I would end this with a hearty “am yisrael chai!” but I did that on a friend’s blog once which prompted a lot of vicious insults. so I’ll just say “l’chaim!”

I also believe that if the Palestine sympathizers really knew the history, and the monstrosity of religious ideals that lay behind Palestinian suicide bombers, they would not be so quick to name Israel the aggressor.

What is sad is that you can’t support your allegations with anything resembling fact. Just a lot of smoke.

It is not that hard to provide support for statements,especially when the internet makes it so easy to do the research.

And open dialogue means not shutting down when someone says something with which you do not agree.

Open dialogue works when both parties are open to it. I’ll provide a real world example.

Some people have excoriated Israel for not sitting down with Hamas. Here is the problem. Take a look at these excerpts from the The Hamas Charter which calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

You don’t make peace with people who want to kill you. You don’t wave flags and flowers at people who intentionally slaughter others.

Watch this video and tell me how many military targets you see.

If the Hamas only attacked soldiers. If they only went after true military targets it would be one thing, but they do not.

Your mother, your father, sister, brother, whomever are all legitimate targets to them.

Pregnant Mother and Four daughters murdered

Just to reiterate, I don’t agree with everything that Israel has done. They are certainly not above blame and they share responsibility.

But this is so much more complex than the media portrays it to be.

The rest of this stuff? While I have never had problems with the Jewish people, I have had problems with the state of Israel. And the use of the term “terrorist”? Why is that sometimes we use the term “terrorist” and at other times we use the term “patriot”? Through connotation they two words can mean drastically different things. Yet I doubt that the English would call those involved in the American Revolution “patriots.” It’s all about perspective.

And if I’m fighting for land upon which my family has lived for whatever number of years, then I’d like to think that I am being a patriot. And yes, I understand how other people may believe that this has always been their land. But so do other people. Violence and apartheid has already been tried to no avail. Perhaps it is time for a truly honest and painful conversation. I say “painful” because when people start speaking their truths, someone usually feels hurt and defensive along the way. But it’s only through truly open dialogue, in my opinion, that there is any hope of peace. And open dialogue means not shutting down when someone says something with which you do not agree.