A few facts -
Lebanon has its own religious war that it has been fighting for a while now, complete with terrorists (Christianity vs. Muslims) on both sides
AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee) is one of the top lobbying groups in the US
Israel was not a state in 1947. Like Cameron said, Israel claimed they were a sovereign country, no one agreed, Arabs attacked, Israel won, the rest of the world recognized it.
Someone wrote in a post earlier that the Arabs hate Israel because they support the U.S. Get your facts straight- Arabs hate the U.S. because we support Israel.
It is true that a large amount of Arabs would like to see Israel cease to exist. However, this is hardly the majority consensus in the region. Just like there is not a majority of Israelis that would like to see genocide of Arabs. The media only shows the general public stories that sell, incendiary stories and fear journalism. That is one of the problems with the media inside the U.S. I am not quite sure of the reasons (one may be AIPAC), but our media and government is decidedly pro-Israel. Because of this we constantly are exposed to stories of "suicide" bombers and Arab atrocities. I am not saying that these things don't occur, but it goes both ways. As Cameron has pointed out, there is a difference between state-terrorism and the terrorism we (westerners) are familiar with. He is simply pointing out that the Israeli government is carrying out acts of terrorism. Everyone agrees terrorism is bad, right? Nowhere did he condone terrorism or the idea of retaliation in his posts. We condemn terrorism across the board, regardless of who our allies are. Why do we continue to prop up the state of Israel?
Terrorists came into the U.S. through Canada. Does that mean Canada supports terrorism? There are two factions in Hezbollah-Militant terrorists, and politicians. The two act independently of each other. The politicians that affiliate themselves with Hezbollah's political wing have no control over the militant side, unlike the IRA and PIRA. I think a better question is why do these politicians affiliate themselves with a group like Hezbollah? Why are these type of groups (Hezbollah and Hamas to name a few) winning elections?
Fighting terrorism with terrorism is not going to accomplish anything. What we as a global community must do is take away their motivation to turn to terrorism. Like I have said before, what would it take for you to strap a bomb on yourself and go somewhere and blow yourself up? These people are desperate, willing to do anything. Part of the problem is the extreme religious leaders, agreed. However, what do these people have to lose? Israel has shown no regard for Arab life in the region, so they (Arab terrorists) do anything and everything in their power to show the same disregard. Is this right? By no means, but we must recognize why this is happening in order to right it.
Go to the Middle East before you say that all Israelis or all Arabs hate each other. What you will find is two groups of people that want badly to coexist, but minority factions are perpetuating the hatred and bloodshed. On BOTH sides. Seriously, go to the Middle East, a great land, and see firsthand the love that Arabs and Israelis have for each other. The U.S. media just plays into the "they hate each other and always have" mentality to make money, there could be nothing farther from the truth.
I agree with what another poster said earlier, in that we need a MLK Jr. or Gandhi out of the region.
As MLK Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
EDIT: Lets not forgot also who has the only nuclear capabilities in that region. Israel, a state that carries out acts of terrorism, has nuclear weapons. Can they be trusted?
Last edited by KEN-JENNINGS (2006-07-13 11:38:42)