Outstanding! One more piece of shit gone. That's why I've always respected the Israelis so much, they don't take any shit from those animals. They know that force is the only way to deal with beasts like the radicals in Hamas. The Israelis understand survival, something many in our self-absorbed US society could give a shit about. I've already heard some whining about their reaction being 'out of proportion' to the Hamas attacks. Screw proportional...be unmerciful until they finally get the message. I hope they keep pounding the living daylights out of those animals. BTW, we should be doing the same with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Let's hope his virgins all look like this.

Well, dang, the link doesn't work. Just as well; photos of Helen Thomas have been known to cause retina damage.

No one that I know of is opposed to the deaths of terrorists. But along with getting wanted terrorists, the current Israeli tactics also entail the deaths of scores of innocent men and women, children and babies as "collateral damage" and "collective punishment." At what point is it acceptable to kill innocent people in order to dispatch the guilty? If it is acceptable to kill 10 innocents for each terrorist (more or less where they are now), where do you draw the line? 100 innocents? 1000 innocents? It doesn't seem irrational to me to believe that collateral damage of any kind is something that should be avoided at all costs, as long as other options are on the table.

The point is, I doubt that you would be celebrating as much as you are now if the death of the terrorist next door meant the deaths of your wife and children. You might even be tempted to become a so-called "terrorist" yourself.

"If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking." --William Tecumseh Sherman

BTW, Eddy, were you a Love94 listener?

One more thing, Eddy: were you this concerned when Hamas was lobbing rockets at Israel, or are you just another moral relativist who only sees evil when Israel defends itself?

How about the tactics of terrorists using civilians as human shields? It's not Israel's fault that these horrid individuals use these kind of tactics, leaving them with little choice but to risk the killing of "innocent people" in order to get the terrorists.

Eddie,
Before the Israelis launched one bomb on Gaza, they sent leaflets pouring on the populace to tell them what was coming and to get out of there. I don't recall any leaflets before the bombs from Gaza on Israelis.
Give me a break. The correct question you should be asking is, if terrorists killed a member of your family, would you be worrying about collateral damage or would you be happy to go after them?

Eddy

Unfortunately, Hamas is known to set up their missile launchers inside the city limits instead of open areas outside city limits. They do this to make the world believe that Israel is killing it's civilians. It's unfortunate civilians are getting killed, but Hamas is a terrorist organization bent on eliminating all Jews.

Eddy, check out Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post articles over the last 3 days, and you will learn where Hamas establishes its bomb factories and rocket launcher sites. They do it on the ground floor of apartment buildings, amidst congested areas, whether there are schools and nurseries around or not. The fact is, they don't give a damn. And the more civilians who get killed, the better it goes for their propaganda machine.

By the way, Haaretz and the JPost are no neutral voices - they are notoriously left of center politically, I've read them for years ~ but when it comes to war, they give it to you straight. You need to realize that, in addition to voting Hamas into power and covering for them, a great % of the so-called "palestinian people" in Gaza march and chant death to Israel on a regular basis. Gaza has 49% unemployment rate right now; they have NOTHING else to do but plot to kill Jews indiscriminately.

As for Ahmed, if he's gone, may he Rest In Hell.

I never apologized for or excused Hamas--they're evil thugs, certainly more evil than Israel. I recognize that they have put the Israeli government in a tough position by basing themselves in civilian locations. All I'm doing is pointing out a series of facts--last week the situation was a few missiles randomly firing out of Gaza into empty fields in southern Israel. Now, Israel has escalated the war and caused the deaths of 200+ innocent people in addition to their targets. The result of their valiant efforts is a newly enraged Gazan population, economic development and reconstruction destroyed for another year in Gaza, and probably more new terrorist recruits than there were before they started. Oh, and also a nice election win on jingoistic themes for Tzipi Livni's party. The point is, war is hell, and escalating war is just reinforcing a circle of death. Is it worth it?

For what it's worth re: the ad hominem stuff, I've always hated Love 94 and I'm a big fan of 88.9 "Serious Jazz". Merry Christmas and a happy new year, here's hoping no terrorist nor national government rains bombs on your houses this coming year.

And if they do, I hope the response equals or exceeds that of Israel...

This may seem simplistic, but you either fight back if you're Israel or you allow Hamas to gradually but eventually destroy your country and people. The fact is that Hamas will not stop until they achieve their goal of exterminating the Jews. They use Israel's response as a way to make them seem like the underdogs and as poor victims, when in fact Hamas have been the instigators and the guilty party all along. They have ALWAYS been willing to use as many people as possible to defend their sick cause, it doesn't take big bad Israel to strike to all of a sudden encourage people to kill themselves in the name of Allah. People seem to conveniently forget that little thing called suicide missions.

Sounds harsh, but their actions and intentions have been proven time and time again. Hopefully one day the world will understand the true evil of these terrorists and why Israel's actions MUST be supported.

Really, Robert, you're not being sufficiently fashionable, I mean reasonable. You obviously don't read the New York Times assiduously enough. Please try to be more sophisticated and leave common sense and obvious truth out of this. That's how it's done in the right, I mean left, circles.

Fact check:

on international leaders and all people of good conscience to support Israel as it acts to protect its citizens from systematic and wanton attacks from Gaza.

Hamas and its supporters bear sole responsibility for any harm to Gaza's civilians. The U.S., France, Russia, Mahmoud Abbas, (president of the Palestinian Authority), and other international leaders have blamed Hamas' escalating rocket attacks for Israel's current military action.

Hamas and other Iranian-supported extremists chose to renew their war against Israel instead of renewing the six-month "calm" that ended on Dec 19th. In the week after Dec. 19th, Gaza's terrorists committed war crimes and collective punishment by launching over 280 rockets and mortars that targeted civilian men, women, and children in southern Israel.

Israel seeks peace. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but instead of nation-building, Hamas seized control and has abused Gaza to build its terrorist capabilities and incite hatred and violence.

Israel respected the June 19th agreement for six months of "calm," even as Hamas strengthened its terrorist infrastructure and launched over 377 attacks during the agreement. Israel exhausted all diplomatic channels to renew the "calm," but Hamas responded only with escalating terrorism.

Israel has exercised extraordinary restraint even as Hamas has systematically targeted Israeli civilians, and Hamas has left Israel no choice but the military option it began on Dec. 27th. Israel's stated goal is to destroy the terrorist infrastructure while avoiding harm to Palestinian civilians.

Hamas' fanatical commitment to its founding document's mission of "obliterating" Israel and murdering Jews is once again causing suffering for Palestinians living in Gaza. When Israel employed non-violent strategies to pressure Hamas to moderate, the terrorist organization cynically exploited them to accuse Israel of human rights' abuses. Hamas attacks on Israel-Gaza crossings have impeded humanitarian aid deliveries. Hamas rocket misfires and "work accidents" have killed Palestinian children. Hamas' ruthless use of human shields and densely populated neighborhoods has endangered Palestinian non-combatants. Hamas' refusal to let wounded Gazans cross into Egypt for medical care is compounding casualties.

Not to mention the "photo jouralists" always willing to provide photos of those evil Israelis. So you're an Iranian-Hezbollah-Hamas war planner. You've successfully redefined victory as "having the international community stop Israel before they're done dismantling you." You know that much of the world is eager for evidence of "disproportionate force" and that you can count on photojournalists to provide it. So naturally you provoke a war.

Problem: Israel is being exquisitely careful. They're availing themselves of new US-made GBU-39's specifically designed to maximize the depth and minimize the breadth of explosions. There's a map somewhere - constructed through years of painstaking intel gathering - that displays Gaza building by building and identifies which structures can safely be left standing. Well over 9 out of every 10 casualties have been confirmed Hamas soldiers. Israel is even sending in aid and evacuating the wounded to Israeli hospitals. So the pictures of wounded children - while there will inevitably be some - just aren't coming in fast enough for the propaganda mill.

Solution: make it up. One more thing, If I hear one more news report referring to these barbarian terrorist pigs as "militants" I think I'm going to lose all self-control.

Info from Mere Rhetoric, a great blog.