12 Comments

• 1. neocon  |  January 26th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

  Wait a minute. I thought that once Israel ended the occupation of the Gaza Strip, that that area would then become a utopia for the Palestinians.

  They are such a hard working, industrious people that I would think that Gaza should be nirvana about now, right?

• 2. sleepygene  |  January 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

  OT/ what does anyone think about the Mitt getting perhaps a hint at the debate regarding Reagan raising taxes to help SS? Was it a hint? Was it just someone in the audience being picked up by a mike? Seems odd, and no one seems to have a good answer.

  Is the JPost now a part of the liberal american media?

• 3. Obama Supporter  |  January 26th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

  Israel stops fuel shipments; Gaza City goes dark

  UN Condemns Israel’s Tightening of Sanctions on Gaza

  
  Israel cuts off Gaza’s electricity

  And so on…

  Again, perhaps I should remind you that you profess to be a Christian Mark. All I can say is that you seem to have a pecculiar interpretation of your faith. You have an Irish name and are Catholic I believe - when I was raised in Ireland we were taught that compassion was the supreme Christian virtue. It certainly seemed to form a large part of Christ’s teachings. You and your nasty little blog don’t display much of it.

  You speak about lies in your post. Are you denying that the Gaza strip was plunged into darkness due to Israel’s disgusting actions? Is there any depth you will not stoop to in order to villify the people of Palestine or to excuse Israel’s collonialist brutalization of these people?

  It seems not.

  For reference, why don’t you check out the reports above. A quick google search will lead you to dozens more all confirming the same thing - Israel was directly responsible for power being cut off to the Gaza strip last weekend.

  PS Mark - as a Christian I am curious to know where you stand on collective punishment? Would that be A-okay with your moral outlook? If it is, are the activities of terrorists against the US not justified in that they often come from countries which have suffered due to US government involvement in their affairs (ie Iran wherin the CIA overthrew a democratically elected government and installed a brutal dictator which ruled the country mercilessly for 25 years, or South America where many nations suffered a similar fate in the 1970s and 1980s). This concept too complex for you?

• 4. Obama Supporter  |  January 26th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

  Mark, in the post you link to above a commenter at the bottom of the page explains how these photos were captioned. Time for a retraction on your part?

  Gaza Meeting Photo

  The caption on the photo says: “a cabinet meeting held in candle light in solidarity with the residents of Gaza”.

  In solidarity.

  That means they chose to darken the room and use candles when they didn’t have to.

  As an act of solidarity. Not as an act of deception.

  It is so obviously daytime in the photo that I can’t believe you would even think this was intended to be a trick.

  More fool you for looking so hard for deceptions that you see them where they aren’t even there!

  When I was a child in ireland during the 1980s people would often fast for a period of 24 hours to show their solidarity with the population of Ethiopia and other famine struck regions. Were these people somehow trying to deceive the world into believing that they were actually suffering from famine themselves?

• 5. Mark Noonan  |  January 26th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

  Obama Supporter,

  We know there is a blackout in Gaza, and whether or not Israel should have cut off the power is not at issue…what is at issue is the MSMs willingness to be a conduit of unfilitered terrorist propaganda.

  The captions - at least as of this moment in time - do not mention that the meetings were staged in the daytime with the blinds drawn and candles lit as a mere gesture of solidarity…no, they say that the meetings of cabinet and parlaiment are in the dark because of a power cut off…

  You can’t tell a half truth - you can either tell the whole truth, or tell a lie.

• 6. Obama Supporter  |  January 26th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

  I don’t mean to be personal Mark, but I would say that you were a master of telling half truths.

  And again, I ask, where do you stand on collective punishment? Where is your moral outrage about what the Israelis did to the Palestinians in this case?

  You are the one who is always going on about how ‘the left’ and ‘liberals’ never demonstrate agains Islamism. Do you hold yourself to the same standards you expect of ‘the left’ or ‘liberals’? In other words, why do you choose to highlight the trivial and obvious fact that this meeting was held in daytime rather than the fact that the Palestianians are being brutalized, collectively punished, and treated no better than herd animals on an ongoing basis.

  No moral outrage about that?

• 7. Mark Noonan  |  January 26th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

  Obama Supporter,

  Keep in mind that while I might not like being corrected, I rejoice when it happens and give thanks to God - because such would be all part of His plan to make me the person I’m supposed to be. So, if you think I’ve told a half truth, then please feel free to point it out.

  As for collective punishment - in the generality, no, don’t do it. But what is Israel to do when Hamas - a terrorist organization dedicated to the utter destruction of the State of Israel - hides amongst the Palestinian population? If you can figure out a way for Israel to only punish Hamas, then I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear about it…meanwhile, the reality of the situation compels Israel to act, at times, against the whole population of Gaza.

• 8. Obama Supporter  |  January 26th, 2008 at 6:59 pm

  Mark,

  Your piece at the top of the page makes no mention that Israel did in fact cut off power to the entire population of 1.5 million people in Gaza (something they have done many times before, to their shame). Nor do you in any way indicate that the meeting was being held by candle light as an act of solidarity with the citizenry. In that sense it is HIGHLY misleading and amounts to a half truth by any fair definition of the term. So stand corrected.

  By the way, regarding the photographs that seem to have stoked your ire as an example of the dreaded mainstream media’s compliance with the evil Palestinians propoganda machine - these things are called photo opportunities. Your hero George Bush has done this sort of thing repeatedly - remember when he posed with all those people who had hands and other limbs amputated as punishment under Saddam?

  That was a particular favorite of mine, since the Bush familiy’s great friends the house of Saud do exactly the same thing to their own citizenry in Saudi Arabia. What hypocrisy.

  Also Mark, if Israel wants to combat Hamas a better way to do it than bombing the general citizenry, attacking their legitimate security forces, cutting off their food, electricity, etc. would be to marginalize the extremists by allowing the Palestinians to exist in a viable state of their own.

  If you think the mere fact that extremists are found in the population gives you the moral right to attack the population in general, you are completely wrong. Do I even have to explain to you why this is so, or are you that morally stupid? If a band of murderers is known to hide in a particular neighborhood in New York is it fine to attack that neighborhood in your world view?

  Or to give you a more real world example, would it be fine for the US to cut off electricity, food, supplies etc from Sadr City in Baghdad because many militants use it as a base? I guess that’s a stupid question since they still only have electricity for a few hours a day in Baghdad 5 years into Bush’s occupation anyway.

  Back to Israel. The motivation behind these collective punishments is not some existential threat that Hamas pose to the Israelis. It is nothing more than typical Israeli bullying tactics - the all too common sentiment in Israel still seems to be to drive the arabs into the sea. But hey, what can you expect from a nation that was founded on stolen land?

  Not much I guess.

• 9. ticketplease  |  January 27th, 2008 at 8:57 am

  Just a couple of things to say here. Obama Supporter….all the Palawhinians have to do is stop firing rockets over the border and suicide attacks. Just do that and all the violance stops.
  Second, About the Gaza Strip. Isreal left all the hydro gardens and equip. for the Palistineans. What do they do??? The thing that ALL MINORITIES the world over do, even here in the United States, THEY TEAR IT UP!!!. Sorry it hurts but it’s the truth. Just sayin’
  I’m just about tired of all the stupidity. When Hamas uses bulldozers to tear down a fence. Send in the troops. They will say , “but what about the people by the bulldozers?? They will die.” Oh well, they weren’t supposed to be there trying to get in anyhow now where they. They were in the wrong, get over it.
  Isreal gives and gives and gives and they get nothing back. Screw the whiners, they get what they desreve, I’m tired of apeasment!!! It’s the same story over and over. It’s just like the Eco-Freaks here….but that’s another rant for another day. I’m fixing pancakes, then going to church, something non-violent!

• 10. Obama Supporter  |  January 28th, 2008 at 3:58 am

  Are you happy enough to let the above racist scumbag stand as a commentor supporting your side of the argument Mark?

• 11. ticketplease  |  January 28th, 2008 at 7:36 am

  First it’s not Mark’s side of the argument, it’s mine. Second, not racist bud, just stating the facts. If these folks would act like adults things might, just might be different.
  Stop the violence, act correctly, ta-da! things will go their way.
  Fire rockets, throw rocks, kidnap others, you get the rath of those you terrorize.
  Some how or another tho they have to make it hard on all of them. It’s sad really but someone needs to give it to them straight.
  I could go on, they elected Hamas, just what did they expect? It’s like going Na Na-Na Na Na and flipping the bird to the world. They expect the world to go, Awh their just kids, they will grow up.
  Don’t know, maybe my dad just brought me up with things to black and white. Those who get it, get it and those that don’t probably never will. I’m to the right my brother is to the left. Neither of us will ever change, we just decided to agree to disagree. We don’t get violent about it tho.
  Sorry you thought it was racist, I was just being frank and telling it the way I see it. We disagree, that’s what this country is about, we can disagree……and agree to disagree. Again, I’m sorry.

• 12. David.B.Schmidt  |  January 28th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

  Just some additional information for the viewers as hijacked from LGF. Even though I would have stated it differently — the facts remain.

  http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=7856#c0019

  1. Are you aware that the Disputed Territories never belonged to the “Palestinians” and only came into Israeli possession as a result of the 1967 six day war in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon all massed forces at Israel’s border in order to “push the Jews into the sea”. The Arabs lost and Israel took control of the land. Do you agree that if the Koranimals don’t want to lose territory to Israel, then they shouldn’t start wars? Do you agree that there is justice that Israel, who as far back as 1948 has always sought peace with her far larger neighbors, should live in prosperity - making the desert bloom - while the residents of 19 adjacent Arab countries who are blessed with far more land as well as oil wealth live in their own feces?
  2. Did you know that the “Palestinians” could have had their own country as far back as 1948 had they accepted the UN sponsored partition plan which gave Israel AND the Palestinians a countries of their own on land which Jews had lived on for thousands of years before Mohammed ever had a wet dream about virgins? The Arabs rejected the UN offer and went to war with the infant Israeli nation. The Arabs lost and have been whining about it ever since. Do you agree this is like a murderer who kills his parents and asks for special treatment since he is now an orphan?
  3. Can you tell us ANY Arab country which offers Jews the right to be citizens, vote, own property, businesses, be a part of the government or have ANY of the rights which Israeli Arabs enjoy? Any Arab country which gives those rights to Christians? How about to other Arabs? Wouldn’t you just LOVE to be a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, or Syria?
  4. Since as many Jews (approximately 850,000) were kicked out of Arab countries as were Arabs who left present day Israel (despite being literally begged to stay), why should Arabs be permitted to return to Israel if Jews aren’t allowed to set foot in Arab countries? Can you explain why Arabs can worship freely in Israel but Jews would certainly be hung from street lamps after having their intestines devoured by an Arab mob if they so much as entered an Arab country?
  5. Israel resettled and absorbed all of the Jews from Arab countries who wished to become Israelis. Why haven’t any Arab countries offered to resettle Arabs who were displaced from Israel, leaving them to rot for 60 years in squalid refugee camps? And why are those refugee camps still there? Could it be that the billions of dollars that the UNWRA has sent there goes to terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, or Hezbollah? How did Yassir Arafat achieve his $300 million in wealth? Why aren’t these funds distributed for humanitarian use?
  6. Did you know that the Arabs in the disputed territories (conquered by Israel in the 1967 war which was started by Arabs) and who are not Israelis already have two countries right now? And that they are called Egypt and Jordan?
  7. If your complaint is about the security fence which Israel is finally building in the Disputed Territories, are you aware that it is built solely to keep the “brave” Arab terrorists out so that they can no longer self detonate on busses, in dining halls or pizzerias and kill Jewish grandmothers and schoolchildren? Why are the Arabs so brave when they target unarmed civilians but even when they outnumber their opponents they get their sandy asses kicked all the way to Mecca when they are faced with Jewish soldiers? Why do Arab soldiers make the French look like super heroes?
  8. Please explain why you are so concerned about Arabs, who possess 99% of the land in this region and are in control of the world’s greatest natural resource, which literally flows out of the ground? Can’t their brother muslims offer some of the surplus land and nature’s riches to the “Palestinians”? Or is it true that Arabs are willing to die right down to the last “Palestinian”?
  9. Why do you not exhibit the same level of concern for say, people in Saudi Arabia who are beheaded, subject to amputation, stoning, honor killing etc.? What about women who are denied any semblance of basic civil rights, including the right not to be treated as property for the entertainment and abuse of her father, brothers, or husbands? What about the Muslims in Sudan and Egypt who are still enslaved, or the women there whose genitalia are barbarically cut off? How about the oppression of Shiites by Sunnis, the gassing of the Kurds by Iraq, or the massacre of “Palestinians” by Jordan (Black September)? Why doesn’t this concern you?
  10. Did you ever stop to wonder how much better off everyone in the region would be if Arabs stopped trying to kill Jews and destroy Israel? What would happen if the Israelis gave up their weapons and disarmed? Would they live to see the next day? But what would happen if the Arabs completely disarmed? You know the answer: They would all be AT PEACE! And if there is no war to rile them up, the Arabs would be forced to look at their own repressive, pre-medieval societies. Why would they want to do that when there are Jews to kill?
  11. Have you heard “People who define themselves primarily by what they hate, rather than who they love, are doomed to failure and misery”? Can you see the parallels to the Arabs, who are blessed with land and oil, but still gladly train their children to kill themselves in order to kill Jews? Have you heard Golda Meir’s words to the effect of “There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours”? Why do the Arabs hate so much?

  On second thought I don’t think I would re-word it at all.