If Obama Is Serious

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  • Posted By: vingtsun @ 01/08/2009 4:12:29 PM

    You, my dear man, are an idiot! What should Israel do, sit back and say to Hamas "...thank you may I have another?" If you are any indication of the course that the democrats are going to take us on then we will become the 21st century version of the British Empire. I truly hope that the only people that need or want your advise are the cleaning crew in the asylum that you work because you are deranged!

  • Posted By: WBMAR @ 01/08/2009 4:11:45 PM

    As long as Hamas hides behind children and women's skirts there will be "Collateral Damage." These "gazans" voted for, supported, and allowed Homas Militants to run GAZA. Need I remind you that these are the same people that were out "DANCING IN THE STREETS AND REJOICING" at the desrtruction to America on 09/11! If they want this to stop they need to kick Hamas out.

  • Posted By: rockinrick @ 01/08/2009 3:53:51 PM

    If your going to talk to someone it needs to be the Palestinians. They get things started and then try to blame it on Israel.It reminds me of a little brother who hits his big brother and then tells mom & dad big brother started it.Then big brother gets in trouble.Besides the land they want does not belong to them . It belongs to Israel.Let me put it this way.Let's say you own a 100 acres and I decide that I want to live there and call it mine. Would you let me live in peace knowing that I'm on your property,and especially if I'm causing you grief, and , then telling the law you started it.I think that you would want me out no matter what it took to do so.And no, there never will be peace in the Middle East.As much as we're(usa) hated over there they hate Israel even more.I'm sure Israel wants peace as much as anyone ,but Palestinians and other enemies will not let that happen.So,if Obama needs to get tough with anyone,it needs to be the ones that hate Israel as much if not more than they hate us (USA).And keep the bleeding heart liberals out of it ,or send them over there and see how long they last.

    • Posted By: pseye19 @ 01/08/2009 4:11:31 PM

      You don't know history to say what you are saying. When Europe kicked them out, they were imposed to the Palestinian people and now they are fed by the US, they can do what ever they want. No sympathy for them. History has shown that they need to be quite and do their best to kill people because somebody who fights a Fool must be a Foll as well.

  • Posted By: aduncan2 @ 01/08/2009 4:09:55 PM

    There have been both Arabs and Jews living in the area for centuries, with a predominantly Arab population since biblical times. The land that is now being disputed was under control of the Ottomans from the 16th century until the 20th century until they were driven from the region during WWI, by the UK. In 1916, the Sykes-Picot agreement originally intended for the area to be an international zone after freed from the Ottomans, not be under British control. But shortly thereafter, Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Minister issued the Balfour Declaration which offered British support to the formation of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East. Jews had already began emigrating to the area in the late 19th century, but in small numbers. However, between 1904-1920, the numbers increased dramatically. In 1936, Arabs rioted in response to this massive migration of Jews and the British then decided to cap immigration of Jews to the area. For the next few years, some Jews still migrated, but immigration reached an apex when other countries around the world refused to take in Jewish refugees from the Holocaust, including the United States. By the end of WWII, the Jews made up 33% of the population of the area. In 1947, the Israelis wanted to declare independence from Britain and form their own Jewish state, and Britain then pulled out of the area because they couldn???t come to an agreement that was acceptable to both Arabs and Jews. The UN partitioned the area and created two separate states, one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be an international city under the auspices of the UN. The Jews accepted this and the Arabs did not. In 1947, the Arabs started a war with the Jews, but quickly the Jews went on the offense instead of the defense and the economy of the Arab state of Palestine collapsed and a quarter million Arabs fled or were expelled from the land. Over the next several years, there were frequent attacks from the Palestinians, who disputed Israel???s right to exist which is the conflict that is still going on today. Who is to say who has a right to the land? If you look back at who had control of it prior to British control it is the Turks with a predominantly Arab population in the region, but now there are so many Jewish settlers there, that they can???t be forced out, but where are the Palestinians to go? In their minds they have as much right to that land as anyone else. It was their land before the British gave it to the Israelis. I???m not saying either one is right or either is wrong, just that it is a complicated history. Perhaps they are both right or both wrong. Maybe the UN in 1947 got it wrong, maybe if the rest of the world (including the United States) had been willing to resettle more Jewish refugees following the Holocaust, the situation would be different that it is today. But the situation that is going on is the reality and something must be done for both the sake of the Jews and the Palestinians.

  • Posted By: vingtsun @ 01/08/2009 4:09:13 PM

    You are a moron! How and who ever selected you to advise them, on anything. Hamas has been killing Israeli citizens and what, they should just sit back and say "thank you may I have another!" If you are any indication of what the democratic party is going to do to us, then may God help us because we will quickly become the British Empire.... Keep writing comic books because that is at what level you should be writing.

  • Posted By: PatinRaleigh @ 01/08/2009 4:07:50 PM

    America, the land of "we are free to defend ourselves" tells Israel to stop defending themselves? Yeah, that'll fly like a lead balloon.

  • Posted By: HAWKDMC @ 01/08/2009 4:07:04 PM

    Let me see if I have this right. On top of everything else going on in the world today, we're worried about making life "bearable" for the poor Palestinians (if in fact there is meaning to such a term) who live in Gaza. The same people who elected Hamas. The same people who systematically destroyed virtually all of the infrastructure left behind in Gaza by the Israelis and--oh, yes--the same people who celebrate every Israeli death by wild cheering and celebration. How many other countries can you think of who would tolerate the constant shelling. Consider Britain during WWII, and the buzz bombs, and the V1 and V2 rockets. The problem here is not that Israel is taking steps to safeguard its border, it's that it isn't doing enough to make sure that it won't have to do this again. One more thing. Israel isn't "resisting" an "occupation" with "home made rockets". How unimformed can one be? The rockets come from Iran, and they've been fired at Israel for years. The really interesting question is why Israel hasn't turned off the electricity.

  • Posted By: rsb2enterprises @ 01/08/2009 4:04:22 PM

    you are flat wrong, you don't deal with terrorists.

  • Posted By: rsb2enterprises @ 01/08/2009 4:03:33 PM

    you ar flat wrong. you don't deal with terrorists ...

  • Posted By: PatinRaleigh @ 01/08/2009 4:02:48 PM

    If Newsweek were fair and balanced (like 1 news organization I know of) they would have printed another article entitled, "If Obama is Serious he should get tough with Hamas". Where's that point of view? Maybe it doesn't fit into Newsweek's liberal agenda.

  • Posted By: John from NYC @ 01/08/2009 4:02:48 PM

    In the 2007 war between Hamas and Fatah more that 600 Palestinians living in Gaza were killied. Was there any international outcry then? No. Let all the Israel haters be honest. This is not a humanatarin issue. Nor is this about the suffering of Palestinians. This is simply Israel bashing. At least be honest and state that you too, like Hamas, Iran, etc. wish for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.

  • Posted By: John Dough @ 01/08/2009 4:02:31 PM

    rayman5263 what planet are you from? Israel has never attacked anyone without being attacked first.So day after day they are to endure missles flying into their countries killing their citizens and not strike back??? Maybe I will come over to your house and lob grenades at it and you can love me as your neighbor give me a break - if they left Israel alone there would be peace in the Middle East. Israel even offered a Palestinian state made up of the West Bank Gaza and the Golan Heights. They refused the offer began shelling them and demanded Israel surrender Jerusalem too!!! No matter what Israel doesthey will never agree because they want Israel gone period. Israel should defend their nation with all force necessary to protect their citizens.

  • Posted By: boscobear @ 01/08/2009 3:58:54 PM

    Why must Obama do something? Why aren't the people solving their own problams/? When will they realize, the only reason Israel is bombing them is because Hamas broke the truce, shoots their rockets from next door abd when innocent people are killed, everyone blames Israel and not Hamas. How can real peace be accomplished when you have to deal with people that allow themselves to be lead around by their noses.

  • Posted By: PatinRaleigh @ 01/08/2009 3:58:33 PM

    Israel can't make peace with a group of people who desire nothing more than to wipe them off the face of the planet. Forget all the history involved as to who was there first, etc., etc., ad nauseum. It all comes down to this: Hamas' charter states that they will destroy Israel. It's not at all possible for Israel to make peace with an entity that doesn't want peace - an entity that only wants to destroy them. Do you think the Jews could have made peace with Hitler when he only wanted to make sure Jews no longer existed? NO!

  • Posted By: Parral57 @ 01/08/2009 3:57:30 PM

    What Israel is doing is shameful. Is there memory so short that they have forgotten what fear is like in the eyes of children? We all recognize the horrific massacre during the Holocaust, however, to not account for the lives of innocent children is why the Holocaust occurred in the first place--everyone closed their eyes to the atrocity.

  • Posted By: zergic @ 01/08/2009 3:56:34 PM

    It would be one thing if the parties were more worried about how their religions taught respect and love for their fellowman than their supposed need to have their "holy land" that they consistantly desicrate with their actions. Not terribly holy. I personally think after all the abuses the Jews have gone through they should have their own land but how about somewhere over here(the States). The demographics are the nail in the coffin. With over a billion Muslims in the world and a Muslim population in Europe that within 50 years will become the majority in every country the Jews are running out of friends. I think the French will get a real wake up when instead of keeping the Muslim girls from wearing their scarfs to school, all their children are forced to wear them too. Its coming and any smart European knows it. Its just like american financial policies. No one thinks we have a solution, This is inbred stuff, religious intolerance or greed take your choice. There is not a Muslim state that I would want to live in. If someone knows of one I'd like to hear it. So good luck to the Jews but I'd be getting a ticket over here sooner rather than later. I'd love for them to be in my country. Better than sending my sons to die in a losing propostion.

  • Posted By: lleven @ 01/08/2009 3:55:32 PM

    Why the hell do we have or bother being part of the United Nations if it supposedly(and continuously) is up to us to keep the peace everywhere?!? This American would much! prefer to see our soon to be president step back a little from a direct involvment in this and many other matters and let someone else step up for once. It seems that since we have taken the role of world police for these last decades our own country is falling into shambles and is continuing down. Maybe, just maybe we should take some time to reflect inwards and fix our own country before we think we can fix the world. sigh...

  • Posted By: Wychdoctor @ 01/08/2009 3:54:55 PM

    Just keep in mind: America is Israel's friend - Israel is nobody's friend but themselves. If you want a case, look at the US Liberty incident - an American intelligence gathering ship, in international waters, clearly marked and flying the American flag, was attacked for a period of four hours by Israeli jets - about 23 crewmen were killed! Radio traffic confirmed that the pilots recognized it was American - then the Israelis claimed it was mistaken for a freighter carrying arms to Palestinians! Or, today, the Israelis attack and kill UN convoys carrying food and medical supplies to the Palestinians! Or again, how many cases do we have of Israeli spying on America?

    Israel is a needed counter to the Muslim countries, but do not believe that they are America's great buddy-buddy. They are taking care of their own interest. Period. And they learned their lessons well from the time in Germany.

  • Posted By: Free*Human @ 01/08/2009 3:51:55 PM

    Well said, more than 765 Palestinians are killed (More than Half are Children and Women) in occupied Gaza by Israeli Army, and more than 3125 wounded, an army with an arsenal, equipped with the latest high tech weaponry, with guided laser & radar bombs and rockets, Fighter Jets, Tanks, battle ships, still we see all these civilians; paramedics, UN staff, and even While Hamas are resisting the Israeli occupation with home made rockets.

    This must end, but how if one side (Israel) is the only nuclear power in the region, and best arming in the world (Thanks to USA), and the other side (Palestinians) kicked out of their lands, imprisoned in isolated territories, no dignity, and no power what so ever. How can a fair resolution be found, and sustained in these conditions. Yes pressure is needed on the powerful side for a fair life for both.

  • Posted By: zebhead @ 01/08/2009 3:51:50 PM

    I fully support Isreal's right to defend itself against terrorist and countries that harbor and support terrorist. Isreal is the only US ally that has the courage to standup for itself. You cannot make a deal with or placate terrorist. We should have learned that by now. Miller and the editors at Newsweek are both idoits for publishing such tripe.

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