You are picking and choosing, Ray. You are typical of those who wish to demonize Israel. It is common in the West. Nonetheless, to respond, all people in Israel are free to practice their religious beliefs no matter their religion. Houses of worship of all kinds and faiths exist unlike in Muslim dominated lands. There is considerable diversion amongst Jews themselves with regard to how Judaism is practiced and there are many disputes amongst Jews and a certain intolerance by Orthodox Jews towards other Jews. Does that satisfy your Israeli bashing nature, Ray.
As to translations of the Koran, obviously I do not read Arabic so I have given the translation I found. Do you read Arabic, Ray. So you choose your translations. What we cannot doubt, however, after watching Robert Fisk`s video (yes, I have just watched it in its entirety) is the Muslim love of death and martyrdom. Isn`t that true, Ray. You have watched the video, haven`t you. It was well done and informative and very moving, wasn`t it, Ray. Of course, there were certain biases. Israel didn`t just move in to Lebanon unprovoked as the video seemed to suggest. Originally, Lebanon moved in on Israel. At any rate, it`s obvious that the Muslim religion provides the justification for martydom and love for the afterlife. Of course the video is not up-to-date. Israel finally moved out of Lebanon giving Hezbollah free rein in southern Lebanon. The UN is useless and never obstructed the movement of weapons. An alliance is in the making between Lebanon, Syria and Iran. The whole of Lebanon is being strangled by Hezbollah. Hezbollah will make its move soon to usurp Lebanon. It wants to prevent the UN from conducting an investigation into the assassination of the former PM. In the meantime, Hezbollah has set up various ammunition storage dumps amongst the south Lebanese villagers. If attacked, many civilians will be killed and this will be a propaganda victory for all of the anti-Israeli crowd. This is called assymetrical war. In actuality, these are just terrorist attacks of a different nature perpetuated by Hezbollah. As stated in the video by Fisk, the problem isn`t Israel, the problem is that Israel exists. Israel, incidentally, takes up one percent of the land mass of the Mideast and three percent of the population. But no matter, in the eyes of Hezbollah and Hamas, it shouldn`t exist. Israel achieved its independence by force and by defeating much more populous militias. The video noted at the end that Hezbollah represented religion and Israel represented technology. Of course, this was Fisk`s shortsightedness. Westpoint (military academy) refuses to teach about the wars of Israel because it doesn`t teach about `miracles`. Even secular Israelis are aware of these miracles. This represents Fisk`s inability to understand cultures other than the Lebanese. At any rate, the murders in the Shatilla camp were shameful and represent a black eye to Israel. Nonetheless, whatever action the West takes regarding terrorism, Israel is like the canary in the coalmine. A massive war is brooding. The tension is building. It may be up to Israel to take out Hezbollah (which has now metamorphized into the government of Lebanon), Syria and Iran. This will lead to much agony within Israel but there appears to be no choice as Israel`s very existence is at stake. You can see from the video, Ray, that Hezbollah disputes Israel`s very existence. This has been the problem for Israel even before the state actually came into existence. Here, in Canada, people like you feel quite safe. Not until you are actually attacked, you and some of your cohorts who write so complacently and intellectually about terror attacks, will you begin to comprehend what you are up against.
