUMB. Lefties are dangerously dumb. Loot at our dumb government and our dumb PM who is so dumb he thinks it's OK for him to be overseas more than he is at home

Philip Tang,

You assert “HAMAS rigged the election in Gaza”.

Sydney journalist, Alex Mitchell, says the following:

“The election was monitored by a 185-strong European Union election observation mission from 23 EU member states. They were 'deployed throughout the West Bank and Gaza to assess the whole electoral process in the light of international principles for genuine democratic elections'. The mission was headed by Ms Veronique De Keyser, a Socialist MEP from Belgium.

“The official mission was joined by a 27-member delegation from the European Parliament led by a British Conservative MEP, Edward McMillan-Scott.

“The mission concluded:

“These elections (in Gaza and the West Bank) saw impressive voter participation in an open and fairly contested electoral process that was efficiently administered by a professional and independent Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC).

“As with the 2005 presidential election, the Palestinian people have demonstrated an overwhelming commitment to determine their political future via democratic means, in spite of the uncertain conditions in which the elections took place.

“Voting proceeded smoothly and peacefully with an impressive turnout of 77 per cent of the total number of registered voters." (It was 81 per cent in Gaza - AM).

“Over 22 per cent of the candidates on national lists were women, a positive reflection of the new legal requirement to include a proportion of women candidates.

“McMillan-Scott, leader of Conservative MEPs between 1997 and 2001, endorsed the final report which said the elections 'marked another important milestone in the building of democratic institutions'. He added: 'The conduct of these elections has provided a model for the wider Arab region and has clearly demonstrated the commitment of the Palestinian people to democracy.'”

So Philip, what is the justification for your assertion? What evidence do you have? Have you just made a mistake? Have you access to information I am not aware of?

Or have you lied to try to prove a point? I certainly hope not.

Your credibility is on the line.