Anyway, about the topic at hand: Lee Smith makes many insightful points, but, imho, he overemphasizes "Arab nationalism", which basically did not exist until the 20th century, while avoiding a certain other ideology, the one which must not be named lest one be a "(mustnotbenamed)phobe". Arab nationalism, which was partly a reaction to European nationalisms and Zionism, developed among a western-aware elite and was often promoted by Arabic speaking Christians and minorities (e.g. Alawis) as a way out of their inferior status as non-(mustnotbenamed)s. Latterly it has become entwined with and subsidiary to the Arab imperial ideology, (mustnotbenamed).

Ok, fwiw. It seems to me that anan(d)'s aims are to spread propaganda to those unable to see his dissimulation, and to spread frustration to those that are able to see it. He enjoys, to use an American idiom, "yanking people's chains". His obsession with the "palestinians", support for hamas, and his repeated thread-jacking has also made it clear to me that he is not what he has claimed himself to be: an American Hindu of Indian (south-Asian) descent. He is nearly uninterested in India, and little interested in Pakistan.

1. Take blood pressure.

2. Have debate.

3.Take blood pressure again.

4. Note what has changed.

Del - humor me and tell me why anyone other than a simple fool would post things like this:

"There is also how Israelis protect Israelis far more than Palestinians; as if the Palestinians were inferior"

on a website like MJT's? This ain't no Huffpost or Daily Kos; nobody with even a dim awareness of how the world works would see this as anything more than under-baked dissimulation. So, I call (malevolent) simpleton.

You're sounding more and more like Robert Fisk, and believe me, that's no compliment!

I'm not going to waste my energy refuting your points. The nonsense inherent within them is only too obvious to almost everyone else.

But just a note: Yes the IDF is risk averse and so is most every other army. Whereas some military groups are happy to die to obtain their fantastical version of the afterlife, the IDF has shown time and time again that its risk aversion also extends more than any other army, and certainly in any asymmetrical warfare, to preserve and protect civilians.

Secondly, your invidious comment about the Israelis:

"There is also how Israelis protect Israelis far more than Palestinians; as if the Palestinians were inferior"

is stupid and insulting!

The role of any government is to protect its citizens not because anyone is inferior but because they are dangerous and to not a small degree murderous and genocidal. It seems that even that basic fact is too elusive for your comprehension.

C'est tous!

Your other points are too ridiculous to even mention.

Simpleton? No.

Gary - the perpetual malevolent simpleton is a poster child for the willfully ignorant. Paul is right - it's not worth arguing with him. I'm signing off to direct my energies towards arranging my oldest child's first summer in Israel. Another generation of Ahavat Yisrael will roll past his bigotry of fools.

What a motherfucking crock of bullshit, anan(d). You aren't going to research anything. Take out of context? I linked to the whole fucking Hamas charter which they have never denied. You didn't even read the link you liar. You will do anything to make excuses for the most deranged antisemites who vow to annihilate the Jews, who brag about their possession of Jewish "body parts" and bomb Jews in South America (Hezbollah) and promote Holocaust denial (the bloody thugs who run Iran). You aren't fooling anyone you POS.