I capitalize because I want to make sure you notice they’re there. I haven’t been overly impressed with your observational skills, so I don’t want to take chances.

J.

Keep capitalizing, Mr. Tea. Perhaps you’ll come to convince yourself. The blockades might be aimed at stopping the flow of weapons, but they also seem to block much more.

Now you’re trotting out the “collective punishment” canard. No, “collective punishment” is things like the Nazi extermination of Lidice, where an entire town was wiped out because the Nazis couldn’t identify who assassinated one Nazi. Bombing legitimate military targets that Hamas has put in and around civilians is NOT collective punishment. Imposing quarantines/blockades to prevent the enemy from getting weaponry is NOT collective punishment. Closing down border crossings after they are repetaedly used to smuggle weapons and bombs into Israel and are themselves attacked by hamas is NOT collective punishment.

You know, your arguments would be a bit tougher to refute if you simply didn’t repeat the talking points issued by Terrorist Apologists International. They’ve all had years to be studied and taken apart.

Fact: Hamas was elected the legal representative of the Palestinian people in an internationally-supervised and certified valid election. So yes, the Palestinians CHOSE to entrust their fate to Hamas.

Fact: Hamas is a terrorist organization pledged to the destruction of Israel and replacing it with an Islamist state, and constitutionally rejects negotiations and compromises short of that goal.

Fact: despite the blockades and sealed borders, Hamas has shown it can obtain the things Israel most wants to deny them — weapons — in tremendous quantities. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate to conclude that if Hamas put a similar priority on food and other items, the Gaza Strip would not have any humanitarian crisis.

Fact: even though Hamas constitutionally rejects negotiations and compromise, Israel has tried them — with a complete lack of success.

Fact: there are several hundred Hamas fighters — including at least two top leaders — who are now guaranteed to never even try to harm another Israeli ever again.

Fact: under the Geneva Accords, the responsibility for the deaths of civilians in and around Hamas military facilities is solely that of Hamas.

Fact: Neither Israel nor the Palestinians are signatories to the Geneva Accords, so citing them as anything besides a moral guideline is utterly irrelevant.

But none of that matters in your little Cloud Cuckoo Land, does it, Quaker? The Palestinians are “victims,” and that means you have to excuse every single thing they do. Likewise, the Israelis are “oppressors,” so every single thing they do is wrong. Because that’s the way your political filter works.

J.

Collective punishment is the only answer, isn’t it?

Now refresh my memory. Wasn’t someone here just a short while ago whining about personal insults?

Well, apart from those pesky suicide bombers, including the woman who was being admitted for free reconstructive surgery who planned to blow up the hospital… not much.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that checkpoints exist only at crossings between Israeli and Palestinian territory. Educate yourself.

Rein in the extremists in my own country… such as, say, evacuating every single Israeli from Gaza and let the Palestinians have their own Judenrein area? Funny, I thought they did that a couple of years ago.

You seem to think that after the evacuation of 2005, the extremists who think all of Palestine belongs to Israel by divine right quietly went away. Educate yourself.

The International Red Cross? They might have a few issues with your idea

Do you think the ICRC is not currently workig in Gaza? Guess again.

Mr. Tea, do you still wonder why I spend so much time correcting your errors? It’s because you make so many of them.

On what basis do you say that?

If they wanted to eat, they’d get food.

Instead, they get weapons. Literally tons and tons of weapons — rockets, bombs, rifles, mortars, and anything else that they can use to try to kill Israelis.

They have made their priorities blindingly clear — look at what they have on copious abundance. In the “guns and butter” equation, they’re all guns and no butter.

And no, it’s not “vengeance.” It’s “destroy their weapons and degrade their ability to re-arm and attack again.” It’s the only approach that has shown even the slightest bit of success — and Israel has tried many others. Including the “join hands and sing Kumbayah” approaches you recommend.

GO AND READ HAMAS’ CHARTER, YOU IGNORANT ASSHOLE. Then come back and tell us where there is the slightest room for compromise, the tiniest cause for hope, the most obscure indication that they might actually be interested in peace.

Hamas does us the courtesy of spelling out precisely what they believe in, what they want, how they want to achieve it, and what they think of your notions. Are you too stupid to find it, too stupid to understand it, or too racist to think that they can actually mean what they say?

J.

No, they want to eat.

Well, apart from those pesky suicide bombers, including the woman who was being admitted for free reconstructive surgery who planned to blow up the hospital… not much.

Rein in the extremists in my own country… such as, say, evacuating every single Israeli from Gaza and let the Palestinians have their own Judenrein area? Funny, I thought they did that a couple of years ago.

And I’d make sure that some organiztion–any organization other than Hamas–is providing infrastructure and services so they’re not the last and only resort for civilian support.

Unfortunately, the Palestinians want Hamas. They proved that in free and fair elections. And Hamas has a way of dealing with rivals. It usually involves those rivals being accused of “collaborating” with Israel and said “collaborators” ending up very much dead. And it just isn’t people that get that treatment.

Here’s an example: when Israel withdrew from Gaza, they left behind some very high-tech, very productive greenhouses for the Palestinians to use. Instead, they destroyed them.

The International Red Cross? They might have a few issues with your idea — after all, the Palestinians have been using their ambulances as terrorist transports and bomb carriers. And if the Red Cross doesn’t have a problem, then Israel damned well better.

I’ve been trying to decide if you’re naive or stupid, but then realized that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

So, what’s the weather like in Cloud-Cuckoo Land today, and do you need a passport when you come visit the real world?

J.

And you might reconsider this line of reasoning. Were all other events prior to this moment preordained? Were there no other paths Israel could have chosen leading up to this point?

So feel free to skip over any repetitions of your previous dismissals of simple common sense and move right ahead to speculations on the count of my active neurons.

Let’s pretend I’m an American Likudnik like yourself. My recommendation would be to cut off 1.5 million civilians from the outside world and declare that action “restraint”. Then I’d go in with airstrikes that wreck the civilian infrastructure and call them “targeted”. Next, I’d roll in the tanks and call it “justified.”

And, of course, if anyone disagreed with me, I’d call them “anti-Semite.”

When all is said and done, Israel won’t be any closer to peace. In it’s place, they’ll have vengeance, which makes a nice substitute if you’re in politics.

Now: if I was really interested in trying to stop the violence, I’d turn first to the factions within my own country interested in pursuing peace–and whaddya know, that’s a substantial plurality (if not majority–I haven’t seen a recent poll) of the Israeli electorate! I’d ease the restrictions at the humiliating checkpoints so that Palestinian civilians could go to work, earn a living, and have a reason to expect a normal life. I’d rein in the extremists from my own country who believe they have a right to seize the property of Palestinians because “God said so”. I’d give them, say, six months to clear out of illegal settlements before withdrawing military protection.

I’d allow international observers into Gaza and seek help from the International Red Cross to make sure civilians are getting food and medical attention. And I’d make sure that some organiztion–any organization other than Hamas–is providing infrastructure and services so they’re not the last and only resort for civilian support.

A lot more complicated than “wipe out Gaza” I’ll grant you. But in the long run, far more effective.

“It stinks!”

Whoops, it’s not new. That was the catchphrase of noted TV film critic Jay Sherman.

Let’s set aside all the bullshit, then, Quaker. Just this once. Why don’t you spell out what Israel should have done instead of air strikes after Hamas spends a couple of years firing literally thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, kidnaps one of its soldiers in an armed invasion and holds him hostage for a couple of years, announces that it considers the “truce” that it hasn’t really been following ended, and ramps up the attacks?

Please make certain that your answer includes the salient facts that Hamas’ charter specifically dedicates itself to the destruction of Israel, rejecting any compromises or negotiations, and has repeatedly reiterated its dedication to that goal at every opportunity.

I’ve already predicted at least three ways you can weasel out of actually answering. I’m hoping that at least you’ll find a fourth way and surprise me; I don’t expect you’ll give a real response. That’d run too many risks; exposing your own ideas to criticism, forcing you to think, and committing you to a concrete position. Can’t have that.

Parthenon, I’m glad you’re enjoying the show. I kinda wish I could see this as an observer myself.

J.

You can’t try to make up with me by trying to make me laugh, Mr. Tea. No sir, not dull, beef-witted Quaker–dull, dull Quaker who has found errors of fact in five different examples of your “reality and common sense.” And that’s just in this thread alone.

Really, Mr. Tea, if you’re going to fling bullshit, you musn’t be surprised when someone notices the smell.

You, on the other hand, seem to be on a quest to find the most ways you can say “you’re stupid.” Your comments have a certain gravitas that make Paris Hilton look like William F. Buckley. “Heliumesque” seems a fitting term.

J.

And you’re here to offer your own original posts?

I thought you graced us with your wisdom as counterpoint to Oliver’s views. My mistake, Mr. Tea. That would make you guilty of the same offense with which you accuse me.

Indeed I am. What are you using? NRO?

And I still call you a parasitic fewmet.

Can’t you even get an insult right, Mr. Tea? A fewmet (or fumet, if you go with Merriam’s) can’t be parasitic because a) it isn’t a living creature and b) it’s not inside another creature. A fumet might be infested with parasites, but it can’t be parasitic itself. You would have been better off not to overreach. Perhaps “poopyhead”…?

Even if you take the 40% civilians number (and I don’t), that means that 60% of the casualties are Hamas. That’s still damned good.

If you say so, Mr. Tea. If the Israeli’s are “very, very selectively targeting their bombs” as you say, I might have guessed they would have had more success.

Good lord, you’re even dumber than I thought possible…

J.

And let’s go with the 25% civilian casualty figure. 50% of Gaza’s population is below 17, and it’s pretty much evenly split male-female. Hamas fighters are all adult males, but even if every single adult male was in Hamas, that’d be only 25% of the population. And 75% of the casualties are Hamas.

Even if you take the 40% civilians number (and I don’t), that means that 60% of the casualties are Hamas. That’s still damned good.

So far, the Israeli casualties have been overwhelmingly civilian. That’s to be expected — Hamas TARGETS civilians. Of course, to them, every single person in Israel is a legitimate target, so I guess that doesn’t count.

At one early point of the fighting, Hamas rockets had killed one Israeli and two Palestinian children — sisters, ages 5 and 13, as I recall. At that point, would a “proportionate” Israeli response have been to kill one Palestinian and two Israeli children?

J.