Evil Penevil

It's important to remember Sinwar was captured by Israel in 1988 and sentenced to four life imprisonments in 1989. He was released in 2011 as part of the exchange of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. After their release, Sinwar and other fotmer prisoners were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis, including those on Oct. 7. https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-sinwar-leader-2963dbc6e8ef040a00e588488cba33e7 That's what makes the swap of hostages so difficult for Israel. The hostages lives will be saved, but hundreds will die in the future because vicious terrorists sworn to destroy Israel and its citizens have been set free.

History indicates otherwise. Israel has fought numerous wars since its founding and always emerged victorious. War Year Opponents War of Independence (1947–1949) Arab League with forces from Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen Sinai War (1956) Egypt Six-Day War (1967) Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria War of Attrition (1967–1970) Egypt, Soviet Union, PLO. Jordan, Kuwait Yom Kippur War (1973) Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria Since the 1980s, Isrrael has fought against the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Authority . Since 2005, it's mostly been Hamas and Hezbollah, with some involvement of Syrian and Iranian armed forces as well as Houthi rebels. Israel has always held its own, although the nature of urban guerilla warfare makes it difficult to claim victory. You can read the details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Israel Israel's air force is the key to the country's survival against opponents with much larger populations. It does indeed tip the balance in Israel's favor because of its power as a deterrent. However, that in no way diminishes the role the Israeli Ground Forces play in the IDF. The Infantry, Armored and Artillery Corps of the IDF are very formiddable in any scenario.

The cycle of violence will only be broken when Hamas and all other Palestinian groups recognize Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state amd homeland to the world's Jews. Once Hamas members and their ilk abandon the goal of destoying the state ofr Israel and eliminating its people. then a lasting peace can be made. Until the day Palestinians are ready for peace, the Jews of Israel will fight to defend their homeland. No matter how hard Hamas and its supporters wish it, Jews will never again walk passively to their extermination.

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Antisemitic attacks have risen to crisis proportions in the U.S.

In case anyone wonders why Israeli forces would invade or aerial bomb sites in Lebanon, you have the answer.

@coolcarer answered for me: Hamas uses the camps to hide tunnel systems, command centers and weapons' depots. Some top Hamas commanders live in or near the camps. It's tragic Hamas has so little regard for the lives of its own people that it forces them to become human shields.

xxxxxxxx My comments were referring to the invasion of Lebanon by the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) after the PLO had been driven out of Jordan by the Jordanian army in 1970, aka Black September. Hezbollah wasn't formed until 1982. Hezbollah didn't invade Lebanon in 1970, the PLO did. Definitely. It was a campaign with the strategic goal of ending Hamas as a fighting force The destruction of buildings and other infrastructure in Gaza is a consequence of Hamas' members hiding among the civilian population and trying to use them as human shields.

You are basically agreeing with what I wrote earlier, that UNIFIL is unable to fulfill its mandate. It is true UNIFIL does present a serious obstacle to any Israeli campaign to destroy Hezbollah strongholds and weapon depots in South Lebanon.

Recocated? That's a euphemistic way of saying the PLO leadership and thousands of heavily armed fighters entered Lebanon after the PLO was kicked out of Jordan during Black September in 1970. At that time, the majority Christian Lebanese government certainly did see it as an invasion. That was the first act of the Lebanese Civil War which destroyed what had been a stable little country

I am well aware of the U.N. mandate, but we obviously have very different interpretations of the meaning of "restore peace and security in the border region and assist the Lebanese government in reestablishing control in the southern part of the country." Hezbollah operates as an independent military force in Lebanon without the slightest control by the Lebanese government. Disarming Hezbollah is the only way peace, security and Lebanese government control can be reestablished.

Normally they'll send you to a country where they are sure you'll be admitted. If you have a long-term multiple entry visa for a third country, they could send you back there, especially if that's where you began your trip. They will not send you to a country the IO figures may reject you. Since you don't have a visa for Viet Nam, they wouldn't send you back there. If you were living/working in Japan, China, the U.K., U.S., etc. and had the neessary visa or permits, then they would probably send you there, assuming that's where you want to go. It depends to some degree on why you were denied entry to Thailand. If the IO is convinced other countries will deny you entry for the same reason Thailand did, then it's back to your home country.

If the UNIFIL forces had done their job properly and stopped Hezbollah terrorists from attacking Israel, there wouldn't have been any need for Israelto cross the Blue Line. I'll believe in UNIFIL the day its units actually try to disarm Hezbollah, which is at best a private militia but in reality a terrorist group.

I visited Lebanon way back in 1970 before the PLO invasion. I was totally surprised by how tolerant and progressive it was. Beirut had a nightlife scene that rivaled any European city. Christians and Muslims lived in harmony with mutual respect. The Lebanese Civil War destroyed all of that.

My deepest condolences to all the families of the murdered hostages and other Israeli victims of the Oct 7 attacks who were killed simply because they were Jewish. My deepest condolences also go to the families of non-Israeli and non-Jewish victims of the attacks.

Not to mention China, Honduras, South Africa and a string of other authoritarian sub-Saharan African nations. It is indeed a tragic, not funny, joke when some of the world's worst violators of human rights are on the UNHRC.

I heard this many years ago about Chinese restaurants before I began working in China. According to locals, that is indeed what would happen if you complained about the food in a mainland restaurant. I have to believe it is the same in Thailand. Japan is probably the only country in Asia where it's not the case. Through the years, I've rarely had reason to complain. When I did, I asked to leave without paying rather than have replacement food. That would usually prompt the owner orchef to taste the food and they would agree to me not paying, along with profuse apologies.

About a month ago, Greta Thunberg was named "Antisemite of the Week" by the grassroots watchdog organization StopAntisemitism. https://stopantisemitism.org/as-week/greta-thunberg/ Her star was fading as an environmental activist and Greta does indeed love the limelight. She found another cause to keep her in TV news broadcasts. For whatever reason, she appears to hate Jews. In one of her social media photos supporting Gaza, she is seen posing with a toy octopus. The octopus had been used by Nazis as a symbol of Jewish dominance of world events. It's still widely used among hardcore antisemites. But it's not surprising Thunberg would become rabidly anti-Israel. Palestinians have become the baby seals of the Left. Activists get outraged over the deaths of Palestinians while ignoring much worse slaughter in Sudan, Syria, Somali and Africa south of the Sahara, such as the Rwandan Genocide and wars and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many Westerners aren't even aware of protracted, large-scale fighting in the DRC, much less that close to six million (!) people have been killed. Same-same when the baby seals got clubbed during the annual Canadian seal hunt. The world saw an outpouring of anger in the press and on the Internet, big protests, calls for boycotts and bans on seal products in 30-some countries. Meanwhile, hunting that drove my species in Africa to the verge of extinction were ignored.

These are the 47 members of the UNHRC for 2025: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte D’ivoire, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, United States Of America, Viet Nam Aside from the Western European countries, the U.K., U.S., Japan and possibly Costa Rica, Thailand has an equally good or better record on human rights than other UNHTC members in Asia, Africa, Latin America and East Europe. Thailand is by no means out of place on the UNHRC.

Yes, I know. But he's a useful troll because he embodies modern antisemitism. It's good practice for me to refute his absurd claims about Israel. He's also quite skilled at baiting supporters of Israel. I would be the first to acknowledge he's a master baiter.

No one with an IQ above room temperature could possibly believe that abducting Thais at gun point and holding them hostage for 50 days in dimly lit tunnels is not a form of torture. If you look at a version of the pic below without the blurring, you'll immediately see the terror in the captives' faces. They have their hands tied behind them and a masked terrorist is pointing an AK-47 at them with his finger on the trigger. The young man in the pic below doesn't look like he's being treated very well, either. You can find this pic and the unaltered versions of the first photo at https://www.hamas-massacre.net/ Type in "Thai" in the Search box and it will bring up all the photos and vids with Thai victims. WARNING: You can also find the long version video of a Palestinian using a hoe to decapitate a Thai worker. The Palestinian shouts in Arabic "Let me kill him! I want to do it!" The Palestinian has such a gleeful expression on his face it's truly (no words for it but I'll use) horrorific. It's probably the one image I wish the most I could unsee. I have not linked directly to the video because the Thai government does not want it on social media. The video has the caption, "A Gazan beheads a Thai civilian with a hoe." More than a few @MalcolmB. Thirty nine Thais were killed on Oct 7, some under very grim circumstances. And some of the Thai hostages were indeed tortured, psychologically and physically, from the moment they were captured. The questions I have for you and any other pro-Palestinian poster are: Why would Hamas and other Gazans murder Thai agricultural workers? How did they further the cause of Palestinian independence by killing Thais? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/freed-thai-hostage-returns-home-emotional-reunion-hamas-release-rcna127544 In an interview with Reuters, Anucha Angkaew said the hostages had been beaten, starved and otherwise abused. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/50-days-hamas-captivity-thai-man-recalls-beatings-bleakness-2023-12-07/ He told German broadcaster DW (Deutsche Welle) that he lost 16 kilos in captivity. Another freed hostage, Manee Jirachat. told DW he still felt the pain after getting hit in the neck with a rifle stock the day he was kidnapped. "Once the truck was full, they shot two of my companions in the head," the young man recounted, head lowered. "Just because there was no room left for more hostages. I'll never forget the sight." https://www.dw.com/en/freed-thai-hostages-israelis-had-it-worse/a-67642521 He told a Singapore news agency he had been beaten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmhyunqTmlQ Yet another released hostage, Gong Saelao, told Benar News he had been kept shackled the whole time. https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/thai-hostage-gaza-recounts-kidnapping-04092024012212.html If you'd followed the news better, you'd have known some Thais were tortured and many were murdered.

Yes, you did, but you also included the aftermath of 9/11. You are still mistaken in both cases. Hate crimes against s and Muslims surged after 9/11 and Oct. 7, but still lagged behind the number of hate crimes committed against Jews In 2001, anti-Islamic hate crimes against skyrocketed to 481 from 28 the year before, still less than half the 1,043 anti-Jewish hate crimes. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statistics-on-religious-hate-crimes The FBI wrote in the Uniform Crime Reports for 2001: "Another noticeable increase in 2001 was among religious-bias incidents. Anti-Islamic religion incidents were previously the second least reported, but in 2001, they became the second highest reported among religious-bias incidents (anti-Jewish religion incidents were the highest), growing by more than 1,600 percent over the 2000 volume. In 2001, reported data showed there were 481 incidents made up of 546 offenses having 554 victims of crimes motivated by bias toward the Islamic religion." It also stated: "A breakdown of the 2,118 victims of hate crimes motivated by religious bias showed that the majority of victims were Jewish, 56.5 percent. Anti-Islamic bias accounted for 26.2 percent of victims of hate crimes motivated by religious bias, anti-Catholic bias accounted for 1.9 percent, antiProtestant 1.7 percent, and anti-atheism or antiagnosticism 0.2 percent. Biases directed at members of other religious groups and those directed at groups made up of individuals from various religious faiths accounted for 11.1 percent and 2.5 percent of the victims, respectively." https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2001 The pattern was the same in the aftermath of the Oct. 7. As the figures in my previous post indicated, hate crimes against Muslims rose during the final three months of 2023, but nevertheless fell far short of hate crimes against Jews. It's also important to note that these figures cover actions that meet the definition of hate crime in the U.S. There have been thousands and thousands of unpleasant actions aimed at Jews which don't meet that definition. "Since October 7, antisemitic hate speech has appeared online and offline, in countries around the world, and on occasion has been voiced by influential figures. Similarly, antisemitic threats, harassment, discrimination and violence have also been documented around the world. While the perpetrators of some of these antisemitic incidents appear to have been motivated primarily by events in Gaza, some incidents have been opportunistic and committed by actors who are taking advantage of widespread anti-Israel sentiment to propagate hateful stereotypes and conspiracies and calls for violence against Jews. "The emblematic examples of antisemitic hate speech, discrimination, and violence documented below are only a small subset of incidents of antisemitism that have occurred since October 7, 2023." https://www.ajc.org/reports-and-emblematic-examples-of-antisemitic-hate-speech-and-violence-since-october-7

Yes, they don't trust their customers and with good reason: some are shoplifters. The profit margin at stores like Makro is very thin, certainly under 5% and possible as low as 1 or 2%. Stolen items can erase all profit. If a store gets the reputation of being "easy" to steal from, shoplifters will flock there. Checking receipts is a relatively easy way to dIscourage thieves. It doesn't bother me at all.

No, you are mistaken. There are far more hate crimes aimed at Jews compared to Arabs amd Muslims in the U.S. "The following data about anti-Jewish and religiously-biased hate crimes in the United States has been excerpted from the annual Report on Hate Crimes released by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The data for 2023 came from 16,009 law enforcement agencies. The totals show 11,862 hate crime incidents involving 13,829 related offenses were reported, affecting 13,857 victims. Incidents of religious bias represented 24% of the total – 2,699 incidents and 2,967 offenses affecting 3,121 victims. The largest categories of religion included: Anti-Jewish incidents: 68% Anti-Islamic incidents: 9% Anti-Sikh incidents: 5% Anti-Catholic incidents: 3% Overall, 14% of all victims are Jews, and 66% of all religious hate crime victims are Jews." https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/statistics-on-religious-hate-crimes A section of the chart on antisemitic hate crimes: Keep in mind there are an estimated 5.8 million Jews in the U.S., or 2.4% of the U.S. population. On a proportional basis, Jews are twice as likely to experience a hate crime than Blacks. It's also important to note that most hate crimes directed towars Jews are crimes against property, such as swastikas painted on synagogues or homes. The inverted triangle is a symbol used to mark prisoners in Nazi concentration camps and has been adopted by Hamas to mark Jewish targets. Pro-Palestinian groups in the U.S. use it as well. However, Jews who wear clothing that makes them "visibly Jewish," whether a skullcap (kippa, yarmulke) or full ultra orthodox dress, have increasingly become the targets of physical violence,especially in NYC. It goes back further than that: "In the first millennium of the Christian era, leaders in the European Christian (Catholic) hierarchy developed or solidified as doctrine ideas that: all Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Christ; the destruction of the Temple by the Romans and the scattering of the Jewish people was punishment both for past transgressions and for continued failure to abandon their faith and accept Christianity. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, these doctrines about Jews were hardened ..." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-from-the-early-church-to-1400

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a collection of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, some of which go back to the early days of Christianity. What's most disturbing is that anti-Jewish tropes and canards have lasted not just for centuries but millenia and can be seen today on the pages of Asean Now. Antisemitism has no basis in truth or fact and has been refuted countless times, but still stubbornly occupies the minds of people who often claim not to be anti-Jewish. "Sometimes called 'the longest hatred,' antisemitism has persisted in many forms for over two thousand years. The racial antisemitism of the National Socialists (Nazis) took hatred of Jews to a genocidal extreme, yet the Holocaust began with words and ideas: stereotypes, sinister cartoons, and the gradual spread of hate." https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism-in-history-from-the-early-church-to-1400 Because The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was so widely disseminated and believed, it played a role in the deaths of millions of Jews in the first half of the 20th century. It is still read and distrubuted in the Middle East. The original covenant of Hamas from 1988 makes mention of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion : "The Zionist plan is limitless. After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."