It is an intellectually & morally corrupt society & should be subject to sanctions & boycotts world-wide until some sanity prevails politically. Moderate Israelis must step forward now.

Not one square centimetre of the West Bank should remain in Israeli hands, and Jersuslaem should be placed under the control of an inter faith commission.

For the record, I have the support of my many Jewish Aussie friends in making these statements.

Lenna

Rundle does not know the first elements about Israel.

His claims about amendments to broaden Israel’s immigration policy are simply wrong. What he says in the article on this point is simply incorrect.

Labor has gone into coalition with Likud in order to remove Lieberman from any real position of power. None of his obnoxious policies will be implemented. If he is made Foreign Minister it will be a set-up for him to fail. It is a tragedy that Israel has a proportional representation system, because this allows some pretty weird electoral outcomes. However, it also ensures that Arabs have representation in the Knesset in roughly proportional terms when they participate in elections.

It is like the hysterical articles in Crikey about the “banning” of Arab parties from elections a while back. This was an obnoxious decision, but anybody who knew anything about Israeli politics and law knew that it would never be implemented.

Israeli Arabs have vastly more democratic rights and legal protections than any Arab Moslem citizen of an Arab country. Ironic but true.

The reportage about white phosphorus bombs and other alleged actions during the Gaza offensive have come from Israeli reporters and soldiers - what does that tell you about Israeli society, democracy and law? It would never happen in an Arab country.

If you expect Israelis to give up their country, they will not. If you expect them to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza, in return for a guarantee of peace, that is entirely legitimate.

How are you going to get Hamas to agree to this?

Free Palestine - from Hamas.

“According to the Israeli Association for Civil Rights, anti-Arab incidents have risen sharply. “Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of expression and privacy,” says Sami Michael, the organization’s president. Among the Association’s findings:

* Some 55 percent of Jewish Israelis say that the state should encourage Arab emigration;

* 78 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose including Arab parties in the government;

* 56 percent agree with the statement that “Arabs cannot attain the Jewish level of cultural development”;

* 75 percent agree that Arabs are inclined to be violent. Among Arab-Israelis, 54 percent feel the same way about Jews.

* 75 percent of Israeli Jews say they would not live in the same building as Arabs.”

http://www.alternet.org/audits/1298 /disturbing_idea_of_expelling_arabs_from_israeli_territory_gains_ground/

Regardless of the historical context for Israel’s actions, its actions in Gaza lacked military necessity, distinction and proportionality in both the strategic and tactical environments. The unnecessary suffering and destruction this caused for the ordinary civilians of Gaza is unforgiveable.

You need to understand that this is not about defending Hamas fighters. This is about defending the ordinary civilians of Gaza, of which a very small minority are Hamas fighters. Did you see the British destroying catholic areas in Northern Ireland to stop the IRA firing rockets and mortars at the British bases? Of course not, and it was not only because that course of action would have been illegal, but because it would not have worked. The British would have lost the moral high ground, and international support would have fallen behind the Republican cause. Israel lost the moral high ground when they destroyed Gaza (if they had not already lost it), and I suggest their international support is about to be lost too.

The Law of Return allows entry to Israel of people with a Jewish grandparent, whether they are Jewish or not. This was based on the selection criteria that the Nazis adopted in the holocaust. It has not changed to boost migration or for any other reason..

Where is the evidence that Arabs are not allowed to walk in parts of Jerusalem?

If the firepower at Israel’s disposal was in the hands of Hamas, there would not be a Jew alive in Israel. That is the difference between the sides to this dispute.

Far from seeking to maximise casualties, Israel sought to minimise them.

That illegal actions almost certainly occurred during the war has been exposed by the Israeli media and is being investigated. Is there a single Arab country where the government could be similiarly investigated.

Labor has joined the coalition to sideline Yisrael Beitenu and push forward with a two state solution.

A single state will never happen, and those who promote it merely want the Jews of Israel to commit collective suicide.; Those days are over and will not return.

you ask about the prospect of the number of Jews being swamped by Arabs in Israel in the future.

I believe there will be a two state solution and Israel will have to abandon the west bank as it has Gaza and agree to Jerusalem being the legal capital of both states.

In this context a Jewish majority will prevail in Israel.

Just as Israel will have to accept this outcome and withdraw from all settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, the Arabs will have to accept the reality.

Once the Palestinians have a state, they will have to accept that one, solitary missile or other attack on Israel will be an act of war, and Israel will be entitled to - and should - launch an overwhelming military response. In my view, in the event that the Palestinians achieve a state, they will have to accept that, just as with any other country in the world, if they attack Israel it will mean war. In such a context, I would hope that Israel would react with force that would make the recent Gaza incursion look like a picnic.

The problem is that Israel maintains the settlements - and this the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis - and a series of Israeli governments - recognise that this simply cannot continue.

If the Palestinians leaderships (plural) adopted peaceful means to achieve a two state solution they would have had one years ago. The very demographic pressures raised by Rachel dictate that Israel must accept it. If the Palestinian leaderships demonstrated that they also support it (Hamas does not), with a new American President the opportunity for resolution has never been better.

Somewhere along the line, well into the future, all the inhabitants of the settler state of Israel and most occupied areas will need to be accommodated within a new political entity. The current configuration is unsustainable and getting more dangerous by the day - for everyone.
If its bias to perorate as Rundle has done, we need more of it.
You see, the other side of this is that Israeli hawks are talking up a raid on Iran: A non-declared nuclear state aiming at a not-yet-nuclear state. Great, what a TV event that will be. Sorry, this is now more directly affecting all of us.

Israel’s actions are indefensible if proven; but without historical context, that would be like accusing Churchill of war crimes for the bombing of Dresden.