Israel Arrests Attackers' Relatives

Israel would be causing a lot of trouble for itself by going that route, for little benefit.

Only because of those who don't understand the constant attack they go through and seem to despise Israel in the first place.

Actually I was thinking more along the lines of the trouble they'd cause among Palestinians, not among world opinion. I usually don't consider that latter angle.

What do we do to "terrorists" (David Koresh, Randy Weaver) here? We are many times worse and get away with it. Why is everyone all over Israel for what they're doing?

Probably because we're better at covering our tracks. But seriously, speaking only for myself, I'm opposed to any attempt by any nation to deliberately punish civilians outside of the normal course of law. I don't discriminate.

If they were thinking of executing the relatives, sure, I'd agree. But at this point I just can't agree with you yet.

It may very well have to come down to that, if Israel were to commit itself to that tack. I just have a hard time imagining that simply inconveniencing the families would provide much of a deterrent. I don't think that the decision to go on a suicide mission is something that they take lightly, like it's just a big party or something that can be so easily spoiled just by crapping in the punch bowl. I really think it's a serious decision, and it would take quite a bit to deter them from it, if anything would deter them from it.

Well, as I said, I advocate first taking out the top leadership, quickly. Then, without losing momentum - that is, without giving the terrorist groups a chance to reacquire their sense of balance - launch a massive invasion of the territories, arresting midlevel leaders, shutting down propaganda organs, and closing the terrorist training camps. The more massive the operation, the less resistance they'll put up. One thing about Arabs is that they fight like dogs, but only when they're sure they can win. They immediately go the other way when they know the game is up.

"Again, I have to say you're comparing apples and oranges by comparing our terrorism problems to Israel's. We can deport people who we feel are risks to our security (though we haven't availed ourselves of that option yet) because those people are not citizens,"

You are correct in that our terrorism problem is not the same right now; their problem is much worse. No, I'm not comparing apples to oranges. I am comparing little apples to BIG apples.

It's only a matter of time before it gets to be the same.

What we are combatting is a faulty, belief system, a belief in lies. The belief that Israelis should all die to make room for the Palestinian Muslims.

If the Muslims were content to live side by side in peace, I have no doubt the Israelis would allow that. BUT they know their adversary, and after many generations of terrorism, how are they supposed to trust them?

As far as deporting Palestinians being a problem, why, exactly? We have countries changing borders and booting people out all over Africa and yet no one makes a peep to object. Are we to say that no country can ever change its borders from now on? That might be plausible if all humans were willing to live together in peace and harmony, but... get real, we're talking about humans, humans that quite willingly believe lies in order to get what they want.

As far as deporting Palestinians being a problem, why, exactly? We have countries changing borders and booting people out all over Africa and yet no one makes a peep to object.

I wasn't aware of this going on in Africa, at least not as a matter of official government policy to which there is no serious opposition. Generally, whenever any population in modern times is forcibly relocated by their government, Western governments and human-rights groups raise strenuous objections.

But anyway, all that aside, in order for Israel to accomplish a wholesale Palestinian population transfer, there would have to be someplace for them to transfer to. And right now, no other country is going to be willing to take them. And that would mean war - all-out war, with the Palestinians caught smack in the middle. Leaving aside whatever world opinion might be, Israeli public opinion would simply not sustain such a course of action, especially as the war comes home and terrorism goes through the roof. It could backfire severely.

By the way, I do want to say that since I last posted to you, I'm glad to see that Israel took a step in the right direction by taking out the Hamas leader, and I am a bit dismayed (though not surprised) at Washington's reaction in condemning the "indiscriminate" attack, even as we launch even more indiscriminate attacks in Afghanistan. But again, I have to remain skeptical about Israel's commitment in following up on it in rapid-fire succession. Of all the circumstances where they might need to brush off international opinion, this is definitely it. Isolated incidents such as this aren't going to get them very far.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.