Gruesome scenes after Israeli air raids on south Lebanon

[leftchick]

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=133381

TYRE - A baby was sliced into three and body parts hung from olive trees as the full force of Israeli military might hit rural southern Lebanon Thursday.
In the deadliest Israeli strikes in a decade, at least 39 people were killed.

As the south came under a relentless air assault that destroyed vital bridges linking one area to another, ordinary life came to a standstill as terror-stricken residents hid indoors and businesses remained closed.

<snip>

On a charred mattress rest the remains of a burned baby girl, her arm to one side. Her upper body is at one end of the bed and her lower body at the other.

Police said the 10-month-old and six other family members were killed when an Israeli missile hit their home in the usually quiet village of Baflay, near the coastal city of Tyre.

[still_one]

1. That is what war does

[The Stranger]

9. This is was Israel is doing, purportedly because two soldiers were taken.

And it is unacceptable.

[SlipperySlope]

14. All they have to do is release the soldiers to make it stop.

The end of this cycle of violence is completely in the hands of those who attack Israel.

[The Stranger]

15. The soldiers' capture is being used to justify a massive invasion, and the

destruction of infastructure -- roads, airports, fuel depots, etc. -- in Lebanon and the murder of innocent civilians who had absofuckinglutely nothing to do with the soldiers captured hundreds of miles away.

Besides, they offered the soldiers, and the soldiers were refused by Israel, further showing the need for a pretense to obliterate Lebanon.

[Bretttido]

24. It's also completely in the hands of those dropping the bombs

They can give up some prisoners too. The problem here is you have two sides that are too stubborn to make the decisions that result in peace.

[Elidor]

66. Has anyone called you a nazi today?

If not, allow me to be the first.

[Cronus Protagonist]

78. How do you know the soldiers are real and really captured?

Seems like war propaganda to me.



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[still_one]

19. collective punishment is always unacceptable

[Pachamama]

27. If it was any other country doing this in response to the kidnapping of 2

soldiers, they would be condemned and the outrage would be loud...But hey, its Israel, so its okay. And if you criticize them, you are labeled anti-semite and anti-jewish.

I have been to Israel and have Israeli friends. Just as it is in the US, its not the people, its the Government and Military. And I truly believe until people in this country and in the world community accept and acknowledge that the only way to Peace on this Earth is going to be having Peace in the Middle East, particularly in this region with Israel and the Palestinians, and that its going to require being able to be critical of a lot of Israel's policies and actions, and finally, our support of that regime (both financially and otherwise) that there will never be peace otherwise.

Why again did Osama Bin Ladin attack the US on 9/11? Answer: Our support of Israel and our presence with Military Bases on Muslim soil.

Where are we now 5 years later: Supporting Israel in this murderous attack on Palestinians and on Lebanon and now with more Military Bases on Muslim Soil in Iraq. But now things are even worse than they were 5 years ago. Muslims around the world have gotten to watch the US not only have more Military Bases, but actually "occupying" a Muslim country and raping its women and children and slaughtering its population. Now Israel is bombing civilian areas because of the kidnapping of two soldiers and some actions by terrorist thugs from a neighboring country and the Muslim world is reading about babies burned and cut into three and entire families wiped out.

How long does anybody here really think its going to take before we have another 9/11 and also full out war in the World? Seriously.

This my friends is what George W. Bush has done for the world.

[EVDebs]

53. But the Palistinians KNOW the Israelis will over-react, so go figure...

If you want to perpetuate hostilities provide a suitable provocation and voila. War without end.

[Pachamama]

58. Please say "Palestinian Gov't" aka Hamas or terrorist groups like Hezbolla

Not the Palestinian people per se. I know Palestinians and Israeli people alike who desperately want peace and do NOT agree with their respective gov'ts stances on issues and actions.

Yes, it is war without end thanks to the "governments" of these people....and the people and world will suffer for those decisions that their governments are making...

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. Go to Al Jazeera and read about it on the Isreli

side of the line

This is what war does, congrats, stop enambling BOTH SIDES and then it may stop

[enigmacat]

2. Beyond belief

I am so enraged by this whole situation, that I can barely stand anymore.
Flippant remarks don't help either, if you know what I mean.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. all too well, alas.

I am past anger and into major sorrow.

[still_one]

4. I am not sure if you were referring to me, BUT I WASN"T BEING

FLIPPINT

How many posts do you see concerning the genocide in Sudan?

What about Rawanda?

that is what war is about, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

and it wasn't meant to be flippint, but it is reality, and most people are more concerned about American Idol. They go to their churches, pray to their gods, and then scream death to their enemies.

[partylessinOhio]

5. You want to see "flippant," just take a look at the morning news.

Two major channels were discussing a horse. Others are laughing and giggling over the usual nonsense. Topic is Trade Secrets - secret recipes for soft drinks - on Today.

None is covering the bombing and invasion of Lebanon except CNN and CSpan. Even they are just sandwiching it in between their own nonsense.

Doesn't the world care?

[still_one]

18. That is pathetic, but not surprising

[gully]

6. Wow that killing innocent people really solves everything huh?

So very sad and un-necessary.

[adriennui]

7. israel drops leaflets to warn residents to vacate the areas

[Zodiak]

12. so it must be their fault they were killed

seriously, dropping leaflets excuses nothing. It is a disproportionate response.

[gully]

39. That's good. That ten month old baby must have missed it.

Not to be sarcastic as I think that Israel is right in dropping leaflets, but innocent people ALWAYS die and the assholes on all sides remain.

[lumpy]

42. The US dropped leaflets

on Hiroshima and Nagasaki also. Didn't save any lives did it. Where and how are people to go in situations such as this. The eye for a thousand eyes is wrong.

[Voltaire99]

83. How impressive: advanced notice of state terror.

The mark of an advanced civilization, to say the least.

[winter999]

8. How could Hezbollah let this happen?!

It's their actions that caused all this bloodshed. They are responsible for the death of their people.

[The Stranger]

10. Welcome to DU, but it is Israel that is bombing and killing civilians in

Lebanon, and innocent civilians who have nothing to do with the dozen or so who captured an Israeli soldier are being murdered by Israel.

[MadHound]

11. And Hezbollah is reacting to the actions of Israel

They are reacting to the occupation and destruction that Israel unleashed Gaza, where, among other actions, Israel kidnapped the entire Palestinian executive branch of government. And Israel did this because they were reacting to the Hamas kidnapping of an Israeli soldier. And Hamas kidnapped this soldier because Israel fired a missle onto a Gaza beach, killing seven civilians and injuring many others.

And around and around the Mid-East goes, in an ever escalating game of tit for tat. And everybody loses. This has got to stop, all sides have got to stop. Otherwise the entire ME region is going to be a smoking ruin.

It is time to stop assigning blame and finding faux justification for war and genocide. It is time to start finding real solutions and to work towards peace for all.

[brentspeak]

16. Er, no

Hezbollah is not "reacting to the actions of Israel", and they don't give a rip what happens to members of Hamas. All Hezbollah cares about is taking control over Lebanon and destroying Israel, (Southern Lebanon is occupied not by the Lebanese government, not even by Israel, but by Hezbollah.) Hezbollah is the quintessential mideastern terrorist group.

[MadHound]

23. Er, yes

Hezbollah and Hamas forged a partnership a few years back, one of those "enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of deals<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,107347,00.html> So it seems that there is indeed communication and cooperation between the two.

And while no spokesman for either Hamas or Hezbollah are outright stating their cooperation and tit for tat retaliation, they sure are hinting around a lot about it <http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/060712/w071248.html>

And face it, it is a natural for these two groups to hook up, work with each other and watch each other's backs. They have a common foe, and mutual goals. To not do so would be the height of strategic stupidity.

[Clark2008]

25. Er. No.

Hezbollah's No. 1 goal is to free Palestine.

Geesch. The media's constant propaganda regarding Hezbollah and Hamas is astounding. Yes, they DO have terrorist branches, but BOTH groups started as political action groups, who's No. 1 concern was Palestine.

Look - we HAVE to remember, in order to be fair-headed about this, that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Learn it, live it, understand it.

I'm not excusing terrorism. But I'm not so far gone that I don't see that what Israel does is 100 percent just and good, either.

[lumpy]

43. Israel has joined the group defined as

terrorists. They have vowed to eradicate the groups that hate them whether innocents are killed or not. What Israel is dealing out is terror.

[brentspeak]

45. "Hezbollah's No. 1 goal is to free Palestine." Holy cow

:eyes: :eyes:

You don't know much about Hezbollah.

[Terran1212]

47. They didn't kill 20,000 Lebanese

That was the IDF; Hezbollah defeated the IDF before and maybe they'll do it again.

[brentspeak]

49. What kool-aid have you been drinking?

"20,000" -- by the IDF? Or should I say, what left-wing wacko sources are you getting that number from? It almost sounds like you want to join or donate to Hezbollah.

[Terran1212]

50. Left wing wackos like Robert Fisk who lived there and saw it all happen?

Who reported about the horror of the sieges of Beirut and slaughters of Palestinians in their camps?

Left-wing wackos? What is this, Free Republic? I thought it was kosher -- mind the pun -- here to defend the weak and poor and people who are being oppressed and blown apart for some fanatic (Olmert's) power trip.

If you love Israel so much and want to help in its assault against the Arabs so much, then go there and fight for their IDF. I don't want my nation the USA helping in its war crimes. We could use that money for saving lives, not taking them.

[brentspeak]

51. Wrong. It's kosher here (or, it should be kosher) to

examine events and people with accuracy, and then to make some sort of evaluation. Hezbollah, accurately put, is a terrorist organization. They have killed scores of their fellow Arabs, as a matter of fact. And as an American Democrat, I abhor terrorist organizations. That doesn't mean I think Israel is flawless; it has blood on its hands as well. But there's no comparison (and its ludicrous to even have to point this out) between a sovereign state defending itself and causing occasional civilian deaths and a terror group that goes out of its way to attack that sovereign state and causing occasional civilian deaths, especially when the latter knows that its terror attacks will inevitably result in civilian deaths.

[lumpy]

75. Better a left wing whacko than a right

wing whacko.

[magellan]

17. 9-11... How could the US gov't let that happen?

The US gov't is similarly responsible for the deaths on 9-11.

[lumpy]

44. Perhaps Israel actions in Gaza might

just have something to do with it.

[mogster]

13. Pic from the Beirut suburbs

From this article (Norw.)

[leftchick]

22. dispicable

thank you for the photos. All I hear on my TV is how one woman died in Israel.

[paparush]

40. Isreal..Clearing follwoing the teachings of Jesus...

Bomb your neighbor.
Frag those who persecute you.
Blockade the other cheek.

[lumpy]

77. Israel is not a Christian nation,

or did you know that? They clearly believe in the eye for an eye and thensome tenet.

[EVDebs]

54. I'd be lobbying for the release of those soldiers and see what happens...

maybe the Israelis will release some of those 9000 or so already in their custody. But hey, who listens to me when everyone's emotions are running hot.

[KurtNYC]

62. And how many pictures like this have happened in Israel??

Jerusalem 11/20/2002

I'm not saying either side is right in this but I am amazed at how many here seem to think this started last week and is about 2 kidnapped soldiers. Were there no innocents on the bus above when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew him/herself up on it?

[MisterP]

65. well, that was quick

[lumpy]

76. The Israelis are great at destruction and

The seige of Beirut in 1982 comes to mind: the closing of Gaza and the subsequent IDF raids of Palestine refugee camps in Jenin, Rafah and Jabalya and more. Steam rolling/bulldozing/killing/subjugating whole populations.

[Voltaire99]

84. A picture brought to you by Democrats and Republicans.

As long as Israel is funded and given carte blanche by US politicians, nothing is going to change.

Demand that the Democratic Party stop rubberstamping this kind of state terror.

[anarch]

20. I'm pretty sure this will really discourage further reprisals

After this, nobody will want to mess with Israel, right? I bet Hezbollah will now apologize, return the kidnapped soldiers, admit they are wrong, and disband. Yep, if Israel just kills enough babies, everything will be settled.

[Pachamama]

28. Yep, your right. After this there will not only not be any reprisals

towards Israel, but also not towards the United States. All of the Muslims in the world will be quaking in fear of both our Nations and just sit by letting us all kill babies, rape their 14 year old daughters and let themselves be occupied by infidels.

Everything settled....NOT!

I seriously believe that another 9/11 is on its way and full blown war in the world.

George and Cheney and the rest of the Neo-nuts must be so proud of themselves....

Meanwhile, we are all so f*cked....I thought I would see peace in mine and my children's lifetimes...instead I fear we will be seeing what my grandparents fled when they left Nazi Germany in the late 1930's. :cry:

So many people are going to die....why?

[Swamp Rat]

32. That appears to be what they want

:hi: :hug:

:yoiks:

[EVDebs]

55. Everyone's got their provocations set and reactions pre programmed

Mankind is really fouling his nest.

[Pachamama]

57. What's the story of the Skorpion and the Crocodile?

That is the outcome here.....

I am so sick to my stomach right now.... :puke: and crying :cry:

[SaveElmer]

21. Hezbollah started this...how about showing pictures...

Of the victims of numeorus Hezbollah sponsored suicide attacks, how about photos of the victims of rocket attacks aimed at civilian cities in Israel.

[Bretttido]

29. Hezbollah started it! pshhhhh

This is the type of thinking that causes war. Someone ALWAYS "starts" a conflict. It was a CHOICE by the Israeli government to react with brutal force that kills civilians and further escalates violence. Now if the two countries continue the logic of, "Well Israel bombed US first": Lebanon is now free to escalate the violence to a new level. Back and forth until everyone is dead. Ya! But it's okay, because "they started it!"

[SaveElmer]

31. I'm asking for...

Even handedness...Hezbollah is at fault for precipitating this event, and their atrocities should not be ignored in an effort to bash Israel!

[Bretttido]

33. A post that condemns Israel's actions does not translate to support

for Hezbollah. (or lack of outrage) You can't expect every post that condemns Israel's actions to also say "But Hezbollah shouldn't have captured those soldiers in the first place", that is a given.

[SaveElmer]

34. Not what the tone of these posts convey

They are positively dripping with contempt for Israel with nary a word of perspective.

[Chulanowa]

38. Because they're no different from Hezbollah right now

Is this a difficult concept, really? If two of your soldiers are kidnapped, you do not have the right to massacre civilians. It's very, very simple.

None of us are rooting for Hezbollah. But we damn sure expect better conduct from Israel, than them acting exactly like the assholes they're up against.

[SaveElmer]

41. Hezbollah could make this all stop right now..

By returning kidnapped soldiers. It's not like they are making a prinipled stand, they committed an act of war.

While I do not want to minimize civilain casualties, Israel is not purposely targeting civilian areas, Hezbollah is.

[Chulanowa]

46. Ya sure?

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday authorised a campaign of air strikes in Lebanon that would target both Hizbollah guerrilla installations and Lebanese civilian infrastructure, Israel's Channel 10 said.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-12T201247Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-259322-2.xml

Oh, and there's the whole bombing airports and bridges and blockading ports
Curiously, 73 Lebanese civilians have been killed. Now how did that happen?
I'm sure blowing up Beirut's power stations will have no impact on its population of 1.8 million.

Even if Israel would stop if the two soldiers were returned, a dubious proposition (once started, why stop? They already have America's unquestioned support. Again.) do the people of Lebanon deserve this treatment? Are their lives inherently worth less than those of Israelis?

[SaveElmer]

48. Response...

"Even if Israel would stop if the two soldiers were returned, a dubious proposition"

I do not believe this is a dubious proposition. If Hezbollah returned them immedietely I believe Israel would stop immedietely. If they did not they would lose U.S. and European support. And I do n ot believe Israel is trying to annex Beirut.

"Are their lives inherently worth less than those of Israelis?"

No they are not...but in my view Hezbollah is repsonsible for putting those lives in danger.

[Chulanowa]

56. You must be watching a different middle east than I am.

Israel could get its two soldiers back and continue operations under hte claim that it is "fighting terrorism". And you know what? America will give them a blank check to do it with. You think the administration, this administration, the most bought-and-paid administration in American history, and administration that treats Tim LaHaye's books as equal to the constitution, is going to raise a hand to stop Israel when Israel says its "fighting terrorism"?

I know you don't agree with me there, but I hope you can understand the source of my doubt.

And you and I can go back and forth assigning blame to and fro here - If Israel weren't skipping artound threatening mass murder of Palestinian elected officials, Hezbollah probably wouldn't have kidnapped those two soldiers. You can then counter about how if the Palestinians hadn't elected them in the first place... and so on and so forth.

So skipping htat pointless exercise, we look at what we have. We have Hezbollah conducting an attack on the Israeli military. Hezbollah is a Syrian-backed terrorist organization that hides out in Lebanon as part of a Syrian attempt to repossess Lebanon after getting kicked out last year. In response to this act of violence against its soldiers by a Syrian group, Israel attacks the fuck out of - not Syria - They attack the fuck out of Lebanon. Not Lebanon's paltry military, mind, but Lebanon's civilians and infrastructure.

Just because your rockets are fired from a plane doesn't make you any fucking less of a terrorist than hte dude shooting them from his shoulder. Like I said, we are entirely right to expect better from Israel. Hezbollah is a criminal organization. Israel is a first-world democracy. To see the democracy acting WORSE than the criminals is shameful to them as well as us.

[SaveElmer]

59. My point is...

That Israel did not just wake up one day and say "lets go destroy Lebanon" A crime was committed against them. It is up to Hezbollah to rectify that situation. I'm not there, I'm not a foreign policy expert. I do know Hezbollah is a terrorist organization who has committed numerous atrocities against Israeli civilians and should not be held blameless. Reading this board you'd think Hezbollah was a noble organization just looking out for its own self interest. From Hezbollah's leaders statements I have seen today sounds like he might have been trying to provoke an all out war.

When people publish photos of civilians killed by Israeli bombs and ignore the numerous citizens of Israel blown off the face of the earth by suicide bombers, it is no better than anti-abortion foes parading around photos of aborted fetuses, ignoring the maiming and death of women forced to get back alley abortions.

Bush is a frickin idiot, and I don't know what he would do if Israel refused to stop if the unlikely occurred and Hezbollah gave back the hostages...but I have a feeling pressure from abroad would force a condemnation of Israel and they would back down.

[Chulanowa]

63. Hezbollah does not equal Lebanon

Should we be dropping bombs on Honduras because of the murders perpetrated in America by MS-13?

Obviously not. Israel is, right now, giving very unreasonable demands to Lebanon - among them is of course "total disarmament of all miulitia groups". Now think. Your roads have just been bombed to hell. Your police stations, military locations, and hospitals have all been targeted by Israeli military forces. You barely have a government after years of civil war, and just recently driving an occupying nation from your borders. Given all that... How are you going to meet the demand to disarm all the militia groups? Especially since Israel is still going to be shooting at you until you succeed?

It's the same deal we offered to Saddam. "Perform the impossible and we'll spare you. If you only give us what's possible, we'll kick your ass"

[SaveElmer]

64. Not analogous...

MS-13 is a criminal gang and they are not running their operations out of Honduras...
they don't march up here, conduct suicide bombings, kill and kidnap soldiers, and then hightail it back to Honduras...in essence supported by the Honduran government. Nor are the launching rockets into Key West and Miami from Honduran territory.

As I said, I am not an expert on what is going on over there...but I am informed enough to know that Hezbollah and Lebanon are not innocent parties.

[Chulanowa]

73. Never said Hezbollah was innocent

But Lebanon is.

Like I said, this is two different groups. You want to go after Hezbollah? You go into Syria and pop them where hteir asses rest. You don't bomb Beirut civilians.

[Bretttido]

52. Israel could make all this stop right now also..

What's your point? Both sides don't give a damn about civilians

[LSK]

61. ISRAEL IS SUPPOSEDLY A NATION

SO WHY ARE EXACTING TERROR ON AN INNOCENT POPULATION????????????

WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!

[SaveElmer]

67. It's interesting...

I never see this kind of rage when Hezbollah suicide bombers blow up innocent Israeli citizens. Apparently it is ok for them to take refuge in Lebanon, financed by Syrian and Iranian money, launch rockets at Israeli cities, kidnap and murder Israeli citizens. Nary a peep around here. When Israel responds (and I am not saying their response isn't out of proportion), howls of protest here, with photos of dead civilians...little mention of the crimes Hezbollah committed, and little mention of the years of suicide bombings Israel has had to endure.

Hezbollah is a criminal organization that precipitated this. Why not equal outrage at them?

[LSK]

68. ok, then take out Hezbollah

But how do you explain bombing airports, roads, powerstations, cutting off power and water to Gaza????

[SaveElmer]

69. Where are they?

They are a terrorist organization...supported by Lebanon through Syria and Iran. They don't have a headquarters somewhere.

I'm not saying Israel's response has been the best, I do not know enough about it to make that judgement. What I do know is that Hezbollah is not the aggrieved innocent party. And the outrage I see over what Israel is doing is not matched by outrage over what Hezbollah has done.

[LSK]

70. because Israel should know better

[SaveElmer]

72. And Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria and Iran...

Shouldn't?

[lumpy]

79. The IDF seems to know where their

terrorist enemies are. All the time they claim pinpointing members of these organizations to avoid civilian casualties. Originators of the surgical strike garbage.

[kentuck]

26. But at least they don't chop off their heads...

They only blow off their heads. Big difference, right?

[cantstandbush]

30. Until the sensible and humane people INSIDE Israel take over and

throw out the Zionist beasts that continue to rule Israeli policies, the entire world will continue to suffer.

[lumpy]

80. True

We are up against the same problem. Warmongers.

[bigtree]

35. Man, that'll teach 'em

the rudiments of vengence

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mir]

37. Hezbollah never existed

prior to Israel's invasion of Lebanon - ILLEGALLY - in 1982. It was a response. Hamas never existed before Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza - ILLEGALLY - in 1967. It was a response. To explain a group that practices political terror is NOT to support it or condone its actions. Hezbollah should be resolutely condemned for any and all acts of terror past present or future and so should Hamas. However, to not look into why these groups commit such acts is to virtually insure that they will continue to happen in the future. Does anyone know how the English finally rid itself of IRA terror? It wasn't by ignoring it or trying the ridiculously stupid exercise of trying to kill their way out of it. Israel should take a lesson from that ordeal, but of course it won't. It's too addicted to occupation, land theft and hostility to its neighbors. It shouldn't be that way because its citizens - for the most part - want a peaceful resolution to the Pal issue and want to live side by side with a viable Palestinian state as well as with Lebanon. Their governement though - evidenced simply by looking at its actions and policies since its very inception - is one of most disgraceful governments on the face of the earth. Democracy or no democracy, ally or no ally, facts are facts.

[gatorboy]

71. You're right, Israel should drop their weapons

And wait for the Middle East to embrace them with open arms! :eyes:

[HuffleClaw]

74. but CNN is obsessing about the death of an 'israeli grandmother.

the spin is appalling.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

81. That really got me, too.

One of the headlines on CNN.com was that 2 people had died in Israel from rocket fire, which is tragic, but not a single fucking mention of all the innocent people killed from the Israeli strikes.

I condemn both sides, but I also expect them to report both sides.

[Voltaire99]

82. Chomsky interviewed today on why this is happening

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258

Gaza, itself, the latest phase, began on June 24. It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don’t know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border. That’s Corporal Gilad Shalit. And that's well known; first abduction is not. Then followed the escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which I don’t have to repeat. It’s reported on adequately.

The next stage was Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers, they say on the border. Their official reason for this is that they are aiming for prisoner release. There are a few, nobody knows how many. Officially, there are three Lebanese prisoners in Israel. There's allegedly a couple hundred people missing. Who knows where they are?

But the real reason, I think it's generally agreed by analysts, is that -- I’ll read from the Financial Times, which happens to be right in front of me. “The timing and scale of its attack suggest it was partly intended to reduce the pressure on Palestinians by forcing Israel to fight on two fronts simultaneously.” David Hearst, who knows this area well, describes it, I think this morning, as a display of solidarity with suffering people, the clinching impulse.

[OneBlueSky]

85. "they started it" . . . "no, THEY started it" . . .

a pox on both their houses . . .