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

In terms of who was worse between Israel and apartheid South Africa, as far back as 1989 Spitting Image was already strongly hinting it was Israel.

You are free to disagree on the comparison. The point is that one is seemingly not free to make such a good faith comparison without punishment.

Gessen being stripped of her prize has proved her point. Israel and the "criticism of Israel automatically equals anti-Semitism industrial complex" have created a chilling climate of fear and censorship. This is by design.

Israel demands views hostile to it be silenced. That is a totalitarian mindset.

Everything the international right-wing (of which Israel is a key member) mendaciously accuses others of is a confession of what it itself is.

"It doesn't surprise me to see you refer to Boyd Barret as an antisemite, such an accusation unfortunately carries little weight any longer given how it has been abused by apologists for Israels butchery. It is part of the two pronged approach in an attempt to shut down any criticism of Israel, the other prong being the accusation of holocaust denial..."

So now I'm part of a conspiracy to shut down criticism of Israel and engage in holocaust denial. I don't remember becoming a member of such a conspiracy. When did I join this group and does it have a name? ... or maybe you're just a conspiracy theorist and I think Boyd Barrett is an anti-Semite based on his disgusting words.

"And you can attempt to dismiss my content as being binary when the reality is that I am one of the few posters to go to the effort of proposing actions for all parties to take steps towards peace and I have condemned the attacks of Hamas consistently, and repeatedly over the last weeks." You've condemned the Hamas attacks without acknowledging their genocidal intent or that there can be no peace while they are in charge. You've failed to acknowledge that the civilian deaths are a direct result of both Israeli and Hamas engaging in heated street fighting. You've failed to acknowledge that Hamas and their attack in October enjoy support from a significant proportion of the people of Gaza, probably a majority. You keep saying that all Israeli's are culpable for the actions of the Government of Israel but don't accept that the same applies to the government and people of Gaza. How do you square that?

" I don't disappear from the thread when asked to recognize people held illegally on both sides as hostages, in the way some people do." Do you really think it's the same thing?

"Here, in this instance, you are complaining because I am commenting on the literal words of a Minister of the Israeli Government and pointing out that despite such clear cut evidence, it is still claimed that they are not carrying out a genocide, or have no intent to do so."

I've said that the evidence doesn't support the accusation. I've never denied that there are nutters in the Israeli Government that would happily commit genocide. I've also compared the Jewish Settlers in the West Bank to Hamas.

"When it comes to being compared to people who have been members of Dail Eireann, I'd be much happier being seen as a Boyd Barret, than an Alan Shatter. Calling for the safety of millions of people should not be so offensive to people in the way it appears to be."

You'd be happy to be compared with a man who wants to impose a totalitarian Marxist State and therefore massively restrict the civil rights and freedoms of every person in this country in order to ape totalitarian regimes that viciously murdered tens of millions of people in the last century rather than a man who has consistently championed the poor and marginalised and, over the course of a long political career, shown himself to be a brilliant legislator... because he's Jewish and is now supporting Israel. I think that says more about you than it says about Alan Shatter.

It'll be difficult to let building materials through as long as Hamas are still in charge since their first priority will always be to attack Israel and so will divert resources to that end.

Jmreire , you keep making the point that no countries are willing to take in Palestinians in large numbers because of the perceived threat that they may cause to said counties.

If you check the historical records , the same language was used against another group of people who went through sickening repression and genocide .These people were expelled from a far greater amount of countries throughout history for the perceived threat they caused.

Looking forward to your argument that these countries were absolutely correct in their assessments of said people .

LBC's James O'Brien's view just now: "The continuing carnage suggests this will not end until people have either fled or barely anyone is left alive."

O'Brien is very far from a left-wing radical.

Spot on. The destruction of universal humanity and how Israel and its supporter have adopted the same dehumanisation techniques against Palestinians which the Nazis used against the Jews is sick.

Maybe they'll burn the remaining books.

That's a policy of ethnic cleansing, not genocide.

You have no grasp of context or subtext. You're consistent though, I'll give you that.

According to what the supporters of Israel say about what's happening in Gaza, Srebrenica couldn't have been genocide.

But it was.

I questioned whether the Israeli ambassador's statement to the UK set Israeli government policy.

If people are putting forth her utterances as irrefutable evidence of Israeli Government policy then it is beholding on those people to show that she sets Israeli Government policy.

That's all.

I think it is without doubt that a considerable number of those within the Israeli government do not want a two State solution. I think that the words and deeds of their Prime Minister shows that he doesn't want one. That's still not the same as it being Israeli Government Policy.