It also doesn't make sense because most of the Muslim Palestinians are descended from Jewish to Muslim converts.

It's not as if the Levant was just empty between the Jewish revolts and the 7th century.

Since he gave Israel just about everything it wanted, that means George W Bush was a great President to Ed Koch.

P.S. Thanks for the history lesson, May! :)

did you see the HBO documentary Outrage about closed politicians who opposed gay-friendly legislation? Not only did Koch denied funding to the address the AIDS epidemic but he also chased his lover out of the city. His lover left in the night after being threatened by Koch and his administration. This man left his city, his job, his family out of fear and later died of aids in other state.

closet not closed, damn spell check

what does this have to do about his about his regretfully supporting obama? do you just take keywords from a story and write about the first thing that pops into your hampster brain?

I find it remarkable that all Jews, or even just the big fans of Israel, are supposed to think the settlements are a good thing and that the right-wing government of Israel can do no wrong. Can someone explain this? It just seems to be assumed by guys like Koch. Is he talking to anyone? Can someone explain?

It's always fun to be called an "anti-semite" or "zionist" for suggesting that both Israeli and Palestinian civilians deserve to live without the risk of being randomly blown up because of their ethnicity/religion.

President Obama not quite forming a completely airtight seal with his mouth around Israel's asshole = forcing Israel to commit suicide. Got it. Thanks, Ed!

I remember watching the news as a child and wondering why anyone would confront a bulllet-shooting tank by throwing rocks at it. After years of reading about this conflict I realise that neither the Israeli leaders nor the Palestinian leaders are willing to live peacefully. Pres. Obama continues to fund Israel's military eventhough they kill countless Palestininan civillians. Palestine continues their acts of terrorism against Isarel. I wish we could just stop funding Isarel and let the two groups fight over Jerusalem. However, we cannot. If America pulls out of this conflict, the world would become a much more dangerous place. If the Palestinian leadership truly wanted peace, they would stop terrorising Israelis. If Israelis wanted peace, they would stop building in the West Bank.

the notion of arabs always fighting, never wanting peace, only wanting to destroy israel, is also part of the myth that’s told in the US to keep people from questioning our FP.

Did you know, that every arab govt., every ‘terrorist’ group has stated that they will recognize Israel within its 1967 borders?

These are the borders they had before they launched the pre-emptive Six Day war. UN resolutions require them to return to these borders. Yet 40 years on, they hold the land, and have transferred…a half a million people to the land they occupy. Imagine transferring 500,000 people to land the world doesn’t recognize as your country, while saying all the while, ‘we want peace’

Crazy.

Anyway the Arabs want it all to end. Fatah, the PLO recognized Israel within legal borders in 1993– in 2002, all the Arab nations said they would recognize Israel if they returned the land they won in the (the pre-emptive) war.. …even those fanatics, Hamas, who we are told want to push Israel into the sea, said in 2006 that they would recognize Israel if they return to living on the land inside their border.

The notion that ME peace is just so COMPLICATED, that there are two equally defensible sides, simply isn’t true. Its not complicated.



how ‘respectable’ people like Koch, Schumer, Weiner, Gilbrand and others continue to support, what amounts to a black and white land grab…,is something I’ll probably never understand.

The pre-1967 borders are not safe for Israel, they also leave out the most holy sites in Judaism. Perhaps the U.S. should go back to the pre-1845 borders, and relinquish the "occupied territory" known as Texas?

you're not ordering a whopper here. you can't have it your way just cause 'we dont feel safe' within our legal borders or cause the sites we want are not on our land.

those are your LEGAL borders. Live within em or expand em by force and sully the name of Israel and its supporters. Whatever. You'll reap what you sow.

I think you need to read some more on the topic...except maybe you need to do some reading outside of just mainstream, pro-Israeli, pro-Zionist media. Your paragraph looks like it came straight out of an Israeli propaganda machine, despite the fact that you claim to be impartial.

If democracy, gay rights, women's rights, due process, free markets, are all elements of Zionist propaganda, then Israel is guilty as charged.

Hamas and Fatah don't have gay rights, women's rights, or due process. They are very liberal on one thing- applying the death penalty.

The notion that Israel is a real democracy, that supports gay rights, is a free market, etc is a fallacy. It is indeed a part of a propaganda campaign by the Israeli government and Israeli apologists. These rights are not distributed to Arab citizens of Israel. Additionally, no one here is praising Fatah or Hamas. They're both equally inept and have committed deplorable atrocities against their own people. But, Israel has and continues to commit the greatest crimes against humanity in the region, that they do so with American support and impunity.

"no one here is praising Fatah or Hamas. They're both equally inept and have committed deplorable atrocities against their own people. But, Israel has and continues to commit the greatest crimes against humanity in the region, that they do so with American support and impunity."

So you're saying Israel is worse than Hamas and Fatah?

You make a good point.

It's definitely a good idea to just kill people if their leadership denies them basic human rights. Live free or die right?

I'm looking forward to when California occupies Arizona and starts killing civilians, since, you know, their leadership doesn't seem to believe in gay or woman's rights.

fuck israel

This is a very nuanced and detailed argument. Please, good sir, let's hear more of your thought-out analysis on the Middle East.