Let's start with Hamas. Hamas is an organization formed over 20 years ago to be a Palestinian version of Egypt's "Muslim Brotherhood", which is a violent, radical Islamist group dedicated to world wide Muslim rule and who's influence is heavy in most of Palestine. The main goal of Hamas is not to live in peace and harmony with the Israelis, but to destroy them - wipe them off the face of the planet - any means necessary. And for the past 20 years, they have done nothing but attack Israel.
It is said that Hamas was the first to begin what has become almost a fad among Islamic Palestinians dedicated to the cause. This fad known as suicide bombing. While many of these attacks are targeted towards Israeli military forces, most of these gutless, Islamic, suicidal cowards do their deeds in places like shopping markets and school buses where the victims are mostly civilians consisting of women and children. Most do so with the belief that their god is going to be pleased with their murderous ending and grant them an eternity in paradise with 72 virgins at their beckon call.
Hamas is also a political party who's charter states "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad". No, that's not too radical, is it? In 2006, they won a surprise victory beating Fatah in the Palestinian elections.
Do I feel sympathy for the Palestinians civilians being hurt and killed by Israel's missiles? Yes. Is it a whole lot of sympathy? No. It is limited because these civilians are also the people who voted for Hamas knowing they were not only a political party, but a group of terrorist Islamic radicals dedicated to wiping out Israel - even if means having a jihad. Not to mention it was also these "innocent civilians" who took to the streets in celebration - handing out candy and praising Osama bin Laden - when we were attacked on 9/11/01.
So much for their sympathy towards us Americans, right?
Israel keeps on doing whatever it can do to avoid conflict, but the Palestinians don't seem to want peace unless and until Israel ceases to exist completely. Most of this conflict is based upon land rather than religious ideologies. In 1967, during what is known as the "Six Day War", Israel gained access to The Gaza Strip (Egypt) and The West Bank (Jordan). Technically, this land is theirs. They won it fair and square in a war that they didn't start.
If Canada ever started a war with the USA. (They would have to be smoking some seriously intense cannabis if they did), but let's say they did and we fought back and pushed into one of their provinces while doing so. When the war ends, that would be our land now. If Canada didn't want to lose it, they shouldn't have started a war with us in the first place.
In 1993, then Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and then Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat (the godfather of airplane hijacking) signed an agreement known as the Oslo Accord where as Israel promised to pull out of The Gaza Strip and West Bank only leaving behind only small settlements and military installations. After having a little oral sex with a Washington D.C. intern, then-President Billy-boy Clinton invited terrorist Yasser Arafat along with the Israeli Prime Minister to the White House for a ceremony where Rabin and Arafat would shake hands for the first time - as seen in this photo that was flickered around the world.
Of course, to the anti-semetic Palestians, that still wasn't enough.
Fast forward several years of bloodshed later, in August of 2005, against the protests of Israeli settlers, Israeli's then-Prime Minster Ariel Sharon demanded all Israelis pull out of the Gaza Strip stating that it was not worth the endurance of so much violence that was caused by them being there. In other words he folded like a cheap lawn chair to the dirtbag terrorist bullies of Hamas and company.
The Jew haters still remained unsatisfied. The attacks on Israel continue. Over the years it's just been the same old story. Israel makes peace and truce with the Palestinians - only to have them eventually break that truce with another attack against Israel.
The latest wave of attacks came during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, Israel warned the Palestinians of Gaza that their attacks on Israel's southern towns will be met with a response. They dropped leaflets over The Gaza Strip with stern warnings. These anti-semites out there who claim Israel is the terrorist - I ask them... did those Islamic hijackers drop leaflets down on NYC telling us that they were going to be flying planes into the Twin Towers? All Hamas had to do was stop the attacks. And they refused. And so, Israel strikes back. And with justification.
The killing of civilians is a sad fact of war. There is no such thing as a perfect war. Civilians will die. But one of the tactics that radical Islam seems to use is they purposely place their military - troops, weapons, rocket launching pads, etc - amongst heavily populated civilian areas. Then, when these strategically placed areas are bombed, and civilians die, the bombers are accused of terrorism.
Israel is not targeting these civilians the way the Palestinians are targeting Israeli civilians. The Palestinians make it all too obvious with the school buses and market places.
To anyone who is just informing themselves on world wide events - do not buy into the garbage that the anti-semites feed people. Israel is not the aggressors nor are they the terrorists. Israel has been fighting for their right to exist. They have made sacrifice after sacrifice only to find that the Jew hating Arab world still hates them just as much as ever.
And also, Israel has the might and the man-power to kill every Palestinian man, woman, and child in The Gaza Strip and the West Bank if they so wanted to. But you don't see that happening. On the other hand, do you think Israel would still exist if the Palestinians had the weapons instead of Israel?
Bottom line is this... Israel will defend themselves. And if God forbid this socialist Barack Hussein Obama cuts off American support for them, this country of ours will no longer be blessed.
Billy Kess