paddypower

You must be joking? Taking this ''current event'' as a standalone? - I surrender to your bigger brain. 555

That post finally shows some perspective on my attitudes, instead of your usual asides. You do have a selective memory, tho' occasionally. I have said more than once on this thread that I dislike what the Israeli government has allowed over the years. 6 million Jews and Roma's were shot, burned alive or starved to death by the Nazis in the Holocaust; all due to racism and anti antisemiticism. I would think that the following generations would have shown a bit more empathy towards Palestinians over the years prior to this horrific event. Ironically, you would think Israelis are conversant with the 'golden rule': do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. If you deflect again and reply that this is off topic and has nothing to do with the build up to the current war, that is your prerogative, under the rules of free speech.

555

First, let me congratulate you, seeing that you have your own special version of Encyclopedia Britannica.. Next, let's get some facts in the way of your specious remark about my post being 'suspect'. The Balfour agreement of 1917 was just a letter - from Britain's Foreign Sectary to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. It was followed by a public statement issued by the British government, announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. I called it an artificial basis for a country - as ''national home is not an internationally defined term. Even today, you have the UN on the one side arguing that the Israeli settlers land grabs are illegal. The updated Balfour Declaration of 1948 meant that the Palestinians faced the prospect of being outnumbered by unlimited immigration, and of losing control of Palestine to the Zionist drive for sole sovereignty over a country that was then almost completely Arab in population and culture. refs: (wilki) and The Consequences of the Balfour Declaration, by Avi Shlaim (2005). At this stage, your next responses is likely to be a bare bones boring reply. Realizing that I cannot add anything of any interest to this thread, I'm abandoning it now. as Richard Nixon once said, 'you wont have me to kick around anymore'.

another ''confused''emoticon.........someone has a broken keyboard.

I'm feeling my energy levels are dropping, at just about every page I read. maybe it's time to un-follow.

5 stars

when you have nothing to add that is useful to anyone on this thread, just say nothing. Mostly, you're quite imaginative - but here, it is like you are fishing for brownie points or you're addicted to making cheap shots.

the expression is as old as the hills. ''some of my best friends are (fill in the blank).'' You're quite naive, for a keyboard warrior. It was meant in jest - like shooting fish in a barrel 555

why not put a bit of effort into updating your terminology?a world wide common mistake is to say being anti Israeli is anti Jew. Anti Jew (haters) are referred to as antisemitic. some of my best friends are of the Jewish persuasion. That still leaves me free to criticize Israel, or at least its government.

I understand - but the money originally came from somewhere, other than olive tree farming.

you're right. maybe oppression is an out of date concept. and all the talk and negotiations have been in bad faith. Slag me if anyone wishes for writing this - but one group has a country (created artificially by the Balfour Agreement, the British & US governments of the day and the Rothschilds). The other group does not.

Unfortunately, you don't need many other players. China's imports of Iranian oil have soared, despite US sanctions. which are toothless. Hamas just needs one rich sponsor to provide unlimited arms and funding. it appears simplistic - but the western world has to do what ever it takes to cut off that support of Hamas.

thanks dude. respect.

555 good one, there's hope for you yet.

the problem is - it's out of date - too much blood has been spilled on both sides.

that is the best post of the day.

that's true. History has shown that the Arabs seem to be riven by tribal differences, which has made them ineffective leaders for the cause of establishing some type of a compromise for the Palestines. but I cannot give up hope that a peaceful solution will be found.

agree 'twas a slip of the tongue. It was an honest mistake'. 555

not possible, while there's a war going on. The day he is put into an Israeli jail (he has been indicted for corruption) will make my day.

agreed - seems there are some very sensitive posters here. 😉

Thanks for your vigilance.

Biggly, too

agreed. I ready to call a spade a spade. fact: there is nowhere to go. The description 'open air prison' is widely used. It is moronic to call it a slogan, in the face of published opinions. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/gaza-er-map-in-and-out-of-gaza/1226/ . You're putting words in my mouth when you say I claim that the blockade is not maintained by Egypt, and that it has nothing to do with Hamas. I wrote no such thing. All you do is babble that I am a partisan. By definition, of partisan - yes, I support those Palestinian people who do not support Hamas. It is subjective - because my country experienced colonialism, sectarian violence by the English for centuries and finally, peace. But my opinions are complex. Many Irish like myself show solidarity with Palestinian people - not as a “like for like” reflex nor merely a kind of political sentimentalism (where you show your ignorance by using the term partisan) . It is articulated through protest and activism, and a historically informed sense of empathy for those whose lives are curtailed by occupation and violence. so yes - I still hold the view is that you truly do deflect -because either (i) you have no empathy or (ii) you know nothing about anyone who might emphatise with Palestines.

Deflection ' the decision to describe my post as 'a whole lot of assertions' provides a neat deflection from a discussion'. ( with appologies to the Cambridge dictionary). do your due diligence before posting nonsence. All the border out of Gaza are closed, making it a prison to be carpet bombed. references: <https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history> quote: ' Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy — to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank. Benjamin Netanyahu, 2019