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

What? One poster said numerous times the other day that Israel needs to be "obliterated". Did you really not see all those posts?

One poster does not equate to "posters".

And to be fair, to quote the post, the poster stated:

"Why should should we not want to obliterate the existence of a genocidal, apartheid state in the same way that the obliteration of apartheid South Africa was considered a completely legitimate and worthy objective?"

That is a question - not a statement.

What about the Russians being attacked around the world right now just for being Russians? They deserve it?

You'll probably even get racists on here trying to claim that such attacks don't excuse what the Russians did in the likes of Bucha etc!

Per the above post - the poster did not call for the obliteration of Israel. Read the post carefully.

So, one poster asking a rhetorical question does not equate to "posters here want the State of Israel to be obliterated"

Yeah, because what I said was that there is never a Jewish person who is a victim.....

If that is what you took from my post, and your response isn't just another strawman trotted out for an evening runabout, I don't know what to tell you.

If it is just a strawman, then you go nuts, he's all yours.

The suspicion among many is that this is systematic. The IDF seem out of control (driven by hatred for the Palestinians) - already credibly rumoured they may have massacred dozens of Israelis on October 7th.

I'm not splitting hairs. Words matter.

You said: "Some posters here want the State of Israel to be obliterated"

Name the other posters.

Can you name the other posters? Simple question.

Criticism of Israel the state and how it operates does not equal roundly hating Jews and wishing them all dead or any kind of anti-Semitism.

The fact that the leaders of Israel are Jewish is beside the point; the problem is how they operate. Their ethnicity/religion is irrelevant. But, of course, it's a very handy way to shut down any criticism of Israel. No one wants to be labelled an anti-semite (and thus be sub-consciously hinted at being a Nazi).

The fact that this needs to be pointed out every other page shows how deeply the roots of this trope have reached.

Do you need some help moving those goalposts?

First it was "I genuinely haven't seen anyone in this thread call for the annihilation of Israel. Evidence please."

Then you claimed that the poster was just "asking a rhetorical question" and not explicitly calling for the destruction of Israel. Then I posted other examples from that individual where they clarified that it wasn't "just" a "rhetorical question"

Then you asked for evidence that other posters agree, and I provided it. And yes, that's how the Thanks! button works - one tends to thank a post if they find something worthwhile in the post. And if you thank a post that calls for the total destruction of the worlds only Jewish state, then ... yes, you're probably on the same page as the poster to some extent.

There are many countries in the world solely based on religion. Many countries have the crescent moon on their flag and some explicitly state that the Quran is their constitution. If the only state in the world you have a real problem with the existence of, is the one that also co-incidentally happens to be the worlds' only Jewish state ... that raises questions.

Extreme events tend to provoke extreme reactions. Wasn't that the whole point of events that day

No, I'm not moving the goalposts at all.

I never "claimed" your first quoted post was a question - it IS a question I stated as much. See the squiggly thing at the end of the sentence? Just like this one? That's a question. <-- That's a statement. See the difference? The post was a question. Not a statement.

No - you didn't provide evidence that other posters agree . You simply provided a list of people that clicked the "thanks" button.

You state that "one tends to thank a post if they find something worthwhile in the post". You also provide a clicked thank you button as "evidence". I'm not buying that at all. You allude to it yourself - a "thanks" is not evidence.

And do I detect a bit of a row back here?

"And if you thank a post that calls for the total destruction of the worlds only Jewish state, then ... yes, you're probably on the same page as the poster to some extent."

"probably on the same page" is not evidence that, as you stated, "Some posters here want the State of Israel to be obliterated"

Words matter. Stating that "Some posters here want the State of Israel to be obliterated" is a hefty accusation. I asked for evidence of "some posters". You have provided none.

Maybe the four people who thanked that post your referred to thanked the poster for calling out your support of genocide by Israel? Perhaps that was the worthwhile bit they they were thanking?

Go click the link for post 24691: ceadaoin. had clearly understood Snooker's posts as calling for the obliteration of Israel and Snooker responded by explicitly defending doing so, in clear and unambiguous terms. And that poster explicitly used radical-Leftist language like "settler-colonialism" which is a provable falsehood. And their posts were popular. And yes, one generally does not thank posts unless there's something worthwhile in it. All I saw was deranged, genocidal psychobabble, but obviously the 4 fans saw something different.

And FWIW, a loaded question is the same as a statement, since it contains inherent claims.

It's revenge. The U,S quite early on reminded Israel not to follow the mistakes the US made post 9/11. They didn't listen, they turned the revenge dial up past 10.

How a country who suffered such a horrendous act of terrorism can loose public opinion in such a short timeframe makes you wonder the horrific suffering they are instilling on the innocent civilians in Gaza.

Israel could have used the Oct 7th attacks to bring about change in Gaza. They blew that, they went from victim to aggressor in days.

Fair enough. My view was that it really was impossible to read Snooker Loopys posts and not conclude that they want to obliterate Israel. Nor can I see any reason for thanking their posts other than broad alignment between (for the want of better words) thanker and thanked.

That was why I came to the conclusion that I did.