Israel is taking some serious PR hits over conditions in Gaza. On the radio this morning, a Vatican spokesman said that Gaza was becoming more and more like a "concentration camp." Talk about loaded rhetoric. Good grief.

Now the Red Cross is reporting atrocious living conditions:Looks like Israel might come out with another black eye to match the one they got in Lebanon in 2006. What gives?

M. Regev on the bombing of UN building

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Killing children is tragic and should not happen.

However, Israel is damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Where was the Red Cross and the UN when HAMAS vest bombs a school bus?
Or when they rocket attack an old age home?

Oh wait they are just killing Jews -- a legal sport in some countries

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"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

So are Palestinians.

Blame it on the Red Cross. I'm sure the unguided rockets seeked out innocent old folks to accomplish a more effective whining.
Which country are you referring to? Legal sport in Israel to kill Palestinians.

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Israel Attacks UN Aid Convoys to Gaza

January 10, 2009
by Jeremy R. Hammond

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has suspended operations in Gaza since coming under attack by Israeli military forces on Friday.

A statement from the UNRWA said its temporary suspension “was compelled by incidents in which UNRWA staff, convoys and installations have come under attack.”

The statement said, “On numerous occasions in recent days, humanitarian convoys have come under Israeli fire even though their safe passage through clearly designated routes at specifically agreed times, had been confirmed by the Israeli liaison office.”

The suspension of operations was necessary due to “the nature, severity and frequency of these incidents”.

The suspension includes movement of staff throughout the Gaza Strip and vehicle movement, such as the delivery of aid into the territory. The agency said its presence in Gaza would continue, and that it would “continue to serve displace civilians who seek safety in UNRWA schools. UNRWA’s clinics will also remain open.”

The inability of the UNRWA to deliver relief to the residents of Gaza exacerbates an already critical humanitarian emergency situation. The Gaza Strip has been under siege by Israel since it withdrew military forces and dismantled settlements in 2005. Since that time, Israel has implemented a blockade of the territory, controlling the land, air, and sea, and allowed only minimal amounts of humanitarian supplies into Gaza. It has also engaged in military incursions into Gaza at will. This situation has led some to argue that Israel is still, by any practical interpretation, the occupying power in Gaza under international law, and therefore responsible for the welfare of its civilian population.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza beginning on December 27 and its subsequent invasion of the territory have greatly worsened the already critical situation. Much of the population in Gaza has no food, water, or electricity. Gaza’s overflowing hospitals are running on generators and have little or no spare fuel, or medical supplies.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we are dealing with a full-blown and major crisis in humanitarian terms,” said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the director of operations in Geneva for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “The situation for the people in Gaza is extreme and traumatic.”

John Ging, the head of the UNRWA in Gaza, said, “There are very real shortages of medicine. This hospital has not had electricity for four days. If the generators go down, those in intensive care will die. This is a horrific tragedy here, and it is getting worse by the moment.”

The Israeli attacks on UN aid convoys are in addition to numerous other attacks on UN sites in Gaza. Four UN sites have also come under Israeli attack over the course of the week. Four UN-run schools and a medical center were hit.

On Tuesday, a school run by UNRWA in the Jabaliya refugee camp was shelled by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in the fourth attack on a UN site, killing more than 40 and wounding dozens more Palestinians who had taken refuge there in an attempt to escape Israel’s bombardment.

The IDF claimed that Hamas militants had fired rockets from the school. Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said, “Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Hamas has deliberately abused a UN installation.”

But UN officials denied the claim.

John Ging said that Hamas had not violated the sanctity of any UN sites in Gaza. He said he was “very confident now that there was no militant activity inside the school nor militants in the school.”

“We are completely devastated,” Ging also said. “There is nowhere safe in Gaza. Everyone here is terrorized and traumatized.”

In a press statement, he emphasized that all UN schools in Gaza were clearly marked and the coordinates of their exact locations had been provided to Israel. He said that “the Israelis have to end their disproportionate and inappropriate use of force in densely populated areas.”

Another UNRWA official, Christopher Gunness, said that the agency was “99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the attacks “totally unacceptable.” He added, “After earlier strikes, the Israeli government was warned that its operations were endangering UN compounds. I am deeply dismayed that despite these repeated efforts, today’s tragedies have ensued.”

Adnan Abu Hasna, a UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, said that the agency had “several times noted to the Israeli sides to avoid targeting our schools that shelter civilians.” Yet, “In spite of rising the blue flag of UNRWA on our schools, the Israeli army has been targeting those schools by missiles and tanks shells.”

“Neither homes nor UN shelters are safe,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories.

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said on Friday, “In briefings, senior IDF officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabaliya were responding did not originate from the school.”

The ICRC issued a press release Thursday saying when Israel finally granted safe passage for ambulances on January 7, their team “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.”

While the ICRC rescue team was assisting other survivors in other houses, Israeli soldiers “ordered the rescue team to leave the area” but refused to do so. “Large earth walls erected by the Israeli army had made it impossible to bring ambulances into the neighbourhood,” the ICRC statement added, noting that “the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded” and calling the situation “unacceptable.”

“This is a shocking incident,” said ICRC official Pierre Wettach. “The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded.”

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the most recent estimates. The UN has estimated that 25 percent of Palestinian deaths have been women and children, with an addition unknown number of men who were also civilians.

Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian doctor working in the Gaza Strip, when asked by a reporter whether Hamas militants were included amongst those arriving at his hospital for treatment, replied, “I’ve seen one military person among the tens of…I mean, hundreds we have seen and treated. So anybody who tries to claim this is sort of a clean war against another army are lying. This is an all out war against the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza.”

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When reporters carry bombs then the Israelis will worry about what reporters say.

They worry about what reporters say, even if they don't carry bombs.

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Sure they do.

Ignore the evidence.

Stick with your story.

Israel can do anything to anyone in Gaza because a few people who live there are terrorists.

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1984 300TD

As long as they have us backing their play, implicitly or explicitly, it doesn't matter what the world says in their many news stories.

As long as the majority of voters in the USA support politicians who support israel, then Israel will continue to do as it wishes. No matter the penned negativity of the nattering nabobs.

There goes the root cause of the dilemma. Thanks for pointing that out.

Support for Israel is not an agenda the large population is voting on when politicians are campaigning.

Politicians are subsequently or even pre-approved to vow full support for Israel to the related interest groups.
Israel lobby and mainstraem media are pushing the river in the same direction.
Joined by a knuckel-headed Christian fellowship of joining into the choir 'Israel the Holyland'.

There is no majority in this country, electing representatives on the premises of being Israel-firsters.

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It is elementary and true for every political issue under the sun in the US Congress.

Continuing to put the same people and parties into office and expecting a different outcome is a silly, misguided, and futile enterprise.

B

That is generally speaking absolutely agreeable and will be even more recognizable as our 'faithful leaders' continue the path they are on.

Where in The Constition of The United States of America, am I being obliged to support Israel's wellbeing an comfort?

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 21 --
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned Sunday, brought low by a string of corruption probes, while Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni struggled to assemble a coalition that would allow her to succeed him without facing new elections.

Olmert had promised this summer to step down as soon as a new leader for his party, Kadima, could be chosen.
Livni narrowly won that vote last week, and on Sunday, Olmert submitted a letter to President Shimon Peres that formally sets in motion the process of choosing a successor.
Livni has already begun meeting with politicians from rival parties, trying to build a majority in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament.

Olmert's coalition had dwindled over the past year, and most analysts say Livni faces a challenge gathering the support she needs to govern.
If she does not succeed within six weeks, Israel will probably have to hold general elections in early 2009.

Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the opposition Likud party, is the current favorite in that race, with Livni close behind.

The fate of U.S.-backed peace talks initiated under Olmert could be at stake.
Livni has been Israel's primary negotiator and has vowed to continue the discussions if she assumes power, but Netanyahu has been a staunch critic of the talks.

By submitting his resignation Sunday, Olmert becomes the caretaker prime minister until a new government can be formed.

The end of his tenure comes nearly three years after then-prime minister Ariel Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke, thrusting his deputy, Olmert, into power.
Olmert was later elected to a full term slated to end in 2010. He led Israel through an inconclusive but damaging war with the radical Lebanese movement Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Last year, he relaunched long-dormant peace talks with the Palestinians.

But despite great fanfare at the kick-off ceremony in Annapolis last October, the negotiations have appeared to gain little traction.

Olmert, the former mayor of Jerusalem, was also dogged throughout his tenure as premier by allegations of corruption.
New accusations surfaced in the spring, when New York businessman Morris Talansky told investigators he had given Olmert more than $150,000 over the years, much of it in cash-stuffed envelopes.
Investigators later found evidence that Olmert had double-billed charities and government agencies for plane flights and hotel stays.

The police recommended last Sunday that Olmert be indicted on charges of bribery, breach of public trust, money laundering and fraudulent receipt of goods. Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to follow through with the case.

Even if Olmert is not indicted, political analysts say his tenure will not be remembered fondly by most Israelis, who see him as emblematic of a generation of politicians who appear to care more about personal profit than public service.
"The legacy of Olmert is corruption," said Yaron Ezrahi, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

On Sunday evening, Olmert personally delivered his resignation letter to Peres, who later broadcast a statement in which he praised Olmert for "the respectful way in which he is handing over his power."

Peres now has to decide who will be given the chance to form a new government. It is widely assumed that Livni, as leader of the main coalition party, will get the nod, and an announcement could come as early as Monday.

Livni is not waiting for the official call, having already met with leaders of other parties to try to coax them into her coalition.

The current coalition includes 67 of the Knesset's 120 members. It is heavily dependent on Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party whose leaders had suggested before Livni's election as head of the centrist Kadima party that they would bolt if she won the primary.

She has previously opposed any negotiation with the Palestinians over the fate of Jerusalem, a core issue in the conflict. Kadima's leadership has been coy about its intentions since the primary vote.

Also wavering in its commitment to Livni is the center-left Labor Party, whose leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, recently met with Likud's Netanyahu. Some Labor members are believed to favor new elections, though polls show the party losing ground in any vote.

Likud, meanwhile, is hoping to derail Livni's efforts before they can gather momentum. "We are going to tell the president that Mrs. Livni does not have a mandate to lead the country," said Yuval Steinitz, a Netanyahu deputy, as he traveled to Peres's residence Sunday evening. "She was not chosen by the public. She was chosen in primaries."

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Botnst has correctly pointed out that the Jewish lobby is very very powerful, and without it's approval on your views/actions it is nearly impossible to have influence in congress or re-elected. That (obviously a death sentence for a politician) drives our policy on Israeli actions and giving Israel more money per person that we give ourselves.