Well said Foxy.
I may not agree with you in regards to the large majority of opinions you have on other topics, but I agree with you 100% on this.
The constant cycle of violence in that place will never end unless people are 'honest about the true causes of the conflict'.

- Which is the same argument I make in regards to the Russia / Ukraine conflict, I might add.

All this too and fro opinion on who is to blame for what gets nowhere.
There is one point, there are a large number of Palestinians who live
in Israel and in fact have elected some Palestinians to the Knesset
or parliament.
That does not seem to jell with claims that Arabs cannot live in Israel.
hmmmm

AC

I didn't mention 'sides'. But seeing that you have, one side, the terrorists Hamas, definitely started this conflict. The history, ancient hatreds, are another matter entirely, and of no interest to me.

Hamas committed atrocities in the here and now, and Israel is reacting to those atrocities against the country and its people.

There can be no comparison between a democratic country and a bunch of terrorists. Hamas is the only villain in this case particular situation, no matter what the politics or history are. No civilised people do what Hamas has done.

Armchair Critic,

Israel has always been close to my heart.
The love of my life (my first love) was
a Jewish boy, an Israeli. My heart goes
out to the innocent people today - on both
sides of this conflict. Like Miriam Margoyles
I wish that pressure could be applied for the
conflict to stop.

Giving massive support to just one side is not
going to do it. It will only keep the conflict
going.

Henry Siegman - A German-American Rabbi and
Director of the United States Middle East project
said:

"Israel has crossed the threshold from being "The
only democracy in the Middle East" to being the
only apartheid regime in the Western World."

He mentioned the apartheid regime as being the
Occupied Palestine Territories (OPT) which have
been separated into different enclaves making the
people in the Gaza Strip isolated from the rest of
the world because of Israel's illegal blockade."

Now extremism on both sides amidst escalating
violence will render the prospect of a sustainable
solution even more remote.

I will continue to pray for both sides to come together
and see that they can and must learn to live together as
equal citizens in the one land.

I have today read an article by a Jew, whom I will not name for obvious reasons. He has bravely added his name to the article, but I have no right to, or intention of giving it here because of the tone of some of the posts.

This person recognises that Australia has been a good place for Jews. There are about 100,000 Jewish Australians; at least 8 of them arrived here as convicts in 1788. By 1890, there were 10,000 Jews living here.

Some of the best-known Jewish Australians are:

. General Sir John Monash
. Sir Isaac Isaacs, first Australian-born Governor-General
. Sir Zelman Cowen, Australian G-G 1977-1982

These days, the Jewish population are ordinary Australians like the rest of us.

Despite the (not only Australian) rejection of offering sanctuary to Jews in 1938, Australia "has been a warm home for its Jews since, including welcoming some 30,000 Jews after WWII, and subsequent waves out of South Africa and the former Soviet Union".

At the time of the disgusting terrorist gathering at the steps of the Opera House, Israel was yet to take any military action, and the author, understandably, believes that the people involved were there "to celebrate the massacre of the Jews which, in their view, was an act of just resistance." I'll not comment on that. It might or might not be true, but the atmosphere was certainly vile, and the words of Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun unforgivable.

The author also believes that the heavy police presence was there to "facilitate a pro-Hamas rally and to dispel Jews from Sydney’s CBD, for they could not guarantee Jews’ safety". I concur with that.

Kids afraid to wear their kippahs; Jewish schools turned into "mini forts".

Yet, the author still believes in the "goodness of Australian society"; I am not so sure.

Village idiot,

Once again you reveal your stupidity. It is not my opinion, it is what is written in the Geneva Convention. You should actually read it before making moronic statements. Soldiers hiding amongst civilians using them as human shields is a war crime as they are still legitimate targets to the enemy and risking the lives of civilians.

Morons from the left declare that Israel bombing Hamas targets are committing war crimes, whereas in reality Hamas firing rockets from built-up areas and storing weapons in schools and hospitals are the ones committing the war crimes. Hamas after deliberately shooting civilians, beheading babies and taking hostages does not care about any further war crimes.

Foxy, Baldrick

After the UN had assigned the borders between Israel and then Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, the 4 Arab countries once Britain withdrew set upon a war of genocide to wipe out Israel and the Jews. The 1949 border was the armistice line that was later recognised as the borders of Israel, notably the area surrounding Gaza was recognised as Israeli territory. Hamas has no legitimate claim to territory outside of the Gazan border.

From 1948 Arabs had already set about murdering civilians, bombing school buses etc and in 1967 a second genocidal war was planned but as before the Arabs lost and Israel took Gaza the Sinai, Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights

As for the peace negotiations, Israel made several peace offerings including Gaza and most of the West Bank but the Palestinians refused anything less than the 1949 armistice lines and refused any peace guarantees. The only side that has not been reasonable has been the Palestinian side.

In addition, since Hamas took over Gaza, they have continually targeted civilians and strict border controls were put in place to stop the murders by Hamas.