[THS] !!! Quite Incredible !!!

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

A few days ago, a friend wrote me to say he had sent one of my THS items to a couple of his friends whom he described as being of the "Israel can do no wrong, ever, ever" variety. He said the response was very educational. wink wink, nudge nudge.

Today I've myself undergone a highly educating event. When the Israeli pirate attack occurred, I sent out the first very short item about it to a mailing list I also host, but it is not anything about politics or world events, it is an excahage place for good music. I suppose music lovers, like all else, come in various flavours, but little did I know how hard Baskin-Robbins had been working to invent the following ones.

In retort to my original post to the list, a couple of screams about being 'off-topic' ensued, as well as an accusation that I and the article were certainly biased and anti-semitic. I asked in return how he thought a fact could be anti-semitic, to no avail. Out of a hundred subscribers or so, I only got a few whiffs of sulfur, I must admit, and privately received much thanks for breaking the news so early. The original post was the first I also posted here on THS - very short, just an announcement and call for resistance and demonstration, no real comment or analysis that could be called "political" and that might elicit a 'political discussion' viz., flame war. Except for the word "barbaric" in the original post which elicited a scream of protest as well.

Well, I decided to send out a few of today's items to the screamers, just to rile them up and know their minds a little better. The selection of items I sent were the Ray McGovern, the Yvonne Ridley, and the Gideon Levy. Here's a choice morsel I received in reply, and I'm not making this up! To be polite I will not post their names.

"Too bad you are using an anti-Israel and Christian point of view showing your Fox News mentality."

wow!
also received were,

"I have no use for your ignorance and biased views"
"Israeli commandos mishandled the situation but Israel was right to storm a ship bound for Gaza."
"Israel had every right under international law to stop and board ships bound for the Gaza war zone late Sunday. Only knee-jerk left-wingers and the usual legion of poseurs around the world would dispute this."

I have a sneaking suspicion these deep thinkers didn't read the articles I sent.
Also received the following article:

Does Israel Have a Right to Defend Itself?
Jennifer Rubin - 06.01.2010 - 8:00 AM
The flotilla interdiction raises the same issue as Israel's original response to Hamas's rocket attacks into Israel. The fundamental question that Richard Goldstone, the UN, the J Street crowd, and the chorus of international critics have answered in the negative is whether Israel has the right to defend itself and its territory against threats to its citizens. In both cases, Israel attempted to use proportionate force and to avoid casualties.

In Gaza, extensive measures were undertaken to avoid killing innocents, behind whom Hamas hid. And in the flotilla, as others have noted, "the Israeli navy first sought to warn the ships off verbally, then sent in commandos armed with paintball guns, according to Israeli media reports. It was only after the humanitarians aboard the ship assaulted the commandos with clubs and knives that the Israelis used live fire." When the Israeli commandos were set upon as they were lowered from a helicopter, they acted to defend themselves.

The rule set for Israel, which applies to no other nation in the world, is an intentionally impossible one to meet: the Jewish state can only defend itself without harming terrorists, who abide by no laws of war and exercise no concern for Israeli casualties. Words are twisted: Israel is transformed into  "the aggressor" in each instance, and the "peace" forces - in this case, populated by Turkish IHH forces with ties to Hamas and other terror groups - are those that attacks Israelis.

This is a critical moment for Israel, for its supporters, for American Jewry, and for Obama. Who will defend Israel's right to defend itself, and who will fall in with the venomous critics who will be satisfied only when Israel is a defenseless shell of its former self? We will see once again who is pro-Israel - and willing to defy partisan loyalty if need be - and who is so in name only.