let's look at this from an unusual angle and see what we get out of it. Let's say you were a cartoonish, Ahmadinejadesque lunatic fixated on destroying Israel. How would you go about achieving your goal?

Well, priority number one would be to isolate the Israelis from their allies, so they have no diplomatic or military cover. A good start would be to take actions that infuriate military partners like the Turks by killing a load of Turkish civvies, then telling them to fuck off by pretending that the civvies you killed deserved it. You'd definitely want to sabotage relations with allies like Greece, so that they'd withdraw from joint military operations and bar your military leaders from the country.

You'd want to blacken the Israelis' image by finding as much video footage as possible of exploded children and Merkava tanks doing donuts in the rubble of civilian housing, preferably from insane, murderous, indefensible and counterproductive wars. You'd want to rile up Israel's enemies by marching the Israeli military into conflicts in Lebanon that they can't win so that they look much weaker than they are, and you'd want to destroy the reputation of Israel's special forces. At least since the raid on Entebbe, Israeli special forces have looked courageous and invincible - getting some good footage of them blowing away a load of civvies in a clusterfuck operation would be propaganda gold.

Plus, you'd want to isolate the country from the United States by blowing up a load of pointless political pissfights that gain Israel nothing and damage its supporters as badly as possible. The Israelis don't need the US to give them every item of military hardware excepting nukes and aircraft carriers, but trying to fund that stuff out of general taxation rather getting them for free would be much more difficult.

In short, you'd want to make Israel look like a paranoid, bloodthirsty and extremely belligerent nation of racist freaks, determined to murder fuck out of civilians with total impunity year-in, year-out, so that the entire planet disowns them by, for example, withdrawing their ambassadors and issuing a barrage of denuncations.

This, I contend, is the actual policy of the Israeli political class, and I'm now certain that the Israeli government is packed to the hoop with Iranian sleeper agents. Short of handing Syrian intelligence the launch codes to their nuclear arsenal, I really can't think of any way in which the Israeli political class could do their country more harm.

It's been clear for years that the Israeli right is utterly dependent on the looniest fringe of Palestinian society for their power and legitimacy, and that both sets of nutters use violence against the other as a means to cementing their rule. The basic situation over there is that both Hamas and the Israeli government are committed to policies that harm their populations but ensure their own continued rule. It's a godawful, mutual death spiral that's heading in precisely the wrong direction.

Shorter - there really is an urgent and perilous threat to Israel. It's called "the Israeli government".

It was extremely foolish of the "activists" to attempt to go through the blockade rather than going to ashdod as instructed. They wanted to make a statement, not necessarily deliver the goods. Why is everyone ignore this? Because everyone thinks that the blockade of Gaza is inhumane. But what if the blockade is lifted and the rocket attacks upon Israel by hamas from Gaza resumes? What is Israel to do then?

his followers used knives, metal bars, fire bombs, and pistols while screaming Allahu Akbar...right?

Speaking of the Palestinian shift towards non-violence....Does that include the 3 rockets fired into Israel this past Friday and Saturday or was it after that?

"The world woke up Monday morning to a shocking and tragic scene, as Israeli commandos launched an unprovoked raid on a flotilla carrying nonviolent activists attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza."

How can the author write these words after a day in which so much information has emerged -- in words (by those 'humanitarians') and pictures -- that totally dismiss this preposterous anti-Zionist Party Line?

Sir Gerald Kaufman on Gaza:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8

Non-violence is key.

Actually, Sir Mixxalot makes sense to me. The current Israeli administration is the wmd Israelis need to be fearful of.

Nice article Sami Awad - nonviolence is the right way forward for the Palestinians but they'll be met by intense violence just as the flotilla has been by the IDF. Or for that matter like protestor Emily Henochowicz who lost an eye when she was fired on by the IDF for peacefully protesting the flotilla killings.

media is the key, and surprisingly the Palestinians look to be doing a much better job than Israel.

There are terrorists on both the sides of the story. No one should forget that. it has been alleged that Israel has killed unarmed civilians, however the same is true for Palestine and the Hamas and the Hezbollah.

I might sound cynical and cold hearted, but hardly any internal strife has been sorted because external pressure has FORCED the parties to sit and talk.

once both the sides feel to need to sort this out it will happen, but for that to happen the threshold of suffering for the Palestinians and the Israelis have to be reached. I have a feeling there is some more time before this happens.

The Elders group of past and present world leaders, including Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, condemned as “completely inexcusable” the deadly Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla carrying aid for Gaza – Nobel-winning Elders deplore Gaza flotilla attack; at least not everybody is a schmuck like American & European misleaders

Read more here: http://lalqila.wordpress.com/

So many distorted facts in the article lets correct a few, first the author claims that palestinian leadership is trying to do everyhting it can to negotiate and reach an agreement which is a complete lie, there has never been one Israeli government that has freezed settlement building in the west bank, Netanyahoo has, and after 18n years of direct talks the palestinian's refuse to negotiate without preconditions, how is the netanyahoo government ruining talks, please bring some facts dear writer not just things you feel like saying. THey have removed roadblocks and the only reason the hamas has not taken over the west bank is The IDF.

Did you hear about the last PLO conference and statements made by officials, Now you make these ridicolous claims about hamas as if they decided violence is not a good option look what they do to their own people they throwing them off of 18 story buildings and they cant even make peace with each other, cruel torture and arrests of each other, they could have made gaza blossem and they made it Hamastan. Oh yeah and all the rockets they fire at innocent civilians to oppose the occupation of gaza ??? that is not even taking place.

You are living on a different planet, and what is so special about the netanyahoo government, the palestinians had direct negotiations with plenty of other governments and they refused to reach any agreements with them, no matter what was offered .
Again don't tell us freaking fairytails you dream about at night

The top U.N. aid official in Gaza says dozens of masked gunmen have vandalized a U.N. summer camp being set up for children and teens on Gaza's Mediterranean coast.

John Ging says the assailants tied up the guard early Sunday, burned tents and vandalized bathrooms. U.N. officials say the attackers left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill Ging and others unless the U.N. cancels its activities for some 250,000 Gaza children.

U.N. summer camps offer arts, sports and other activities.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, though the likely suspects are Islamic extremists who oppose the U.N. camps as un-Islamic.

Gaza's Hamas rulers have set up rival camps. Some Hamas leaders have also railed against U.N. camps.

The Text of the Talmud --

Talmud Ketuvot 11b

"Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: A male child who has relations with a female adult causes her to be like one who was injured with a stick... Rava said: This is what was meant - an adult male who has relations with a female child has not done anything because less than this [three years old] is like sticking a finger into an eyeball."

The discussion here relates to the dowry for virgins and non-virgins. A virgin receives a higher dowry. While the tell-tale sign of virginity is the release of blood due to the breaking of the hyman on the wedding night, there are occasions when the hyman has already been broken such as when the woman suffered an injury. The Talmud here adds that a sexual act with a male minor is not considered to be a loss of virginity because one of the participants is not fully active. While the female's hyman may have been broken, she has not engaged in what can be classified as a sexual act, although it is certainly child abuse.

sir Mixx really knows everything! Unfortunately, even if Judaism and Christianity have violent passages, only one religion, Islam is using violent passages as justification for violence on a GLOBAL scale. Repeat... GLOBAL, not isolated to just Israel, or US abortion clinics, but all over the world against buddhists, catholics, jews, atheists, eastern orthodox christians, druze, and other muslims.

(CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni bride died of internal bleeding following intercourse three days after she was married off to an older man, the United Nations Children's Fund said.

The girl was married to a man at least twice her age, said Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Her death is "a painful reminder of the risks girls face when they are married too soon," Kaag said Thursday.

Amal Basha, chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights, a Yemeni human rights group, identified the girl Friday as Elham Mahdi.

"Elham was married on March 29th and died three days later" and lived in Yemen's Hajjah province, Basha said.

The girl's death is the latest in a series of child marriage cases in Yemen, where the minimum age to tie the knot is still under debate.

Frustrated by the recent revelation, a Yemeni government official called the case "a stark reminder that the practice of underage marriage must come to an end."

"The government has been working tirelessly to cement the minimum marriage age but conservative parliamentarians have stood against it," said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media. "Members of the conservative block need to step up to the responsibility of protecting the rights and freedoms of the young. NGOs must continue campaigning to shed the light on this unfortunate practice."

In September, a 12-year-old Yemeni girl forced into marriage died during childbirth. Her baby also died, according to the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

Fawziya Ammodi was in labor for three days before she died of severe bleeding, said Ahmed al-Qureshi, president of the organization.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," al-Qureshi said.

Child brides are common in Yemen, where the United Nations estimates that one in three girls are married before age 18. Most are married off to older men with more than one wife, according to a study by Sanaa University.

For the girl's parents, marriage means the daughters are no longer a financial or moral burden. Most times, parents get a promise from the husband to wait until the girl is older to consummate the marriage.

"Early marriage places girls at increased risk of dropping out of school, being exposed to violence, abuse and exploitation, and even losing their lives from pregnancy, childbirth and other complications," UNICEF said.

The issue of Yemeni child brides made headlines in 2008 when 10-year-old Nujood Ali was pulled out of school and married. Her husband beat and raped her within weeks of the ceremony.

To escape, Nujood hailed a taxi -- the first time in her life -- to get to the central courthouse where she sat on a bench and demanded to see a judge.

After a well-publicized trial, she was granted a divorce.

In short, you'd want to make Israel look like a paranoid, bloodthirsty and extremely belligerent nation of racist freaks, determined to murder fuck out of civilians with total impunity year-in, year-out, so that the entire planet disowns them by, for example, withdrawing their ambassadors and issuing a barrage of denuncations.

This, I contend, is the actual policy of the Israeli political class, and I'm now certain that the Israeli government is packed to the hoop with Iranian sleeper agents. Short of replica TAG handing Syrian intelligence the launch codes to their nuclear arsenal, I really can't think of any way in which the Israeli political class could do their country more harm.

It's been clear for years that the Israeli right is utterly dependent on the looniest fringe of Palestinian society for their power and legitimacy, and that both sets of nutters use violence against the other as a means to cementing their rule. The basic situation over there is that both Hamas and the Israeli government are committed to policies that harm their populations but ensure their own continued rule. It's a godawful, mutual death spiral that's heading in precisely the wrong direction.

In short, you'd want to make Israel look like a paranoid, bloodthirsty and extremely belligerent nation of racist freaks, determined to murder fuck out of civilians with total impunity year-in, year-out, so that the entire planet disowns them by, for example, withdrawing their ambassadors and issuing a barrage of denuncations.

This, I contend, is the actual policy of the Israeli political class, and I'm now certain that the Israeli government is packed to the hoop with Iranian sleeper agents. Short of handing Syrian intelligence the replica IWC launch codes to their nuclear arsenal, I really can't think of any way in which the Israeli political class could do their country more harm.

It's been clear for years that the Israeli right is utterly dependent on the looniest fringe of Palestinian society for their power and legitimacy, and that both sets of nutters use violence against the other as a means to cementing their rule. The basic situation over there is that both Hamas and the Israeli government are committed to policies that harm their populations but ensure their own continued rule. It's a godawful, mutual death spiral that's heading in precisely the wrong direction.