This is about the most encouraging thing I have read in weeks. Considering how much Jews have contributed to the enrichment of Western civilization on a per capita basis, I wouldn't want to go up against an entire nation of them. I don't believe there has ever been so much brilliance concentrated in one people.

Further proof of the irredeemable stupidity that afflicts the Arab Muslim world. How on Earth did an entire people ever decide to take so many retrograde steps to such a sorry state? And is there any hope that they will some day realize that their pathetic situation is their own doing, and not the fault of Crusaders and Zionists?

I was wondering just a couple of days ago if Israel would find some way to neutralize the Palis' propaganda advantage. Cutting off communication so they can't use their favorite staged scenes and fakery seems like a useful tactic.

I hope Gen. Petraeus is paying close attention.

So not only is Hamas having trouble phoning home.

I know it's easy (and fun) to make light of the effects of something like this terrorists while ignoring the effect it has on civilians, but you may want to consider what it would mean to have nearly all forms of electronic communication cut off in a civilian population. You can't call for a doctor when a roof collapses and breaks your child's leg, you can't call your parents to find out if they are alive, and you can't call you wife to find out where she is and how you can find her.

Whether Israel is justified in its actions or not does not change the terrible cost being paid by innocent men, women, and children as we speak.

They want the residents of Gaza to topple Hamas.

Then by any objective measure they are failing abysmally. Are you in possession of any information that shows Israel's offensive is weakening, rather than strengthening, support for Hamas?

The "hebrew accented arabic" is a bit odd since Mossad has agents who have been trained since childhood to speak arabic with perfect regional accents!

Gordon,

Perhaps it was intentional, in order to differentiate the voice from the normal voices.

No Bell,

A policy is not a failure until it has had time to work. The Israelis have only begun. The Philistines are going to need more deaths and a lot more destruction followed by the withdrawal of the Israelis before the policy can be fully implemented.

Give it time to work. Then we shall see.

Yes I have information that support for Hamas is weakening. The girl who was paraded on TV. The TV guys left off her last sentence when they did their report: Hamas did this to us.

I'll post it. You will love it.

No Bell,

When I think of all the suffering brought on the German people by the Nazis It makes me want to cry. Until I remember that the Nazis got a 1/3 of the vote in Germany and legally formed a government.

Hamas got 65% of the vote. How much more culpable are they than the Germans?

I'm sorry for the kids. But the adults are bastards for calling this on their children.

Si Mon

A policy is not a failure until it has had time to work. The Israelis have only begun. The Philistines are going to need more deaths and a lot more destruction followed by the withdrawal of the Israelis before the policy can be fully implemented.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that kind of sentiment. Sure these groups have been lobbing bombs at each other for decades and causing each other untold misery while holding the rest of the world hostage to their pissant corner of the world, but there just needs to be a *little more* misery, and everything will be resolved, right? Just a *few* more suicide bombs should do the trick for Hamas. Just a *few* more artillery shells from the IDF. Goodness knows its been working so far, right?

If blowing things up and killing civilians was a recipe for winning the hearts and minds of an opposing civilian population, why haven't the thousands of Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the incredible amount of suffering to date on every side brought an end to the conflict?

Take your moral equivalence, "Doctor" and shove it. Pretending that the Israelis and Hamas, or the rest of the sick retarded Pali "culture" are equal places you squarely in favor of genocide and a second Holocaust. Your pathetic claim to moral clairty is as repulsive as is your cowardly hiding behind a supposedly clever pseudonym. This conflict is civilization versus - not sure what, exactly, is the other side - calling them "barbarians" unduly dignifies them. Human shaped predators and parasites and disease vectors is more apt.

No Bel,

Glad to see you agree with me. I'm also in agreement with no name.

Who cares about their hearts and minds? As long as the subscribe to genocide, I don't think their opinions deserve much consideration.

You treat them like the German genociders. Once they are sick to death of being bombed and attacked they may decide a different attitude is in order as well as a different government.

The Israelis are not running a hearts and minds type campaign. It is more on the order of we are kicking your asses until you are tired of it. And if you don't want it to happen again you might wish to install a different government. Otherwise we will be back.

The Philistines of Hamas wanted a war. They got one. What do they have to cry about? Isn't it a good thing for people to get what they want? They want to be martyrs for their religion. Again shouldn't they be very happy? Need I say grateful even?

They are always saying they love death. Well the Israelis are giving them what they love. Seems like a fair deal to me.

why haven't the thousands of Israeli and Palestinian deaths and the incredible amount of suffering to date on every side brought an end to the conflict?

Because it is the openly stated objective of Hamas and other similar organizations in the world to kill all the Jews in the world. And unfortunately success is not at hand.

Human shaped predators and parasites and disease vectors is more apt.

You stay classy, Anonymous.

Nobel -

The laws of conventional warfare recommend that civilians be kept out of combat and protected as much as possible. In the Geneva Accords there are certain protected areas, including hospitals and places of worship. However - staging military operations out of nominally protected areas renders those areas open to attack.

The Geneva Accords also prohibits the use of civilians as human shields, or storing and firing weapons from the midst of civilian areas. Hamas has no hesitation to do such things. Storing munitions in apartments endangers noncombatants. Firing rockets and mortars from hospitals and mosques makes them valid targets.

And apparently Hamas is quite willing to booby-trap schools used as UN 'safe zones'.

Witnesses: Hamas fired from school | Confronting Hamas | Jerusalem Post
.
The army said the school grounds were being used by terrorists to fire mortar shells at troops stationed nearby, and the soldiers responded by firing back. According to the IDF, the dead included members of the Hamas rocket cell, including senior operatives Imad Abu Askhar and Hassan Abu Askhar.
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Defense officials told The Associated Press that booby-trapped bombs in the school had triggered secondary explosions that killed additional Palestinians there.
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The army noted that Tuesday was not the first time Hamas had attacked Israel from within a school. The IDF released a video taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle in late 2007 showing terrorists firing mortars from right outside a school.
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"Hamas has in the past fired at Israel and at troops from inside schools, [exploiting] civilians, as is proven by UAV footage," the army said.

Mortars aren't large - the smallest one I could find immediately was the old British L9A1 51 mm Light Mortar. Two pieces, 13 lbs, 28 inches tall. Smuggle the tube and baseplate under a burqa, set it up, gather kids around to watch the fireworks, and 'boom'.

Now, I have to ask myself just who would be bloody stupid enough to fire a mortar from a protected, FULL schoolyard knowing the school itself would most likely draw suppressive fire immediately?

JLawson

You appear to be operating under the assumption that I am somehow seeking to justify or rationalize the actions of Hamas.

I am not.

Your moral equivalency betrays you Napolean Dynamite. I know you're not trying to "defend" hamas, but, no, they are in no way, shape or form the same as Israel. The Arabs have brought this upon themselves. War is hell. They know it. They count on it. The count on people like yourself enabling it. Ignorance is not bliss in this situation.

RFN

You are operating under several false premises.

First, I have never implied a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, and I do not believe such an equivalency exists.

Second, you apparently believe that anything other than cheerleading for IDF strikes against Gaza implies support for Hamas. This is a silly notion, and the denizens of this blog should stop pretending that this is how the world works.

I'll help you out here: although you may not want to believe it, a person may be disgusted by Hamas, oppose their goals, and wish death to most of its leadership, support Israel as the region's only functional democratic state, believe in Israel's right of self-defense *and* believe that Israel's current offensive is counter-productive at best.

"You appear to be operating under the assumption that I am somehow seeking to justify or rationalize the actions of Hamas.

I am not."

Doesn't look like it from my point of view. The alternative for Israel seems to be letting a bunch of barbarians continue to throw rockets, while trying to 'engage' them in some form of process that attempts to lead them away from their militantly masochistic monomania. And the chance of success on that is what... 1%? 5%?

Which reminds me of a bad joke...

----------

A hunter goes into the woods, sees a huge grizzly, takes aim and 'bang!'. He lowers his rifle, and the bear is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, there's a tap on his shoulder. He turns around, and there's the bear.

"You had your shot - now it's my turn. I'll either tear your head off with my claws and use it as a basketball, or use you like a prison beyach. Your choice."

The man thinks and reasons he can get a larger rifle, come back and bag the bear - but it'll be a lot easier if his head is still attached. So he complies, staggers out of the woods in shame and pain and cringes and winces into town, where he heals up and arms up, and the next weekend he goes out again.

He spots the bear, takes aim with care - and "Bang"! The bear's not there.

A tap on his shoulder - "You again? You know the deal - it's tear your head off with my claws and use it as a basketball, or drop to your knees and blow me. Your choice."

The man winces and retches, but figures it'd still be easier to shoot the bear if his head is still attached.

He staggers out, embarassed and smeared, goes into town and gargles a gallon of Listerine after a 4-hour shower. Then he gets a .50 caliber single shot rifle, waits a week, and goes out bear hunting again.

He spots the bear. He takes aim.

"BLAMMO!" The hills echo, the recoil knocks him over.

He looks up. The bear is standing there, with a strange expression. Finally, the bear speaks.

"You're not really out here for the hunting, are ya?"

-------------

So is it possible for an entire culture to become militantly masochistic? They've got to realize there's no chance at all for them to beat Israel - their neighbors aren't helping, the only ones really cheering them on at this point (and even then not that much) is Hezbollah in Lebanon. They're getting some support from Iran, but how long that'll last is anyone's guess - no matter how much lip service they pay to the idea.

They eagerly proclaim how much they love death - guess the prospect of 72 virgins in Paradise is a lot more attractive than the concrete reality of trying to rebuild the ruins they keep piling up.

It really looks like it's necessary to completely kill off Hamas. Not re-educate them, not convert them to peace, not change their minds about existing with Israel.