I really just meant critical of its actions. That's as far as I go, personally. I have no strong opinion on the formation of Israel as a state.
Its nice to hear that you have no strong opinion on the formation of Israel as a state. A significant number of the world's Muslims, many leftists and the Hamas would like to see the state of Israel wiped off the map,as they feel it had no right to be formed in the first place. IMO, Israel had as much if not much more right to be formed as Pakistan. Jews demanded a separate homeland after the Holocaust, Muslims in the Indian sub continent demanded a separate homeland
as they felt that they'd be submerged or ill treated in the new Indian nation. Hajji Amin al Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, even co operated with Hitler during the Holocaust and aspired to build his own concentration camp for Jews in Palestine after the War, although I don't hold all Palestinians responsible for his actions.
But obviously I don't agree with the silly equivalence created in the Western media between a few Qassam rockets, which hardly hit anything or kill anyone, and massive bombing campaigns that kill hundreds, carried out by the *state* (not independent party or group, like Hamas) of Israel.
Those poor quality rockets are simply due to lack of better military technology.
Is military weakness a sign of moral superiority? And as has been said by other posters,
Hamas are the state, the elected government, just like Israel's Government. Why are you expecting Israel to demonstrate a higher standard of morality than Hamas? Leftists often judge Muslim by far more lenient standards compared to those non Muslims, who Muslims regularly conflict with.
The Palestinians are responsible in large measure for their own troubles. They elected a group which wasn't interested in peace or even a two state solution, and whose avowed ambition was to wipe Israel off the map. 60 years have passed since the formation of Israel, yet Muslims nurse the grievances of losing a tiny piece of land. Even the Government of Iran aspires to wipe Israel off the map. What would U.S.A. do if Canada had elected a Government which sought to wipe them off? The Palestinians who were forced to leave the newly created states of Israel could've settled in other Arab nations, educated their children and had loftier ambitions for their children rather than training them to bomb Jews.The millions of non Muslims who left Pakistan did just that. Now millions of Bangladeshi and Pakistani illegal immigrants come to settle in India.
The elephant in the room is Islamic extremism, which believes that its perfectly allright for them to steal lands, yet its a grievious injustice for other people to steal any land away from them.
As long as Muslims aren't able to forget old grievances and try to build a better life by taking their destiny into their own hands, instead of wallowing in self pity and manufacturing poor quality rockets if they lack better technology, others will retaliate.And if others have the capability to retaliate with superior technology, they'll certainly use the superior technology.
Israel can't manufacture poor quality rockets and start a mock fight with poor quality rockets, can it? Nor can it unilaterally disarm without putting its own citizens at risk.
Topic: Palestinian Media Watch