MarkH

Perhaps if the "absolutely legitimate nation and state that is Israel"* chose not to bulldoze Palestinian farms and houses to make way for gun toting "settlers" and didn't engage in tactics reminiscent of the worst of the 20th century's tyrants they'd be less of a target for Hamas and less hated by Palestinians in general. Make no mistake, they are hated for what they do, not who they are - before you start waving the "victim" flag all over again. *Spook obviously feels the need to bang on about making this "assertion". Good luck.

What irks me most about this conflict is the willingness of the IDF to blow the shit out of innocent Palestinians by the thousands "accidentally" while allegedly targeting Hamas militants. How can anyone defend slaughter on this scale? Granted, Hamas firing rockets on civilian targets is not right but amounts to little (how many civilians killed on the Israeli side?). The reaction by the IDF is disproportionate and massively counter-productive. Israel have gone in with a "if we kill everyone, we're bound to get the bad guy" approach. This is horrific and has caused enormous human loss and suffering. But some will still try to defend Israel and claim that anyone who doesn't turn a blind eye to this tragedy is engaging in "judenhass" - very trendy but an absolute lie. Hassholes The only way a solution will be found is by both sides talking to each other's elected representatives. The "we don't negotiate with terrorists" line is so tiresome nowadays - what progress would have been made in the North of Ireland if the Brits had persisted with that little gem?

Well done to the IOM Government for supporting the relief effort in Gaza. Despite efforts made to dehumanise Palestinians on this forum, it must be recognised that Palestinian life is equally as valuable as Israeli life. In the unlikely event that Israel ever finds itself in a similar position to that of Gaza I know that our elected representatives would act in an equally unbiased and compassionate manner. This hasn't stopped the myopic and ultra right wing from denouncing this impartial act on IOM Today. Monsters the lot of 'em - they deserve each other. Bravo Mr Gawne and co. Your actions have the support of the freethinking Manx public (see 3FM's website).

A United Nations panel to investigate both Palestinian and Israeli sides - sounds fair enough to anyone with nothing to hide........ http://rt.com/news/181184-israel-hrw-amnesty-barred/

Netanyahu in the dock - now there's a delicious thought. http://rt.com/news/179768-un-gaza-israel-clooney/

I'm not clear if you're a troll who has picked on a singularly inappropriate subject to play with or if you are a rabid racist intent on engaging in judenhass. Whichever is the case I for one find your views as expressed here quite obnoxious. What is obnoxious about not seeing Jews as "victims" (survivors would be a better generalisation)? Or is the fact that I get my news from a variety of sources what you find "obnoxious". I personally find the views of those who leap to the defence of Israeli war crimes and mass murder obnoxious. I am certainly not a racist and if your definition of a troll is someone whose opinions don't coincide with your own - yep I must live under a nice little bridge somewhere in Scandinavia. I would suggest that those who see the horrific destruction of thousands of civilians as acceptable in the pursuit of legitimate targets are both racist and inhumane. I'm still not sure if you're a troll, I rather hope that you are, because if not your perception of what is taking place is seriously perverted. From where I'm sitting you're the one in the gimp mask. Have a nice night, take the orange out before you go to bed.

I'm not clear if you're a troll who has picked on a singularly inappropriate subject to play with or if you are a rabid racist intent on engaging in judenhass. Whichever is the case I for one find your views as expressed here quite obnoxious. What is obnoxious about not seeing Jews as "victims" (survivors would be a better generalisation)? Or is the fact that I get my news from a variety of sources what you find "obnoxious". I personally find the views of those who leap to the defence of Israeli war crimes and mass murder obnoxious. I am certainly not a racist and if your definition of a troll is someone whose opinions don't coincide with your own - yep I must live under a nice little bridge somewhere in Scandinavia. I would suggest that those who see the horrific destruction of thousands of civilians as acceptable in the pursuit of legitimate targets are both racist and inhumane.

TJ - You insinuate that all Jews are victims! I don't think so, there are Jews thriving in diverse communities the world over I'm sure they don't see themselves as "victims". They're doing very well thank-you very much. As for the BBC not being pro-Zionist, depends on whose perspective you use. They're far too conservative for my liking. Thanks for stating the obvious about Al Jaz, Press TV and RT News - I stand by what I said, that to attain a balanced view, one must hear different perspectives. I personally even dip into the Jerusalem Post from time to time - diversity does no harm at all -you should try it one day. Spook - there is no more "invented nationality" than Israeli - they NEVER had a state until the Brits cocked things up in 1948.

Here's a clip of another genius who claims to have had "relatives" in concentration camps and thinks he has a right to Palestinian land. https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=wH4Gq_VzMDE "Dave" and idiots like him disrespect the memory of the victims of the holocaust by playing that card for effect every time the Israeli occupation is debated. Some people should spend less time being brainwashed by the pro-Zionist BBC and Sky news and maybe tune into Al Jazeera or RT News now and then for a more balanced world view. Press TV is also good value for another perspective. There are always two sides to every conflict - if you only hear one, then imbalance inevitably follows.

From the IOM Today website discussion on aid for Gaza that has brought out pro-zionist Islamaphobes and well balanced human beings alike: STB1 wrote: "Zionism is a fundamentalist perversion of Judaism, it is the Jewish equivalent to so called Islamic extremism. What ISIS are doing now in Iraq and Syria is fundamentally no different from what the Israelis did in Palestine in 1948. Ethnic cleansing and genocide, and yet you defend Jewish Zionist terrorism and genocide, but oppose it when done by Muslims." I couldn't agree more. TJ and the other pro-zion rabble on here must be pro ISIS then. Either that or hypocrites.

Touched a nerve have I? Not at all. You are simply demonstrating how well read and informed a lot on this forum actually are. Also how poorly informed some on here can be. Can you tell the difference? Somehow I doubt it... Oops! Sock puppet alert!

Touched a nerve have I?

And this is worth a look. Warning, video does not blow smoke up Israels arse. May offend zionist bigots

Quilp, read the first line of my last post again - I absolutely understand that Hamas want to see Israel gone. Israel have still committed war crimes by killing non-combatants, 1200+ mothers, daughters, fathers and sons. The only reason Israel exists today is because of the horrific genocide during WWII - makes it seems perverse what they are doing to the Palestinians today.

Spook, can't argue with your take on Hamas, they do not have Israels best interests at heart! This is where Israel have been far more shrewd as far as p.r. goes. For the past 7 decades Israel has worked tirelessly at turfing Palestinians out of their territories and farms - they clearly have ethnic cleansing on their agenda but don't declare it to the world. Israel have state of the art missiles, armour, aircraft, drones and target acquisition systems, not to mention Iron Dome and bomb shelters. Hamas have sod all by comparison. Any casualty, whether Palestinian or Israeli is a sad waste of life but 1200+ civilian casualties courtesy of Israel indicate war crimes have been committed.