Posted on 03/27/2002 8:43:15 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:40:00 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
09:40 PST JERUSALEM (AP) -- An explosion went off Wednesday evening in a hotel in the Israeli coastal resort of Netanya, and paramedics said there were dozens of casualties.
The blast came at a time when Israelis were marking the start of the weeklong Passover holiday. Many hotels cater Passover Seders -- the ritual meal that ushers in the holiday.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Gasp! Geraldo is in Beirut!
Occasional suicide bombers don't come close to representing an existential threat. Casualties even in the hundreds do not represent a significant percentage of the population, Israel will not disappear because people are afraid/unable to move freely. In dry statistical terms, these are merely quality of life issues. And before you even start: I think the bombings are horrible atrocities -- I just don't think they're existential threats.
An existential threat is one that can literally wipe Israel off the map -- something that perhaps we Americans cannot fully grasp. All-out wars represent such a threat, because to Israel, losing means losing everything.
And a decision to start an all-out war means that Israel has decided to risk it all. The threshold for such an decision has to be very high.
As an example, think of home and family. There is a point at which we would choose to do something, even if our failure meant the literal destruction of wife, kids, house, and ourselves. Unless we're nuts, we wouldn't take such risks over every little thing, or even every large thing. Probably, we'd only do it in a life-or-death situation.
That's the kind of choice Sharon and pals are faced with. I'd hate to be them.
They certainly would, but I think the cupboard is bare.
I didn't mean that fighters should go in to sanitize; that's a job for bombers. They can home in on AA sites.
Tirawi is Arafat's right hand man. He is even closer to Arafat than the high profile Bargouti. Tirawi is holed up in the same office as Arafat...
The world is never going to look kindly on Sharon. He might as well be the man to clean up this mess any way he can.
I assume that those who gave the orders were anti-Christian and those who obeyed them were ignorant.
BigMack
"Both the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, and Hamas have claimed responsibility for the attack."
Falling over each other to take pride in killing innocent Jewish civilians. Such peaceful people. Flatten their towns, level their mosques, hunt down their hate-inciting mullahs, and kill anyone that tries to get in the way. World opinion be dam**ed. Most of the world doesn't care when Jews are killed anyway, it's time to stop worrying about whether they approve.
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Not likely, more like the sword be sanctioned as a reasonable response. Never has economic hardship brought wars to a conclusion. More often hardship meanders into war.
I caught some CNN video of the blast while at lunch. This looks like a devasting attack. My prediction - all out war, to hell with the "peace talks". They ain't helping...
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