Something needs to change....when Olmert can brag about telling Bush how to vote at the UN...when the rest of the world sees America being led around by the nose by its supposed ally,...when Israel is always seen by the US congress as the victim completely ignoring how Israel sets itself up to be attacked by forcing this kind of response...when the people of the US poll completely to the left of our congressional leaders as they defend the right wing neocons of Israel which always leads to war...it's time to look at our being uneven in our treatment of the ME crisis. It's time to work out a 'fair' peace without being thwarted by lobbyists' threats and bribes. The rest of the world is capable of having a discussion of the realities of the situation in Gaza but only one side is ever presented in the US...and our congressional leaders do not represent what the majority of American citizens are thinking so they need to STFU instead of turning into self righteous cheerleaders for Israel lacking the support of the American people they claim to represent.

How often I've heard Iran is supplying weapons to Hamas while the fact that we are supplying weapons to Israel is ignored. And so it goes across the field. War can be averted but opnly when the cheerleading and the weapons profiteering stops. The fact that well over 300 children are dead should motivate everyone to try to find a way to stop this madness. Eliminate people like Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Cheney, Olmert, Bush and any others who place such little value on human life before we can find a new way forward besides this inhuman 'race' war that will end the only race there is...the human race.

Where does anyone get the idea that the United States gov't is anything other than reflexively and helplessly pro-right-wing Israel?

When push comes to shove, the United States will always side with the Israelis. The Palestinians know that, and so do the Israelis. Am I missing something?

If we care so much about peace, why are we still shipping Israel weapons?

This whole topic seems aggravatingly stupid to me.

What Inkadu said. This post seems like an exercise in wishful thinking. Is there any evidence at all that Sen. Clinton will, or even wants to, change the stance toward Israel? A passing reference to feeling the Palestinians' pain doesn't cut it.

Israel Bombed A Cemetery in Gaza!

This is really too much to swallow. Com'on, this is the last thing I thought would happen!

Yesterday Hilary repeated the mantra that Hamas has to:
1) Recognize Isreal
2) Renounce Violence
3) Abide by previous agreements.

Why (I ask rhetorically) is Israel never required to recognize duly elected Palastinian governments, much less a state, renounce violence and abide by previous agreement (ie settlements)? Couldn't one person at the hearings ask that during FIVE hours?

ditto inkadu:

Whats so great about Hilary? She's being called rhobust, smart canny. This all looks like more of the same. BTW the used to say Cheney was such a hot operator back in the day. I remember then wondering what this reputation was based on. Certainly not his past. He seemed a bit of a blunderer. But new political Bismark is what the media decided he was and everyone else got in line.

I think the same is happening to Clinton. People want to think she has the chops but I don't see it. She's the same old.

The other day Indyk was on Democracy Now! and Norman Finklestein was on also and critiquing Indyk and his book. Indyk was upset that he had to defend his book against someone who had actually read it. Indyk said that he would not have come on if he knew that he would have to debate Finklestein. Indyk was whiny because he couldn't make his points without questions.

Daniel Levy is also the Zionist yahoo who gave a speech in Toronto, during the opening days of Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006, which featured the money-shot phrase, "Are we acting disproportionately? YOU'RE GOD-DAMNED RIGHT WE ARE!!!". This was met with roars of approval from the Israel-friendly crowd.

Therefore, I wouldn't be over-soothed by any suggestion on his part that the United states be an honest broker in the Middle East. What he means is the United States should be willing to continue supplying the sinews of war and the political muscle that will allow Israel to continue expanding the Jewish state into the West Bank.

I note with profound disgust that Canada's was the sole dissenting vote on the recent United Nations Human Rights Council's resolution to condemn Israel's invasion of Gaza. Similarly, the new Liberal leader's (Michael Ignatieff) strong public support of Israel has just cost him my vote. Since there are no viable alternatives, I guess I can take next election day off.

The only hope for peace in Palestine is that the American people actually become educated about the situation and how it developed via the Zionist movement. This is likely the Israeli governments biggest nightmare.

This is discounting the 25% or so of the American population that is actively promoting Armageddon.

Until the electorate wakes up and becomes angry, petitions and letters will do no good. Both the congress and the executive branch are totally owned.

Ditto for other domestic and world crises where the US govt has screwed the proverbial pooch. Health care, international law, torture, financial systems, genocide in Africa etc etc...

The Israelis are Terrified

... and rightly so. Not just the Hitler thing. Or the fear that, every now and then, some Arab would blow him/herself up at the local Starbucks while you're enjoying a latte. Or even the blind terror that some primitive unguided rocket might fall on your house one day.

All these are legitimate, though probably over-rated. What should really terrify Israelis is that, for the last 60 years, they have been guilty of increasing levels of brutality against the people who used to live where Israelis are living now. And that these people have relatives and "people" in countries all around "little" Israel. And the continuing harsh, inconscienable treatment has made ALL of them angry, regardless of their nationality or religion.

Worse, the rest of the world has been watching, too, and they're not happy, either. Only the US is okay with being led around by the nose - and having this widely and triumphantly aired by the current Israeli government.

But a new administration is coming in and a new Congress, and there might actually be changes this time. Unlikely, but maybe. Meanwhile, the Arabs are getting angrier, in spite of efforts to slaughter them into submission; world opinion is becoming more hostile; and if Israel blows it now, there might not be any refuge place for Jews anymore.

It's an "existential" threat indeed. The successful Secretary of State will need to recognize Israel's legitimate guilt and resulting fear - and find a way for them to back out, atone, start again. After 60 long years, it won't be easy, but it gets harder every day.