Hamas strike on Israel - Threadbans in op - mod warning in OP updated 19/10/23

"The far left is not equally dangerous to the far right. It isn't even remotely close. I'm not on the far left by the way."

The tens of millions of people killed by Communist regimes in Russia, Cambodia, North Korea, China and Ukraine etc would suggest otherwise. Any fundamentalist belief system that seeks to impose those beliefs through violence and coercion is equally dangerous. In the last few hundred years those belief systems have included Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, National Socialism (right wing totalitarianism) and Communism (left wing totalitarianism). By any measure Communism wins the contest for the highest body count with somewhere between 100 and 150 million deaths caused in the last century.

The fundamentalists in Israel are indeed as bad as the fundamentalists in Gaza. Both believe that they have a mandate from heaven (from their respective makey-up invisible friends) to exterminate the other. Both of their holy books give licence to commit mass murder. The civil institutions in Israel and a slight minority of the electorate are the only thing holding back the nutters there. Unfortunately what is happening in Gaza is on a smaller scale to what has happened in Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia in recent years so it's not unique to this conflict. That's not to say that there isn't a sizable minority in Israel who would like to see the ethnic cleansing of both Gaza and the West Bank. I don't think that's in dispute. I strongly suspect that Netanyahu is part of that group. I think he's a vile human being.

The BBC, Channel 4, the Guardian and the Financial Times are all left wing. I don't read the Tabloids but I presume that they are maintaining their usual right wing stance with a strong whiff of xenophobia, racism and imperialism.

CNN are left wing. Fox is a joke. I honestly thought it was a comedy skit show the first time I saw it. The New York Times is generally strongly left wing but would have strong pro-Jewish leanings.

The Irish media is very left wing.

No, I know the story and understood it etc. I just don't see how it furthers your contention.

What leads you to form that opinion?

Is it my criticism of Israel and intense dislike of their Prime Minister?

Is it my opinion that what's going on in the West Bank is ethnic cleansing?

Is it my dislike of and contempt for religion?

Is it by opinion that the current military campaign by Israel in Gaza will damage Israel's long term security and weaken it politically?

Is it my dislike of Fox?

...or does stating the fact that the vile and evil ideology of Communism has killed well over 100,000,000 people and my view that Hamas are an evil terrorist organisation who would actually commit genocide in a heartbeat if they got the chance make me a supporter of online right wing American sources?

Yes, it doesn't make any sense. But that is what you said. I'm merely applying the same logic

You put forward that Padraig Pearse calling for Ireland to be free was not genocidal because he didn't live in a Sharia state. Surely it follows then that a person standing outside the GPO and calling for Palestine to be free is similarly not in a Sharia state and therefore similarly not genocidal? Or is the being in a Sharia state actually irrelevant? If so, then why did you try to use it?

I don't think either is genocidal. Both are merely expressions of desire that respective peoples are free from oppression.

The world is sick when you have people who respond to a statement like:

with the retort:

It is mental that we cannot criticize the systematic murder and destruction of a captive population by another state without that being equated with being a rape denier. Zionist 101 playbook. But, on the positive side, at least they appear to have moved on from the default response of "anti semite" or "holocaust denier"

If you are determined to find sickness you will find it easily. You could go back and read what they actually wrote. They said a lot more than that despite your cherry picking attempt at misrepresentation.

That is such blatantly disingenuous misrepresentation of what someone said. The "What a disgusting piece of rape denial and apology there. Bravo" was in response to this:

"I find the idea of Hamas fighting Israeli soldiers with guns etc - 400 soldiers killed - in a hostile environment over a short period and then sneaking off for a quick rape hard to understand. I guess details would help. How many women were raped and by how many men? Is it possible for example there were 10 or 20 rapists and the rest were non rapist soldiers?"

You really have no business pulling **** like that.

I'm not shouting anyone down? Just pointing out rape apologists and those who misrepresent that as something else. Plus, I don't think posts on a pretty obscure Irish message board have the power to stop or allow anything but carry on...