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Mayor Bloomberg's high-profile support for Israel's actions against Hamas—from press conferences to actually traveling to Israel—has not gone unnoticed. Yesterday, a group of protesters gathered outside City Hall to throw shoes at Bloomberg (okay, a picture of him).
The Break the Siege on the Gaza Coalition sent a press release saying, "How dare billionaire Bloomberg rush to Israel to back crimes against the people of Gaza and to support sending billions of dollars more to fund Israeli war crimes, while cutting city services, slashing school and health programs and laying off workers right here in New York City!" The marchers headed from City Hall to Foley Square, yelling, "Bloomberg, Bloomberg, shame on you."
City Councilman Charles Barron said, "He doesn't speak for all New Yorkers. And we need to be politically strong. Don't be afraid to stand up and say that Israel is wrong. There should be an immediate cease-fire, an immediate withdrawal from Palestinian territory, an immediate ending of the blockade." Another protester had more pointed words for NY1, "When he goes to Israel to show his support and unconditional love towards the Israelis, I think it sends a double-standard message to the New Yorkers that he is the mayor of certain people." Today, Israel fired rockets at 60 targets in Gaza.
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Whatever side of the fence you sit on this one IMHO Bloomberg should NOT have traveled to Israel what with all the issues we've got right here in N.Y.C. It does lend one to perceive that there is a Biased agenda afooT!!
Yeah, what business does he have going to Israel when the city he's supposed to be a mayor of is undergoing so much fiscal turmoil?
I don't know yet who I'm voting for for mayor, but this certainly doesn't help Bloomberg's case.
f*ck bloomberg
im glad this protest happened...seems like the tide is turning against the "support Israel at any cost" bullsh*t
this will definitely be a backlash, just like the property tax rebate. yeah, I know homeowners will again come out short due to his property tax increase but people want some money after the holidays.
only thing to happen next is if his campaign bus hits a child.
good for him for going.
tide isnt turning as fast as you hope. some people arent mislead by biased media trying to paint palis as victims. israel left gaza and gave the palis lush an infrastructure/greenhouses/farms which they destroyed and started lobbing rockets. now israel is speaking a language they love and understand.
I agree that Bloomberg's visit to and vocal support of Israel shows his bias against terrorism. He may very well lose the pro-terrorist constituency in the next election.
It does seem strange that he went to the effort of actually travelling to Isreal. He could have just as easily come out on the press circuit like other pols did, but perhaps he thought any of his efforts would be drowned out by more high profile politicians unless he made more of a dog and pony show of it.
No rockets = no "siege".
But, Bloomberg shouldn't have visited Israel now.
Bloomberg was a piece of shit long before he took this trip. He could give a rat's ass about this city.
nice to see that some gothamist readers support the bombing of schools and the murder of children..
btw when will israel officially become our 6th borough? will the 7 train be extended?
Here's a complete list.
"nice to see that some gothamist readers support the bombing of schools and the murder of children.."
The palestinians are such cowardly chickens--ts that they launch missles from schoolyards and garrison their "soldiers" in hospitals. Real brave bunch of punks, huh? Hiding their "will of Allah" cause behind the lives of children. Bunch of murdering thugs who can't even be honorable on the field of battle.
I will never understand the Middle East, Israel, or why America has to stick its nose into the whole situation. Shit has hit the fan there ever since there was shit and fans. Just let them blow each other to smithereens until there is nothing left, and then the rest of the world can benefit from the overflowing oil fields that we seem to covet.
Because Democracies have a tendency to support *other* democracies. In this case the Democracy would be Israel, and not Gaza where Hamas imprisons any voice of the opposition - or they just kill them. And sure Israel controls the flow of movement in Gaza - can you imagine the amount of rockets and violence that would be coming out of Gaza if they didn't? Hamas is a terrorist organization people, and still completely committed to the extermination of a whole other country (Israel) and a group of people (Jews) - let's stop painting this up like they're all puppy-dogs and ice-cream.
Also, what happened at the UN school is horrible. However, next time maybe Hamas will choose not to use the school as a shield - a shield from which they can kill innocent, non-combatants. I say "maybe", but I doubt it, as there are only about 14 zillion cases of them doing it before.
Name one instance where Israel supported the US.
Not in Vietnam, not in Korea, not in the Gulf Wars, certainly not when Israel in '67 purposely destroyed the US Liberty with its US flag flying and killing 50 US sailors. Not Pollard spying on the US for Israel.
Israel was founded on terrorism. The Ergun was a terrorist organization, its leaders(Ben-Gurian, eg) were sentenced to death by the Brits for terrorism, including the killing of innocent Jewish civilians. Sharon massacred whole villages of Arabs, women and children.
Terrorism begets terrorism.
what's his other option? support for Hamas, a known terrorist cell?
while I'm not usually a supporter of these defenses: nice to see that some gothamist readers support the bombing of schools and the murder of children.
Tell me oh wise one: When the enemy, Hamas in this situation, uses schools for artillery storage, hospitals for bunkers, and mosques as militant hideouts how do you think the IDF are supposed to fight?
Here's something to chew on, when I was overseas back in '01 interviewing and photographing both sides I can tell you that the schools I saw in Gaza and the WB that were being used as bunkers and munitions storage were all empty as were the hospitals and many of the homes (they're empty, but when the news reports a school, people globally assume children are in it, it's a great strategy by the enemy to gain sympathy.)
There's a video somewhere (I wish I had it right now) from back during the first Intifada of a Palestinian boy, allegedly dead, being paraded around the streets on a stretcher to show the world media how the Israeli's killed a child. The body fell off the stretcher at one point and that same "dead" body jumped up and got back on. Hilarious and a wonderful example of how much of what you see on TV is bullshit—that's why I went over there, to see it with my own eyes.
Urban war is the worst kind... Black Hawk Down, while based on a true story, is a pretty accurate depiction of how the Israeli's (or any military) are dealing with the their enemies.
why the F would bloomberg go there, he has NO business going there.
disgusting loser.
Yeah, he's a loser.
There's no doubt Hamas has had a losing strategy when it comes to freeing the Palestinian people from Israel occupation, but Isarael's use of disproportionate force--the killing of hundreds and wounding of thousands--in response to rocket attacks that killed not a single person in the immediate run-up to this invasion is illegal and, moreover, self-defeating.
Bloomberg seems to truly believe that Israel can do no wrong when it comes to "defending" itself. Bloomberg's faith in Israel is blinding his normal rationality.
If it was purely a politically motivated trip, I think it will backfire come election time.
...rocket attacks that killed not a single person in the immediate run-up to this invasion
Where are you finding the information that the Hamas rockets have not killed any Isrealis? While the number is low, I've not heard it being zero.
Additionally, I'm not sure of the logic employed here that says "well, the rockets they're firing aren't killing anyone." Would it be more justified if it did kill more Isrealis?
Israel has claimed that Hamas rocket fire after the truce ended was the basis for the current invasion of Gaza. As far as I am aware, the immediate post-truce rocket fire from Hamas did not kill anyone in Israel. Israel has retaliated by killing hundreds and injuring thousands. Such disproportionate use of force is illegal under internation law (which I recognize does not count for much), but more importantly, it undermines Israel's ultimate goal of existing in peace in the Middle East surrounded by unsympathetic neighboring countries.
Not our f'n problem. As if NY needed another target drawn on it.
Why must we involve ourselves in these morasses?
After Charles Baron brought Robert Mugabe here and even marched him up the steps of City Hall I am no longer surprised--nor do I care--that local elected officials support "their people" no matter what "their people" do.
Here's the issue Israeli's are currently dealing with, the Palestinian people voted for Hamas. Hamas are terrorists funded by Hezbollah (Lebanon) which in turn are funded by Iran.
Hamas and the Palestinian militants are the ones who have broken a disproportionate amount of truces and cease fires. They're not to be trusted or negotiated with, their ideas and hostile ways need to be eliminated.
The Palestinian people as a majority want to live in peace and coexist, but you get these militant factions who ruffle the feathers and force the IDF to invade, which by the way, isn't illegal if they're not the aggressors, it's called defense.
And having a disproportionate amount of weaponry is totally irrelevant. And to be clear, yes hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, mainly militants. Israeli typically always warns civilians in the area before a strike.
Do you're fucking homework people, who cares if Bloomberg was there, it means nothing! This isn't something new. If a truce is called, Israel will have to back off, Hamas will declare a victory, regroup, and then break the truce in a few days or weeks once they're rearmed.
And your solution to the problem of Hamas is?
well said, edEx!
The stupid palestinians should blame their pyschopathic and corrupt leadership for their damn problems instead of just blaming the Jews for everything.
How many billions in aid to the palestinians wound up in Arafat's Swiss bank account while people in Gaza lived in squalor? Now they have the Hamas thugs running the show. Barbarians.
Gothamist readers you do know that the State of Israel has people on it's payrolls, paid for by US tax dollars mind you, whose sole purpose is to infiltrate the blogosphere with propoganda on behalf of Israel.Some of them are posting right here on this very page.
Tinfoil hat on a little too tight there? Or have you been standing out in the sun too long?
I wish Bloomberg would have stayed there.
Disgusting how heartless Bloomberg is and doesn't even care about the thousand of homeless families and elderly and cuts all essentials services to the bare bones. Yet he calls on USA to give more money to Israel. I am not Pro-Hamas but I did wish they bomb Bloomberg. he is scum
"I did wish they bomb Bloomberg. he is scum"
That's nice. You wish they'd kill or injure another human being that you don't happen to agree with?
You wouldn't be from PETA, would you?
You didn't read his diatribes in all the animal abuse stories?
I'm toying with the poor baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5wrwZlwAq8&eurl=http://warincontext.org/
http://muslimtv.magnify.net/video/ISRAEL-CARNAGE-CIVILIANS-CHILDR
-- Evil only exists because the good remain silent
Seems like the good is talking, and the evil that is Hamas will be soon eradicated.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded outside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the Iraqi town of Musayyib on Wednesday, police said, and hospital sources said at least seven people were killed and 15 more wounded.
Shi’ite mosque bombed again in Iraq
Samarra, June 13
Suspected Sunni insurgents blew up the two minarets of a revered Shi’ite shrine in the Iraqi town of Samarra today, 15 months after its bombing by Al-Qaida ignited brutal sectarian clashes.
BAGHDAD: At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 40 wounded Friday when a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque just after morning prayers on the second day of a Muslim holiday, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Car Bomb Near Iraq Mosque Kills 10
Car Bomb Near Iraq Mosque Kills 10 A car bomb exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Dakok killing 10 people and wounding 10.
IRAQ - June 19 - Dozens Die In Attack On Shi'ite Mosque
APS Diplomat Recorder, June 23, 2007
Almost 80 people die in a reported truck bomb attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad, hours after 10,000 US troops launched a hunt for al-Qaeda militants in the province of Diyala
Hamas sends missles into Israel, Israel retaliates, and the entire Muslim world rallies as one to condemn Israel. Have you heard a single word about the above mentioned murders? No? Maybe it's because it would show the truth about "Islam is a religion of peace".
is it a good idea to create the most crowded slum in the world and then try to go and fight an asymmetric war there against the people who hate you for crowding them into the most crowded slum in the world (and so on and so on and so on...)?
Is it?
I think the real shame here is that Muslims have no country to go to, (well except Iraq, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, ...) so they have been forced by Israel to live in a "crowded slum" of their own creation.
Maybe if we had B-52'd Saudi Arabia in retaliation for their 9/11 attacks, there would be plenty of real estate for the Gaza and West Bank Muslims.