It Breaks My Heart To See Israel's Stupidity (Tikkun Stupid Dopehead Alert - MEGABARF)

Sunday Times ^ | 1/04/2009 | Michael Lerner

[goldstategop]

Israel's attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but stupid. No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighbouring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialists bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for America to mobilise a counterattack. Israel has every right to respond.

But the kind of response matters. Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,000 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas's indiscriminate bombing of population centres is a crime against humanity, so is Israel's killing of civilians (at least 130 so far in Gaza, not to mention the thousands in the years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza).

Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used it as cover to make assassination raids. Hamas argued that these raids were hardly a manifestation of a ceasefire, and so as symbolic protest it would allow the release of rocket fire (usually hitting no targets). But when the issue of continuing the ceasefire came up, Hamas wanted a guarantee that these assassination raids would stop. And it asked for more. With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing acute malnutrition, Hamas insists that the borders be opened so that food can arrive unimpeded. And in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, it asks for the release of 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

[goldstategop]

For sheer ignorance, stupidity and effrontery, nothing excels (I hate that word!) better than Michael Lerner's insane scribblings on Israel and Operation Cast Lead! What kind of dope do they consume at Tikkun these days? If you ever needed any proof that liberalism is a form of mental illness, this is it! Oh and don't read this unless you have a very strong stomach. It deserves the MEGABARF warning for reasons y'all will understand from the first paragraph onwards. And yes, this leftist is not only a self-hating Jew, he's a Charter Member Of The Jews For A Second Holocaust.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[2banana]

Put Michael Lerner on a hill. Launch 3000 random missile and mortar attacks on him through out the year. Day and night. On holy days. Without rest.

Then let us talk with him.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

What idiot invented this concept of proportionate/disproportionate response.

If this idea carried sway in WWII...we would still be at war!

[ScreamingFist]

Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used it as cover to make assassination raids

There you go.

[Mr. Mojo]

Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel.

Suicide bombing attacks against the Israeli population is far more than "harassment." So are Qassam rocket attacks. And when (not if) Hamas gets more sophisticated weaponry (both rockets and WMDs), Israel's existence will indeed be threatened. Lerner has his head squarely up his ass.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Michael Lerner (rabbi)

"...Michael Lerner is an American rabbi, political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish and interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.[1][2]

Student activism

While at Berkeley, Lerner became a leader in the Berkeley student movement and the Free Speech Movement, chair of the Free Student Union, and chair from 1966-1968 of the Berkeley chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society. After teaching philosophy of law at San Francisco State University, he took a job as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington and taught ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy of literature and culture, and introduction to philosophy. Angry at the SDS group called Weatherman, which had introduced violence into the anti-war movement in response to police violence, Lerner created a new organization as an alternative, called the Seattle Liberation Front. After a major demonstration that his organization had called in protest turned violent, he and others were arrested for inciting a riot. The subsequent trial was the second nationally known federal trial against anti-war activists and became known as the Seattle Seven..."

Lerner is vermin.

[gwilhelm56]

**...disproportionate response.**

Only if Israel Keeps firing when shown that there are NO SURVIVORS... that’s a ...disproportionate response.

[goldstategop]

Lerner wants to inflict the Rwanda Solution upon Israel. That is with the Arabs doing to the Jews what they lovingly do to each other. He is a nut with all his screws loose!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[rightwingcrazy]

My understanding of the word “disproportionate” is “excessive compared to the goal to be achieved”. Hamas is still lobbing missiles, so the response is not disproportionate. If anything, it’s inadequate.

[FlingWingFlyer]

“Disproportionate.” Only a bunch of liberal boneheads would come up with the idea that war has to be “proportionate.” On the other hand, I think the old Star Trek did an episode about this.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

LOL!!!

Well written, I know its not funny, but your comments were great!

[ScreamingFist]

I like the idea (read here on FR), for every indiscriminate rocket launch, one indiscriminate mortar launch back. This sh#t would end in 2 days....

[gwilhelm56]

It APPEARS that this Lapsed Catholic cares More for ISRAEL than a SAN FRANSICKO RABBI .. UMMM, errr .. that’s a little redundant.

make that ....

Cares a LOT MORE

[Uri’el-2012]

The Rise Of Tikkun Olam Paganism

[Islander7]

Since 2000, over 7,000 rockets have been launched from the town of Beit Hanun, in Gaza, toward Sderot, in Israel.

"We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town," said a spokesman for Hamas in a recent article. "We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave." But in spite of this barrage of iron from the sky, the majority of the population has stayed, living in their homes and going about their daily lives.

Most of the press coverage has shown the panic that can take place when the rockets begin to fall. This is dramatic and has frequently been tragic, with thirteen people killed in the past seven years. But it is not the whole story. Although some of the residents have fled, many more have stayed and have become stronger. Instead of becoming a "ghost town," Sderot is a vibrant and energetic city which will not be defeated. This is an accounting of one month spent near Sderot in early 2008.

Iron Rain

Lots of pictures at the link

[jiggyboy]

Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,000 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate.

Some Moderate Proposals [Victor Davis Hanson]

1) Request that 50% of Israel's air-to-ground missiles be duds to ensure greater proportionality.

2) Allow Hamas another 1,000 free rocket launches to see if they can catch up with the body count.

3) Have Israeli soldiers congregate in border barracks so that Hamas's random rockets have a better chance of killing military personnel, to ensure it can claim at least a few military targets.

4) Redefine "holocaust" to refer to deaths of terrorists in numbers under 400 to give greater credence to Hamas's current claims.

5) In the interest of fairness, allow Hamas to establish both the date that war is supposed to begin and the date when it must end.

6) Send Israeli military advisers to Hamas to improve the accuracy of their missiles.

7) Take down the barriers to return to Hamas a fair chance of getting suicide bombers back inside Israel.

[combat_boots]

One of these days, Berkeley may need the help of the US military.

Here’s hoping the military remembers who these fruits are.

[healy61]

Agreed. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

Here is a quote from Alan Dershowitz article in the Jersualem Post:

“There are some who claim that Israel has violated the principle of proportionality by killing so many more Hamas terrorists than the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets. That is an absurd misapplication of the concept of proportionality for at least two reasons.

First, there is no legal equivalence between the deliberate killing of innocent civilians and the deliberate killings of Hamas combatants. Under the laws of war, any number of combatants can be killed to prevent the killing of even one innocent civilian.

Second, proportionality is not measured by the number of civilians actually killed, but rather by the risk of civilian death and the intentions of those targeting civilians. Hamas seeks to kill as many civilians as it can. It aims its rockets in the general direction of schools, hospitals, playgrounds and other entirely civilian targets. The fact that it has not killed as many civilians as it would have liked to is a tribute to Israel’s enormous devotion of resources to the building of shelters and to the construction of early warning systems.

Hamas, on the other hand, refuses to build shelters, precisely because it wants to maximize the number of Palestinian civilians inadvertently killed by Israel’s military actions. It knows, from experience, that when it forces Israel to take military actions that result in the deaths of even a small number of innocent Palestinian civilians, many in the international community will condemn Israel. Israel understands this sad reality as well, and goes to enormous lengths to reduce the number of civilian casualties, even to the point of foregoing legitimate targets that are too close to civilian areas. Accordingly, Israel’s actions satisfy the principle of proportionality as well as the principle of self-defense against armed attack. “

here is link to the whole fantastic article:
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/dershowitz/entry/israel_s_actions_are_lawful

[gwilhelm56]

Hmmm ... it says here you were Court Martialled.

Yes,Sir ... I refused to save Berkeley, CA from a Terrorist Attack.

You DID?? ... YOU’RE HIRED!!