Columbia University is colluding with the far-right in its attack on students

[Derec]

There is no evidence of either type of spray other than what some people have said. Yet here you are taking the word of the alleged assailant.

In dubio pro reo.
I am not taking anybody's word as granted. But when wrongdoing is alleged, the burden of proof is on the accuser, not the accused.

 

[TomC]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation. And if people were easier to leave Gaza, I'd suspect there'd be a larger exodus.

Hamas is why the death and destruction is happening, and they deliberately chose it.
Gazans can't leave because their Muslim neighbors don't want them.
I believe that they have some pretty good reasons.
Tom

 

[Playball40]

And what of the thousands of Palestinians that are being held in Israel? No charges. No trial. No real crime to speak of....just accusations. Do they deserve to either be tried (ya know, speedy) or released?

Most of those held in prisons before 10/7 have been duly convicted, many of murder. People Hamas demands to be released like the Barghoutis or those who have bamboozled useful idiots in the West like Walid Daqqa.
There were some held in "administrative detention" for terrorism, but even that has to be approved by a judge. In any case, how is that different than Gitmo? We held unlawful combatants there too without trial, but that detention did not have to be renewed by the judge every 6 months like the administrative detention in Israel.
In any case, before 10/7 the use of administrative detention was relatively limited. Since 10/7, of course, the country has been in a state of emergency and a lot of terror suspects were arrested and thus the numbers in administrative detention have ballooned.
But hey, Israel just offered to free thousands of terrorists in exchange for 40 hostages. I think such a ratio is a mistake, especially without demanding that every single hostage be freed.

No, actually, they haven't. They have BOYS that are in prison for throwing a rock. They have plenty of people held without even being charged (not unlike Guantanamo). The use is NOT limited, it's excessive.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Christ! He and the western countries gave Israel a limited blank check after the October 7th massacre.

Unlimited? Hardly! US is even pressuring Israel not to go into Rafah, even though there are several Hamas batallions there. Even though that's where Yahya Sinwar is hiding out.
US is also pressuring Israel into a rotten ceasefire deal where >1000 Palestinian terrorists are released for <40 Israeli hostages.
Unlimited, my ass!

Ohi vey! I’d like to connect you to my friend Politesse!

 

[laughing dog]

Reading comprehension is fundamental - the blank check was after 10/7. It was afterwards that restrictions and pressure was applied which is clear from reading Jh's posts.

It never was a blank check. ...

There was no official opposition to anything at the time.

That is what exacerbated the situation in the first place. Arresting people engaged in peaceful protest is not acting like a responsible adult but more like an authoritarian jackass.

Occupying an area that does not belong to you and that you are not welcome in is not peaceful.

Peaceful means without violence, so it is peaceful.

It is trespassing, and if you refuse to leave, you may be arrested. It's not being an "authoritarian jackass" and more than Capitol Police were authoritarian jackasses for arresting those who trespassed in the US Congress on 1/6.

Breaking into a building and trying to overturn an election through violence is in no way comparable to tents in a quad. Please get a grip in reality.

 

[Politesse]

Christ! He and the western countries gave Israel a limited blank check after the October 7th massacre.

I remember. It didn't work, and emboldened one of the worst acts of ethnic cleansing to be enacted with American arms and support in the past fifty years.

Ethnic cleansing my butt.
If Israel stopped caring about US opinions they could triple the number of dead Gazans (militants and shields) in a month.

There's no ethnic cleansing going on in Gaza. Hamas has lost a tiny fraction of their human shields. Hamas lead Gazans could end the whole debacle, but they prefer not to do so.
Tom

They killed two percent of the district's population under the age of 18, in less than three months.

I don't really understand someone who thinks saying something threatening is "violence", but shooting a child's brains out because they were in front of the hospital you were trying to bomb is "acceptable collateral damage".

 

[Derec]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation.

Even using Hamas numbers, the death toll is ~1.5% of the population. And the number of people who were alleged to have died by starvation is only in double digits and the specific cases I have seen being written about are people with preexisting medical conditions like cerebral palsy.

And if people were easier to leave Gaza, I'd suspect there'd be a larger exodus.

I suspect there would be. People want to leave warzones. That is not indicative of ethnic cleansing - whether they would have been allowed to return would be.
Since the beginning of this war I have said that Egypt should allow a camp in the Sinai for children under 14 at least.

 

[laughing dog]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation. And if people were easier to leave Gaza, I'd suspect there'd be a larger exodus.

Hamas is why the death and destruction is happening, and they deliberately chose it.
Gazans can't leave because their Muslim neighbors don't want them.
I believe that they have some pretty good reasons.
Tom

You keep repeating the same misinformation. The citizens of Gaza did not deliberately choose death and destruction - Hamas did.

Gazans cannot leave because there are two exits from Gaza that are controlled by the IDF. The IDF has controlled exit from Gaza for years.

But none of that is relevant to the idea that what is going on in Gaza is a form of ethnic cleansing.

 

[laughing dog]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation.

Even using Hamas numbers, the death toll is ~1.5% of the population. And the number of people who were alleged to have died by starvation is only in double digits and the specific cases I have seen being written about are people with preexisting medical conditions like cerebral palsy.

Wow, it's like as if Mason family had said "We only killed 9".

 

[Playball40]

This is absolutely UNTRUE. We can certainly go after Hamas without killing thousands of innocent men, women and children of Palestine.

Civilians get killed in wars. That is inevitable. Especially when the enemy violates rules of war and hides among, and below, the civilian population.

If you, Playball40, were the prime minister or defense minister of Israel on 10/7/2023, what would have been your plan? Please be specific, addressing the facts on the ground, including Hamas tunnels under ostensibly civilian buildings and infrastructure.

I wouldn't have immediately scaled an all out perpetual war (thinking Afghanistan). I would have used intelligence and struck strategically AFTER attempting to negotiate the release of the hostages diplomatically. Yes, Israel has a right to 'defend' itself (as does Gaza), but let's not pretend that the attack on 10/7 was in isolation. Blowing up and bombing all of Gaza in the HOPES of killing a few Hamas members does NOTHING but create more hatred and anger among the Palestinian people. There is no reason to continue on with this tactic unless....perhaps....your end goad is not a release of the hostages.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation. And if people were easier to leave Gaza, I'd suspect there'd be a larger exodus.

Hamas is why the death and destruction is happening, and they deliberately chose it.

Yes, and the people that made the top decisions aren't in Gaza.

Gazans can't leave because their Muslim neighbors don't want them.

Nobody wants them, indeed. Though, it is less them, more the poverty.

I believe that they have some pretty good reasons.

Poverty.

 

[TomC]

You keep repeating the same misinformation. The citizens of Gaza did not deliberately choose death and destruction - Hamas did.

I believe that Hamas is Gazans.
Your unwillingness to grasp that fact doesn't change the reality.
Tom

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ethnic cleansing means getting the targeted people to leave. It doesn't matter how - death or movement. There is plenty of death in Gaza - direct from IDF attacks and indirect from disease and starvation.

Even using Hamas numbers, the death toll is ~1.5% of the population. And the number of people who were alleged to have died by starvation is only in double digits and the specific cases I have seen being written about are people with preexisting medical conditions like cerebral palsy.

And if people were easier to leave Gaza, I'd suspect there'd be a larger exodus.

I suspect there would be. People want to leave warzones. That is not indicative of ethnic cleansing - whether they would have been allowed to return would be.
Since the beginning of this war I have said that Egypt should allow a camp in the Sinai for children under 14 at least.

I think that was always Netanyahu's plan, to get them over the border. Get them all over the border.

 

[Derec]

They killed two percent of the district's population under the age of 18, in less than three months.

No, they have not! Show your figures.
The war (started by Gaza, let me remind you!) has been going on for almost 7 months, and in all this time ~1.5% of the population is dead, according to Hamas figures. Also according to Hamas, the share of fatalities under 18 is under the share of under 18s in the population. Thereofore, <1.5 of under 18 population is dead in almost 7 months. Not 2% in three months.

I don't really understand someone who thinks loitering in a public plaza is "violence", but shooting a child's brains out because they were in front of the hospital you were trying to bomb is "acceptable collateral damage".

The former can be trespassing. Nobody said it was violent. Occupying an administration building is more serious, especially if there is also property damage.
The latter can be acceptable collateral damage depending on circumstances. Israel should not be held to a stricter standard than, say, US military when involved in warfare.
Also, what is a "child" here? Hamas, Islamic Jihad etc. recruit minor teenagers. Somebody being classified as a "child" does not mean they are not combatants.

 

[Derec]

I think that was always Netanyahu's plan, to get them over the border. Get them all over the border.

No evidence of that, although I am sure Ben-Gvir would be happy with that outcome at least.

 

[Derec]

Breaking into a building and trying to overturn an election through violence is in no way comparable to tents in a quad. Please get a grip in reality.

Try to keep up. They broke into and are occupying a university building.

 

[Derec]

I already said why. He took a long time to get his story straight.

What evidence is there that he was "getting his story straight"?

Not to mention people had symptoms inconsistent with his claim.

I read the article. The protester complaining of symptoms also said that she has an autoimmune condition. Any symptoms could be due to it and not Skunk.

Again: what evidence is there that Skunk was used? What evidence is there that the guy even had access to Skunk?

 

[Arctish]

Since the beginning of this war I have said that Egypt should allow a camp in the Sinai for children under 14 at least.

Why not a camp for them in the West Bank?

Seriously, why not?

 

[Derec]

Why would you take the self-serving unsubstantiated statement of an arrested protester as gospel?

I don't. But the claims of the anti-Israel protesters are just as unsubstantiated, and they have the burden of proof.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Reading comprehension is fundamental - the blank check was after 10/7. It was afterwards that restrictions and pressure was applied which is clear from reading Jh's posts.

It never was a blank check. But it is true that Biden has reneged on his commitment to allowing and helping Israel to destroy Hamas.

Some people can't admit error. "Limited blank check"

Biden hasn't reneged on anything. There is no plan to destroy Hamas, it can't be done. That is video game fantasy. As if Rafah were the Final Boss level.

That US is pressuring Israel not to go into Rafah is shameful! Especially since it comes out of cowardice and in order to appease the Michigan "death to America" crowd.

It has to do with the death and destruction in Gaza. And as Biden's analysts have likely told Biden, you ain't destroying Hamas. The biggest players are elsewhere, and pretty much any one is expendable. Hamas also has the hostages, which is holding Israel back from more extreme measures against the leaders of Hamas.

That is what exacerbated the situation in the first place. Arresting people engaged in peaceful protest is not acting like a responsible adult but more like an authoritarian jackass.

Occupying an area that does not belong to you and that you are not welcome in is not peaceful. It is trespassing, and if you refuse to leave, you may be arrested. It's not being an "authoritarian jackass" and more than Capitol Police were authoritarian jackasses for arresting those who trespassed in the US Congress on 1/6.

You do bring up an interesting parallel here, which you seemed to have missed. The security and police in DC didn't shoot in almost all cases. They seceded ground temporarily to keep the blood stains to a minimum, and fired only where there was no ground cede between themselves and Congress.