Rob Olson’s April 5 column “The Israel Question” touched on some interesting points. Yes, dialogue and context is necessary in any situation. Yes, both Palestinians and Israelis have their faults. But there are certain facts that can not and should not just be pushed under the rug. College students may be liberal thinkers, but giving gays and women rights does not cover up the fact that Israelis are stealing land from those who were there before them and putting Palestinians through the humiliation and torture of check points, arrests, and limited rights. College students should be discussing how the world has allowed Israel to carry on in such a manner. Why does the U.S. send over $8.2 million dollars of military aid per day to Israel when right in our backyard, education at all levels is suffering and we have yet to recover from the housing crisis? We should be discussing how the world’s hegemonic power, that which prides itself on equality, liberty, and freedom for all, can support a nation that segregates people based on race, down to the license plates on the cars and the roads they can travel on. Israel puts on a good front, but their true intentions are to continue building scattered and expanding settlements, despite the United Nations condemning them, making the goal of a Palestinian state ever more difficult to reach.
LYLA RAYYAN
Junior, International Relations
Arafat – Do you honestly believe every single Muslim in the world agrees with what that one man said? Whatever religion you are, I’m sure you have your own thoughts and ideas and beliefs that are not exactly aligned with another person of your religion or ethnicity.
Next, by saying that someone is willing to die for Islam does not always mean that they will blow themselves up the way media leads America to think. It is in the same sense that many people are willing to die for their country – if you love something, you would do anything to keep it alive and well for future generations. Last I checked, it is looked highly upon when a soldier says he will die to preserve America. So why can this man not say the same thing about his religion?
Assuming we are all “sweety boys” shows that you make assumptions without basis. Think outside the box a little.
OH BTW I’m not a boy, I’m a female, thank you 🙂 and so is the writer of this piece.
Arafat – Please, please just for ONE second, you, yes you, open YOUR mind to hearing anything that disagrees with your preconceived beliefs.
First:
The Jihad website? Seriously? No one takes that website seriously other than ISLAMOphobes and bigots. Nowhere in your first link did they say what the end credits of the video said the MSA pledges. I don’t know what he meant by die to establish Islam, he obviously didnt say what the end wrote out which was “dieing in the way of islam is our highest hope” so why twist his words? that website just takes everything and twists and turns. he said he would fight oppression and forbid wrong, dieing or killing is wrong and every muslim whos in their right mind knows that. seriously, stop LUMPING us all together.
And honestly with your last link hes spewing a bunch of lies.
Listen, really listen. Everyone wants peace, period. There should be a Palestine and an Israel, people who think there should be no Palestine and no Israel arent thinking realistically, both can live in peace, but not while Israel is taking out their aggression of Hamas out on civilians. There has been plenty of reports of IDF officers killing civilians at random, and the 1400 civilian massacre, to what 10 israelis at most dead, was that really fair? did that need to happen? yes hamas is in the wrong to throw anything at Israel, BUT, when youre in an OPEN air prison (as noted by every humanitarian organization in the world) then you honestly lose your mind, what would you do if you dont get aid, youre blocked off from the world and what you used to call home, and you have awful checkpoints in which women have babies there with no care and they end up dieing?
There are always TWO sides to the story, so open your eyes to both, everyone. But Arafat, theres been a lot of Israelis who have stated they have been brainwashed by Israel to think the world is against them and they must fight for their land. Many holocaust survivors abhor the way Israel treats palestinians because theyve been through the same oppression and prejudice. just think. Anyone whos brainwashed, be it Israel or Hamas’s brainwashing, is wrong.
wake up, and smell the humanity.
Oh sweety boys, here is a different perspective, not that I assume you’re open to hearing anything that disagrees with your preconceived beliefs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX6vyT8RzMo
Just imagine if Israel shared the same moral compass as, say, Gadaffi Duck, Omar al-Bashir, Assad, Huseein, Khomeini, and all those other “highly” moral Islamist leaders! LOL.
O! And, BTW, Hamas revised the number downwards, just in case you haven’t kept current.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/03/msa-pledge-of-allegiance-i-will-die-to-establish-islam.html
This is sweet. A real Muslim love fest, or so I presume.
Do any of you know whether Cal Davis’ MSA shares these beliefs? Oh, and, TIA sweeties!
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/03/msa-pledge-of-allegiance-i-will-die-to-establish-islam.html
Thank you, AD.
Arafat, my father’s cousin lost half of his land because the wall was built through his property. It was not purchased, and it was not captured. They came and told him the wall would be built, and overnight his property was halved.
P.S. I am all for non-violence. I don’t think anyone should be blowing anyone up, whether they be Christian or Jewish or Muslim or Atheist or anything else. But with the way Israel treats Palestinians, they’re the ones doing the whining. Collective punishment of a people after you’ve taken their land and submitted them to terrible conditions is asking for retaliation. What human being would honestly be able to sit back and watch someone destroy their culture, people, land and families? When you are in that situation and can honestly prove to me that you would not fight back with whatever weapons you had, then come talk.
Ad hominem attacks will get you nowhere, unless you want to be on the fast track to being ignored as a demagogue with nothing of substance to add.
Besides, you wouldn’t need to bulldoze someone else’s house against their will on land you own fair and square. Unless you’re talking about a concept of “ownership” which is inappropriate for governments. Or do you think Obama should bulldoze my neighborhood to break new ground for a community of transplants taking risks in service of his ideology? Should Sarkozy’s government do this in France too? I hear they also have a lot of pesky Arabs who are childishly insisting on living peacefully in their own homes, and with running water too!
Yes, because massacring 1,400 innocent civilians makes up for the…zero lives lost.
Oh and this seems totally justified too. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201147213052467175.html
Good job with the ad hominem attacks. Makes your argument sound sophisticated.
Stealing land?
Israel either buys land or captured it in a defensive war. Both are legal ways to possess land whether you like it or not.
Your attitude is typical. You’re like a child who torments and torments a parent and then when you are disciplined you blame the parent.
You’re like Hamas. You shoot rocket after rocket after rocket and then you whine when Israel pushes back.
And, finally, this is also who you are:
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/8348/muslims-project-islam-worst-traits-onto-israel