Things that should be...

I know 1/4 of the dead people shouldn't have died - civilians, children, people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and neither SHOULD be wrong. The Gazan civilians are NOT in the wrong place and this is their time, why would it be "the wrong time"?

It SHOULD be safe for a father to send his son to buy tobacco.

It SHOULD be safe for a teenager or young adult to go home to his parents when something like this happens - be it a natural or man made catastrophe.

But "discussing" with the so-called "Pro-Palestinians", "peace activist, human rights activists, politicians", who don't even care about more than one side of the issue, whose history in the Levant started some time in the 20th century, who only accept "news items" from people who think exactly like themselves, and call everything else "propaganda", usually add "evil" and "Zionazi" as prefixes, quoting the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and "Jewwatch", has made me suspect everything they say.

In today's newspaper was an interview with The Commissioner-General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Karen Abu Zayd.

Yesterday Israel allowed in yet another big aid package.
Did mrs Abu Zayd mention this in the interview? No.
Did the newspaper? Yes. But the headline of the article was "Israeli blockade stops help to Gaza" - on the front page. With a picture of a woman with her lap full of toys in plastic bags, in a bombed building. She is told to be a "Palestinian woman gathering toys in a kindergarten destroyed in a flight attack in northern Gaza". The biggest headline in the page was "more reports on poisoned food". Obviously Israel didn't kill many persons yesterday >:->

Anyway, mrs Abu Zayd was complaining about Israel.

Gaza's aid storages are empty, because of the blockade.

Why is there a blockade, mrs Abu Zayd? Could it possibly have something to do with the FACT that Gaza has been shooting at Israel 360 days of 365 since Israel emptied the area of Israelis. Do you even remember that there was no blockade until Hamas showed beyond any doubts what they are up to (by turning on their brothers, Fatah)? I bet you don't.
I also bet that you don't think there are any problems with Hamas' agenda. >:->

You know what, EVERY COUNTRY HAS THE SOLE RIGHT TO DECIDE ABOUT AND USE BLOCKADE AGAINST THEIR NEIGHBORS AT WILL. What can be discussed here is the Mediterranean sea and where are the borders on waters, and what Egypt does with its border. It shouldn't have anything to do with Israel. In 2005, two months after Israel left Gaza, the negotiations were successful and President Abbas managed to get the border open, a sea port was agreed upon as well as a regular buss route between Gaza and West Bank. Two months later Hamas wins the election, within a year the situation between Hamas and Fatah explodes, and Egypt closes the border. They don't want Hamas to control the border. Israel didn't ask Egypt to do so, Israel didn't tell Egypt to do so. Egypt did it all by itself, because Hamas stinks. And, frankly, Egypt may do so. But - Israel is The Big Devil and all the so-called Pro-Palestinians are convinced that Israel wants all the Palestinians dead. So it would be stupid to expect Israel to do anything about the Palestinian suffering... not so with Egypt. Why isn't mrs. Abu Zayd bugging Egypt on letting the humanitarian aid forth?

Mrs Abu Zayd also thinks that Israel uses " an inproportionate amount of violence" in this conflict.
Well... Karen... all about numbers, huh? Israel hasn't shot as many rockets into Gaza as Gaza has shot into Israel.
Every human being in the world knows that Israel is stronger than Gaza. Why isn't Hamas protecting the Palestinians better by not picking a fight with Israel? Why isn't Hamas taking their responsibility as the governing political party it claims to be, but acts like the terrorist organization it is? I don't think anyone would accept such childish, egocentric and emotional behavior of any other ruling party. For some reason it's quite acceptable, even desirable behavior, when it comes from a Palestinian ruling party. I am so impressed by President Abbas, who in my mind is the only sane person in this play. I fear he won't be elected president in the next election, I fear that Hamas will see to that there will be no more elections, ever, or that the elections are more or less rigged, with people being forced to vote for them, people being killed if they don't vote for Hamas, people being terrorized and threatened to not vote. I am also sure that when that happens, the so-called Pro-Palestinian Hamas-lovers won't acknowledge it happened.

Another thing she was complaining about was that Israel has shut the bigger border posts. Israel says that they are not safe, because Hamas keeps attacking them, to which mrs Abu Zayd said "well, yes, that happens, occasionally, but..."
Yes, that happens... Hamas keeps attacking the aid transports. Mrs. Abu Zayd acknowledges this fact, but doesn't accept this fact as a reason for Israel to try to protect the border stations nor the aid transports.
Hamas also "kidnaps" the aid transports and delivers them themselves - naturally only to people who "deserve" the aid, that is, people who are Hamas-friendly or have managed to keep their opinions to themselves.
What does mrs. Abu Zayd have to say about this? Nothing. Nothing at all. After all, Hamas won the election... (with 44% against Fatah's 41% >:-> Overwhelming victory, huh? ALL Palestinians wanted Hamas already 2006, huh?)

Dignity was also mentioned in the article, naturally in the "how HORRRIBLE of the AWFUL Israelis to attack a ship carrying AID, medical equipment, personnel, international peace activists and politicians!!!" tone of voice.
[URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!]

What many people don't know is that Dignity is a ship owned by "Free Gaza", which is one of these so-called "Pro-Palestinian" organizations. (Yes, it is. It's not only the "evil, zionist empire" who "labels" the organization that way. But when will we see any kind of honesty and sincerity from these so-called Pro-Palestinians? It's like with the name of the ship... "Dignity" is an idea these people don't even begin to understand.)

I am pretty sure Dignity didn't care to inform Israel about the trip, I'm pretty sure they refused to communicate with the Israeli ships, I'm sure "Free Gaza" refuses to acknowledge Israel's very real fear of that Hamas will use the aid programs to transport terrorists and weapons. We KNOW Hamas has refused to accept any aid from Egypt because they think Egypt is fraternizing with the enemy, and therefore an enemy. So we KNOW that if Hamas accepts aid from "Free Gaza", "Free Gaza" shares Hamas' ideas and therefore IS a possible threat to Israel's safety.

Another little detail I find extremely interesting is what is revealed in the sentence: "what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives"...
What was a Pro-Palestinian aid ship doing trying to get to Gaza "in the dark morning"?
Sun rose at 8 A.M. It has been rather cloudy this week. Why didn't they adjust the arrival time to the time it was light? It's about 400 km's between Gaza and Cyprus. It takes about 14 hours to get there. Why did Dignity leave Cyprus in the afternoon? Why not in the evening, to be sure to arrive during the bright day light? Why hide in the darkness?

The ship was ordered to stop, because it was noted in the dark morning, trying to get to a military area, unannounced... Dignity refused to stop. Two Israeli ships tried to get Dignity to stop, Dignity tried to break free, and turned in front of the other ship, who didn't have time to avoid "ramming" Dignity, damaging Dignity. The Israeli ships immediately offered help to Dignity, who - of course - refused. Then the Israeli ships escorted the damaged ship to the closest port they accepted, which was Tyre, Lebanon. Of course they wouldn't go to an ISRAELI port, even though that would mean that the medical equipment and personnel could have been transported swiftly to Gaza by the "correct" route.

You see, these people don't much care about getting the aid to Gaza ANY WAYS POSSIBLE. They want to take their own way or no way. It is far more effective to cry about the rude Israelis who stop AN AID TRANSPORT, because the world doesn't care one bit about that a well-known Pro-Palestinian ship filled with people who doesn't care if Israelis get damaged, because they are "just illegal occupiers of the innocent Palestinians' land" tries to get into a war zone in the middle of the night and refuses to communicate because THEY think it's not Israelis' business...

Also, "Free Gaza"s story changes all the time.
Yesterday I saw the news and Dignity's crew said there were several Israeli ships in the area, but there were only two that came to Dignity.
On "Free Gaza"s site it is said "The Dignity has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships."
Angela Goldfried of the Free Gaza Movement, who was in contact with the passengers of the boat told Ynet, "Our ship was circled by 11 navy ships that fired at it and collided with it in international waters".
Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."
Yeah... tomorrow the story will have grown so that there was two dozen ships, who tried to run over Dignity and I suppose there was also some Israelis shooting directly at the passengers. Next week we'll hear that Dignity was actually sank by Israeli army, and it was filled with Palestinian sick children and elderly people who Dignity tried to take to a Cyprian hospital.

This is what "Free Gaza" says about the war so far...
"Israel began Operation "Cast Lead," a military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that has - so far - massacred more than three-hundred men, women, and children, and seriously injured over a thousand."
Hamas says that about 280 of those "more than 300" were Hamas militants. Soldiers, not civilians. Just because Gaza is not an independent country, and thus cannot have a recognized army, doesn't mean all Gazans are civilians... Another "tiny, little insignificant piece of fact" these so-called Pro-Palestinians won't tell you.

Then there are these news... "25% of Gaza killed civilians".
Yeah... actually 15%, according to Hamas, but guess what?
In Iraq, 95% of the killed Iraqis are civilians.
Palestinians' victims during the 2nd Intifada: 68% civilians.
What does that mean?
Among 20 dead, in Gaza 5 are civilians (3 according to Hamas),
when in Iraq 19 are civilians and in Israel 14 were civilians.

Yes, these are just those who were "lucky" enough to die. The amount of the wounded is about 4 times as many. It is clearly impossible for Gaza to see for their needs, and it would be impossible even if everything had been perfect on Friday. But both Israel and Egypt have announced their willingness to provide medical care to anyone in need in Israel and Egypt. But Hamas refuses.
Why? Because they suspect Palestinians wouldn't get sufficient help in Israel and Egypt? No. It is only because Hamas doesn't like Israel nor Egypt.
Interestingly enough this is a piece of fact you won't hear from any so-called Pro-Palestinian. >:->

Understatement of the year

Probably not. I'm sure there will be more of that kind where that one came from.

"According to the Foreign Minister the attacks are a response to a dozen attacks with home-made missiles against Israel last week."
- Carina Bergfeldt for Aftonbladet

What did Israel's foreign minister actually say?

"Oh, why now? Because after Israel decided to leave Gaza Strip a few years ago and we got Hamas in return. About a half a year ago, according to the Egyptian Initiative, we decided to enter a kind of a truce and not to attack Gaza Strip. Hamas violated, on a daily basis, this truce. They targeted Israel, and we didn't answer. But unfortunately, Hamas misunderstood the fact that Israel didn't retaliate, and only last week we had in a day 80 rockets, missiles, mortars on Israeli civilians. More than that, they used the field of truce in order to rearm themselves. They smuggled weapon, they built a small army in Gaza Strip, so the situation was unbearable."

- "Meet the Press" transcript for 28.12.2008

"A dozen or so home-made missiles last week"? Lil'Carina, dear... "home-made missiles" sounds like a boyish prank.

Here's a little information about these "home-made missiles"... Katyushas and Qassams

Mona Sahlin (the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party) didn't think it was a boyish prank, when the Qassams hit Azderot while she was visiting a school there...

"Despite being fully aware of the recent attacks, Sahlin was quite shaken by the situation, her spokeswoman said.

Earlier in the day, the leader of the Social Democrats had met with Israel's former Defence Minister Amir Peretz. Together they visited a day care centre, which was hit by one of the seven Kassam rockets launched at the town on Monday."

Day care center which was hit by one of the seven Kassams launched at the town on Monday...

"Hamas doesn't mean to kill children with its rockets," spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in response to a statement made by al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said Hamas' random rockets kill women and children in violation of Islamic law."

Yeah... the road to hell is paved with "good" intentions, Ismail. Will Allah ask if you MEANT to kill Sabah and Hanin?
And how will you avoid killing children and women when you start the suicide missions? Those pesky, sly Israelis have women even in their army...

Antiquities

In a way I am for returning the spoils of war and colonial trophies to the land of their origin. I think Queen Margrethe I's golden dress should be in Denmark, I think Spain and Portugal should return the things they stole from South America, Parthenon marbles should be returned... but then we get to my stumbling stone... Egypt. I dislike mr. Zahi Hawass very much.

I don't think they have any right to ask back things when they (the Egyptians) plundered the tombs, sold the artifacts to highest bidder - some times to the first, best buyer, destroyed and spoiled hundreds of historically interesting pieces, flooded archaeological sites... It is believed that 3/4 of the Egypt's history is still hidden in sand and under the modern cities and buildings. I say to mr. Hawass, first, dig up at least half of that, THEN you can start asking for things "back".

"However, the negative side is that the environmental and display conditions leave a great deal to be desired. Labels on some exhibits date from early in the century and many items have no labels at all."
- about Egyptian Museum in Cairo

You might also need to actually DO SOMETHING about "the environmental and display conditions", before you start grabbing the artifacts. Also, where would you put them?

As it is now, people can go to Berlin and see Nefertiti, or to London and see the Rosetta stone - they don't need to come to Egypt and miss seeing these, because it's too crowded, both with artifacts and people... besides... it would cost me 1.500 kronas to get to London, 1000 kronas to get to Berlin and 3.500 kronas to get to Cairo... I'm sorry, Zahi, but I'd rather take BOTH the Egyptian Museum at Alte Museum AND British Museum AND have 1000 cronas left to buy souvenirs with... If I'd be American the prize difference is even bigger. They'd get 2000 kronas in pocket money. Besides, the admission to the BM is free... I think I should have the right to see true Egyptian artifacts even though I am poor.

You could also try to replace the things you want back with something. For example, it's not necessary that the obelisk at Place de la Concorde is just the old, original one from Luxor, make them a replica and ask if they'd be kind enough to accept another Egyptian obelisk instead of the one that should be in Luxor. In my mind it doesn't matter one bit whether it is in Luxor or Paris. Luxor wouldn't be any more amazing than it is now if there were two obelisks instead of one.

Also, Rosetta stone as the "icon of Egyptian identity". Bull. If the Egyptians cared about their "Egyptian identity", they'd kept their Egyptian language and writing alive, like the Jews managed to do with their unique language and writing through the centuries.

It's all in the counting...

I read the news of Israel's bombings in Gaza and I am... I find it hard to remember that we are talking about people here. There's so many who seem to think it's ok for Palestinians to kill as many Jews as they can, it's ok for Palestinians to "retaliate" and "defend themselves", but it's not ok for a Jew to break one hair from a Palestinian (or pseudo-Palestinian) head.

There has been no truce. Not 6 months, not one day. Gaza has been shooting at Israel almost every day. Might be that Israelis are lucky, that Gazans are clumsy, that Gazans are only trying to scare Israel, that Gazans are targeting the infrastructure instead of people, what ever the reason, these rockets hasn't killed many Israelis. In my mind shooting at someone is a sign of aggression, whether you succeed to kill the bastard or not. The Israelis count the rockets coming over the border.

The Palestinians count the dead and wounded. I find it interesting that that has not been a practice in wars and conflicts... until now. The Germans during the WWII were not horrible because they killed so many people. Actually, no-one knows for sure how many people they killed. In this conflict, people are actually counting deaths... and what is interesting is that even though the so-called "pro-Palestinians" call Israel with every bad name in the book, Israel hasn't "managed" to kill enough people to even get to the "top ranking 20th century atrocities". One would think they are, as the "Pro-Palestinians" harp. But the truth is that Israel hasn't even killed as many Palestinians as the Muslims killed Armenians only 90 years ago. So if we start counting bodies... No, Israel isn't a big villain even in that way.

Sure, there's about 5 times more Palestinians killed than Israelis, but consider this:
during the five years, USA&Co. has managed to kill about 90.000-100.000 people - the ratio (USA/Iraqis) is about 1/20, not 1/5 as in Israel.
In Sudan about 2.000.000 people died between 1983 and 1998. (about 5-8 %)
"In September 2004, the World Health Organization estimated there had been 50,000 deaths in Darfur since the beginning of the conflict, an 18-month period, mostly due to starvation."
In Srebrenica the Serbs killed 2000-8000 Bosniaks IN ONE MONTH.
During Fidel Castro's reign in Cuba 15.000 - 23.000 were killed for their political opinion. So if you count the bodies, Fidel Castro is a bigger butcher than Ariel Sharon.
Sure, there's more Cubans, Sudanese and Iraqis than Palestinians living in Levant, but the death toll is even procentually smaller - doesn't reach one percent.

I'm sorry, but Israel just isn't killing "enough" to be counted as a genocidal monster in style of Stalin, Hitler or Mao. Everyone knows they have the opportunity and means to do so.

Another "qualification" needed for something to be a genocide is the intention - and there just isn't enough evidence of Israel's intention to kill all the Palestinians. Old, mispresented and twisted quotes taken out of context just aren't enough.

P.S. The estimates are that Israel killed about 270 people yesterday, of whom more than half were Hamas soldiers. Considering that they are bombing Gaza, where the Hamas soldiers are hiding in the civil population, from aeroplanes, they have managed to diminish the collateral damage amazingly well.
"Hamas estimated at least 180 members of its security forces had been killed with at least 15 women and some children."
[SOME children? The bloodiest day in the Israel-Palestine history and Israel killed ONLY SOME children? Hamas is crying more over the 180 SOLDIERS than the two girls they themselves killed last week, and threatening with "avenge" (Excuse me? IN A WAR SOLDIERS DIE. If you don't like that fact, STAY THE FCUK OUT OF WARS, AND DON'T BLAME THE ENEMY FOR KILLING YOUR SOLDIERS!) and suicide bombings (targeting children, not soldiers, as these cowards always do >:->)].

And what do the so called "Pro-Palestinians" do? Think it's OK to kill Israeli children because Israeli soldiers killed Palestinian soldiers, condone more rockets being shot from Gaza to Israel - even though it is clear as day that that was the reason to this Israel's attack. Even though it is a fact that Hamas hasn't kept one day of the truce, that there has been rockets coming from Gaza to Israel FOR YEARS NOW, and the fact that the Israeli troops and settlers left Gaza only made it worse - Israel's presence in Gaza HAS a "calming effect", and the only thing the Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel has caused is the "bloodiest day in the history of Israel-Palestine conflict"... Does Hamas and the so-called "Pro-Palestinians" get the message? No.

Remember these children
isn't it interesting that the site doesn't mention the 5-year-old 'Ubeida Habib who was killed by a bullet shot during a Hamas soldier's funeral this summer?
I'm very interested to see when they update the site and if they mention Ubeida, Hanin and Sabah.

Another thing that could be counted is the Palestinian self-deaths.
The so called "Pro-Palestinians" count them too, but blame Israel for them.
Logical? No. Fair? No. Antisemitic?

Truce? By which book?

"Hamas police spokesman Ehad Ghussein said about 140 Hamas security forces were killed."

"Dr. Moawiya Hassanain, a Gaza Health Ministry official, said at least 145 people were killed and more than 300 wounded."

Interesting... Yesterday Palestinian terrorists killed two Palestinian little girls in their home, and no-one cared.

"None of Gaza's militant factions acknowledged responsibility for the deadly attack on the house in Beit Lahiya. Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moiaya Hassanain said the 5-year-old and 12-year-old girls who died were cousins. Three other children were wounded, he said."

Today Israel killed 140 Hamas soldiers and the world cries...
That's why I say people who like to call themselves "pro-Palestinians" really don't care one bit about the Palestinians.

"with 200 mortars and rockets raining down on Israel since the truce expired a week ago, and 3,000 since the beginning of the year"

Truce? It's not a truce when one party is shooting at the other.

Besides, when Hamas cannot control the Palestinians better than the Palestinians can control where they shoot their rockets, then why would anyone negotiate with them? They have no authority. They can't guarantee anything, their every promise is empty air.

Just look at what happened to Jimmy Carter... To him they say "yes, yes", behind his back they say "no, no".

Is this Islam? No way!
Aren't Islam's biggest enemies those who claim to be true Muslims but who lie, twist the Scripture and generally give a bad reputation to all the Muslims?

Sharing is Communism

One of the wanton bloggers in Sweden expressed her opinion on a Swedish Yule tradition: Karl-Bertil Jonsson's Christmas Eve. She calls this "Communist shit" and wishes the Swedish television would stop broadcasting this kind of idolizing of stealing. She also states that a "good deed" is to buy presents with one's own money and give these to people "who deserve" the gifts. She thinks Yule is the Great Capitalism Feast of the Holy Consumption, and she dislikes that Yule eve would be connected to a "weird twisted image of big, fat Capitalists sucking out the poor people". Capitalism, consumption is what makes the world go round, she says.

So she would replace Karl-Bertil, 14, with herself, 17, shopping till she drops, because THAT is the True Meaning of Christmas...

She is 17 years old, born in a family of highborn-wannabes, rich, of course and lives in the city. She doesn't have the slightest idea of life, exploitation, need, poverty, fear, living from day to day without knowing how to pay rent, how to feed your family, how to find a higher ground... one of my favorite Yule movies is One Magic Christmas with Mary Steenburger. I bet this 17-years old girl hasn't even seen the movie. Not flashy enough for her taste. I can think she likes "Santa Clause" better. Everyone's biggest dream Yule present is something one buys. :-)

She complains about how tired she is having spent the Yule with her family, and then she tells she's going to her boyfriend's apartment (at least that's who I think the guy is - don't know, don't care) and calls it "leaving the nest and trying her wings". ROTFLMAO. I really wish a magic fairy would take her and put her in the shoes of a 17-years-old who is REALLY flying with her own wings... You know, Kipling's "Captains Courageous".

There was a little experiment made here in Sweden. Some politicians were given the opportunity to live like a student - in an average housing with the average funds. Each and every one of them said afterwards "the students don't get enough money". Why is that, you think? Might be, because this little 17-years-old's father and grand-father and their likes stole the money that should have been given to the people who actually did the job... Perhaps?

P.S. I won't say who she is, because a) she doesn't deserve the traffic to her blog and b) she has already been told what an idiot she is, and for no avail, because she is too stubborn, narrowminded, young and inexperienced to understand. Besides, she's 17. She truly believes she knows all one needs to know, like all 17-years-olds.

Israel IS

It's Chanukkah. I was thinking about the words of Maoz Tzur, "an oppressor came and exiled me... ...at the end of seventy years I was saved".

The Jewish people have tried to live in the land of Israel for millenia, and all the time there have been others who want the land - the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Christians, the Muslims... what all these people have in common is that they all have land somewhere else too. They wouldn't NEED Israel, they just WANT it.

I know that the pro-Palestinians say that the Jews "just want it" too. The difference is that the Jews do NOT have a land somewhere else. When the land area was divided after WWI, the Arab population of the area got Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Jewish population got Israel... BACK.

Some pro-Palestinians say that the Jews should have been given land from Germany, as it was the Germans who mistreated them during WWII. Or in USA, as USA so much wants to give the Jews a homeland. The thing is that the Jews weren't given a homeland because the Germans tried to kill them all. After all, the Germans were "just" doing what all the people of the world has been doing the last 2000 years. First the Romans started it because the Jews refused to leave monotheism, then the Christians and Muslims continued, because the Jews weren't Christians nor Muslims. This is a fact, my antisemitic readers, not some "Zionist propaganda". The Holocaust was just the culmination of 2000 years of pogroms, discrimination, persecution and xenophobia. That's one of the reasons why the Jews were "given" Israel BACK. The Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims have been just as antisemitic as everyone else, and still are.

Come on, the only, ONLY, reason to why the Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims are against Israel is that now there is a piece of land that is NOT Islamic in Middle-East.
You don't believe me?
Just look at how the Islamic countries treat the Palestinians living there. Just look at how they treat other minorities, for example the Jews. Here where I live we have a majority of Assyrian and Armenian people who were made refugees by these Islamic countries. They don't care one bit about the Palestinian people, the Philistees, the original Canaanite minority. If Israel didn't exist, you could be 100% certain of that there would not be an independent state of Palestine. When the Arab states attacked Israel 1948 and invaded large parts of the area, they didn't create independent Palestine. They took the land as their own. Golan to Syria, West Bank to Jordan, Gaza to Egypt...
If they REALLY cared so much of Palestinian independence, they would have made these areas Palestinian state, wouldn't they?
They would have accepted the UN division plan 1948 and declared independent Palestine.
They didn't...

Now, some people say that because the Israelis are abusing the Palestinians living in the area, Israel has no right to even exist. That is a really weird way of thinking.
No-one is asking for the dissolution of Lebanon and assigning it to neighboring countries because the Lebanese abuse their Palestinian population, or Jordan, or Syria, or Egypt. In fact, no-one asked for the RSA to be dissolved either. No-one asks for the dissolution of China because of their human rights violations and discrimination of minorities. There shouldn't be any difference in how the world treats one country from another. If one country is taken from the lot and treated, seen differently from all the rest, BECAUSE IT IS JEWISH... that is antisemitism.

Israel might have been recognized because of the Holocaust, but that's history. Today Israel must be recognized because it IS a country, an independent state, a state that has existed for 60 years. It doesn't matter why it was born or how it has "lived" these 60 years.

Another thing that is TOTALLY IRRELEVANT to this issue is that Israel is "the promised land of the chosen people". Every people is the chosen one of their God. It's RELIGION, and that has - should have - NOTHING to do with politics. The existence of Israel is POLITICS, not religion.

P.S. Antisemitism is NOT being against the Semitic people. Antisemitism is a misnomer - that is "wrongly named" - and means ONLY, EXCLUSIVELY AND SPECIFICALLY being against the Jewish people.
Blame the antisemitic German, who coined the word, for this "elitism", not the Jews.

What Hamas' leaders really thinks...

Some quotes from Jonathan Leman's blog, from May 2008

Transcribing from a video: Hamas Deputy Minister of Religious Endowment Saleh Riqab: US President Clinton Would Speak with Arab Leaders While Having Sex with "the Jewish Monica"

Saleh Riqab: The goal of the Zionist movement is to establish a state in Palestine, which would become a base for ruling the entire world. Its other goals are to destroy the religions it opposes, particularly Islam, to corrupt values and morality, to spread permissiveness and sex, and to generate moral decline. They have come up with many means to achieve this, such as inventing philosophical theories that destroy religion and morality. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim founded the theory of the formation of religion, which attributes it to reason – which means that religion did not originate from God. This is known as the theory of "collective thought." Jean-Paul Sartre, founder of existentialism, which is based on atheism, was a famous French Jew. The psychologist Freud, who interpreted the infant's relations with his mother as sexual, said, when he was given an award: I have never renounced my Judaism.

There are also theories that were invented by non-Jews, but they disseminate them, knowing that they are scientifically false, such as the theory of Darwin. Darwin was not Jewish, but they exploited his theory. Even though new Darwinist theories have appeared, they spread the original theory, because the concept of "survival of the fittest" serves their colonialist needs.

Interviewer: That's what the theory says.

Saleh Riqab: Yes. It serves the goals of global Jewry. In addition, they established destructive movements to fight religion and morality, to corrupt the leaders throughout the world, and to break down social relations among nations. This was led by global Freemasonry, which was founded by three prominent Jews, the first of whom was Herod. This is a long well-known story – the role of the Jews in creating the Masonic movement. The Freemason movement used various methods to bring the political, philosophical, and literary leaders worldwide to their knees. I remember the names of Arab leaders – some are dead and others are still alive – who joined the Masonic movement. They were brought down. There were even Palestinians among them. By the say, I'd like to say something... I don't want to mention names. The viewers will know what I mean. There is a book called Les Fous de la Paix, which was written by two Jewish journalists. I have a copy. It was translated into Arabic, and I've read it. It mentions that one of the architects of the Oslo Accords was meeting with the Jewish negotiator at an hotel in Britain. According to the book, in an adjacent room, the son of the Palestinian negotiator was with the daughter of the Jews, and they locked the door. That's when the Palestinian negotiator was brought down.

[...]

We see this clearly in the U.S. elections. Both Democrats and Republicans compete to please the state of the Jews. That's why when a Democrat comes to occupied Palestine, he puts on a religious skullcap, goes to the Western Wall, bangs his head against the wall, and says: "Your philosophy and the need to please you is now inside my head." They all compete with one another, but the Jews maintain a balance, and they always prefer the Christian Zionists. If a Democrat comes to power, like [Bill] Clinton – who served them well in Oslo and elsewhere, and almost served them in the second Camp David, but then, he made statements [they didn't like] – what did Zionism do? It sent him the Jewish Monica, with whom Clinton had sex in the American White House. Clinton left [the White House], but there are thousands of pages documenting his sexual depravity, because he had sex in the White House. I read a report that Clinton used to call Arab leaders and talk to them, while she was having sex with him.

Interviewer: My God!

Saleh Riqab: These things are documented, but the Arabs don't read them.

[...]

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which are a product of the 1897 Basel Congress, discuss how the Jews should seize control of the world. In Europe, and especially in the U.S., there was a quick Jewish takeover of the major mass media, because in the West, the mass media shapes their mentality and their views. They don't read very much, they just listen.

Khaled Mashal, leader of Hamas

"I bring good tidings to our beloved Prophet Muhammad: Allah's promise and the Prophet's prophecy of our victory in Palestine over the Jews and over the oppressive Zionists has begun to come true."

"Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded. Allah willing, before they die, they will experience humiliation and degradation every day."

"We are part of a united front against the enemies of Islam."

Tomorrow, our nation will sit on the throne of the world. This is not a figment of the imagination, but a fact. Tomorrow we will lead the world, Allah willing. Apologize today, before remorse will do you no good. Our nation is moving forwards, and it is in your interest to respect a victorious nation."

I want to make it clear to the West and to the German people, which is still being blackmailed because of what Nazism did to the Zionists, or to the Jews. I say that what Israel did to the Palestinian people is many times worse than what Nazism did to the Jews, and there is exaggeration, which has become obsolete, regarding the issue of the Holocaust. We do not deny the facts, but we will not give in to extortion by exaggeration. As for the Zionist holocaust against the Palestinian people, and against the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation – this is a holocaust that is being perpetrated in broad daylight, with the coverage of the media of globalization. Nobody can deny it or claim that it is being exaggerated."

What is the most astonishing with this whole story is, that these guys aren't the least shy of spreading shit like this... and people will listen and believe every word and believe these are "good" guys... simply because they are supposed to be "pro-Palestinian"... HELLO, PEOPLE, OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE, OPEN YOUR EARS AND HEAR! These guys are not one bit interested in peace, justice, human rights or Palestinians.

"What is dangerous with antisemitism is not the professing antisemites,

but the others' willingness to grant parts of the antisemitic creed
a certain amount of rationality and justification"
-Inge Lønning

Right to one's own life

It can be discussed who is adult, but it should be an undiscutable fact that all adults should have 100% right to decide over their own lives. No-one should make decisions about an adult's life, not how this person should live, whom she should marry, how she should vote, which God to believe, if one is to believe in God or not...

The state - or anyone else for that matter - should not tell the person whom to love. Mothers should leave their adult daughters' sex life to the daughter, parents should not tell their children to marry "this nice boy, who's --- like us" or not to marry "that... person...". Being gay might make your life harder due to the society's prejudices and discriminatory attitude, but, hey, being dark skinned, being Jewish, being this and that makes one's life harder too. That isn't a reason enough to "not to wish that for your child". Some "totally normal" people would tell you that life IS hard. Period. Because the society IS prejudiced and discriminatory, you will be bashed even when you are a pretty blue-eyed and blond woman, Christian, married and a mother, just because you have opinions and voice them.

The society should not be telling you that you may not marry because you are in love with a wrong person. The society can protect children and animals from marriage, but adult, consenting human beings shouldn't be "protected" from marriage, and the society doesn't NEED "protection" from marriage either.
I am really p'd off with all the exaggerations - "if homosexuals are allowed to marry, then people will start marrying children, animals, cars, countries..." No, they won't. Marriage has not much to do with love, it's a legal contract, an agreement between two adult human beings. It exists for two reasons, and children is only one of them. Many married couples don't get children. Should their marriage be broken as well and the couple forced to go through fertility examinations and treatment? What is to happen to the infertile partner? Is she/he to be put to death or marked as "invalid for marriage"?
The other reason for marriage is much more important; people agree to take care of each other for the rest of their lives. Divorce and adultery are much bigger threats to marriage than if the couple was of same sex.

Children are not just bundles of joy either. They are quite a big economical, social and emotional burden. Not one adult - male nor female - should be forced to take on this burden against his or her will. Children shouldn't definitely be forced to take on this burden.

The exaggerations exist here too. I said that a man who is tricked to impregnate a woman (by she lying about the prevention or pricking the condom or he's taken advantage of when he's drunk or what not) shouldn't need to pay the allemony if he doesn't want to have anything to do with the child, and a feminist told me that I am persona non grata in a group for abused children because I support fathers' abandoning their children... On the other hand, abortion is not murder, and people supporting women's right to abortion are not murderers.

An adult person should be the only one whose opinion matters in questions of his/her health. The society, doctors, parents, spouse, children, may not tell an adult person that she should undergo an operation - or not to. They can't force an adult to go to doctor is she doesn't want to. They can't keep her from going to a doctor if she wants to. And the doctors may not refuse care from an adult.
An adult may not be forced to take any medication she doesn't want to, nor may she be refused the medicine she needs.
An adult person should be able to go through gender adjustment treatment, if she feels her body looks too male. (or he feels his body is too female). Likewise an adult is the only one who can make the decision on whether to go through any plastic operations, if she wants to amputate a leg or get a snout instead of a nose, or if and how to pierce, brand, tattoo and alter her body.
An adult person should be able to by herself decide whether she wants to go through a pregnancy, which might not be a disease, but does effect the physiology very much.

And finally, an adult should be allowed to by herself decide whether she lives or dies. Death penalty is barbarism and so is the criminalization of euthanasia.
Some people will start claiming that if euthanasia is allowed, people will be categorised into "worthy to live" and "not worthy to live". It's not a question of worth. I'm sure there are people who cannot see the value of life as an invalid, even though Christopher Reeve and Stephen Hawkin should have proved that you CAN have a valuable life even when your body isn't much to have.

I remember a story...

Father has syphilis, Mother has TB. They are very poor with 4 other children - 1st born blind, 2nd died, 3rd born deaf, 4th has TB. Mother is pregnant again, & the Doc knows this one will be deaf.

What do you do ?

Most college groups agree the Mother should abort the fetus, at which time the Professor says "Congratulations, you've just killed Beethoven".

You really can't tell by what a life is worth.

On the other hand, I don't think Terri Schiavo appreciated her "life" after 1990. Sure, her parents saw the smiling, young woman every time they looked at their daughter, but... did they ever LISTENED to her thoughts, ideas, opinions? Doesn't seem like it to me, if they were quite happy with just having her body there... and that being the case... WAS it Terri? Was SHE alive?

A refugee is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Not really... sure, Martti Ahtisaari was born 1937 in Viipuri, when it still was part of Finland, and due to the War he had to be "relocated" in another part of Finland, because Russia grabbed that piece of Finland. Sure, he WAS one of the Karelian refugees and "internally displaced person", but as the UNHCR says, "the durable solutions to refugee populations are: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin; local integration into the country of asylum; and resettlement to a third country", and he and his family were given home in "the country of origin", Finland, and they were "locally integrated" and "resettled" to a new place, they are refugees and IDPs no more.

Nevertheless, I believe that this fact has influenced him and his way of thinking a lot. I am very proud of my home country. Not many know, but Finland was dragged into the WWII 1939 by Russia (Soviet) who attacked us. We asked for help from Sweden, England, USA, and no-one was willing to help. It was in the beginning of WWII and no-one thought it would be that big. Also, people didn't seem to care if tiny Finland was swallowed by huge Soviet or not. Germany was the only one willing to help, and that is the reason to why we were on the "wrong" side in WWII.
Because of this Russia demanded heavy reparations, and tried to finger our politics - we had to make all kinds of deals with Russia, and because of that USA thought we were Soviet's satellite during the Cold War...
Not many know that Finland was the only "enemy" country that was not occupied and that we also are the only country that has paid the reparations in full - and we did that 1952, the same year when we also held the Olympics and a Finnish woman was crowned the first Miss Universe.

All this has influenced the whole Finnish people - we knew that the world is not to be counted on if we ever are attacked, that the world will not care for the troubles of tiny peoples, that the Big Actors only care about how they can exploit us, and that no price is too high for independence, sovereignty and peace...

Martti Ahtisaari gets the prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".

"For the past 20 years, he has figured prominently in endeavors to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts," the citation said, mentioning his work in conflicts from Namibia and Aceh to Kosovo and Iraq. "He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa," the citation said."

-- CBS

I am very proud of being Finnish right now.

Crisis Management Initiative

Majority bashing minority...

There's a traditional Danish Christmas cookie called "Jew cakes". The Danish Muslim children take offense because these "Jew-cakes" are a Danish tradition and is part of the home skills education in Danish elementary schools, and they don't want to be connected to Judaism.

It doesn't matter that the Jew-cakes have no connection to Judaism, that the Jewish community does not eat "Jew-cakes" nor the fact that these cookies were named by the Danish Christian society decades ago, and can be seen as offensive - TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY.

The Danish society considers changing the name of the cookies. Not because it can be seen as an offensive slur, no, that would be "oversensitive", but because antisemitic kids shouldn't need to be offended with anything with "jew" in its name.

Reminds me of the "cartoon controversy". You know what the Muslims did when the CHRISTIANS offended their Prophet? They organized a Holocaust cartoon competition... >:->

Another thing with Denmark and Muslims - next year there's a planned UN climate change conference in Copenhagen from 30th November to 11th December, and the Swedish "head of the negotiations" Anders Turesson, thinks that Denmark hasn't thought of the fact that the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha will be on 28th of November 2009 (and starts at the sundown on 27th) and will last for three days. (to November 30th).
This year the meeting was in Poland and they had planned the meeting ends before Eid al-Adha, but for some reason "the Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha... has been shifted from Tuesday, 9 December, to Monday, 8 December."
A person I know thinks this is a clear indication that a) the Muslims wish to take over the world and b) don't care about the environment. He also thinks the fact that Canada changed the constitution to accommodate the religious minorities by allowing the voting day to be moved by a week if it coincides with a religious holiday, is NOT a sign of religious tolerance and respect of diversity and human beings, but an indication that the religious minorities try to control the government and change the "sacred Canadian traditions" (from 2001). He doesn't care one bit that the dates of the religious holidays, especially the Muslim, the Jewish and the Christian, were known already when the "fixed dates" of elections and environment meetings were fixed, and didn't need to fix the dates on anyone's religious holiday. (At least not on an important, big holiday, like the New Year or Ramadan) (And he claims he is NOT prejudiced and hateful towards religious minorities...)

Another thing... It seems that the original London Hairspray cast has recorded a "Dreidel song"... it starts with the Christian girls asking the Jewish girl to sing Christmas songs with them, and when the Jewish girl tells she's Jewish, they ask her to sing the Dreidel song - in the song is inserted the South Park version "... i'm not gonna play with it 'Cos dreidel's fuckin' gay. Jews, play stupid games, Jews, that's why they're lame." The whole show ends with "Christ the Savior is born".
Now, South Park IS non-PC, so they "may" say what ever they like. They exist to offend people. I didn't expect the musical singers to have the same goal.

Do you think I'm overreacting? Get your head fixed and soon.

USonian colonialism

USA takes the privilege to attack Syria, Pakistan and other countries it is not currently at war with disguised as "defensive attacks against terrorists". When India tells Pakistan to control her borders and stop the terrorists from coming to India, USA tells India to seek a "peaceful resolution to the confrontation".
Why should India do anything differently than USA itself?
Why shouldn't USA try to seek a peaceful resolution to the confrontation?
It's like if they look down on Asian peoples and think they are lesser... more qualified to make their own decisions, to govern their own countries, to take care of their own businesses...

Dear USA: It's quite ok to WISH to share your good with the rest of the world, but when the rest of the world does not want it, haven't asked for it or would like to do things their own way, it's not ok to try to force your "good" on others. What's good for you might not be good for someone else. People have to be able to make their own mistakes, and not need to pay for yours.