ISRAEL launches offensive on Gaza!

originally posted by: OpinionatedB
I cannot imagine either group would actually believe in God.

Oh man ... So true.
Don't get me started on bronze age mentality ideas about God.

Israel's President: Gaza ground offensive 'may happen quite soon'

"The operation will be expanded and will continue until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.

He did not detail what the expansion would entail, but President Shimon Peres said in an exclusive interview Wednesday with CNN's Becky Anderson that a ground offensive "may happen quite soon" unless Hamas stops firing rockets at Israel. Will there be ground operation in Gaza? Israel raises shield against rocket attacks History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "We warned them. We asked them to stop it," Peres told Anderson. "We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel."

CNN

I am not the smartest person in the world but when you have to forces sworn to the destruction of the other you are going to have conflict I wish there was a way to stop the killing but this constant finger pointing at one side or the other is insane they both have avowed the destruction of the other start from there peace Hawk

Harry Fear

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
a reply to: FlyersFan

Well .. if Hamas would stop firing rockets at Israel, then Israel wouldn't have a reason to shoot back.

Really? Is that sarcasm or a real opinion? Not that I support any sort of violence, but I have a feeling it's a bit more complicated than that to just point your finger at the Palestinians and say it's all their fault and they deserve what they get.

did you read the article , hamas fired first , there would be no reason for the IDF to counter-attack if there was no initial attack. and hamas is a bunch of cowards for imbedding in civilian areas

a reply to: Hellas

Confirmed

Just got text from my son

Cody

As I sit here reading this thread, shaking my head at so much ignorance about the situation, and hate toward Israel, air raid sirens have gone off several times (I live about 10km from Gaza). I have about 15 seconds to get into my safe room, and as I'm closing the door, I hear the explosions of the rockets being intercepted by Iron Dome rattling the windows of my apartment... These rockets are sometimes intercepted right above my building.

Too many posts to quote directly, but I'll address a few of them.

Gaza is not being hit in retaliation for the 3 kidnapped/murdered Israeli teens. The kidnapping and murder happened in the West Bank, not Gaza. After the bodies were found, Israel didn't just go and start pounding Gaza as some here would have you to believe... Hamas launched rockets and Israel hit those launch sites. After Hamas escalated rocket fire to 100+ per day, Israel continued to hit those launch sites in addition to targeting the homes of Hamas leadership.

"Israel is conducting mass murder/genocide in Gaza", "Israel wants to wipe out the Palestinians" - Seriously? If Israel wanted to do this, there would be 1 MILLION+ dead in Gaza overnight rather than the 20-100 (And I'm sure a lot of those were the ones launching rockets)! Israel has more than enough firepower to accomplish this if desired... So please no more of the mass murder and genocide BS, it's a lie.
I'm sure there are some innocents dying, and that is very unfortunate. But the other option is for Israel to do nothing in response to attacks on their citizens (and others living in Israel - namely ME). I don't know how many of you have ever lived with the threat of rockets randomly exploding around you (Not many I bet), but if you did, you might feel a little differently about the country you live in responding to those attacks...

I took a break in the middle of writing this post to get my dog out to the beach for a little exercise (fetch) - normally my wife would take him on a long 10km walk several times a week, but that doesn't happen anymore because of the rocket attacks. There's not a lot of cover on the route she would take. This is something you constantly have to think about when you are away from home. "Which way is Gaza?" so you can find the nearest object to put between you and the rockets... Not a fun way to live. While I was at the beach the air raid sirens went off a couple more times, luckily there is a retaining wall made up of boulders between the beach and marina that we could duck behind.

At the end of 2008 during the last big conflict with Gaza (and Before Iron Dome was operational) the cities in the south of Israel were like ghost towns. Very few cars and almost no people out and about walking. It's not as bad now, but things are still pretty empty - we went out earlier to do a little shopping and the mall and grocery store were pretty dead, and the outdoor market was not even open today.

"The rockets Hamas is launching are glorified fireworks/bottle-rockets". Sorry, that is another lie. The smallest rockets have 5kg of explosives. How many of you would like that to explode in your yard, in your house, in your car? 5kg of explosive can most definitely kill you! The largest of the "small" rockets has 20kg of explosives... The longer range Grad missile also tops out at about 20kg of explosive, while the largest missiles used by Hamas to date (Fajr-5), have 90kg of high explosive!

"Hamas is the Democratically elected government of Gaza." They won the election through threats, intimidation, and violence. They would shoot their political opponents in the legs and toss them off the nearest high rise. Pretty easy to win an election if nobody is running against you...

A couple of parting points:

-Egypt controls the southern border of Gaza - Why is there no outrage or hate directed at Egypt for maintaining this "open air prison"? I've asked this several times here on ATS and NOBODY has every replied to this point...

-Rockets are not being launched from the West Bank, and guess what? Israel doesn't conduct air strikes in the West Bank... When Gaza doesn't launch rockets, Israel leaves them alone...

originally posted by: Hellas

if Hamas was not a bunch of cowards they would not embed themselves so close to children and the elderly , they should be men and not launch rockets so close to were children are, do it for the safety of the children

a reply to: CommandoJoe

Check your u2u's

Cody

originally posted by: JohnTheSmith
I was wondering when they were going to take Gaza. Warmongering land-grabbers, who aid themselves with deceit and manipulation through propaganda. This is the 21st century, after all.

a reply to: Britguy
It appears that the Iron Dome has intercepted at least 5 rockets today.

Yeah that is why Israel gave the pallys Gaza for peace you ignorant fool!!! All this started when the Arab terrorist kidnapped and killed innocent Israeli kids, not to mention firing rockets into Israel on a daily basis.

Get a clue!!!

originally posted by: Patriotsrevenge

originally posted by: JohnTheSmith
I was wondering when they were going to take Gaza. Warmongering land-grabbers, who aid themselves with deceit and manipulation through propaganda. This is the 21st century, after all.

a reply to: Britguy
It appears that the Iron Dome has intercepted at least 5 rockets today.

Yeah that is why Israel gave the pallys Gaza for peace you ignorant fool!!! All this started when the Arab terrorist kidnapped and killed innocent Israeli kids, not to mention firing rockets into Israel on a daily basis.

Get a clue!!!

That was very nice of Israel to give the Palestinians a piece of their own land. Shall I come over to your house kick you in the nuts and give you one cupboard to live in? Think of how thankful you will be....

Get a clue,, actually get more than one you desperately need them!!!

originally posted by: Patriotsrevenge

originally posted by: JohnTheSmith
I was wondering when they were going to take Gaza. Warmongering land-grabbers, who aid themselves with deceit and manipulation through propaganda. This is the 21st century, after all.

a reply to: Britguy
It appears that the Iron Dome has intercepted at least 5 rockets today.

Yeah that is why Israel gave the pallys Gaza for peace you ignorant fool!!! All this started when the Arab terrorist kidnapped and killed innocent Israeli kids, not to mention firing rockets into Israel on a daily basis.

Get a clue!!!

They gave them Gaza for peace?? That is so stupid on so many levels..

originally posted by: FlyersFan

originally posted by: OpinionatedB
I cannot imagine either group would actually believe in God.

Oh man ... So true.
Don't get me started on bronze age mentality ideas about God.

God never said you can not protect your family and that is exactly what Israel is doing. We all know who starts these fights every time by launching rockets at Israel. They are screwed now, after abducting and killing those kids.

The scum in Gaza needs to pay for all the crap they pull. Israel should force them all out and retake all the Jewish land back permanently.

##SNIPPED##

a reply to: Patriotsrevenge

They are screwed now, after abducting and killing those kids

Evidence that they done this

Israel should force them all out and retake all the Jewish land back permanently.

Ah nothing like a bit of genocide to get the old heart pumping, eh?

Only Arabs start fights they cant win buy firing from homes with women and children in them

And Israel are the ones to actually kill women and children

Lol did you actually call someone else ignorant then came out with this drivel?

originally posted by: Patriotsrevenge
God never said you can not protect your family ...

Sure. No problem.

The problem is when people say 'God gave me this land via Abrahams promise'. THAT is a problem. The Jews say God gave it to them and that it was promised to them. The Muslims say the Jews broke their promise with God and therefore it belongs to Muslims. (at least, that's what a few Muslims on ATS were saying a while back).

And the truth of the matter is, no one even knows if Abraham existed. Making land claims based on someone who may or may not have lived 4,000 years ago ... well that's bad business.

I know there is more to it there than that. But if the 'god card' could be removed from the situation, it might help clear some of the fog of the 'believers' over there. (but I wouldn't count on it ... )

a reply to: Hellas

Violence begets violence.

originally posted by: Britguy

I thought that expensive Iron Dome system was supposed to shoot down all these rockets anyway. I wonder too what the infrastructure damage was from this rocket attack? How many homes damaged or destroyed, for example? They always seem to leave all this information out of report, simply saying rockets were fired.

It does shoot them all down in their wet dreams, what are you talking about

originally posted by: hellobruce

originally posted by: Fylgje
Israel is blood-thirsty and intent on destroying all who oppose them.

Funny how you ignore the fact that the Hamas charter states Israel must be wiped out - Hamas do not want peace, they want Israel destroyed.

the people behind the forming of Israel and its up keeping have made their country by wiping out the owners of that land through genocide. The owners of Israel can never survive with peace. They will always have war. Why do you think their biggest holidays and celebrations are of killing and war? I don't think that all Palestinians are responsible for Hamas, either, so every time this Mossad....AHEM, I mean, Hamas does something, it isn't okay to bomb and kill innocent Palestinians, and then claim that this "Hamas" used them as "human shields". What a convenient answer for murdering innocents. And all this happens in 20124 while the world sits by and does nothing other than the boycott of Israel, which I am part of. I do not hate jews, but I hate Zionists or "jewish supremacists". I hate supremacists of any kind.

If people had respect and value of life, the world wouldn't be so bloody like it is now. But the problem is, some people think that nobody elses life matters and are willing to destroy all forms of it just so they can succeed. Peace is a platter that Israel needs to eat and digest.