Palestine Israel

[life on mars]

I've got no intention of making excuses for the bad behaviour of the Israelis. Have a bit of an issue with those who defend the suicide bombers of Hamas and Islamic jihad though

What is also of interest when people point out the disproportional element of it, Hamas and Islamic jihad do not act alone they are backed by very big powerful people and states, in fact if you consider the countries surrounding Israel who want their destruction or been to war with them , we may find that is disproportional.

[jon1959]

What is also of interest when people point out the disproportional element of it, Hamas and Islamic jihad do not act alone they are backed by very big powerful people and states, in fact if you consider the countries surrounding Israel who want their destruction or been to war with them , we may find that is disproportional.

Israel is a nuclear power (shouldn't be - but is) and has the 16th or 17th most powerful armed forces in the world, and a much higher military budget than many of the other world powers in the top 20. The only regional power that has anything like an equivalent force is Iran. Iran certainly gets some arms into Gaza - but not much. Against that the USA acts as a military guarantor for Israel and along with the EU, UK, Australia, Canada etc provides near full diplomatic cover and deflects all attempts to hold Israel accountable for its actions in the UN or its agencies. None of that - or the other infrastructure of financial, military, diplomatic and propaganda support - applies to the other main powers in the region.

But all that is just a smokescreen thrown up by apologists.

This is not a war of equal protagonists - it is the full might of the Israeli state and its settler vigilantes in daily conflict with civilians, sometimes (if rarely) Palestinian police in the West Bank, stone throwing protestors (hundreds shot dead by IOF snipers) and the military wing of Hamas. Hamas is a brutal, fundamentalist and often oppressive organisation - but it is incapable of 'competing' in any way with the Israeli military. To argue that Israel is on the wrong side of the regional balance of power is to ignore the evidence of death and destruction over the past 70 odd years - a sick league table that demonstrates the imbalance of resources (political and material) and the worth shown by the media and major powers for different lives.

(How long before this thread is moved out of sight?)