Interesting article - according to the IDF, 47% of casualties in the Gaza conflict were combatants:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/02/us-mideast-gaza-casualties-idUSKBN0G20HF20140802
Absolutely, the next question would be why.
This might happen of course seeing as we can never project the future but I respectfully disagree when it comes to future expansion into Israel. Israels military capacity dwarves anything a future Palestine state can hope to build in addition to the fact that they have the Iron Dome.
After close to half a century of struggle when they finally get their freedom and have finally got their wish of self determination in addition to not being treated like second class citizens would they risk it all again to go after a much more powerful state knowing that this time there will be no going back? Basically doing what you suggest they might do will be signing their own death warrant _ after _ achieving their goal of being free.
It is also worth noting that the man in the forefront of the peace process is Abbas who has recognized the right of Israel to exist as a state and he will also be in pole position to be the first leader of a free Palestine making the signs in my opinion positive.
Btw, I went back and read some of your stuff and I read where you accurately pointed out that Bibi is not really interested in a 2 state solution. It got lost in the clutter so I suspect you know exactly the underlining forces at play. What method would you suggest for long lasting peace?
Very interesting indeed. I think it’s slightly off color for the IDF to dismiss the UN HRC councils probe as biased and then expect us to take their word as hearsay when as an outsider looking in it seems the UN HRC will be the most unbiased.
I look forward to them releasing the evidence though and hopefully they are right. Here is a NGO organization from former IDF soldiers themselves documenting the ill treatment of children among various other things.
I am deeply hurt by the turn of events between israel and palestine…but on a lighter note:
Keep on discussing suckkas and inflate your AF points… … Israel and Palenstine will not give a shit…
Isldurr: Note: AF Rewards will only be shipped to addresses in the United States.
Very good article on this subject; hopeully will calm everyone down a bit.
according to who? Israel? lol…
salaam alaikum
lol… walaikum assalaam ya habibi
Islamic State killed 500 Yazidis, buried some victims alive: Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-state-killed-500-yazidis-buried-victims-alive-105117519--finance.html
As usual, nobody cares for the infidels.
^ They’d rather cry for Hamas.
Not sure what a islamic terrorist group who’se movement is born out of a misguided extremist ideology compare to a people who’se land have been stolen and are denied basic human rights and have no realistic way of fighting back seeing as they have tried all routes. It’s a piss poor comparison.
Anyone read about the Kurdish women fighting on the frontlines against ISIS though? Superb. There was an inspiring interview where a reporter spoke to a female general on the frontlines. The Peshmerga are formidable fighters, good to see they’re getting some help.
The point is that there are tons and tons of people who can be seen as victims of horrific violence, but the Muslim world and especially Western liberals are only concerned with one.
^ Like the Indian folks here condemning Israel, a country who ranks signficantly higher on reputable human rights indices than India?
I am ok with an American or European or Canadian critizing Israel, even if I disagree with it. But someone calling Israel some genocidal nation when their own country is an absolute human rights basket case is like the neighbour bitching about some weeds on the lawn of the next house over while having a pile of trash on their driveway.
I realise that’s a bit ad hominem, but it is what it is. Countries with garbage respect for human rights like India, or those comprising the majority of the UNHRC, have no right to complain about Israel until they themselves reach some semblance of Israel’s remarkable human rights record, given it’s geographical disaster.
So basically whether or not you are allowed to debate, criticize or have an opinion on certain reigons and events in the world is dependent on your country of origin. Sounds…equal?
What utter rubbish. If you are going to create some sort of piss poor analogy to defend an even more idiotic stance then at least try to think of one that has some sort of relevance. Dismissing someone’s opinion on what happens to be a human rights catastrophe, one where 53% of the total population are under the age of 18 and have been packed into a open air jail and have been told to evacuate while being bombed by giving an analogy of neighbour’s garbage is quite frankly indicative of your thought process.
Seeing as you are unable to to understand the motivations, factors and causes that distinguish various groups from one another and have resorted to the idiocity of finger pointing it is safe to conclude that you neither know what you are talking about nor are you worth engaging. You neither know nor can you begin to comprehend the various factors that lead to poor human rights records in India. [Hint : It isn’t kicking someone out of their land and then barracading them in and cutting of their water supply and them bombing the shit out of them at the slightest provocation] so I suggest you keep away from things you know nowt about.
I’m an Indian, and I think you have no idea what you’re talking about. When it comes to military issues, for example in places like Kashmir, India has shown far more respect for human rights compared to Israel. India has never used air power to level Srinagar, allowed them to have free and fair elections, poured tons of resources into developing Kashmir, and given them special privileges that nobody else gets, and gets lectured by lily-white western nations.
Now if your goal is to make a general ad hom attack on Indians based on crimes like rape, certainly it is a major problem and all countries have problems of their own and Indians continue to work on solving them. I don’t see why issues of crime in India should prevent Indians from voicing their opinion.
Finally, let’s look in the mirror, developed western nations have been founded on and carried out some of the worst human rights abuses known to man - ethnic cleansing (and rape) of indigenous populations in the Americas then rape and enslavement of generations of blacks to work this land. Only after carrying out these things has the West decided to lecture the rest of the world on human rights. Since you, residing in Canada, are a prime beneficiary, think about the skeletons in your own closet.
Lastly, I’ll point out that India is a huge supporter and ally of Israel, has deep ties with the country, and one of the few countries in the world that doesn’t have any history of antisemitism. (Another skeleton).
I’m not talking past indiscretions but actions today. According to the International Human Rights Rank Indicator, Israel ranks 50.5 on the scale (not great), but ahead of Indian at 42.6 on the scale (bad). I’m not saying Israel is a beacon of human rights, but it’s pretty impressive for a tiny state in a sea of violent extremists determined to end its existence and kill all its people.
You see, Israel upholds rule of law, and treats all Israelis with general equality regardless of gender or ethnic origin. Something India doesn’t do. While Israel may be occassionally applying excessive force to an external threat, its internal policies are not consist with a racist or genocidal regime (Arabs in Israel have equal rights, both in law and in practice). Thats why your argument stinks. Especially coming from a country with horrendous human rights violations against 50% of your population, and where an entire gender is subjected to to a lower class of rights.
I don’t hold anyone responsible for the acts of their fathers. If you want to blame me (who has mixed heritage of original European settlers to Canada, and more recent refuges of Irish and Polish/Ukrainian oppression and genocide) for what happened to the natives here that’s fine. But then Palestinians must be held equally responsible for the oppression and violence against Jews perputrated by the Ottoman Turks. You see, that’s a crappy argument. So don’t try to make it.
Palestinians aren’t under Israeli authority. They are governed by the Palestinian Authority and in Gaza, defacto by Hamas. All neighbouring countries have similar security measures in order to ensure their sovereign security is protected from a terrorist state.
Anyone in Israel (including the substatinal Arab minority) has a relatiely higher standard of human rights than most in India. That’s not racist. That’s just the way it is. International groups agree with me.
Again, calling out Israelis as gencodial maniacs while your own country can’t even maintain the Israeli level of human rights, despite being in a much more secure geopolitical situation is ridiculous.
First of all let me start by saying tldvoo or whoever was absolutely right when he called you passive-aggressive. You spouted some jibberish about how you find it hypocrtical that anyone other than a westerner has the right to criticize Israel ignoring the fact that one issue is not exclusive of the other. You then pointed out some random facts that lack so much context it is laughable. Simply for kicks and in no particular order here are a few.
Okay,so maybe we can discuss the fact that Israel is continuing an illegal naval blockade, they are blocking the water supply, they have been building illegal settlements and Bibi is on record saying that he is against the West Bank ever being free.
While you may say Hamas are a terrorist organization etc etc, rest assured Hamas has little presence in the West Bank which is led by Abbas who has accepted the right of Israel to exist as a state but again Bibi is on record saying the West Bank will never be free.
Seeing as you had no response to that before resorting to attacking the posters country of origin I will conclude that you don’t know what you are talking about.
Quite clearly
Not particularly. Civil right groups have condemned Israel for passing close to 21 laws in 2011 which were deemed discriminatory towards their Arab population in addition to the fact that there were reputed sources and respectable organizations that were heavily critical about Israel’s treatment of Ethiopian jews. These are highly debatable topics and seeing as you lack context to almost everything you have posted in the last half an hour I feel no particular reason in expanding.
Women are subjected to the same class of rights as men in India as per the constitution. The problem arises from numerous other factors including poverty, traditional beliefs and numerous other things.
Secondly, India is a country committed to the rule of law. It probably ranks poorly on the index because of a clogging of the justice system leading to a backlog of cases stretching into decades. These are issues that will be addressed as the political system matures a bit more.
Seeing as you lack context before making a blanket statement I will conclude that you know nothing about what you are talking.
No, what is a crappy argument is dismissing people’s opinion if they are not from the West so don’t even try and make it.
Last but not the least you have comprehensively proved that you know little to nothing about what you are talking about. The South Asian reigon has been one of the most unstable reigons and has only for the past 10-15 years seen a resemblance of peace and it is no coincidence that this has happened in tandem with India’s re-emergance on the economic stage.
In addition to ~3 wars with Pakistan and numerous border skirmishes that had led to a part of Pakistan being seperated as Bangaladesh there has been one of the largest and most brutal civil wars in this backyard leading to Tamil seperatists from Sri Lanka assassinating an Indian prime minister. There have been border tensions with China and there has been a nuclear arms race.
I’m not even including various other things like insurgencies and internal seperatist movements.
I strongly suggest you jog on to the ice hockey threads where you might have a little idea about what you are talking.
While Europeans did claim what is now America, it was not hard to do. The native Indians were nomadic and not an homogeneous group. Different tribes were fighting each other for control of the land. The idea that since the Europeans were late to the party(fight), they had less of some righteous claim is beyond comical. Where does this crap get started? Genocide in America? Is there really a belief that there was a systemic extermination of the natives? Disease took care of that. Why don’t you clowns stick to your concern for innocent modern day civilians? Maybe talk about the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in Syria and Sudan. Or maybe the more than six thousand murders in Iraq in the last couple of months. Or maybe talk about some of the countries that have disenfranchised the rights of half their people.
And by the way, slavery was not based on race or an American phenomenon. America had black slave owners from the very beginning. It was based on ownership. Ships sailed over to Africa and purchased people from the native Africans. Being black never made you a slave in America. Free black men roamed America from the very beginning. Every region on Earth has a history of slavery. America has done a pretty good job eradicating the atrocity. Americans with a slave heritage are definitely better off because of the sacrifice of their relatives. Certainly ironic. Most of the ancestors of those that did the selling in Africa, those that weren’t sold that is, wish they were born in America. Who would have thought?..America is moving beyond its atrocities. A big chunk of the World has decided not to move beyond theirs, or maybe they have not spilled enough blood to move on…America’s drive for freedom for all was fairly bloody most would argue…Go research a few American Civil War battles…and do take note of the history of our political parties, if you want to see some more irony…
And please, save the American Civil War was about economics diatribe. I agree. Definitely a huge factor.
+1
there are very strong protests going on in different parts of the world and mostly in muslim countries against ISIS but western media will never show this becasue they want to keep the opinion twisted the way they want… and it works…
btw let me post a link to what snowden said about ISIS… a very few people here will believe what they see with their eyes…most of them see with their hearts so for them it will make no difference