This contest between the Jew Haters and the Hamas Haters is really getting tedious. Both sides are wrong. Both sides share equal guilt. Any HONEST person would admit that. Hate is the real ugliness and it is as rampant here on ATS as it is on the ground in Gaza.

What in the hell is wrong with you people anyway. Spewing hatred and distorting facts while pretending to be for Peace. No wonder there will never be any peace. The whole human race is to blame. The truth and calm heads leads to peace.

Hamas could give a rats behind about the Palestinians and the same goes for the State of Israel. Until people admit both sides are to blame they are just spewing venom based on personal bigotry and the innocent will continue to suffer. Keep on thumping your chests and imitating the real culprits and hang your heads in shame for being part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Me, I'm siding with the victims in Israel and Gaza and against both Hamas and the Government of Israel. I refuse to hate either the Palestinians or the Jews. I'll leave that to the hotheads and bigots that cause all the worlds grief.

oh gimme a break, this is pretty simple for me, one side is throwing the ballistic equivalent of rocks, the other is shooting phosphorous shells at civilians and the UN, to be anything other than outraged with isreal is morally empty diplomatic hand wringing.

hamas are a terror organisation, everyone has always acknowledged that. they're ignorant and stupid hate moungering pricks. the sickness of an allegedly and self proclaimed modern and diplomatic government justifying themselves by saying that they are only just stooping lower than the enemy is disgusting.

hate is the enemy, you are correct, but perhaps the correct response is outrage.

[edit on 15/1/09 by pieman]

to put this in a boxing term...

The middle east is Isreal Vs Whoever else....

It's round four, it's been a bloody, vicious battle, both sides are giving it everything and guess what, it's going twelve rounds! And after that, there will be one victor, one loser. Unless the referee is brave enough to step in! But they've all got other agenda's on their minds...

dunno why it bothers me exactly, it feels like there's a lot of "both sides are equally wrong" sentiment going around, which gets on my wick, but thats not all there is to it.

for me it's like a scumbag criminal being beaten while in custody. yeah, he is a bad man but he's playing to form, the cops claim to be the good guys, they are more immoral in their degradation.

to say both sides are equally wrong is to excuse israel in my eyes. given the circumstances of the establishment of the jewish state and their history and everything, i just feel that they should know better.

why don't we look to israel as a beacon of restraint and acceptance in the world instead of arguing if the use of phosphorous shells is justified in a built up area?

[edit on 15/1/09 by pieman]

"Hate is a poison to the soul of the person that is doing the hating."

I wrote that and I've received some flak for doing so. Some people believe hate is as natural an emotion as love or anger and needed for a person to be whole and healthy. That is wrong. I looked it up to make sure.

Love, anger, hope, happiness, disgust, these are all emotions and yes we need them all to be healthy.

Hate is not an emotion, it is a choice just like prejudice. If you can remove prejudice from your life you can remove hate from it as well.

The world would be a better place if more hate were removed.

Starred and flagged.

interesting idea mrwupy.

i've always thought of hate more as a polarity to love, which is not altogether incompatible with your idea. you can, absolutely, live a healthy life without either, or both, however it isn't so clear cut as to why anyone would want to.

....I just want to say that me and the OP are not the same person with
2 accounts....and with that said....I wouldn't have written his first post any different than what he said....In fact when I have posted what he said I used thousands of more characters to say the same thing....I'm long winded and equally tired of throwing my bucket of water on all of those inferno threads....good job OP!

wow...one letter made my last sentence contradictory not "these" threads..."those" threads.

I agree 100% with OP is the gist.

[edit on 15-1-2009 by Res Ipsa]

Sorry, had to go to the bank and take care of payroll or I'd have a revolt here

What set me off is a conversation I had with my business partner last night. We have been partners and friends for 20 years. He is a Jew and I'm from a German immigrant family.

He had just returned from Florida where he and his Brother had moved their 82 year old Mother to a new home. Her health is failing and they were concerned due to an incident in the building she had lived in for 30 years.

Apparently one of her neighbors, who is an Anti-Semite found out she was a Jew and had started yelling threats at her when they would see her going down the hall with her walker. Apparently their teenage children had gotten quite threatening with her a couple of times.

My Partners family are originally from France. Until two years ago his Son was living with his ex-Wife in France.

He had to put his Son in a private school that he could barely afford because he was getting threatened by an Anti-Semetic gang made up of Middle East Immigrants. I recall asking him how bad it was for Jews in France and he told me that in Southern France it had gotten very dangerous.

A few months later he tells me his Son is now in Los Angeles because a gang of kids from wealthy Middle Eastern immigrants had threatened to murder him. I can't imagine what that must be like generation after generation.

These poor people are honest hard working people and he has been a terrific and honest partner. They are not even from Israel and yet they live in fear even in the US and France.

I asked him once if he had ever been to Israel and found out he had gone for about a year as an exchange student. He said he would never go back because "They are crazy".

In 1997 I hired a Palestinian as a delivery courier. He and his family flew to the Middle East every year for religious reasons. I asked him once about what it was like over there. He also said he hated it there and that they were all "crazy". He and his family hid from most people that they were Palestinian out of fear. Again, even in the US they have to fear hate.

All of these thoughts, memories and that discussion built up in me this morning and this thread is what spewed forth, so to speak.

I don't want to offend anyone. I only want to attempt to get people to see that the real source of our worlds suffering lies squarely upon our shoulders and our own hateful ignorance as a species. Blame the governments all you want but remember that they are a reflection of us.

im with the OP. im a jew and lived in israel and this is ridiculous. tons of jews hate what israel is doing, they see it for more than just my side or their side. and tons of palestinians hate what the radical groups are doing. we need to remember though that this all boils down to land. holy land. made holy by a book mind you. and this my friends is why do not believe in religion. what kind of god would tell his people (jews) to go and slay all women and children of his people (palestinians)?? how ignorant. like posted, all this hatred needs to stop. we need to look past the skin and race. both sides can love, care, and show compassion. they just dont stop for a single second and think that hey, maybe that person im cursing is axtually a good guy that treats others with equality and compassion!

no no....thinking and analyzing went out the window a long time ago. haha and christians believe the devil is some external force they spoke of