"On wonders how it can be asserted that Australia occupies Aboriginal land ...."

Indeed

A simple question to those who believe Israel has the right to exterminate Palestinian terrorists. Of the 2.3 million Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip, how many do you believe are terrorists and therefore should be exterminated?

Interesting interview of Netanyahu by Jordan Peterson on the Jewish state. Claims that the Jews were dispossessed of their land by the Arabs (refers to them as colonisers). Also claims that when Jews returned in the 1880s the land was barren and almost unpopulated (mentions a description in The Innocents Abroad). Then states that the Arabs came after the Jews got things established. Didn't strike me as a bad person or a liar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xLkjvZDsIU

Dear Paul,

«A simple question to those who believe Israel has the right to exterminate Palestinian terrorists.»

Yes, I am listening:

«Of the 2.3 million Palestinians living on the Gaza Strip, how many do you believe are terrorists and therefore should be exterminated?»

That is not a simple question.
I am not an expert and my wild guess is between 50,000 and 200,000 - I just assume that Israel's security forces know more precisely.

They not only terrorise Israel - they terrorise their own people, they make them live in fear, they impoverish them by taking everything of theirs for their war effort, for their tunnels and rockets, they force Israel to blockade also the ordinary Gazans and they throw anyone who dares to oppose them off the roofs of tall buildings, or shoot their knees for lesser resistance.

The rest of the Gazans, say the other 2.2 millions, perhaps only 2.1 millions if another 100,000 innocent people die during the fights, will be very relieved once Hamas is gone and will finally be able to have some life and freedom.

Dear Fester,

«Didn't strike me as a bad person or a liar.»

What Netanyahu says in this interview is a mixed bag - some is true, but some is repeating the lies of others and it is not for me to judge him whether or not he honestly believes these lies.

* Modern archaeological evidence shows that Jews (more precisely, people whose descendants were to later become Jews) indeed lived in parts of Israel for thousands of years, but 3500 years is an exaggeration.

* "King David", if he even existed, was only a small warlord, ruling over only 5000 people at the maximum. This legendary huge kingdom which he and his son, Solomon, presumably ruled, never existed - only Jerusalem (then much smaller than today's walled city even) and a few villages around it.

* Jews were indeed never expelled by the Romans, etc., but neither by the Arabs. A portion of them left voluntarily for economic reasons while nearly all others gradually converted to Islam in order to avoid the Jizya tax. The majority of so-called "Palestinians" are the descendants of these Jews!

* The land of Israel was sparsely populated in the 19th century, but certain parts of it more than others. Most people lived in a number of cities, including Jews who lived mainly in Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Safed. Most of the population lived on high ground because much of the land in the north and west along the Mediterranean sea had swamps and was infested by malaria, while the south was a desert.

* Arab population indeed increased in the early 20th century, but the main reason was that the Jews dried up the swamps and eliminated malaria and later also built pipes to transfer water to the desert. Another reason was the British take over in WWI from the corrupt Ottoman regime.

Hi Foxy,
"Thank You Armchair Critic for your decency and civility."
- No need to thank me, we all agree on some topics and disagree on others

Hi mhaze
"indeed"
What are you saying there, that people in Gaza are less than human beings in your eyes?
Like feral pigs or some other invasive pest species that we need to cull back the numbers every now and again?
In the spirit of Pauline Hanson 'please explain'
Go ahead mhaze... Why don't you tell us all what you REALLY think?

Look I'm certainly no great friend of Islam
Or even multiculturalism for that matter
I'm more ethics than religion...

Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, its a competing Sunni Islamist ideology to Wahabism
Whereas Hezbollah is Shiite
I don't care for those religions and I don't care for the Jewish one either.

- FYI, I'm an Australian.
I like a cold beer every now and again, pretty girls in bikinis and a dip in the surf down at the beach, dogs, and lots of bacon.
But I still recognise that all these people are still human beings.
Not all Gazans support Hamas, but Israel will kill them nonetheless.

Here's what I watched earlier.
Stephen Walt (Professor of International relations Harvard): US, Israeli strategy on Palestine has failed
http://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-bottom-line/2023/10/12/stephen-walt-us-israeli-strategy-on-palestine-has-failed

Interesting he talked about the 2 state solution being potentially no longer viable because of settlement building, and he also talked about normalisation of the relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as provocation that might have left Hamas thinking they had to act
(and I also wonder about David Singers HKOPS as a potential further issue)
Also interesting he wrote a book with colleague and friend John Mearsheimer

Interesting article here

The tragedy of John Mearsheimer
How the American realist became the world’s most hated thinker.
http://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/09/tragedy-john-mearsheimer
(disable javascript and you'll get past most paywalls)