Is it really moral to starve Palestinian workers becuase they ELECTED

[cantstandbush]

people we don't like? Hamas has not been able to pay its workers because of the foreign aid cut off by the US and it's EU counterparts. So we really see how much we care about "democracy." We will do anything immoral to support Israel's immorality.

[magellan]

1. No more so than it was to kill Americans on 9-11

...for the crimes of the US government.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Are you trying to say something about the Palestinians?

They had nothing to do with 9/11, remember?

[magellan]

4. No

I'm making an analogy between what terrorists did on 9-11 and their alleged reasons for it and what the terrorists in the US gov't are doing to the Palestinians.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. Okay, thank you for clarifying.

It sounded rather hateful as it was. I apologize for questioning you.

[magellan]

7. That's okay

When I'm angry my ability to write what I mean disintegrates. I could have been clearer. Basically I see no difference between the rationale of those who attacked us on 9-11 and BushCo on this matter.

Indiscriminately sentencing people to death for the sins of their governments or certain agents within their societies is terrorism, no matter who does it!

[manic expression]

17. It is difficult, IMO,

to say that Hamas is guilty of anything approaching unjustified actions. Hamas is standing up against a bully the only way they can, a far cry from what you are saying they are guilty of.

However, I agree with the important point that it is immoral to starve Palestinians because they elected a group America doesn't like. No real objection here.

[cali]

9. That's just a poor analogy.

Although I don't support the US government in cutting off aid, there is absolutely a difference between those actions and flying jets into buildings filled with civilians. If you can't see the difference, you're letting anger and indignation get the better of you. My real problem with the US and EU is not just that they're witholding aid to the Palestinians but that they're impeding others from doing so.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. It's asinine. We demanded elections

So they had them. Now we have the gall to say we don't like who they elected? Un-friggin-believable!

[Igel]

11. I seem to recall hearing lots of

complaints that the Germans and French didn't like that * was sworn in as prez.

They had the gall to say ...

(But since I'm not a freeper, I think the European government folk had every right to voice their opinion and manage their foreign affairs based upon their appraisal of who was elected, subject to any protest that the * administration can make. I think the US has the same rights as other countries. Some people want to say the US has greater rights, some that the US has fewer rights ... a pox on both groups.)

on edit: out out, damned typo.

[manic expression]

18. I can't seem to recall

France or Germany shutting off needed aid to the US.

[genie_weenie]

6. Why exactly does the US need to give aid to any nation?

This is not an attack on the I/P issue, but a question of what are the reasons behind aid.

I guess the lofty reasons are to stop starvation among poor nations, but the real reasons governments give aid is to "Encourage" proper behavior (i.e. behavior we agree with).

But I'd like to know the rationales we should give aid.

[manic expression]

19. A few reasons

humanitarian reasons, first of all. Countries give aid to one another, oftentimes regardless of disagreements. Secondly, giving aid to Israel by the wheelbarrels and then not giving aid to the very people Israel has wronged for so long is patently ridiculous.

If you want to condone outright blackmail, that is your own mistake to make.

[xchrom]

8. lol -- of course not!

that won't stop them from doing it.

this is a huge travesty -- the palestinian people elect THEIR leaders and the west throws a tantrum and withholds aid.

teach those uppity palestinians a lesson.

[Bake]

10. I didn't know we had a DUTY to provide aid.

Frankly, we've got people HERE who need aid. Still. Remember that little storm we had last year, what was it called, KATRINA?

Let their elected government (and I'm all for democracy) take care of them.

Flame away.

Bake

[Tom Joad]

14. Israel gets billions of dollars every year. We do have a duty to

make sure that nations we provide aid to adhere to basic human rights standards. Especially because we also provide military aid to Israel.

If we ended all aid to Israel, then Israel would be more likely to come to an agreement with Palestinians, and the Palestinians & Israelis could provide for themselves.

So you'll get no flame from me. Stopping all military aid to the Middle East would do us all a world of good.

[Spinoza]

16. Agreed.

Stop all aid to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the PA or Hamas.

[Poll_Blind]

21. Agreed.

Foreign aid may have some use in the past but it's causing more trouble than it's worth, and has been for years. I do support humanitarian assistance of food and medicine when specific cases warrant it, however.

PB

[sinkingfeeling]

12. It's not moral to me, but I'm not a religious person.

[Tom Joad]

13. You mean is it moral to destroy Palestinian civil society?

Health Care.
Education.

And then rob a large percentage of people of their only source of income, after attacking and isolating a people for decades, and destroying its economy? Putting up Walls to isolate them from their farmland and water sources. Destroying the homes of tens of thousands with Caterpillar bulldozers.

Is that what you are asking?
Most of these measures starting way before the election of the Hamas-related party. What does Hamas have to do with it anyway. What does morality have to do with it. Israel does this because it needs Palestinian compliance with their demands. To isolate Palestinians on the smallest area of the occupied terratories as possible. Then Israel gets the rest.

The problem with this, is that it will lead to endless violence, because it is a policy of violence.

[Bake]

15. Excuse me, but *I* didn't do any of that

And as far as I know, neither did my government do it in my name. I'm not aware of the U.S. government building any walls around there or bulldozing any homes.

Israel has. Israel has been an American ally since its inception. I suppose your point is that because we have not stopped Israel from doing those things, it's the same as if we did them ourselves, consequently you expect us/me to pay for it. I don't buy that.

Frankly, if the Palestinians want to elect Hamas as their government, fine with me. Let Hamas take care of its people.

Bake

[manic expression]

20. By extension

You (I presume) are part of America. America's government gives unending support (material, influential, etc...) to Israel. This support, in part, helps to enable Israel's actions (or at least condones them). Israel's actions include the blatant injustices you pointed out.

Get the picture?

Next, we should not leave Palestinians out to dry because our government doesn't like who they wanted to elect. That is the epitome of wrong.

[Lithos]

22. Locking per I/P guidelines

Not based on a recent news or op-ed article

Lithos
DU Moderator