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Luc Hansen

Why do South Koreans exude calm while Israelis tremble?

North Korea have both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them and devastate their southern neighbour, yet South Koreans are not panicking.

On the other hand, Iran, far from Israel, simply moves to the threshold of nuclear weaponry, and Israel proclaims loud and long that a nation which has never threatened to invade another in hundreds of years is an "existential" threat.

Are South Koreans inherently more courageous than Israelis? Or?

In this article, Gwynne Dyer examines the "Or."

For your benefit, I can summarise the "Or" succinctly for you. It is encapsulated in this explanation of Israeli policies dating back to 1948 and one of the most consistent themes of Israel's governments through the decades:

The creation of a siege mentality in Israeli society was necessary to complement the prefabricated myth of the Arab threat.

61 years on...plus ca change,plus c'est la meme chose

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Oh Luc. Fantasy and wishful thinking and selective myopia seem to be your and Gwynne Dyer's strengths.

Facts are clearly not relevant but fantasy is.

As you you wrote, Luc: "The more things change, the more things stay the same."

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When was the last time South Korea and North Korea were at war, meaning, they actually fired upon each other?
I don't know.

When was the last time Israel and Iran was at war, meaning, they and their associates fired upon each other?
A few months ago and again a few years ago.

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Correction: hours ago.

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Sophie, Hamas is trained, funded, and armed by Iran. Anytime Hamas fires a rocket, it is backed by Iran. Same with Hezbollah.

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Very interesting how Palestinians are always in the middle I suppose that if there are one nation from the outside space declared that they wanna attack Israel, we are gonna hear that Paletinians are helping!!!

It seems to be the easy way for some people to keep justfying many of the unreaonable things that go on these days in Gaza and the West Bank. (Palestinians are alway guilty).

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Hiba, Iran's assistance in Hamas' and Hezbollah' terrorist activities are well documented. This isn't coming out of no where.

I'm not the one who said "Palestinian". I said Hamas and Hezbollah. They are organizations, not distinct peoples. However, Israel's enemies have used the Palestinians many times as their arm in fighting Israel. They supported and still do organizations which killed fellow Palestinians with opposing views and those from rival factions.

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This is why I want Israel to withdraw totally from the territories and allow the Palestinians to start building their state. As long as rights and security are respected, I see no reason why this can not or should not happen.

I think this silly post about North and South Korea is a red herring post, put here by someone who wants to detract from the real issue between us.

I will talk to any Palestinian any time. I don't see the need to argue endlessly with someone who is not a Jew, not an Arab, and who has NO emotional or physical connection to the Land of Israel/Palestine.

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Sophie, there is some evidence that this is already happening in Egypt's SInai Peninsula, where AL Quaeda has stepped into a vacuum created by official mistreatment of the Beduin population.

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news...


This National Geographic article about the SInai is a great read. There are referemces in it to the Beduin.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/sinai/teague-text

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Sophie,
There is already something just as bad as Al Qaeda in Gaza. It's called Hamas.
The names are a shell-game front the Muslim Brotherhood puts on, to fool the world into thinking that its many arms are really different creatures.
Hamas is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and follows its Wahhabi ideology. As do al Shabab in Somalia, and the Janjaweed in Darfur, and Lakshar E Taibeh in Pakistan, and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and al Qaeda wherever it can be found.
Don't think Israelis are any more afraid of Al Qaeda than of Hamas or Hizballah.
What? No more Mr. Nice Guy?
When they are not uniting to attack Israel, Shiite and Sunni extremists can be counted on to revert to fighting each other. With no reference to Israel whatsoever.
Hamas have made clear that, just like the Taliban and Lakshar e Taibeh and Al Qaeda and Shabab, they want to implement a demented, misogynistic, discriminatory version of Wahhabi 'sharia' into law.

So, if it smells like a duck, and walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck,
the fact that Israel happens to be in its vicinity does not stop it from being a duck.

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Sophie,

You said: "And how did Hamas grow? And who allows it that Hamas is backed by Iran?"

The answer is very simple, because the corrupt Fatah was sponsored by the West. The West did not hold Arafat and his cronies accountable and that let a woman in Paris go on shopping sprees. Hamas was the only alternative. As for the latter question, I either don't understand it or it is just a meaningless question. "Who allows it?" What kind of question is that? I think you are talking about the Iranian government, they choose whether to back Hamas or not.

Palestinian politics is self destructive as evident by their killing of political rivals.

The cartoon is detached from reality. Israel doensn't put military bases in cities. Hamas hides in civilian areas. The Israeli people would turn against their government if it put military bases in the civilian neighborhoods.

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Sophie, I actually agree with much of what you say.

How do you propose to get Israelis to see the Palestinian mind, as you put it, more clearly?

I want ideas.

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First of all, Israel didn't push for elections, the US did. Second, a simple Google map search of Gaza shows lots of open space away from the cities and towns.

I agree with the idea that Israel and the West should let Hamas lead the Palestinians, hopefully with Fatah in a unity government. Though my prediction of what would happen after probably differs from yours.

Sophie, you have minimalized Arab hatred of Jews before 1948 and after, even today. Even polls conducted by Palestinians showed that they overwhelmingly want a state of all "historic Palestine" rather than one in just the West Bank and Gaza.

How do you know the Palestinians wouldn't need Hamas? Fatah has eliminated their rivals as well.

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