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#1 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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Human Rights Watch report accuses Israel of crimes against humanity, apartheid.
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Previously known as SuburbanTurkey |
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#2 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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We all know where this discussion is going: "Israel has a right to exist!".
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#3 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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#4 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 64,387
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OLOL. I don't think the discussion is going anywhere. HRW and others say this kind of thing about Israel all the time. It's not news. There's nothing here to discuss, that hasn't been discussed to death already. Both of you have already gotten as far as raising non sequiturs just so you can preemptively dismiss them without discussion. What's that called? Well poisoning?
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#5 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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#6 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 64,387
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Hahaha. The only reason it came up is because you brought it up. And of course it's a non sequitur. Nothing in the report challenges Israel's right to exist.
I don't know what's more sad. That you want to argue about Israel so much that you'll argue both sides yourself. Or that you can't even be bothered to at least make the argument relevant to the OP. |
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#7 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 44,184
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If only God would clarify which tribe of illiterate goat herders he promised this goddamn strip of worthless desert scrubland to a couple thousand years ago...
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"If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. |
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#8 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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Now you're just being ridiculous. That was my whole point: to bring it up before the usual suspects do.
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#9 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 64,387
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See what I mean? There's no criticism of Israel's policies here. Just, huh, that's funny: Someone questioning the justification for Israel's existence? An issue that was supposedly never in doubt and had already been dismissed?
The discussion isn't going anywhere because you don't want it to go anywhere. To you, it's just an excuse for some low effort Israel bashing. You want to get away from the same old? Up your game. Address the points raised in the OP. Give us your skeptical analysis of the report's claims. This two minutes hate is beneath you. |
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#10 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 44,184
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Go use us as bad example in FMF then if you hate it so much.
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"If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. |
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#11 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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Er... there is in the OP.
Are you in contrarian mode today? Or did you feel attacked by the fact that I preempted your "side"'s arguments? And there it is! BAM! There can't be a single criticism of Israel without being called an Israel basher! The funny things is, I didn't even criticise Israel in this thread. Just the knee-jerk defenders, and even that's too much for you! So it seems that you were lying earlier. You have done exactly what I predicted; even after reading my prediction, you couldn't help yourself.
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If anything, it's other posters, like you, who were blocking discussion on this issue. Just like in the trans threads anyone who disagrees with one side is called a bigot, no one here can say anything that disagrees with the conservative side without being accused of being an antisemite. |
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#12 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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Israel's campaign of ethnic oppression in Palestine back in the news with latest flare-up of violence.
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Seems that the lesson that Israel took from the Holocaust is that's it's much preferable to wear the jackboot than it is too be kicked by it. |
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#13 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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I can't say I'm too versed in this particular incident... but this morning I was thinking back to Quebec's independance movement back in the 60s and 70s...
...if some dumb **** from Quebec decided to bomb a building in Ottawa, I doubt the federal government would launch a military offensive in the province and bomb hospitals and such. So while I understand that having terrorists bomb the **** out of you is something you have to respond to, I don't understand the nature of the response: how does that solve anything? |
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#14 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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#15 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
Posts: 96,875
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That's the part I don't understand. Israelis are uniquely experienced in exactly this sort of thing. You'd think they'd squirm at the very idea of committing such a thing.
And it's annoying for me to say this because Israel remains the beacon of democracy in the middle-east, and then it does things like this. Just give the Palestinians a ******* state. |
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#16 |
Orthogonal Vector
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 53,086
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Sufficiently advanced Woo is indistinguishable from Parody "There shall be no *poofing* in science" Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Force ***** on reasons back" Ben Franklin |
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#17 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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Dancing is a type of squirming, if you think about it:
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There are plenty of Jews, both Israeli citizens and abroad, that are disgusted by such tactics. Unfortunately they do not wield much power in the Israeli government. |
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#18 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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Yeah.
The whole middle east situation is nuts. As I put it to my they n eleven year old son, who was attending a Jewish school at the time, there are about 100 billion known galaxies in the observable universe, and about 100 billion stars in a galaxy, and around one of those stars, there is a planet 24,000 miles in diameter where seven billion people live, and the God that created all of those things is supposedly vary concerned about what happens on one specific rock. As for the OP, I really don't know what to think about Israel. On the one hand, it's undoubtedly true that they discriminate, and sometimes in really important ways. On the other hand, their nation is freer, more democratic, and more respectful of human rights than any nation in their vicinity, and they really are surrounded by a huge number of people who, at the very least, want to end the existence of the nation. A lot of them would be perfectly happy to kill the people, too, just to make sure the nation doesn't come back. It's a mess. How do you even judge "human rights" in such a situation? In the end, I think the idea of a "Jewish state" is just a bad idea from the beginning, but I compare that to a group that was calling itself an "Islamic State", just a few years ago, and I think the Jewish state was better. |
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#19 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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It doesn't half push its right to exist. I can't help thinking that if a Muslim state was acting like this then American tanks would be 'liberating' it right about now.
Of course Israel has the GOP and apparently half the Democrats as well in its pocket so it's fine to do whatever it wants. |
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#20 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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I skimmed through the Human Rights Watch report that the OP quoted from.
It's not that it's wrong. There really is a problem in that part of the world, and Israel is not exactly a model of tolerance, inclusion, and egalitarianism. Wouldn't it be nice if all the human rights abuses just went away? What would happen if one day an Israeli party won the elections on a promise of abandoning the notion of a "Jewish state", and just declared that there will be a democracy where all people have equal rights, and no religion was established, and no religious or ethnic group had any special standing or privilege. Does anything think it would last? If such a place existed anywhere within 1000 miles of Israel, then maybe I could take that idea seriously. Maybe one does. How's Armenia doing these days? Greece isn't so bad. How far away is that? |
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#21 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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Wouldn't it be nice? It probably would be. If it's not possible then at least the Land of the Free (TM) might want to consider not holding it up as a shining light of righteousness in the Middle East and arming them to the teeth so they can continue their abuses?
Or maybe even step in and stop the ethnic cleansing and occupation of territory that doesn't belong to them? Can't help but think that if Israel is just the same as anyone else in the region then they would cause a lot less trouble if they were only armed to the same extent? If Israel were treated the same as any other Middle East theocracy then the world would probably be a better place. |
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#22 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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It is my opinion that if Israel were treated the same way as any other Middle East theocracy, at least as arms and support go, there wouldn't be an Israel for much longer. And, in the long run, that probably would make the world a better place, but in the short run it would really suck for the people who happen to live in that spot on the map right now. It just seems to me that the only pressure we (which could be the US, or NATO, or some set of generally civilized countries) can apply is, basically, "Do what we want or we will let the Arabs/Muslims drive you into the sea." Because that really is what the enemies of Israel want. They don't want a liberal democracy in their midst. They just want to get rid of the Jewish state. I don't want any "________ish state" anywhere, but as much as I agree with that goal in principle, I don't really trust the Palestinian leadership to implement the solution. |
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#23 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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As opposed to the people who live next to that spot on the map (or actually in the spot but don't happen to be Jewish)?
But that's not actually true is it? Because as was seen in for example Kuwait if a hostile foreign power invaded them then the world would rightly come to their aid. It may also be the case that just being a normal country in the middle east may make Israel have to behave as if they have to be neighbours rather than playing a game of tit for tat that they can't lose?
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The problem in part seems to be that there are a bunch of religious nutjobs in America who regard Israel as part of 'God's plan' and are actively fomenting conflict. |
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#24 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 94,008
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So is this Bibi making himself relevant at a time of his personal political danger?
A little wagging the dog? |
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#25 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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That's quite a distasteful way to reference murdering innocent people.
Was the Holocaust 'Hitler trying to make himself relevant'? I really find it distasteful when people attempt to politic over the blood of human beings. No matter what colour, creed, race or religion. That's not meant to be an attack on you so much as just the way these things get framed by those remote enough not to have to worry about them |
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#26 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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Indeed.
The US makes allies with all sorts, including despots and routine human righs abusers. At least when the US cozies up to a country like Saudia Arabia, it's clearly a case of real politik in exchange for some strategic necessity. The difference with the US relationship with Israel is that so many treat Israel as a sacred cow that can do no wrong. They aren't just important allies, they are pure as the driven snow beset on all sides by pure evil. Such an attitude makes it impossible for the US to wield any of the traditional carrots and sticks of international diplomacy. The Israelis know that our support is nearly unconditional, which plays a big roll in their pogrom against the Palestinian people within the occupational area. |
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#27 |
Self Employed
Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida
Posts: 44,184
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Again someone God on the phone and clarify with him which group of illiterate goat herders he promised this strip of desert scrub land to a few thousand years ago.
That's the only way we're gonna solve this. "Ancestral homeland" is such a ******* stupid and toxic concept. |
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#28 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 31,750
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While we're on hold with the big fella we can probably make a call on the Palestinians that are being pushed out of their current homes by fanatical, unhinged Israeli settlers.
The UN has already declared that such settlement activity is blatant violation of international law, not that such things matter in Israel. |
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#29 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 94,008
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#30 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,960
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So I've started a blog about my writing. Check it out at: http://fourth-planet-problem.blogspot.com/ And my first book is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W322FX |
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#31 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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No I don't think the mothers of the dead children would consider themselves political fallout. I think they would rightly consider their children were murdered.
I mean if Biden was feeling a bit edgy and nuked Florida I don't think you would be saying it was a political decision...I think you'd be saying he was a nutjob that committed warcrimes. ETA: No I don't think it's about politics.. I think it's about religious nutjobbery. What we have is a crazy nutjob theocratic .. nuclear?... state backed by the worlds only superpower to do what it wants when it wants without any regard for international law. Two stupidly religious countries imposing a hegemony on the world. |
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#32 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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Originally Posted by Meadmaker
However, for whatever it's worth, I do wish the US government should do something about the worst of the offenses. I think "Jewish settlements" are a really bad idea. As best I can tell what that really means is "state subsidized segregated housing", and I think that some smart guys in Washington D.C. could find a way to meaningfully express disapproval, i.e. not just "tut tut could you please not do that" with something short of letting them be wiped out. There ought to be a middle ground in there somewhere. But it's difficult. I saw a headline today that said 400 rockets hit Israel today. 400 rockets? Can you imagine that sort of weapons stockpile even existing inside the US, or the UK, or, as Belz compared, Quebec? It's an awful mess of a situation. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I was kind of hoping that there could be some change in the Middle East, because there wouldn't be an external force stoking the flames on the other side, but it turns out that there were plenty of flame stokers within the Islamic world and within the Palestinians themselves. There are plenty of people who don't want peace, and it takes a lot more people to keep the peace than it does to start a war. There a plenty of Arabs, Palestinians included, who won't stop until the Jewish state is destroyed, and they know that time is on their side. They only have to win once. |
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#33 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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I think that's the heart of the problem. The modern state of Israel shouldn't exist, but in 1948, someone thought it was a good idea for the surviving Jews to live there instead of here (where "here" was a lot of places, depending on who happened to be talking at the time.) And, well, there it was right in the Bible, so....why not?
The British gave up a bunch of empire back in those days, and in three places (India, Ireland, and Palestine) they decided that the best thing to do would be to cut the area into two based on majority ethnic groups in the area. I don't think it worked out so well in any of those places. Maybe there were some other spots where it worked out better. In the three that I'm aware of, they left a legacy of conflict and war. Unfortunately, though, that is what happened. Israel came into existence. There was an immediate war, just like everyone knew there would be, and it hasn't stopped since. On the Jewish side, there will always be people who want that land, including all of Eretz Israel, to be a purely Jewish haven. On the Arab side, there are plenty of people who want them out and who consider Jerusalem to be a sacred spot, where Mohammed ascended to Heaven. It's hard to compromise with people who are sure that God is on their side. |
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#34 |
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 8,324
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That's exactly the same threat every other nation state exists under. are you suggesting Israel should be exempt from it?
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The people with all the power and weapons don't want peace and yet you blame everyone else??? |
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#35 |
Guest
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#36 |
Fiend God
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: In a post-fact world
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#37 |
Guest
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 29,033
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I think that most nation states are fairly confident these days that the neighboring nation states are not going to mount an invasion that would cause their nation state to be erased from the map.
I think Israel is fairly confident that there are, in fact, nation states, and factions within nation states, that would very much like to mount an invasion that would cause the nation state of Israel to be erased from the map. I think that makes a lot of difference.
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I think there might be enough blame that lots of countries can afford to share some of it. |
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#38 | ||
Biomechanoid
Director of IDIOCY (Region 13) Join Date: Jul 2005
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Posts: 32,012
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-Aberhaten did it - "Which gives us an answer to our question. What’s the worst thing that can happen in a pressure cooker?" Randall Munroe -Director of Independent Determining Inquisitor Of Crazy Yapping - Aberhaten's Apothegm™ - An Internet law that states that optimism is indistinguishable from sarcasm |
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#39 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 94,008
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#40 | |||
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 94,008
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Trevor Noah talks about the power difference based on casualties, saying to set aside who's to blame and who started this particular episode of fighting and instead saying if one is that much more deadly than the other, shouldn't the person with most of the power take it a little easier.
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