Cheat Sheet

Finally, Obama had the decency to come out and say something on this atrocity today, not before time in my opinion.
This disgraceful behavior by Israel has got to stop, this is just not acceptable and they need to be reigned in pretty quickly. Israel is the scourge of the Middle East and needs to be dealt with accordingly....they have had a free pass to do what they like whenever they like for far too long and it needs to stop.

Yes, Israel must stop. but shame on you for being so stupid that you don't realize that NO ONE WANTS TO BLOW UP A SCHOOL. When Hamas hides bombs and guns and militants in a school, they know what will happen but don't care. Both sides are wrong here but if civilian casualties are to be decreased, Hamas must not hide in schools and houses like they do. As someone who has been in the Israeli military, i can tell you first hand that Israel does NOT want to hurt civilians. It is the first thing they teach in basic training. but above that, when rockets fly form the rooftop of a house in a crowded neighborhood, that house is going to be a target not because of the people but because of the rockets. this is a two sided problem and if you or anyone takes sides then you obviously don't understand the entire situation. shame on everyone.

For obvious reasons president-elects do not make or set US foreign policy -- as unfortunate as that may be in this case. Also, it's no accident that Israel launched their offensive during this presidential transition period. And yes, I agree with you, it needs to stop.

no, he does not have power to shape foreign policy, but that does not mean he should remain mute while a humanitarian disaster continues to escalate.

this is not the Change I believed in when i donated to his campaign.

the situation is atrocious, but lets look carefully at a very important part of the bbc article:

The Israeli military said that, according to initial checks, its soldiers had come under mortar fire from militants inside the al-Fakhura school.

"The force responded with mortars at the source of fire," it said in a statement. "Hamas cynically uses civilians as human shields."

It later reported that two well-known members of a Hamas rocket-launching cell had been among those killed at the school, naming them as Imad and Hassan Abu Askar.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the incident was a "very extreme example of how Hamas operates".

"If you take over - I presume with guns - a UN facility. If you hold the people there as hostages, you shoot out of that facility at Israeli soldiers in the neighbourhood, then you receive incoming fire - I think that's a war crime under international law," he told the BBC. .


it has been reported that there are even eyewitness accounts of hamas terrorists pulling children by their ears and using them as shields.

its also important to remember that there is video footage of mortars being launched from this very same school in october of 2007.

i am horrified at the civilian casualties and humanitarian issues that are going on, but to put the blame for them solely on israel (who have been trying to warn civilians of incoming fire) is wrong when hamas is knowingly putting their own people - their own children - in harms way by using them as human shields. if that isn't a humanitarian crisis - then i don't know what is.

Israel deserves to be blamed, wholly and soley. They have an army, navy and airforce not to mention a nuclear bomb or two or three. They have been treating the people in the Gaza strip worse than animals. Would you put up with your pet being starved or malnourished with a vetinary clinic which has no drugs or access to them. AND don't forget this pet has no clean drinking, cooking or bathing water!