If Israel Is In Mortal Danger, Why Did Bloomberg Fly There?

[DeSwiss]

The Young Turks * Published on Jul 23, 2014

"Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) is flying to Israel tonight on the Israeli airline El Al to protest a Federal Aviation Administration ban on U.S. carriers flying to or from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.

Bloomberg made the announcement on his Web site. He urged the FAA to change its decision.

"This evening I will be flying on El Al to Tel Aviv to show solidarity with the Israeli people and to demonstrate that it is safe to fly in and out of Israel," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Ben Gurion is the best protected airport in the world and El Al flights have been regularly flying in and out of it safely. The flight restrictions are a mistake that hands Hamas an undeserved victory and should be lifted immediately. I strongly urge the FAA to reverse course and permit US airlines to fly to Israel."" * The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Sean Sullivan / The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/07/22/michael-bloomberg-flying-to-israel-to-protest-faa-ban/

- So which is it Nuttie? Mortal danger? Or cashflow?

These war-whoremongers make me want to puke......

[JDPriestly]

1. Both Israel and Palestine are in great danger.

It's time for Hamas to go to the negotiating table, stop the rockets, stop the rocks and get serious about peace.

You don't get back land or anything as long as you are fighting. You have to have peace and have it long enough so that your opposing country trusts you to keep the peace before you can get accommodations.

Some years ago, the border between Israel and the Palestinian areas were safe, and Palestinians crossed over and worked, etc. in Israel. Then came bombings on buses, and streets, etc. by Palestinians in Israel.

Israel has tried to avoid war. It has built a wall and defenses against rockets. What more can it do to get peace other than simply accept Hamas's challenge to war.

Hamas needs to agree to a cease-fire and then punish any Palestinian within its borders who breaks the cease-fire. Then, once it has established not only its peaceful intentions but its ability to keep peace promises, it can negotiate with Israel for solutions to underlying problems of land and other issues.

As long as Hamas allows the throwing of rocks and the rockets into Israel, as long as it tries to breach Israel's elaborate defense systems, there will be war, and Israel will get the upper hand. That is the reality.

Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong. They have to negotiate peace. Israel is a democracy. If peace can be established, and the Israelis can live in security, Israel is likely to be more generous toward the Palestinians and helpful to the Palestinians.

The Palestinians' strategy is all wrong. It probably feels good to them on one level, but it is resulting the deaths of so many people. Palestine and Hamas need to agree to a cease-fire with Israel and hold it indefinitely. This is the 70 years war.

We had a 40 year war and a 100 year war in Europe. They depleted the resources and energy of Europe and could have been avoided. It's so sad to see that Palestine has learned nothing from history.

[delrem]

2. Yah, it's all that fucking Hamas.

It's time for them to shape up, those terrorists.
They should learn from Likud. No terrorists there.
They should learn from Netanyahu. Not a terrorist.
They should learn from all those peace loving Israelis, who are victims, not a terrorist to be found.

After Hamas, those terrorists, learns, it'll be time to teach the West Bank to truly know what it is to be Judea and Samaria, and not the West Bank. Because until they learn, those terrorists, it's all their own damn fault, the shit that comes their way.

[JDPriestly]

8. Both sides need to negotiate for peace, negotiate in good faith.

They need to agree on borders that will insure the security of each nation, and they need to work toward having cultural and educational exchanges. They are not as different from each other as they seem to think.

[cpwm17]

3. That's a complete white-wash of history

You were happy as long as the Palestinians remained as passive, stateless victims. Out of site, out of mind. You obviously couldn't care less about the systematic seizure of Palestinian land.

As if throwing rocks against the illegal occupation army is such a crime. You even mentioning that shows your extreme bias.

With the backdrop of the extreme oppression experienced by the Palestinians (which includes frequent murders by the IDF, torture of children, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, etc) Netanyahu started this current deadly conflict with Israel's deadly rampage against Palestine and Hamas after two Palestinians murdered the Israeli kids in the West Bank. Israel went on a deadly collective punishment campaign. Netanyahu knew it would provoke retaliation from Hamas, which allowed him, in the minds of the Israeli public, to initiate further aggressions against the Gaza Strip. Israel hasn't conducted such a campaign in awhile and Netanyahu wanted to destroy the Palestinians' new unity government agreed upon a couple of weeks earlier.

Israel ignored Hamas' proposed cease-fire and ten year truce, instead choosing to maintain its permanent illegal siege and current aggressive military campaign that Israel started before the Hamas rocket retaliatory barrage:

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/deafening-silence-proposal.html

The main demands of this proposal revolve around lifting the Israeli siege in Gaza through the opening of its borders with Israel to commerce and people, the establishment of an international seaport and airport under U.N. supervision, the expansion of the permitted fishing zone in the Gaza sea to 10 kilometers, and the revitalization of Gaza industrial zone. None of these demands is new. The United Nations among others have repeatedly demanded the lifting of the siege, which is illegal under international law, as a necessary condition to end the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip. The facilitation of movement of goods and people between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had already been stipulated in the Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) signed between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2005. Even the construction of a port and the possibility of an airport in Gaza had already been stipulated in the AMA, though the actual implementation never followed. The requested increase of the permitted fishing zone is less than what envisaged in the 1994 Oslo Agreements and it was already part of the 2012 ceasefire understanding. Unhindered fishermen’s access to the sea, without fear of being shot or arrested and having boats and nets confiscated by Israeli patrols is essential to the 3000 Gaza fishermen struggling to survive today by fishing in a limited area which is overfished and heavily polluted. The revitalization of the Gaza industrial zone, which has progressively been dismantled since the 2005 disengagement and by continuous military operations, was already considered a crucial Palestinian interest at the time of the 2005 Disengagement.

Israel loves war.

[JDPriestly]

7. The Palestinians have only worsened their situation each time they use violent resistance.

They need to go to the negotiating table with Israel and work toward peace in good faith.

To begin with, they need to re-educate their populace about the advantages of choosing peace.

And the advantages to choosing peace are tremendous for Palestinians.

If you believe that the Palestinians are oppressed, do you think that encouraging them to use physical violence to try to "win" whatever they want is the answer?

The Palestinians have just lost more and more ground the more they resort to physical violence. It makes no sense.
It is not rational for the Palestinians to continue to jeopardize their lives trying to fight for a past that will not ever return.


What the Palestinians need to do to improve their lives is to work toward peace and put moral pressure on Israel. They need to focus on making their lives good within the confines that are now placed upon them while still working to improve their lives.

Peace is the only way to improve lives no matter whether you are talking about the Palestinians or any other nation.

The Palestinians can make a good moral argument for regaining land they have lost, but first they need to show that they can negotiate in good faith and that they will enforce a peace agreement against their own people if necessary.

Thus far, Israel is probably right not to trust the Palestinians. The Palestinians have answered a willingness to exchange prisoners and to make peace on the part of the Israelis with more rockets and attacks on Israel and worst of all with negotiations with Hamas.

Do I feel sorry for the Palestinians? Yes. But they are their own worst enemies.

How do you think the US would respond if a group of Canadians or Mexicans began lobbing stones and rockets into areas of the US? I already know how we respond to the tunnels the Mexicans build under the US. Any nation in the world responds to violence against it with violence. The Palestinians need to negotiate for peace.

[KoKo]

13. It's never been a "fair fight, though." They lob crude rockets against

the Iron Dome (that US Taxpayers pay for to protect Israel) while Israel uses the weapons we provide them which are BOMBS to kill and target innocent Palestians.

It's like David and Goliath....but "little David" hasn't found the rock....and so it's rock is it's sacrifice to stand it's ground. This is what it's come down to.

Hey...don't want to get into "I/P" with you. I respect you and your posts and would not want to do that.

But....it's not and never has been a fair fight between the Israeli's and Palestinians when one is Goliath getting money from BIG USA and the other...is being squeezed out of its land with "settlements" and by other means.

There isn't as easy an answer as you say. But...as I said...you and I agree on so much...we just gotta let this one go. There is always going to be one firm issue that even the best of us just can't agree on...and it's not worth rancor.

Regards! And, I mean that sincerely...because I respect you and agree on so much with you.

[JDPriestly]

14. The Palestinians had enormous support from, for instance Egypt, at various times.

They fought numerous wars and mostly have lost them. I believe they may have fared pretty well one time.

Clearly, violence is not working for the Palestinians. They need to try a different approach.

They need to declare peace and tell those among their people who resort to violence to stop drawing fire.

Then they need to sit down at a negotiating table and discuss what kind of deal they want, what borders they need, how they will enforce the peace within Palestine.

Peace would be better for all in the area. It isn't a choice. After so many years of futile battles, futile wars, the Palestinians need to "give peace a chance." It is precisely because they do not have the weapons and because no one trusts them with weapons that they need to have peace.

There are a number of very wealthy countries in the Middle East. Do you ever ask why they do not give weapons to the Palestinians?

I'll tell you why. It's because they want peace.

"Give peace a chance." It goes for both sides, but fair or not, the Palestinians hold the keys to peace. The Israelis will continue to respond to the annoying attacks and the tunnels and other gimmicks of the Palestinians until the Palestinians negotiate a peace that can last.

Prior to the Second Intifada, Israel and Palestine lived in relative peace for a short time. Palestine stupidly went into Israel and blew up buses among other things. Really stupid. I can't blame the Israelis for distrusting the Palestinians, but I want both sides to work harder for peace. The Palestinians hold the key. They have to stop playing war.

[swilton]

5. You refer to both sides as if there

were somehow some equivalency in resources. This is not the case. The war between Israel and Palestine is asymmetry at its finest....Israel being heavily financed and armed by US taxpayers.

[JDPriestly]

6. All the more reason you would think the Palestinians would have the ccommon sense to

negotiate for peace. But instead of negotiating in good faith with Israel for peace in the latest negotiations, they negotiated with Hamas for more war.

[physioex]

11. So you want this to financed by the US Taxpayer.....

And you want Hamas to negotiate with Israel?

[JDPriestly]

12. What would be financed by the US taxpayer? The negotiations?

[Unknown Beatle]

9. Remember the Mossad motto -

"By Way Of Deception, Thou Shalt Do War."

[Roy Serohz]

4. DUly RECommended

Good question!

[nilesobek]

10. Yeah Likud, Yeah Zionists, you are in mortal danger.

You have lost the support of the American people, no matter what its leaders do.