Quote: Originally Posted by sensfan
Canadians commenting on something that they have no idea about, and they say Canada isn't America. Tell me what you would do if Palestinian terrorist bombers have free access to your children's school bus, play area or just in fact any part of the country. When you have JUST 1 of the 4000+ katyusha/qasam rockets fired during the 2006 conflict hit your house, then you will know.
The security wall was supposedly a bad idea even some Israelis called it unjust, it dramatically reduced the amount of suicide bombers crossing through the west bank. Years on no one talks about it, the current circumstances will be the same.
God gave Israel to us, shalom.
I can reach out and contact people on both sides of this conflict. Thanks to the internet the world is a small place. Yes most Canadians know little about the true nature of this conflict, but that's changing.
I have a problem with this statement:
"God gave Israel to us"
That may be your belief, but other people have their beliefs. Why do your beliefs give you the right to cleanse Palestine of Palestinians? Did God also give you permission to ethnically cleanse the Palestine of non-Jews? Was all the killing and murder that led to Israel's creation part of God's plan? Where is that written?
Also why do religious texts have more authority than international laws and treaties which prohibit ethnic cleansing, seizing property by force and preventing the original inhabitants from returning to their homes?
Do you believe God intended you to build Jewish only colonies over former non-Jewish villages and cemetaries?
I have a problem with religious beliefs when they are used to justify the unjustifiable.
Israel's war with the former residents and their descendants is far from over and a wall isn't going to stop it. More likely Israel's adversaries have figured out that RPG's and ManPortable Air Defense systems are more effective than suicide bombers and that isolated attacks aren't effective as a full scale assault which is coming as surely as seasons change. This war isn't over, its about to enter a new phase.
Canada, like Israel also has a history of ethnic cleansing and colonialism. Most of our crimes ended more than a century ago. Back then our behavior then was similar to Israel's current behavior. For example:
Quote: ...In 1497, John Cabot arrived to explore the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. That was the start of the European invasion. Adventurers came from Britain, France, Spain and Portugal to catch the bounty of fish offered by the Grand Banks.
As well as the fish, they also captured many Beothuk and took them back to Europe as slaves. When the French established settlements along the coast, the Beothuk retaliated by stealing from them. Another Native tribe, the Micmac, became allies of the French. Because of the harassment from the Beothuk, the French hired the Micmac for protection. Rumors say that the French paid a bounty to the Micmac for Beothuk scalps, but there is no proof of this.
However, because of the infiltration of the Europeans, the Beothuk were forced to move inland, away from their usual food supply. The British also settled along the coast, and began warring over the land that, in truth, belonged to the Beothuk.
Because of the hardships they endured trying to live away from their natural habitation, and because the Europeans...
Quote has been trimmed
If our adversaries had access to the same weapons as Israel's adversaries, I have no doubt they would have used them. But the world was a bigger place then and these people were isolated. So they were exterminated. I doubt Israel will succeed cleansing Palestine of Palestinians. I also doubt any God would want people to suffer as Palestinians do.
We are still trying to come to terms with the damage we did to the people living here before Europeans showed up.
Quote: Text of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's residential schools apology Wednesday:
Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools.
The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history.
In the 1870s, the federal government, partly in order to meet its obligation to educate aboriginal children, began to play a role in the development and administration of these schools.
Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.
These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, `to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.
Most schools were operated as `joint ventures' with Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian or United churches.
The Government of Canada built an educational system in which very young children were often forcibly removed from their homes, often taken far from their communities...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...0611/20080611/
Israel hasn't progressed to the point of reconciliation with the victims of their colonization. In fact Israel continues to expand at the expense of the people who have the wrong religion. Tell me is this how God planned to give Israel to you?
Quote: Video on House Demolitions
During the last four years, Israel has demolished homes in the Occupied Territories on an unprecedented scale:
House demolition for alleged "military need," demolition of houses built without permits, and the demolition of houses as punishment.
They all have one result - tens of thousands of people, most of them children, made homeless
--
How nice. You make hundreds of thousands of people homeless and then complain when they fight back. What did you expect these people to do?
I have little sympathy for people whose beliefs allow them to justify theft and murder.
