It's not gonna happen. The American street won't rise to rescue the Isralies. Our President has let them down MANY times before and this is no different. ike you said above, our ally is hugging the enemy and the liar Arafat is still allowed to enjoy air. The administration forgot about the Karine A, they forgot about the cheering throngs in the West Bank on the 11th, and they will forget about this.

I agree. It has been abundantly clear for a long time now what Israel is up against. For our government, and in particular Mr. Powell, to continue (and continue, and continue) imploring Arafat to restrain his minions shows what Pollyannas some people can be even when all the evidence points to the contrary.

This isn't going to stop until one side clobbers the other, so let's quit pretending otherwise and get on with the business of defending our civilization from those who would destroy it.

[Link: www.jpost.com...]

I agree with John. It's not the first betrayal of an ally by the USA

Igal,
Netaniya

[Link: www.jpost.com...]

I agree with John. It's not the first betrayal of an ally by the USA

Igal,
Netaniya

Thanks for this excellent work. As I have said before I hope you are right.

I share John's fear.

What is needed is a photo essay.

First, the bodies outside the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv in June.

Second, the Twin Towers falling.

Third, that woman in Gaza smiling and celebrating the attacks

Fourth, the exhibit at the west bank university celebrating the Sbarro suicide bombing.

Fifth, the weapons gathered from the Kairene A

sixth, the Red Cresent ambulance that the Israelis captured the other day carrying explosives.

Seventh, the bodies of the palestinian "collaborators" strung up from cranes.

Eighth, the palestinian holding up his bloody hands from the police station where the mob tora apart two detained israeli soldiers.

I'm sure there are others to be added to this.
Then Googlebomb it.

At the Arab summit, United Nations Security Council member Syria urged the other Arab states to continue their support for Hamas “to the end.”

I agree. I just think we ought to define "the end" a little differently. Every time an Arab "leader" says something like this, he ought to be ended. Syria wants to support Hamas? Fine. Kill Assad. Don't threaten. Just do it. Iraq wants to pay suicide bombers? Fine. Kill Hussein. No threats. No warnings. Just a swift attack. As narrowly targeted as possible; the goal isn't to kill Arabs, but to kill Arab "leaders."

The PLO is certainly complicit in these atrocities, and may be responsible in the short term, but in the big picture, it's the support by the Arab dictators that's giving Hamas et al. the resources to carry out these attacks. Israel needs to let them know that they'll pay a personal price if they continue. Not a political price, not a p.r. price. A real price. Maybe Syria's next dictator will think twice.

He is right. This is not about Islam, this about Arabs. The Arabs are going to kill every Jew in Isreal and then come after us. The question is do we want to sit and around and wait for it to happen or kill them first. We can only pray the American street will wake up. If they do, the only place they will be speaking Arabic, will be in hell.

I'm losing faith in hte Bush administration. He is turning into his father. We need a man of conviction, not an Saudi lackey.

I hope that there is underlying plot -- that's my last hope...

I can't believe that we have an Israeli speaking about US betrayals. How many Israeli spies have we caught since Israel became our Ally? How many murderers are allowed to go to Israel because they are Jewish, where the are never extradited?

Really... I may dislike evil terrorists like all freedom and peace loving people, but Israelis talking about US betrayals? What about the USS Liberty, Pollard, etc.?

Ok, its officially over. One solution: Isreal evacuates, let the palestinians take over everything. 6 months after that's finished, nuke every population center over 500 people in egypt, jordan palestine lebanon, syria, Iraq, Saudi, Iran... End them all

The policy on suicide bombers is when they are named their familys are killed. Their moms, dads, childern, aunts and uncles. Any relative linked to the bomber is executed as soon as possible. Many of those nut bags may wish to see allah and their virgins but how many wish their entire family to join them quickly? Also any arab and or muslim leader who supports the bombers need to be targeted.

Islam may be a religion of peace and love but some of its limbs are cancerous and needs to be amputated with extreme prejuidice. The atomic bombs on japan and the fire bombing of germany was gruesome but it definetly helped to change the attitudes of the people in those countrys.

If we really wanted to win this war, we would be dropping daisy cutters and cluster bombs on Saudi Arabia, not Afghanistan. It seems like there's a reality-fog within the beltway. Everyone I know outside of Washington understands that 9/11 was a Saudi attack. We can't win the war if we continue to pretend that the House of Saud is our ally. They must think we are stupid and blind indeed.

I don't like the tone that the US government has taken with Israel these past couple weeks anymore than others that have posted, but Israel bears some responsibility for that, too.

Their leaders have been dithering. Instead of making a patient, consistent case for why the outside world should let them dismantle the PA, they have been sitting back hoping we'd change our minds without any help from them.

How can they expect us to take their problems seriously if they don't take them seriously?

America has other fish to fry.

The Palestians don't have bioweapons, gas and a nuclear program. Iraq and Iran do.

Blaming the American Government for following its interests in the Arab-Israeli conflict is dumb.

America's government represents America, not Israel.

Besides, the problem here isn't Bush or Powell. Even Powell has acknowleged in a NPR phone interview that if Israel's and America's interests differed, Israel must put its interests first.

The problem is Sharon.

Proportionately, being 50 times smaller, Israel has taken the equivalent of 15,000+ dead Americans. Any American government that refused to respond with overwhelming force againt any available target would be replaced by one that did.

Sharon is still blowing up empty P.A. buildings and withdrawing from PA towns the IDF occupied. He is doing these half-measures because it keeps his coalition government in power. And personal power is his primary goal, not Israeli security.

Sharon hasn't been replaced because Israelis don't want him to be.

Every member in the Knesset shares responsibility for not firing Sharon with a vote of no-confidence. And the members of the Knesset would do so if the overwhelming majority of Israelis made that plain to them.

Sharon is holding on to power because the Israeli public has not suffered enough to make up its mind on what to do.

As long as Secular Jews, Jewish Settlers, Orthidox Jews, Russian Jews etc see each other as more of a political enemy than the Palestinians. The only thing they will do is die.

And they will deserve too, as the only people that can look out for Israel's interests are Israeli citizens.

Kill 'em all. Kill every last Palestinian - it's the only way to prevent the progeny from coming back for revenge. Bring Zinni and Cheney back, pull our people out of Riyadh, then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Back-channel word to Israel that they can declare open season on Arafat and his band of murderous sons-of-pigs. Sterilize Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran if need be, but end this, and end it on our terms.

It might be that the US is hoping to keep the situation relatively calm until the US is ready to take on Iraq, since they'd rather not fight two wars or have the whole region suddenly dissolve into chaos.

But I must admit, the idea of nuking the tar out of most of the main cities of the Middle East, then razing the rest, has a certain primitive appeal to me. And why Arafat remains alive I have no clue.

Actually, maybe one clue: as long as Arafat is alive, we have a basic idea of who's in charge and who we're up against. If he dies, we might have less of an idea on the leadership structure and miss out on information on terrorist attacks. I don't know if that's true at all, so please don't flame me on it, but feel free to disagree.

And what is the American street going to do, anyway? The "Arab street" seems willing to come over here, strap on bombs, and kill themselves. All the American street can really do is yell at our politicians, and they aren't exactly known for their responsiveness. Or should we all grab our guns and catch a flight to the West Bank?

I doubt that the American street will rise in righteous wrath, as they should. Powell should resign as Secretary of State and be replaced by Condi Rice.

Then we should give permission to assassinate Arafat and as many of his associates as can be found, and the same for each new leader embracing terrorism until we find one who has a human soul.

As someone recently mentioned, the last enemy who deliberately targeted American women and children was the American Indian. They are, for all intents and purposes, extinct as a people. The actions of the terrorists, Palestinians and their Arab allies are close - very, very close - to placing them in that same category. As a people, we are slow to anger but there is no deadlier enemy on this Earth than we.
The Sabras of Israel appear to be in shock but they still let Sharon lead them - I do not know why.
I believe the day is fast approaching when they will remember the oath which is taken on Massada: "Never Again" and they will then turn out Sharon, put BiBi or someone like him in charge, tell American Politicians that they refuse (like Americans) to go quietly into the night and they will do to the Palestinians what we did to the Indians.
I am not of their faith but have visited Israel a number of times on business and I find the Sabras to be much like Americans. They love and hate as we do - Arafat and his ilk misunderstand them as they do us. Like Americans, the Sabras will pay the Ferryman's fee for their dead in a coin which will be remembered long after all of us are gone.

Can't say I agree with all the talk of nuking and massacre among these comments. I don't think the Israelis ever considered massacring the Palestinian Arabs and I doubt they will. What they may do is run the PA out and then make plain to the Palestinians that they must live at peace with Jewish neighbors, and if they cannot they must go find neighbors with whom they can live at peace. Considering the vile way their "Arab Brothers" have treated them in the past, and the vile way the PLO tried to overthrow any government that gave the Palestinian Arabs shelter, they may find this a difficult search.

The point about Israel dithering and the lack of voter pressure for replacing Sharon may have some validity. But the Israelis walk small when the US dictates because no one else will come to their aid if the US does not, and if they make the US government mad enough at them by flouting too openly its demands they could end up like Soouth Vietnam, with the military supplies and ammunition cut off just when they were most needed.

For the one who asked about numbers of Israeli spies there is Johnathan Pollard, but the total is probably fewer than the numbers of French, British, or other agents found and quietly turned or fired without publicity. Given the erratic behavior of the US Government over the War on Terrorism, especially in the State Department and the CIA, I have to wonder how many Saudi spies and agents of influence we have. Old KGB tests commented that venality was the best means of recruiting Americans as agents, and the Saudis certainly have money to burn for the purpose. Where is James Angleton when you need him most?

At the time of the Gulf War in 1991 I thought we should go all the way, stand Saddem Hussein against a wall, and occupy Iraq long enough to make a halfway decent coutry out of it, the way we did to Japan. Such a plan would have taken at least ten years I thought. When Bush 41 stopped the army and relied on hazy rebellions and coups to topple the Iraqi government I thought they had some cunning plan for the purpose, they had done so well in the war. I was wrong on that. Turned out their cunning plan was one of Baldric's.

I thought such an occupation would be in the best interests of the Iraqis, their neighbors, and the world at large. It would have been a pain to us, costing much and exposing us to terrorist attack by every [bigoted word]ed fanatic in the Middle East. Well we got lots of expense (in both lives and money) and we are the target of those terrorists anyway. Taking oput Ba'athist Iraq will lance a very prominent boil. The shock will bring lots of Middle Easterners over to our side (aka The Winning Side, remember bin Laden's comments about horses?). It might be enough to set off a revolution in Iran and convince several other states there that they really don't want to PO the US, all this being to the good. What to do about the Saudis is another matter, one I'm not yet certain what to do.

And we all know what "the end" is in an Israeli forced evacuation: every major population center, especially Mecca and Medina, in the Arab world left with a big mushroom cloud and the first snowstorm in the mid-east. Can't these idiots see that this is a battle that can not be won.

Our military may no longer be capable of winning a large scale conflict, it has been reduced to a ghost of its former strength. I think part of why the administration is playing soft with the Arabs is that they are concerned about being able to handle the entire Middle Eastern theater if things flame up, and still be able to watch the back door. Imagine if we were to commit 75% of our forces to the Middle East and then suddenly be faced with making good on our obligations to Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. It has become increasingly apparent that Europe and NATO cannot be counted upon to lend meaningful assistance.

Is the American street really getting angry?

We bloglodytes certainly are, but I suspect most Americans are only dimly aware that bombs go off from time to time in Israel.

I'd love to be wrong about that.

Our military may no longer be capable of winning a large scale conflict, it has been reduced to a ghost of its former strength
Yeah, when the death of one soldier is national news, you could say that we've lost a hell of a lot of fighting spirit.

The Palistinians have shown that they are not capable of living with civilized society. They should be chased into the wilderness and treated like packs of feral dogs. Left alone as long as they don't menace humans and ruthlessly exterminaed when they do. The fact that some of them can act the part of normal people is of no more importance than the dolphins of Sea World.

I'm as angry as anyone, but talking about "nuking" cities or mass murder of Palestinians is (a) absurd, and (b) wouldn't solve anything. If every Palestinian were dead, Israel would still be under siege. Al Qaeda isn't Palestinian, but they hate Israel. Saudi Arabia isn't Palestinian -- hell, they expelled all those Palestinians during the Gulf War -- but they hate Israel.

Anti-Israel sentiment is common throughout the Muslim world, true. But you know, you don't hear it from the new Afghan government. You don't hear it from the Kurds. You don't hear it from Turkey. You hear it from dictators who use it as a way to deflect attention from their own failings. It's these dictators who need to go. Start with Saddam, because he's the most dangerous. Work from there. When he, and his inner circle are dead, let's see if Assad opens his mouth again. Ever.

When Arafat is dead, let's see if the rest of the leadership of the PLO wants to join him. Lets see if they order the arrest of Hamas leaders. If not, keep going until you find a Palestinian leader who will.

We're being trolled by a right wingnut, or a left wingnut pretending to be one. My guess is the latter, as there is a sense of the absurd to his ravings that can be interpreted as mockery.

Pfeh.

I agree with Trent in that Isreal is the one that ultimately has to look out for Isreal. What has changed is our willingness to intercede on behalf of the Palestinians... something that, since Lebanon in '82, has been all that stands in the way of the PLO's complete destruction.

It was a noble cause, and a credit to our resolve to seek peaceful resolutions wherever and whenever possible. Now we know there can be no peaceful resolution, and that there is nothing noble about even pretending to side with the Palestinians.

They may have legitamate issues with the Isrealis, but until they steel themselves to pursue non-violent means of seeing them resolved, we cannot and will not give them any further sympathy.

SoupIsGood Food

Well, Sharon knocked down another empty building and called up 20,000 reservists.

Pfeh!

That is more 'gesture politics' that would make Bill Clinton proud.

Sharon uses bulldozer tanks the way Clinton used cruise missiles.

Either Israel will get serious or more Israelis will die at the hands of suicide bombers.

The Ottoman Empire ran the
Middle East for about 380 years. Lets bring it back into existence and give the whole area back to the Turks. The Turks have had lots of practice stomping on the necks of Arabs and for the oil reserves, they'd gladly do it again. With Israil and the United States backing them up it could be a done deal in a year or so.
It will take 5 to 10 generations of Arabs to forget the murderous teachings of the Maniac Muslims so we could figure maybe 100 to 400 years of occupation. The Turks have a secular government, they don't allow the Maniac Moslems to hold any power in Turkey. We make the deal with the understanding that they get no nuclear power and they don't play with biologicals. They would be much better off under the Turks than the people who are leading them around by the nose now.

so, anyone who reads these comments on this page has got to ask him or herself... who are the real terrorists??? you really think your smart by trying to clear the world of Arabs and Palestinians (or even Islam)? Have you learned nothing from history (most notably the Holocaust of which we hear of everyday)? I dont know the level of intelligence here.. at this site, but a majority of this nonesense will lead to pain, suffering, and injustice!! Fear God, have Wisdom, and for the love of God (the same Christian, Jewish, and Muslim GOD) stop HATRED of ANYONE, ANYWHERE!!!