Guest lazyphil Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 i'm not trying to goad you robaus, but why do you care so much? (serious question) of course i feel sad as much as anyone else, seeing suffering and pain (refugees etc) but, cynically, its just easier to switch off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robaus Posted June 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Not forgetting that it was Israel who was the aggressor in the first place by storming a ship in international waters, leaving 9 people dead. I wanna tell you a story: Let’s say you’re sitting in a bar with your girlfriend and some nasty drunk comes up and starts mauling her. She pushes him away and he slaps her. You naturally step in and hit the drunk back. He’s bigger than you but he’s drunk. You manage to knock him to the ground. But he looks madder than hell now, pulls a knife, and starts to get up. You hit him again and maybe stick the boot in till he stays down. Next the police and ambulance arrive. Turns out the drunk is an off duty cop, and you are charged with aggravated assault. No problem, it’s all been captured on CCTV. But when you appear in court the cop has had a quiet word with his mates and his mates have had a quiet word with the bar owner. All that the tape now shows is you viciously kicking the poor defenceless drunk. I’m not denying that the activists were defending themselves, perhaps vehemently too. I want to know is Who started it? Israel’s script reads: poor unsuspecting Israeli [elite] soldiers [without riot equipment] were ambushed by vicious activists. They only fired in self defense to save their own lives. It got embellished a bit with bits about activists’ guns, night goggles and flack jackets (but they turned out to be tagged archive photos), mysterious figures with alleged terrorist links joining the voyage offshore beyond security checks (turned out to be Euro MPS and retired US Ambassador) The activists script reads: shots were fired from a helicopter, 2 were killed, activists went to defend themselves and attack the attackers, 7 more were killed, some like the Australian who saw a laser sighted on his leg as he retreated indoors, and next news his femoral is severed. So as the BBC said “Doubts cast on Israel’s account of the boarding†Wouldn’t you think in those circumstances that if Israel has nothing to hide, why not - Show the whole unedited film from start to finish. - Release footage from Al Jazeera’s confiscated cameras and passengers mobile phones that have no doubt been copied by Israeli intelligence, then returned with their memory cards wiped. - Co-operate transparently with an international inquiry which Israel has now rejected. So much for a Hillary Clinton’s “prompt, impartial credible and transparent investigation†The problem is that Israel has a track record of lying when it comes to its version of events when they kill peace activists and journalists. Don’t you think with all this evasiveness a reasonable minded person might think they may just be lying yet again….. Rachel Corrie Tom Hurndall James Miller Iain Hook Other peace activists killed or maimed by Israel l Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robaus Posted June 7, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 >>i'm not trying to goad you robaus, but why do you care so much? Bloody Nora, Lazyphil, I bet you wish you hadn’t asked me that question when you see the length of my reply. Put it down to a bit of soul searching and Gilbeys gin. Your question prompted me to take a trip down memory lane. Thanks. I traveled to the Middle East in my 20’s, Hitchhiked around the place (even did Beirut to London). I stayed in the Youth Hostel in Beirut before the troubles (met a stripper from Liverpool on the beach who invited me to her nightclub.. had drinks sent over from some reli of King Hussein), got propositioned (unsuccessfully!) by a woofter truck driver on a lift over to Damascus. All one big adventure. Hadn’t a clue, didn’t care about politics of the area. Then in Baghdad youth hostel I met an American who was as passionate as I am now about the conflict. I thought he was an absolute rabid nutter. (there’s a bit of it about, eh hehe). Up until then I thought Israelis were lovely European folks who’d always lived in Israel, folkloric singing and dancing on their kibbutzim. Of course I wasn’t converted by one conversation with the American, but often when I visit a region I end up researching its history and culture… a bit of an arse about way of doing things I suppose. But the more I read the more amazed I was about the irony of a people who had been persecuted so much in the Holocaust and pogroms, then going and doing it to someone else (possibly abused child syndrome), and that they were actually getting away with it through the big lie of their huge propaganda machine. Then there’s my nature comes into it too: I just hate bullies. The only way to deal with them is to stand up and give em a dose of their own medicine. Plus my innate dislike of injustice and racism. Well, I supposed it just kicked on from there. I’ve mellowed over the years. I’ve met a lot of Israelis traveling, some of them totally obnoxious, bullying and abusing locals as though they were still herding Palestinians at a checkpoint. If you ever do the Annapurna circuit trek in Nepal you’ll see signs outside guesthouses reading “No Israelisâ€Â. Conversely I’ve met some absolutely delightful decent Israelis, Once with one young Israeli bloke I trekked with in Ladakh. “I†turned out to be the ugly tourist ranting and raving about our monk horsemen who took about 29 cups of yak butter tea in the morning to get started. He was calm as you like, not aggressive, said what’s the problem, we can see the path, if we’re in doubt we’ll wait till they catch up. Oh my Buddha, he humbled me. I’m not a physical fighter any more. My last close fisticuffs encounter was 3 years ago. All I have to fight with now is the written word. So I write about this cause because I know a lot about it… been following events for decades. My credo is “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing†So I try to do something. I suppose when I’m ranting and raving about Israeli thugs, with my over the top counter-productively alienating readers on this forum, I’m thinking about the bastard Israeli trekkers who refused to pay 10 cents to a poor shepherd at 4000m on another trek I did alone in Ladakh for camping on his land, the only bit of flat grass for miles, because he didn’t have hot water they smirked, knowing he could not do a thing about it. When I present my peace plan, I’m thinking about the wonderful Israeli I met without whose help I would never have made it up Mt Tronador in Argentina, who gave me a lift back to Bariloche in his hire car to save me from missing a flight, and sent me copies of his climb photos back to Oz because my camera had packed up. I want him and his family to be able to live in peace and stop looking over their shoulder. Another factor is the Islamophobia mania on this and other sites and my email inbox from supposedly intelligent friends. I have received nothing but kindness and hospitality from Muslims I have met, apart from the woofter truckie and the Jordanian who held a gun to me wanting to get inside my knickers (unsuccessfully!) .. but that’s another story! Since 9/11 it’s become the fashion to make Muslims the boogey men. Me.. I just take people as I find them on an individual basis. Anyway, that’s the way I am. Bet you wish you’d never asked, LP The last thing I want to do is damage this forum in any way. I started another thread to see if KS wants to terminate the Non Thailand news that causes so much controversy. Controversy is good I reckon. We all learn something. His site. He’s the boss. He knows what’s manageable and beneficial to his site, and what isn’t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallenda Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Who started it? OK I think that's your way of acknowledging the guys weren't getting shot at. OK. Got it. See, the path to peace is excruciating. I don't think the soldiers were gonna maul the guys' girlfriends, actually they almost surely weren't going to be violent in any way. Who started it? Started what? If the question is who started the violence, from watching these videos I'd have to say the protestors did. A physical attack (referring to their using their makeshift weapons) is not the only possible response to the soldiers boarding the vessel, in fact was pointless other than to grab headlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 Oh dear... Iran Red Crescent to send two aid ships to Gaza By Farhad Pouladi (AFP) – 11 hours ago TEHRAN  The Iranian Red Crescent has decided to send two aid ships to Gaza this week in the latest bid to break the blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory by Iran's regional archfoe Israel. Red Crescent director for international affairs Abdolrauf Adibzadeh told the state IRNA news agency late on Sunday that the decision to send the ships was taken after a meeting with the foreign ministry. "One ship will carry donations made by the people and the other will carry relief workers. The ships will be sent to Gaza by end of this week," Adibzadeh said. He said the Red Crescent has called for Iranian volunteers to act as relief workers and accompany the vessels. "Volunteers who want to go to Gaza and help the oppressed people of occupied Palestine can refer to the Red Crescent website and register," Adibzadeh said. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEWKLpKjRKdQtCat_2tmvahx_Uaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 hang on, need a pot of strong tea and packet of digestives to go with that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 ... I wonder if that is enriched flour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 ...and the plot thickens. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted June 7, 2010 Report Share Posted June 7, 2010 I'm waiting for the S.S. Couch Potato to show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted June 8, 2010 Report Share Posted June 8, 2010 Talk about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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