LOL Israel

[Anton]

Frankly, I don't give a crap about a single country in the Middle East or what they do as long as it doesn't effect me or my country. The Saudis can continue to chop off gays' heads, the Turks can kill Kurds, and the Israelis can drop WP on UN schools.

The American taxpayer shouldn't be footing the bill (billions and billions a year) for Israeli bombs and Egyptian tanks, either. If they want F-35s or M1A2s (Israel and Egypt, respectively) they should pay for 'em themselves. Hell, what could we do for OUR troops fighting for OUR country with that money?

[TriggerHappy]

that image was awesome. I got a chuckle for sure.

[Irving]

I am in agreement with both Hoosier and Elhuero, if that is possible.

I don't think that Hoosier is saying that Israel shouldn't have protected its guys, only that they shouldn't have entered a situation where that became a possibility. It sure is easy to MM Quarterback this issue. Personally, I don't think that shooting those activist-terrorists was the wrong thing to do, it was the ONLY thing to do. Those guys deserved it. You don't enter a military zone under the guise (lie) of peace, and assume that will give you a pass to do whatever you want. That's like grabbing a girls tit at the bar with one hand and holding up the peace sign with your other hand. You're still going to get escorted off the premises and open the door on your way out with your face. Just because you say you don't have weapons, doesn't mean that your intentions are peaceful.

I don't know what else to say. Is there any way that Israel can just intercept a boat and tow it in the wrong direction? Then maybe disable it (without sinking it) so it is dead in the water? Then no one is killed and the point is made.

[Hoosier]

The "they make enemies with their policy and hatred, so they deserve what they get" argument is bullshit.

You need to stop putting words in my mouth. I never said they deserve what they get. I'm not even reading the rest of what you said because this pissed me off.

I'm out, H.

[Hoosier]

The American taxpayer shouldn't be footing the bill (billions and billions a year) for...

+1

[Hoosier]

This didn't get much press since no one died, but they stopped another ship today, the Rachel Corrie.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/...ex.html?hpt=T2

[hollohas]

From the CNN article above:

Israel had offered to deliver the aid to Gaza, but passengers rejected the offer, according to a statement from Michael Martin, Ireland's minister for foreign affairs.
Israel said the offer -- formulated with Ireland -- called for representatives of Ireland and the activists to accompany Israel during those steps.
"Unfortunately, the activists rejected this offer, and consequently, the Israeli Navy boarded the ship with full compliance of the ship's crew members, and redirected it to Ashdod port," Israel said.

I guess the "activists" primary goal is not to get aid to Gaza. Israel tries to do the right thing but they activists reject it. Nice. Goes to show that they will disagree with anything Israel does, even when they play nice.

[Irving]

I think we all agree that no one is willing to deal with Israel, which is why Hoosier believes that they shouldn't have boarded the ship under those conditions. Israel should have known this would happen.

[Elhuero]

You need to stop putting words in my mouth. I never said they deserve what they get. I'm not even reading the rest of what you said because this pissed me off.

I'm out, H.

I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, sorry if it came out that way.

Hope you have a better day.

[ronaldrwl]

Israel is surrounded by people that hate them; whether they play nice or not. Those people HATE Israel down to their bones. Even when Israel plays nice politically, they still get rockets dropped on their heads. Lose, lose. Some people hate others for nothing more than the others are different. Much like no matter what the USA does, the bad guys will want us dead. Nothing will make them happy except killing Americans. Same goes for those that hate Israel.

They had a right to board that ship and they didn’t plan on killing anyone. That’s clear because the first 14 guys that boarded the ship didn’t shoot. But when they boarded, they got beat and shot. You have to protect your men. You think it would have been better if the soldiers did not fire and they all got beat to death? If Israel wanted to shoot those people for no reason they would have done it from the chopper without risking their men down there.

That’s the great thing about Israel. They don’t give into the PC bullshit. If their people are in danger, they will bring the hammer down on those responsible. With all the people that hate them, they have to be strong to keep their country from falling apart. Israel’s response after being attacked during the Yom Kippur War shows this works. Israel was attacked and was in great danger as Egypt and Syria pushed into Israel. Israel truly believed it was their final stand. They pushed back hard and took large portions of both Egypt and Syria. Egypt was so embarrassed that it eventually lead to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty and the first Arab state to recognize that Israel was a legitimate country. They saved their country and created a little peace…with force. Funny how that works.

EDIT:
On a side note. The USA has much more room to play nice politically than Israel does. We don’t share boarders with people that are hell bent on killing us. If things unravel during peace talks for us, we just fly home to our country surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean. If things go south for Israel, rockets fall on their heads and people die. They have to nip things in the butt. Sure, people will use this incident as an excuse to fire more rockets into Israel, but if it wasn’t this, the bad guys would have found some other reason to kill Israelis. They always have a reason.

+1 for the new guy. Good post