Why do people have such a big problem with Israel defending thelselves?

I don't my only problem is that Israel didn't use enough force to crush its enemy.

It has a lot to do with the paucity of historical knowledge of the 'average person,' which feeds an unrealistic worldview, combined with lingering prejudice and a broken media. The comments one hears are so often just childish variations of "But it's just not fair!' People need to grow up and look at the world as it actually is instead of whining about what is 'fair.' The difference between right and wrong in the real world is totally misunderstood.

"Right" is a matter of perspective. One can discuss with others whether or not something is 'right,' and such discussions and considerations are useful in formulating a personal code of ethics or a standard upon which to personally judge other states, but in the real world the adage 'Might Makes Right' is the realistic rule of the day.

When the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rebelled (even though the situations are hardly comparable), they armed themselves and fought against Nazi SOLDIERS, not innocent civilians. But the Palestinians do not fight by the Geneva Convention, they fight as terrorists with suicide bombers, rocket attacks on civilians, and fake 'aid' convoys meant to create martyrs for propaganda. Let the Palestinians field an army and initiate combat. I would not deny the Palestinians the right to fight for land they consider theirs, but the Palestinians are too weak to win, so they whine to the world media instead. Public opinion rarely wins a war. The Turks should be ashamed that they have allowed Israel's enemies to mount such a cynical 'aid' mission. They have some 'splaining to do.

The idea that somehow the Israelis have no right to the land they now inhabit, and therefore no right to defend themselves and their acquired homeland, is ridiculous. If any country bordering the US were firing rockets over the border--without even the formality of a declaration of war--and killing American citizens, they would be invaded and their leaders deposed and executed. I find it hard to believe that anyone would be able to criticize such an action.

Taking it even further--in anticipation of protests by those who would claim the situations are not comparable--suppose rockets from an Indian Reservation were being launched from the reservation into an American city, killing innocent civilians? Regardless of the past history, involving Americans displacing said Indians and taking over their land by force, invading the attacking reservation and arresting and executing the criminal attackers would still be considered a justifiable reaction. Israel’s situation is no different.

After all, there are very few countries lacking a history similar in this respect. Every nation in North and South America displaced the native population and took over their land. Does this mean that they have no right to defend themselves from attack?

Human history is replete with examples of a weaker people being displaced by a stronger people, from Australia to Britain, and all points in between. In fact, this is a long established tradition of us Homo Sapiens, who began our dominance of the planet by wiping out all the Neanderthals and taking their lands. (While I am in no way comparing Palestinians to Neanderthals, one imagines the Neanderthals appealing to the UN!)

The Palestinians could have peace and their own state anytime they want to. All they need is to get rid of the terrorists who control their politics and sit down in good faith with the Israelis. The other Arab countries also add to the problem by supporting the Hamas terrorists and refusing to resettle the Palestinians in their own countries. They would do this if they really cared about the Palestinians, but they do not. They only care about hating Jews.

The Palestinians, instead of whining about the lost battles of the past, should instead abandon the political leadership that has been unable to redress the situation through terrorism, and give good-faith negotiations a shot. The Israelis are not unreasonable, and would be perfectly willing to come to an equitable resolution of the regions difficulties, if they only had responsible Palestinian leaders to work with.

In conclusion, the Israelis are perfectly within their rights to defend themselves with equal vigilance, utilizing any aggressive means necessary to counter their opponents' terrorist tactics. Only a person with an unreasonable prejudice against the Israelis could fail to recognize their right to defend themselves and their homeland.

A sovereign state such as the US or Israel answers to no one but themselves. Might does indeed make right, whether or not the people affected are willing to accept the reality of their situation. Only the weak, the simple-minded, or those whose grasp of human history is mediocre at best, whine about it.

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All we need to know is this undeniable truth:

If the Palestinians put down their weapons their would be peace.

If the Israelis put down their weapons they would be slaughtered by the millions.

No country is spotless, they have all made their mistakes. But what is going on here with Israel is rabid hate for the Jews. Also, they are capitalists like the United States, that alone is worthy of unbridled hate.

This has nothing to do with what they tell you it has to do with, it never does with the left.

I am Brazilian, I of the not speak English well.

Does nobody defend that Israel lets to attack, however is it necessary what rules and laws are respected, one of them the respect is to navigate in international waters, did the Jews already forget about the ghettos of Warsaw?

They seems that yes because they are making the same with the Palestinian. The slogan of never to forget is only worth to the own sufferings and no the feeling of doing the others suffer the same?

Wow...you're clueless. They were carrying out international terrorism against an unarmed aid ship in international waters which was going to Gaza, not Israel. Israel has been imposing an illegal blockade on the people of Gaza for three years. They've been carrying out an illegal occupation since 1967. They also regularly destroy Palestinian homes with bulldozers and sometimes commit acts of outright aggression while depriving children of water. If Israel wanted security it could have it. All it would have to do is withdraw to it's borders and stop committing it's crimes against humanity. What they are doing clearly is not about defense. They're strangling the Palestinian people in order to conquer their land. Please do some research before posting things like this.

... No, of course not. But when U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan, an unarmed 19 year old boy, is shot four (4) times in the head and once in the back, that's not self-defense; it's an execution. It's murder. That's what you would call it if an Iranian or Iraqi or Taliban had done it.

When a ship is boarded in International waters, and unarmed human aid workers are shot, and jailed, and their possessions and cargo stolen, that's piracy. That's what you would call it if Somalis had done it. Israel is breaking the Geneva Conventions.

Have those of you who are sticking up for Israel heard what those who were there are saying? I'll bet not. I'll bet you only heard one side of the story. I've been listening to their interviews this afternoon, and one after another they said the Israelis were firing on them before they even landed on the ship.

Yea they really hate it, when their victim doesn't just lay there and take it. How dare they defend themselves.

You know as well as I do. When attacked our only question is do we stop once they are bombed back to the stone age. Or do we go for primordial soup.

I'm a big soup fan, myself.

Firing missiles into our country? Um, that ship was not firing missiles, it was delivering aid. Not weapons, food and other supplies, including cement, which Israel considers to be contraband, but I don't think that is reasonable. They were in international waters when Israeli forces attacked them.

Israel had the right to board those ships but there was a serious failure in tactics and leadership on the part of their military which cost lives. Also releasing video that only covers the first 60 seconds of the operation means there are things that happened on that ship the Israeli military does not want the world to see.

Okay, I just have a few questions for you.

How was the Israeli offer to sell nukes to Apartheid South Africa just defending themselves?

How is it okay that the Israelis bomb civilian infrastructure on a routine basis?

What does this tell you about Israel?:

Israel's policy was summed up by Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, earlier this year. 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,' he said

Why did Archbishop Desmond Tutu say that Israel is a racist state, and Nelson Mandela call Israel an apartheid state?