Helen Thomas had the front row seat because she was a Palestinian agent who was instructed to hypnotize Obama into taking a pro-Palestinian stand...Manchurian Candidate all over again. The trigger word was "Suffolk"

As Jonathan Chait notes at his new (must-read) blog at The New Republic, citing Massie, King was once (and may still be) an ardent supporter of the (Provisional) Irish Republican Army (IRA), the mass-murdering terrorist organization that plagued Northern Ireland for so long, from 1969 to 1997, as well as of its political wing, Sinn Fein.

Where he is now militantly anti-terrorist, he was then militantly pro-terrorist. It all depends on context, that is, on his own biases:

* Irish terrorists: good.

* Muslim terrorists: bad.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jw-stickings/the-shameless-hypocrisy-o_b_415083.html

In a sense, he is 100% correct. The US foreign policy of hands-off for Israel has led them to commit acts that no other nation would for fear of retribution.

In another sense, this is just another example of how everything is spun as Obama's fault by the GOP.

Also, we technically never blockaded Cuba. It was really more of a standoff. We certainly didn't board any ships. And in any case, I don't see any reason why you'd object to the UN investigating it, unless you think that certain countries shouldn't be held accountable for their actions.

Rep. King: confused about the "international" in "international waters."

"Their blockade is entirely justified by international law."

Actually, he's dead wrong. The blockade is illegal under international law. Israel is not at 'war' with Palestine or Palestinians or even Hamas. It is a military occupation. Additionally, countries are not allowed to extend their sovereignty on areas outside of their coastal waters, as Israel has done here. He should look up the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea before King recommends that Obama throw his support behind Israel's brutal, despicable, and callous violations of international law (yet again).

so when a country is dedicated to your destruction, and they suicide bomb you daily, and they shoot over 7000 missiles onto your soil, that's not war???

The answer to your question is simply no, it is not a war. It's an occupation. There is a big difference. And a part of that occupation involves resistance to the occupation in the form of rockets and bombs. Violent resistance in itself does not legally constitute "war."

And by the way, Google is your friend. Try to find a single legitimate source that considers Israel or Palestine at war. It is most commonly termed a "conflict" because, quite frankly, the legal definition of the term War does not apply.

okay, its a conflict and not a war

so shut up and watch israel handle its business

Israel's business is my business. My tax dollars are funding their brutal occupation, their violations of international law, their massacres, their illegal assassinations, and their creation of an apartheid state. I have the right to express outrage and take morons like Rep. Kind to task when he suggests our administration support all this illegal Israeli bullsh*t.

You sound like such an uninformed bigot it is unreal. Apartheid state? Massacres? What the hell are you talking about, or are you just spouting keywords that you think make you sound intelligent?

Israel is not an apartheid state. Never has been. Massacres? You mean like suicide bombings and random stabbings and kidnappings? Or do you mean when Palestinians shoot missiles from hospitals and schools and then gleefully rejoice when it is obliterated (which, I may add, is entirely justified)?

Yes, Israel is undeniably an apartheid state. Israel has instituted a system of control over the Palestinians. They created separate roads, separate infrastructural access, separate access to agricultural resources, separate legal rights, etc. Even Arab citizens of Israel experience second-class citizenship. The Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, which was passed by the Knesset in 2003, doesn't allow Palestinians to become Israeli citizens even if married to an Israeli Jew. Palestinians in the West Bank do not have Israeli citizenship or voting rights but are still subject to Israeli restrictions over their movement. Israel has installed an actual apartheid wall, largely built as high as 20 feet tall of concrete, which separates Israelis from Palestinians. I can go on and on, but you probably not listen anyway...but maybe you should go visit yourself and see, first-hand, that all the Zionist propaganda you've been reading is all a bunch of bull.

reasonable people no longer debate whether israel is an Apartheid state, its all that and worse.



Heres what Desmond Tutu - won a Nobel Peace prize - fought against Apartheid in south african says about israel

"I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory,

and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that

reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid.

I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children made to wait hours at Israeli military checkpoints

routinely when trying to make the most basic of trips to visit relatives or attend school or college, and this humiliation is

familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and regularly insulted by the security forces of the Apartheid government."

here are some choice quotes by Nelson Mandela..(a bigot according to you probably. right?)

...You seem to be surprised to hear that there are still problems of 1948 to be solved, the most important component of which is the right to return of Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established “normally” and happened to occupy another country in 1967. Palestinians are not struggling for a “state” but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.

....If you also follow the judicial system in Israel you will see there is discrimination against Palestinians, and if you further consider the 1967 Occupied Territories you will find there are already two judicial systems in operation that represent two different approaches to human life: one for Palestinian life and the other for Jewish life. Additionally there are two different approaches to property and to land. Palestinian property is not recognized as private property because it can be confiscated.

As to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, there is an additional factor. The so-called “Palestinian autonomous areas” are Bantustans. These are restricted entities within the power structure of the Israeli Apartheid system.

.....

Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.

The responses made by South Africa to human rights abuses emanating from the removal policies and Apartheid policies respectively, shed light on what Israeli society must necessarily go through before one can speak of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and an end to its Apartheid policies.

Thomas, I’m not abandoning Mideast diplomacy. But I’m not going to indulge you the way your supporters do. If you want peace and democracy, I will support you. If you want formal Apartheid, we will not support you. If you want to support racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing, we will oppose you.

http://www.keghart.com/node/250

boo-ya. that nelson mandela talking. theres some rational truth and justice for ya.

so please tell Rep King to STFU and let Israel handle it and not drag us along against our own self-interest.

israel is our ally --- do you know what an ally is?

Israel is not an ally. It is a liability. It is a terrorist state. It is an occupier. And it is also digging its own grave.

With an ally like that, who needs an enemy?

Daily? really?

Maybe if Israel didn't treat Palestinians like germs (building walls, closing off main roads, using inappropriate military force to quell what is essentially acts equivalent to throwing stones, giving them just enough aid so they can die slower) they would't be so, I don't know, ANGRY

And maybe if the death/fatality/injury ratio wasn't so goddamned slanted I'd give a piss about Israel

Just my opinion. I simply have yet to hear a halfway sane argument convincing me Israel's insane use of force for the slightest fart is justified.

Disproportionate force is how wars are won. Who do you think suffered more casualties during WW2, Germans or Americans?

Just because more Germans died, that doesn't mean they were the moral ones. Do you understand?

When Palestinian leaders treat children as more than expendable human bombs and human shields, then you might see a shift in gaza. But as long as they teach the hate of Islam, nothing will change.

Jamal al-Afghani made a great quote about Islam & the Koran, I suggest you read it!