I’ve been swamped with school work. I am trying to finish another chapter by this coming Thursday. That’s why I have been absent around here.

But I did want to respond to some of the comments that have appeared here over the past week.

First, Andrew posts, referring the the following picture posted by UofT:

Everything in white is Israel. everything in Black is what is LEFT OF PALESTINE after the 40 Years of ILLEGAL Military Occupation.
One State under the name of Palestine Israel would mean shared land instead of the ethnic cleansing of the Arab People.
If you want Israelis to live in peace, you must have the Palestinians living there in Peace as well. Because refugee camps is just another word for concentration camps. House demolitions is just another word for leaving families homeless and control over water means the death of millions of Palestinians.
The UN and Amnesty International has noted that the Occupation is a Humanitarian Crisis and is ILLEGAL. How can you defend something that reminds me so much of the Holocaust?

Note: If everything in white in the picture is Israel, why is it not labeled “Israel,” but rather “Palestine”? Maybe because the goal of the event is to, you know, wipe Israel off the map? Literally.

Next, Andrew writes:

Funny because after all this, after the war, Israel and the USA admitted that the war was Pre Empted on Lebanon.
With no direct target and scape goat until Hezbullah came into play.
How do you justify the destruction of schools, homes, hospitals, and civilian infrustracture without barely any deaths amongst Hezbullah guerillas?
Hezbullah repeatedly told Israeli authorities where they were in Lebanon, not to mention the fact that Israel had hit UN and Rec Cross outposts, trucks, and people.

No back up of claims, nothing like that. Just a bunch of anti-Israel rhetoric. Whatever. Before I can respond to you fully, I would like to direct you to the following memo (cribbed from LGF):

MEMO

This is an automated reply from the Bullshit Detector at Little Green Footballs (in this case, rain falls on everyone).
Your recent post contained troll-like characteristics which resembles the type of message sent by spoiled ISM members on summer holiday, college students who have recently inhaled Noam Chomsky’s foul rantings, Adam Shapiro wannabes, Nazi sympathizers, or genuine Koranimals.

In order to prevent another thread being hijacked, and to send your message to the appropriate department for response (FOAD, GAZE, Go Away Gordon, or The Bus To Rachel Corrie’s Tomb Is Leaving - Be Sure You’re Under It), kindly reply to the following questions:

1. Are you aware that the Disputed Territories never belonged to the “Palestinians” and only came into Israeli possession as a result of the 1967 six day war in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon all massed forces at Israel’s border in order to “push the Jews into the sea”. The Arabs lost and Israel took control of the land. Do you agree that if the Koranimals don’t want to lose territory to Israel, then they shouldn’t start wars? Do you agree that there is justice that Israel, who as far back as 1948 has always sought peace with her far larger neighbors, should live in prosperity - making the desert bloom - while the residents of 19 adjacent Arab countries who are blessed with far more land as well as oil wealth live in their own feces?

2. Did you know that the “Palestinians” could have had their own country as far back as 1948 had they accepted the UN sponsored partition plan which gave Israel AND the Palestinians a countries of their own on land which Jews had lived on for thousands of years before Mohammed ever had a wet dream about virgins? The Arabs rejected the UN offer and went to war with the infant Israeli nation. The Arabs lost and have been whining about it ever since. Do you agree this is like a murderer who kills his parents and asks for special treatment since he is now an orphan?

3. Can you tell us ANY Arab country which offers Jews the right to be citizens, vote, own property, businesses, be a part of the government or have ANY of the rights which Israeli Arabs enjoy? Any Arab country which gives those rights to Christians? How about to other Arabs? Wouldn’t you just LOVE to be a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, or Syria?

4. Since as many Jews (approximately 850,000) were kicked out of Arab countries as were Arabs who left present day Israel (despite being literally begged to stay), why should Arabs be permitted to return to Israel if Jews aren’t allowed to set foot in Arab countries? Can you explain why Arabs can worship freely in Israel but Jews would certainly be hung from street lamps after having their intestines devoured by an Arab mob if they so much as entered an Arab country?

5. Israel resettled and absorbed all of the Jews from Arab countries who wished to become Israelis. Why haven’t any Arab countries offered to resettle Arabs who were displaced from Israel, leaving them to rot for 60 years in squalid refugee camps? And why are those refugee camps still there? Could it be that the billions of dollars that the UNWRA has sent there goes to terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, or Hezbollah? How did Yassir Arafat achieve his $300 million in wealth? Why aren’t these funds distributed for humanitarian use?

6. Did you know that the Arabs in the disputed territories (conquered by Israel in the 1967 war which was started by Arabs) and who are not Israelis already have two countries right now? And that they are called Egypt and Jordan?

7. If your complaint is about the security fence which Israel is finally building in the Disputed Territories, are you aware that it is built solely to keep the “brave” Arab terrorists out so that they can no longer self detonate on busses, in dining halls or pizzerias and kill Jewish grandmothers and schoolchildren? Why are the Arabs so brave when they target unarmed civilians but even when they outnumber their opponents they get their sandy asses kicked all the way to Mecca when they are faced with Jewish soldiers? Why do Arab soldiers make the French look like super heroes?

8. Please explain why you are so concerned about Arabs, who possess 99% of the land in this region and are in control of the world’s greatest natural resource, which literally flows out of the ground? Can’t their brother muslims offer some of the surplus land and nature’s riches to the “Palestinians”? Or is it true that Arabs are willing to die right down to the last “Palestinian”?

9. Why do you not exhibit the same level of concern for say, people in Saudi Arabia who are beheaded, subject to amputation, stoning, honor killing etc.? What about women who are denied any semblance of basic civil rights, including the right not to be treated as property for the entertainment and abuse of her father, brothers, or husbands? What about the Muslims in Sudan and Egypt who are still enslaved, or the women there whose genitalia are barbarically cut off? How about the oppression of Shiites by Sunnis, the gassing of the Kurds by Iraq, or the massacre of “Palestinians” by Jordan (Black September)? Why doesn’t this concern you?

10. Did you ever stop to wonder how much better off everyone in the region would be if Arabs stopped trying to kill Jews and destroy Israel? What would happen if the Israelis gave up their weapons and disarmed? Would they live to see the next day? But what would happen if the Arabs completely disarmed? You know the answer: They would all be AT PEACE! And if there is no war to rile them up, the Arabs would be forced to look at their own repressive, pre-medieval societies. Why would they want to do that when there are Jews to kill?

11. Have you heard “People who define themselves primarily by what they hate, rather than who they love, are doomed to failure and misery”? Can you see the parallels to the Arabs, who are blessed with land and oil, but still gladly train their children to kill themselves in order to kill Jews? Have you heard Golda Meir’s words to the effect of “There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours”? Why do the Arabs hate so much?

Please respond to the items listed above.

Thank you for writing to Little Green Footballs (or, in this case again, rain falls on everyone).

Signed,

Troll Early Warning Detection Team

If you answer those questions, then maybe we will have a bit of a better understanding of one another.

On the thread about Women’s Only Hours at U of T’s Gym, commenter “Lucky” writes:

What I just read is a hate and race about Islam.
I thing it’s a good idea that the muslim women can have thier own gym .
I’m not a muslim but I’ll be soon

Before becoming a Muslim, Lucky, I hope that you are informed. I would direct your attention to the following information:

First, don’t try to help people as a strict Muslim. It might land you in jail:

RIYADH, 6 August 2007 — A new convert to Islam, fired with zeal to do a righteous act, had no idea that he would pay a heavy price for helping a sick woman, one that has landed him 50 days and counting behind bars.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice found him guilty for committing a crime: Being in the presence of a woman who is not a relative (a so-called “illegal state of seclusion”).

Arab News tried several times to contact Ahmed Al-Jardan, spokesman for the commission, but phone calls were not returned. A written fax sent to the commission’s main center asking for comment was also ignored.

Ibrahim Mohammed Lawal, a Nigerian student of Islamic studies at Badiya Islamic Center in Riyadh, learned that his neighbor, a 63-year-old woman, was indisposed and needed medical attention. So he took her to various hospitals in Riyadh, including the Riyadh Medical Complex at Shumaisy, all of which refused to treat her. It was only after the intervention of Sheikh Fawaz, director of Badiya Islamic Center, that the Badiya Hospital admitted the case. Despite the charitable act Mohammed ended up in detention, accused of immoral behavior because he was neither married nor related by blood to the elderly woman.

Also, know that it is an all or nothing thing, especially if you are currently a Christian:

Egyptian Court in Controversial Ruling: Christians Who Convert to Islam Cannot Convert Back

Just, you know, jump in with your eyes open.

Finally, just today, commenter “observer” writes in with this about the JDL:

The counter demo placards read Jewish Defence League.

The Jewish Defence League is classified as an illegal terrorist group in the USA - they were caught trying to blow up a mosque is Culver city in 2001.

On that post, I responded:

observer -

Do you have anything to back that up? According to this wikipedia article, U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, JDL is not included.

Also, the JDL page on Wikipedia is of disputed neutrality, and the articles I have found in an admittedly quick google search are also from non-neutral sources.

If you are going to make an accusation, back it up dude.

JDL’s website does state: “The Jewish Defense League unconditionally condemns terrorism of all forms. Terrorism is never a legitimate means to the furtherance of political goals.” This is more than I have ever heard from CAIR.

So, that’s all for now. I welcome comments, and will do my best to respond to them in kind.

Also, I’ll do my best to post a bit more. School, and cluster headache, is killing me.

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