next »

[kattey]

The book is called _The Historical Jesus_.

[jonesey]

Resurrecting a dead thread:

From The Associated Press:

Israeli soldiers who fought in last winter's Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths and destruction, according to a report released Wednesday.

The testimonies were by far the strongest allegations to come from war veterans that the army used excessive force during the three-week offensive and echoed claims already leveled by Palestinian and human rights groups. The military rebutted the report, saying the accounts were anonymous and impossible to verify.

Palestinians and various other groups have been making these accusations for years, but to hear this from a group of actual veterans who were there is a big difference. 

[solly]

Good to see you Jonesy.

By coincidence, I was just reading the Chronicle today. There was an article about a controversy at my old school, Waikato University:
http://chronicle.com/news/article/?id=5303

Bit of a storm in a teacup but interesting to see the comments from Chronicle posters.

I have been busy with family matters and travelling for some time so have let this thread lapse.

Then I got an email alert advising that someone had, as you put it, resurrected this thread.

To be perfectly honest, the Gaza thing confirmed my worst fears. I am perplexed that there has not been widespread condemnation of Israel's actions during "operation Cast Lead". Regardless of our differing opinions as to the justification of Palestinian resistance, I cannot condone the wholesale slaughterin response and certainly cannot see what benefit it has achieved. It only serves to confirm my suspicion that peace is not the object and morality is not the criteria. Look forward to hearing your view. I enjoyed our previous exchanges and have always regarded the Chronicle as a bit of an oasis of reasonable debate in a desert of polemicism.

Kind regards.

[fizmath]

Resurrecting a dead thread:

From The Associated Press:

Israeli soldiers who fought in last winter's Gaza War say the military used Palestinians as human shields, improperly fired incendiary white phosphorous shells over civilian areas and used overwhelming firepower that caused needless deaths and destruction, according to a report released Wednesday.

The testimonies were by far the strongest allegations to come from war veterans that the army used excessive force during the three-week offensive and echoed claims already leveled by Palestinian and human rights groups. The military rebutted the report, saying the accounts were anonymous and impossible to verify.

Palestinians and various other groups have been making these accusations for years, but to hear this from a group of actual veterans who were there is a big difference. 

This picture has been around for a few years:
http://normanfinkelstein.com/img/photos/media/dm/humanshield.jpg

[parispundit]

Having stumbled on this thread and read both its older and newer incarnations, if any of you want to convince anyone, you had better tone down your rhetoric a dozen notches or so.

[untenured]

Having stumbled on this thread and read both its older and newer incarnations, if any of you want to convince anyone, you had better tone down your rhetoric a dozen notches or so.

As I mentioned earlier, there is no better way to answer the topic question of this thread than by reading the posts therein.

Untenured