Bibi's big speech thread.

[Crazy Eddie]

Not surprisingly.


"Defend their homes" by blowing themselves up in Israeli cafes and buses or shooting thousands of rockets at Israeli cities. Oh and having destruction of Israel as their goal.

Just to keep things in perspective, would you rather 1000 Palestinian rockets headed to your area... or a single Israeli rocket?

Hamas' rockets are both easier to avoid and much easier to find shelter from since they aren't actually targeted at anything and their trajectories are more or less random.

OTOH, being hunted by Israel is a bit like being stalked by a psychotic delivery guy: you hear a noise outside, you look out the window, and then a package of high explosives arrives at your front door traveling somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 knots.

It depends mainly on your preferences. Would you rather face a constant low-level danger that is unpredictable but survivable, or would you rather face guaranteed cataclysmic flaming death that is only partially predictable and not at all survivable?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Just to keep things in perspective, would you rather 1000 Palestinian rockets headed to your area... or a single Israeli rocket?

Hamas' rockets are both easier to avoid and much easier to find shelter from since they aren't actually targeted at anything and their trajectories are more or less random.

OTOH, being hunted by Israel is a bit like being stalked by a psychotic delivery guy: you hear a noise outside, you look out the window, and then a package of high explosives arrives at your front door traveling somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 knots.

It depends mainly on your preferences. Would you rather face a constant low-level danger that is unpredictable but survivable, or would you rather face guaranteed cataclysmic flaming death that is only partially predictable and not at all survivable?

That was my point. Maybe I was too subtle.

 

[Derec]

It depends mainly on your preferences. Would you rather face a constant low-level danger that is unpredictable but survivable, or would you rather face guaranteed cataclysmic flaming death that is only partially predictable and not at all survivable?

To be targeted by Israel you have to be a terrorist. To be targeted by Hamas et al, you just have to be Israeli.
I.e. you are engaging in false equivalency between the parties to this conflict.

 

[untermensche]

It depends mainly on your preferences. Would you rather face a constant low-level danger that is unpredictable but survivable, or would you rather face guaranteed cataclysmic flaming death that is only partially predictable and not at all survivable?

To be targeted by Israel you have to be a terrorist. To be targeted by Hamas et al, you just have to be Israeli.
I.e. you are engaging in false equivalency between the parties to this conflict.

When Israel decides to invade Gaza as it does every now and then, it shoots at anybody who has the nerve to defend themselves.

To call everyone defending themselves from Israeli aggression a "terrorist" is simply rhetorical nonsense.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

To be targeted by Israel you have to be a terrorist.

You know I don't have an iron in this fire, but I know better than this.

 

[Derec]

When Israel decides to invade Gaza as it does every now and then, it shoots at anybody who has the nerve to defend themselves.

And they "decide to invade Gaza" for their health and not because Hamas et al decided to step up their indiscriminate attacks against Israel.

 

[Sarpedon]

Well, the media reaction seems to be a resounding 'Meh.'

Also note that Boehner quietly used the distraction to inform his caucus that the House will vote on a clean DHS funding bill this week, in a pre speech conference.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Hillary also used it to distract from emailghazzi.

 

[laughing dog]

The "meh" reaction is appropriate. The invitation was a pure political move on the Republicans and Bibi's part. The true patriots that they are, the Republicans hope to embarrass the POTUS with the added benefit of sowing some dissension among the Democrats and momentarily diverting attention from the inability to actually get something done. Bibi is playing to his diminishing supporters in the US and trying to drum up support in the upcoming Israeli election.

 

[Axulus]

He claims that the deal being negotiated with Iran is a "bad deal" that needs to be blocked. How could he possibility know the deal is bad if the negotiations haven't even concluded yet?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

It depends mainly on your preferences. Would you rather face a constant low-level danger that is unpredictable but survivable, or would you rather face guaranteed cataclysmic flaming death that is only partially predictable and not at all survivable?

To be targeted by Israel you have to be a terrorist.

Or a relative of a terrorist
Or a journalist
Or a cop
Or a soccer player
Or anything else that Palestinians might happen to be.

I.e. you are engaging in false equivalency between the parties to this conflict.

They're not equivalent at all. Hamas' weapons have no precision, no capacity to directly target individuals or specific structures and aren't THAT effective even when they do hit something.
Israeli weapons are delivered with high accuracy, no warning and fantastic lethality.

It's like a bunch of people with bows and arrows fighting with a neighbor armed with a grenade launcher. They're not equivalent at all; one combatant has the power to inflict massive death and destruction, the other can only harass and threaten.

 

[fromderinside]

He claims that the deal being negotiated with Iran is a "bad deal" that needs to be blocked. How could he possibility know the deal is bad if the negotiations haven't even concluded yet?

yeah. ...and we're such shits by keeping him informed about the negotiations by a bunch of countries who don't want to march to Bibi's apocalyptic doomsday screeching. Get yourself a new bib bibi. Your drool is allover they one you wear.

 

[fromderinside]

They're not equivalent at all; one combatant has the power to inflict massive death and destruction, the other can only harass and threaten.

So that's why about no Israelis were killed in the last uprising while thousands of Palestinians were killed. Interesting. -nm

 

[Derec]

To be targeted by Israel you have to be a terrorist.

Or a relative of a terrorist
Or a journalist
Or a cop
Or a soccer player
Or anything else that Palestinians might happen to be.

You do understand the difference between "hit" and "targeted". Of course, you are doing your credibility no favors by linking to propaganda pieces by Mondoweiss and Putin Today ...

 

[Crazy Eddie]

They're not equivalent at all; one combatant has the power to inflict massive death and destruction, the other can only harass and threaten.

So that's why about no Israelis were killed in the last uprising while thousands of Palestinians were killed. Interesting. -nm

Hardly "no." Several dozen Israeli soldiers were killed in action when Israel invaded Gaza and three civilians were killed in crossfires along the border.

But it's actually worse than that. Not only do the Israelis have the power to inflict massive devastation on the Palestinians, they can also neutralize 99% of Palestinian rocket fire before it threatens their citizens at all.

 

[arkirk]

Just finished listening to the great Bibi speak to our Congress, stopping every few phrases for the thundering applause of our lawmakers. The source material for his presentation was mainly the Bible[/U, and not some finding from his own intelligence agency. He actually referred to Biblical mythologies in his speech to justify virtually every action of "the only Jewish state in the middle east." His formula for diplomatic solutions in the middle east is "we are better off without it." The entire content of his speech was devoted to vilifying and promoting conflict with his neighbors. He demonstrated the same type of ideological rigidity as the worst Islamic ideologues in the middle east, only with more extreme potentials for human destruction than any of them have.

He and his regime deserve to be considered in the same class as North Korea...heavily armed, bellicose, and with a cache of nuclear weapons. Israel is the most unacceptable regime in the middle east. If we were a sensible nation, we would concern ourselves with removing Israel's capacity to wage nuclear war rather than join with them in an attack on nations that are not armed with nuclear weapons. I have three concerns regarding Israel. The top one is its posession of nuclear weapons. The second one is its unabated expansion and seizure of territory. The third is its inhumane treatment of non Jewish populations within the scope of the lands it occupies. Netanyahu and his regime is the architect of a strategic structure that threatens world peace. Our congress, by giving this war monger thundering applause is just pouring gasoline on the conflicts that continue to escalate from Netanyahu and his regime. Where is the voice of reason in these times? It certainly doesn't seem evident in the halls of congress, where they placate this petty tyrant in service of American partisan politics.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Or a relative of a terrorist
Or a journalist
Or a cop
Or a soccer player
Or anything else that Palestinians might happen to be.

You do understand the difference between "hit" and "targeted".

Yes. Just as I understand Israeli weapons are VERY good at hitting their intended targets, so good in fact that when Israeli weapons hit things (buildings, cars, trucks, motorcycles, people, etc) it is a very safe assumption that the thing that was hit was, in fact, the intended target.

Of course, you are doing your credibility no favors by linking to propaganda pieces by Mondoweiss and Putin Today ...

The shelling on the beach was originally reported by the New York Times, which I suppose is well known for its anti-Israeli propaganda.

The others are just raw video recorded by witnesses. Of course, since reality has an anti-Israeli bias too I can see why you would interpret this as propaganda.

 

[jonatha]

We shot down an Iranian 747 Airbus A300... and that didn't stop the violence. How much more aggressive is necessary?

[/pedant]

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655)

 

[Jayjay]

Because he's trying to dupe us into eliminating Iran just like he duped us into taking out Saddam Hussein. Only Iran is a tougher nut, by far. Why no one simply asks him how many troops he's willing to pledge in event of war in Iran is beyond me. That would shut him up in a hurry.

Nobody is saying anything about "eliminating" Iran. However, their current theocratic regime is number one state sponsor of terrorism. Hezbollah and Hamas are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Their general was killed in January while operating with Hezbollah terrorists close to Israeli border. Imagine this regime developing nuclear weapons!

If Iran wants nuclear weapons, it will get them sooner or later. Best that can be achieved is to try to persuade Iran that they don't need nuclear weapons, or at least they don't need to use them.

 

[Jayjay]

The rockets from Gaza increased significantly after Israel dismantled all settlements there and pulled their troops out. Stop pretending "occupation" has anything to do with this as the end of occupation of Gaza increases Gazan attacks on Israel.

Did you know that snake oil, together with balanced diet and exercise, has undeniable health benefits?

It wasn't pulling the settlements that caused attacks from Gaza to rise, it was pulling the troops.