What grinds my gears...

[leicsmac]

But this all started again because of Hamas rockets. Even though they are able to repel the majority of the missiles you still can't blame them for retaliating to these attacks. Any other nation would do the same. While Hamas has shown it is not willing to negotiate nor compromise, they rejected the ceasefire and and will continue with its attacks Israel has a duty to protect her citizens.

 

Isn't the response a bit disproportionate though?

[Jon the Hat]

But this all started again because of Hamas rockets. Even though they are able to repel the majority of the missiles you still can't blame them for retaliating to these attacks. Any other nation would do the same. While Hamas has shown it is not willing to negotiate nor compromise, they rejected the ceasefire and and will continue with its attacks Israel has a duty to protect her citizens.

 

On the face of it you are right, however they aren't protecting their citizens though, they are pushing more people into the arms of Hamas, which will make the attacks worse.  They are doing exactly what they did every other time, and it didnt work then.  They need to work out how to draw people away from Hamas, and to do this they must be the bigger man and not be drawn into looking like the bully.  Make Hamas look like the ***** they are, and the Palestians will be able to see it too.  They will start asking why exactly there are missiles in their Schools and hospitals, and why their kids got killed when no Israelis are dying in most rocket attacks.  Hamas probably kicked this off deliberatley becuase that was happening.  Nothing like a nice bombing to boost your support.

Isn't the response a bit disproportionate though?

 

The military response has failed time and again.

[Guest MattP]

The infuriating thing about Israel is that they must know this attack will only mean more funding for Hamas, but they do it anyway. It never worked before and it won't now. This is so clearly not the solution.

 

It will but they the Israeli government also know if they don't respond to having rockets fired indiscriminantly at them the people will kick them out.

 

Isn't the response a bit disproportionate though?

 

Of course it is, we can all see that.

 

On the face of it you are right, however they aren't protecting their citizens though, they are pushing more people into the arms of Hamas, which will make the attacks worse.  They are doing exactly what they did every other time, and it didnt work then.  They need to work out how to draw people away from Hamas, and to do this they must be the bigger man and not be drawn into looking like the bully.  Make Hamas look like the ***** they are, and the Palestians will be able to see it too.  They will start asking why exactly there are missiles in their Schools and hospitals, and why their kids got killed when no Israelis are dying in most rocket attacks.  Hamas probably kicked this off deliberatley becuase that was happening.  Nothing like a nice bombing to boost your support.

 

The military response has failed time and again.

 

It has but again, what can they do?

 

the amount of people (on Twitter etc) who seem to think that a cup of tea and a sit down will sort this out is incredible. Hamas is an organisation that doesn't even recognise Israel as a country and has openly stated it wants to wipe the Jewish race off the planet. They turned down a ceasefire despite being told by Egypt what was coming.

 

Hamas popularity isn't going to vanish anyway, if they can fire bombs at random, place soldiers next to civilians and fill hospitals with ammunition and still be a popular front they can allow their own people to die without too much care, the more Palestianians murdered the better it is for them and they know it.

 

I actually don't think Israel gives two hoots what the World thinks of them anymore, I suppose after going through what they have over the last 200 years you wouldn't, you'd seek to defend yourself without having to trust anyone else.

[Eddy Kellys Heroes]

Amazing what the Zionists get away with?

[Guest MattP]

Amazing what the Zionists get away with?

 

I hope people remember that next May.

 

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/103221/ed-miliband-im-a-zionist-and-oppose-boycotts-israel

 

Ed Miliband: 'I'm a Zionist'

[Buce]

A large part of the problem stems from the Israeli electoral system. They have a form of PR, which means that the two main parties are unable to form a government without coalition with smaller parties (I think I'm right in saying that there has never been a non-coalition government), which gives the ultra-orthodox right-wing parties a disproportionate influence on policy.

[Finnegan]

That region was the homeland of the jews - just as Wales, Scotland and NI was home to the celts. The Anglo-saxons outnumber the celts in all three nowadays, but they are still the homeland of the celts. The middle-east as a whole was predominantly Arab, but ethnic jews were indigenous to that region.

 

I'm sorry, Al, but either your history is falling light-years behind your science or you're being deliberately thick to skirt the point.

 

Circa AD 50 - 80ish when the are that is now Palestine (which didn't exist) last saw a Jewish majority, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland didn't exist either and wouldn't exist for centuries, over a millennium in some cases. 

 

Yes, those areas were the homeland of Celtic tribes, as was what's modern England, Spain, France, Belgium, the Alps, pushing down in to Northern Italy, the Northern Balkans, the Southern reaches of Germania. These people weren't wiped out or "outnumbered" or "overun" as you're making out, their cultures and communities just evolved, they took on new elements, they changed over time. They became the civilizations of modern Europe. "The Scots" and "the Welsh" are peoples that integrated with other Britons (native and migrants) and slowly became a people over hundreds of years, a people that have always been the majority in their "nations."

 

What do you want to do now? Hand them all back to some pan-European "Celtic League" and boot out anyone who can't claim family ties to old Gaul or Britannia?

 

The area of "Palestine" hadn't been populated by a Jewish majority for pushing two millennia. They either emigrated, were exiled (nearly two thousand years ago), simply converted to other religions (you have to remember - cAD70 there isn't a hugely established Christian faith, a religion that became the next cultural majority in the "Holy Land", before the Arab Muslims became dominant.)

 

What are you going to claim next? That we should whip the States in to a fever and pile on in there again for a 21st Century crusade? Because it's Christianity's homeland?

Edited 22 July 2014 by Finnegan

[Captain...]

On the face of it you are right, however they aren't protecting their citizens though, they are pushing more people into the arms of Hamas, which will make the attacks worse. They are doing exactly what they did every other time, and it didnt work then. They need to work out how to draw people away from Hamas, and to do this they must be the bigger man and not be drawn into looking like the bully. Make Hamas look like the ***** they are, and the Palestians will be able to see it too. They will start asking why exactly there are missiles in their Schools and hospitals, and why their kids got killed when no Israelis are dying in most rocket attacks. Hamas probably kicked this off deliberatley becuase that was happening. Nothing like a nice bombing to boost your

From what I've been reading a lot of people are coming to realise that this time it is all Hamas' fault. Including people within Palestine. There is a lot of credibility in the argument that Hamas are trying to provoke Israel to get them to retaliate and kill innocent Palestinians to increase their popularity. The people of Palestine are starting to realise this, civilian casualties soar as Israeli missile warnings are not passed on, while the death toll in Israel remains at 0.

They are achieving nothing by attacking Israel except the death of their own people. Hopefully the people of Palestine will realise that and turn against Hamas to elect a government looking to protect their people not get them killed.

[ADK]

I think Palestine had only recently formed a unity government between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas was in a desperate position as they had backed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt which has lost power and so Gaza is now blockaded by Egypt too. They also backed the Syrian rebels which means both Syria and Iran stopped supporting them. So Hamas was forced to make peace with Fatah and become part of a government that recognised the state of Israel.

 

Desperate elements in Hamas and other militant groups were responsible for kidnapping and killing 3 Israelis and firing a relatively small number of rockets towards Israel. However, the disproportionate response by Israel has probably saved Hamas's support and will strengthen them in the long run.

[Webbo]

What would be a proportional response? Should Israel kidnap 3 innocent Palestinians and murder them, should they send back the exact same amount of missiles back and make sure they are no better than Hamas's? What would that actually achieve?

[ADK]

They should have carried on doing what they were doing. Trying to arrest those responsible and backing non militant organisations in Palestine. Not escalating the conflict.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Playing charades with deaf people!

[Beliall]

..first word...sounds like....errr

[Haydos]

Accidentally repping kingfox in the tinder thread when I was checking to see who already repped him.

[The Doctor]

I'm sorry, Al, but either your history is falling light-years behind your science or you're being deliberately thick to skirt the point.

 

Circa AD 50 - 80ish when the are that is now Palestine (which didn't exist) last saw a Jewish majority, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland didn't exist either and wouldn't exist for centuries, over a millennium in some cases. 

 

Yes, those areas were the homeland of Celtic tribes, as was what's modern England, Spain, France, Belgium, the Alps, pushing down in to Northern Italy, the Northern Balkans, the Southern reaches of Germania. These people weren't wiped out or "outnumbered" or "overun" as you're making out, their cultures and communities just evolved, they took on new elements, they changed over time. They became the civilizations of modern Europe. "The Scots" and "the Welsh" are peoples that integrated with other Britons (native and migrants) and slowly became a people over hundreds of years, a people that have always been the majority in their "nations."

 

What do you want to do now? Hand them all back to some pan-European "Celtic League" and boot out anyone who can't claim family ties to old Gaul or Britannia?

 

The area of "Palestine" hadn't been populated by a Jewish majority for pushing two millennia. They either emigrated, were exiled (nearly two thousand years ago), simply converted to other religions (you have to remember - cAD70 there isn't a hugely established Christian faith, a religion that became the next cultural majority in the "Holy Land", before the Arab Muslims became dominant.)

 

What are you going to claim next? That we should whip the States in to a fever and pile on in there again for a 21st Century crusade? Because it's Christianity's homeland?

 

However, we went from a point where the british isles were predominantly celtic, to predominantly saxon. Not just in culture but in bloodlines too - marriages between the two tribes would cause that in part, but there's still a shift in the ethnic makeup of the country - just as there was in Israel.

 

No - my point was that the celtic tribes would still class these isles as their homeland, and that not being the dominant majority anymore doesn't change their heritage.

 

I'm not talking a religious homeland so I don't see the relevance of your comments about christianity or muslims - the Jewish race came from that region, just as the Inuit come from the Arctic circle etc. 

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Accidentally repping kingfox in the tinder thread when I was checking to see who already repped him.

Touching that little blue number is dicing with death on a phone, we've all been there (though yours was particularly unfortunate). Like that bloody "Add friend" button on Facebook that seems to appear under your finger at the worst possible time, then you have to map out a web of lies to cover your tracks

[z-layrex]

Or in a similar fashion that ****ing love symbol on instagram. Even if you unlove it the person will still get the notification to their smartphone.

[ozleicester]

people who deny their true feelings for another poster.

[Finnegan]

However, we went from a point where the british isles were predominantly celtic, to predominantly saxon. Not just in culture but in bloodlines too - marriages between the two tribes would cause that in part, but there's still a shift in the ethnic makeup of the country - just as there was in Israel.

No - my point was that the celtic tribes would still class these isles as their homeland, and that not being the dominant majority anymore doesn't change their heritage.

I'm not talking a religious homeland so I don't see the relevance of your comments about christianity or muslims - the Jewish race came from that region, just as the Inuit come from the Arctic circle etc.

And nobody's talking about carving out huge, newly populated swathes of Canada or the States to give back to native Inuits or Americans to form a sovereign state and repopulate.

And they were only over run and wiped out a couple of centuries ago.

[The Blur]

Playing charades with deaf people!

Do tell.

[Mike Oxlong]

Playing charades with deaf people!

You should try it with blind people.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Self-service checkouts, and more specifically the stupid bint of an "attendant" at Morrisons

 

Just doing a top-up shop during my lunch break, got the old Challenge 25 thing come up (bought a butter knife) so had to wait for the attendant to come over. Trouble is, she was busy so I asked her for help, which she ignored, so she helped out another person who was having trouble, then made eye contact with me, then turned to help someone who got there after I did. By this time I'm getting pretty pissed off but still being polite and waiting. Then she served 2 people who got there after I first said "excuse me" and reached breaking point - just threw the stuff down and walked out, never done that before. Complete waste of a lunch break, still hungry and pissed off

[MooseBreath]

Yeah buddy, I left a chicken in my basket the other day because it wouldn't scan and I refuse to enter the code in manually for free. Felt great for making a stand but I needed a chicken so ended up spending more time going elsewhere to get it. The ****ers have got you each way. We're just pawns on the chess board of life.

[MooseBreath]

Middle management. Meddling fvcking dimwits. Some unbelievable shit going on around here lately. If I'm ever in Upper management the first thing I'm doing is abolishing middle management entirely.

[Jon the Hat]

Middle management. Meddling fvcking dimwits. Some unbelievable shit going on around here lately. If I'm ever in Upper management the first thing I'm doing is abolishing middle management entirely.

 

You wont.  You will have by then spent a number of years learning the benefits of a good tier of middle management.  Its the only way to the top.

Edited 24 July 2014 by Jon the Hat