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Magdi Youssef / NBC News
Dalia al Sayed, host of a cooking show on Egypt TV, told NBC News that she was afraid that the conflict between Israel and Gaza would hurt Egypt.
CAIRO, Egypt - Sympathy for the Palestinians runs high in neighboring Egypt as Israel reportedly considers a ground invasion of Gaza if peace efforts fail.
The country, which is led by Hamas' parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, has been spearheading efforts to forge a ceasefire between Gaza and Israel. President Mohammed Morsi has hosted leaders from Hamas and two key allies, Qatar and Turkey, to seek a way to end the fighting.
Morsi, who came to power earlier this year after a popular revolt ousted longtime American ally President Hosni Mubarak, also recalled Cairo's ambassador from Israel to protest the offensive.
But while the government’s stance reflects the will of many regular Egyptians who support the Palestinian struggle against what is widely viewed here as Israeli aggression, those who spoke to NBC News in the capital, Cairo, also worry that Morsi will drag them into conflict with their powerful neighbor.
“We are very scared of what is happening. We have been through war,” said Dalia al Sayed, host of a cooking show on Egypt TV told NBC News. “Let the Palestinians unite, not drag Egypt in to start wars.”
Despite talks of a truce, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue, with a Hamas-linked bank being hit overnight along with 10 homes of alleged Palestinian militants. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Al Sayed's family knows the price of war. She was born in Suez during the 1967 war between Israel and Syria, Egypt and Jordan during which her family were forced to flee. Al Sayed believes that President Mohamed Morsi's government is trying to distract Egyptians from problems at home.
"The [2011 Egyptian] revolution was not done in order to take money, resources and give them to Gaza,” she said. “Egypt is suffering. People can't find food to eat. Its not up to Egypt to get involved."
Related links:
Clinton heads to Mideast on peace mission, Hamas remains defiant
Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict
How Israel's 'Iron Dome' intercepts incoming rockets in Gaza conflict
Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack
Hamas says 'land war' would cost Israeli PM Netanyahu the election
Businessman Mohamed Abdel Aziz is happy to see Morsi adopt a policy independent from United States, Israel’s main backer, but worries that Washington may cut Egypt's annual $2.1 billion aid package.
He, like others, said that the government should concentrate on Egypt’s own problems, like worsening security, the high cost of living and rising unemployment.
The violence continues in Gaza while negotiations between Hamas and Israel are taking place in Egypt. An estimated 100 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed so far. NBC's John Ray reports.
"We can't always say ‘Yes, yes, yes [to the U.S.].’ I like the response but I am afraid of the results,” Aziz said. “If you don't have control of feeding your people, you can't control your decision making. Morsi took the decision. He will bear the consequences."
Nevertheless, there are those who would favor Morsi breaking more dramatically with the United States and Israel.
At a poorly attended demonstration held by the Muslim Brotherhood after Friday prayers at Egypt’s iconic Al Azhar Mosque, emotions ran high in favor of Egyptian intervention.
Sami Abdel Halim Haidar, a daily laborer in Cairo, said he came to stand in solidarity with Gazans.
“Yesterday, I saw a baby killed. What religion, what law, what country is ok with that?” he told NBC News, adding that the border with Gaza should be left open for anybody who wants to wage holy war against Israel. “I want to cut relations with any country that stands by Israel or supplies them with weapons.”
“It’s very easy to condemn the actions of Israel and issue a U.N. statement, but we need to make decisions that show how we have changed and are not following the U.S. or Israel anymore,” he said.
Magdi Youssef / NBC News
Khalid Kamal attends a protest against Israeli bombardment of Gaza at Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday.
Khalid Kamal, a bearded man dressed in the simple white gown and head covering preferred by Islamist fundamentalists, said he wanted to tell Israel that the violence in Gaza so far was minor compared to what it could be.
“[Israel and the United States] are provoking us to perform Jihad and we are ready for our blood to be spilled at the gate of the holy city [Jerusalem],” he said.
But veteran publisher and opposition activist, Hisham Kassem, said that if Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood truly cared about the Palestinian people they would encourage Hamas to stop firing rockets across the border.
“It is the citizens who bear the brunt,” he told NBC News. “People are saying the last thing we want Morsi to do is take us into war."
Kassem worried that Morsi has played all his diplomatic cards too early.
“He sent his Prime Minister to Gaza and withdrew the Egyptian ambassador. Suppose Israel enters Gaza, what does he have next?”
Taha Belal, NBC News, contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Clinton heads to Mideast on peace mission as Gaza crisis rages
- Too much democracy? Apathy triumphs in UK's latest election
- Obama's visit a sign of Myanmar's dizzying pace of change
- Key players in the Israel-Gaza cross-border conflict
- French girl found tied up - but alive - in trunk after routine traffic stop
- Mexican company Bimbo may be eyeing Twinkies
Leave a Comment:
Well, if you do get dragged into an Isreali/Palestinian war Egypt, just remember who you put in office to make that call...that is who will be to blame.
Vote the party out of your political system and another in.
That didn't exactly work for us, did it? Obama continued the Bush policies and has followed the withdrawal timeline he set up. Changing regimes hasn't changed our engagement in other countries much.
We have only a 1 party system, the dems and repups are nothing more than different sides of the same coin. I would love to have more options but these two parties will go to no limit to make sure that they are the only centers of political power in our country....that is why they continue with one anothers policies.
Take a look at the Justice Party. It is currently the only one I know of that has not sold out to either party.
And the big boys will squash it the second it becomes a credible threat I'm sure.
How little has changed!
Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, had collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. In 1940, he asked the Axis Powers to acknowledge the Arab right "to settle the question of Jewish elements in Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the national and racial interests of the Arabs and along the lines similar to those used to solve the Jewish question in Germany and Italy.
Simple Hamas stops the provocations and then proves it is a peace loving land. Then ask for less sanctions. Sign a peace agreement with Israel and it is finished.
As long as they attack Israel, don't expect anything else but the continued extermination of their leaders.
Give them the big shock everyone has been waiting for. Hit that new fancy expensive shopping center. That will send the money boys to the peace table.
With Iraqi wars barbaric, beastly, seventh century highly bigoted and despotic Sunni Saudi, Qatari, Kuwaiti and others Sunni Arab League members have become too strong with high oil price manipulations and outsourcing dirty job of removing Saddam from their midst to the US, British, and others!
They have got control in Egypt (linked to Salaffi and MB) and Turkey.
They will be doing meaningless dramas while supporting their Hamas. Hamas is linked to MB.
Israel should just wipe out Hamas in Gaza by carpet bombings as during 1991 Iraqi war against Saddam and should not put soldiers on the ground!
Time for ANOTHER Egyptian "Arab Spring" to take out the current MB rulers.
You get what you vote for.
They should be afraid and not only about being brought into a war.They should be afraid of The Brothers turning Egypt into another sharia crazed Islamic dictatorship. like in The.Bro will force their brand of mafia style Islam down thw throats of women,gays,Christians "adulterers" and any other person who doesn´t accept their "truth" and interpretation of Muslim Law.A fascist state waving the Koran insted of Mein Kumpf. There were irregularites in the election.Might be time for the military to take over and put the Brotherhood back in prison where they belong!
Wouldn't it be great if some alien or alien force were to land on this planet to great media fanfare and explain to humans that there is no God/Allah/supreme being and that human destiny will be decided by their own hand thus removing the true stumbling block to any peace accord anywhere in the world. Your "piece" of this planet is the square foot you are standing on. You are renting it for the period of your existence. Bury vendetta's. Oh and by the way....there is no "hereafter". This is your only chance at life. Make the best of it. But sadly advanced aliens might simply view us as ants warring between species for terrain, food and creature comforts.
The main point of this article is the US is giving $2.1 billion to Islamists (Egyptian gov't) who hate Israel and the US. Cut this foreign aid to Egypt now!
The US is giving foreign aid to a country who's trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution before all-out war starts up? Oh no, how horrible!
Blackbird.... so... let me get this right... you only get the time you have on Earth. No afterlife, no absolute right or wrong..
Ok I need to make sure I get everything that I need and want. Screw everybody else, they are not important nor is the Earth because after I am gone... who F'n cares right?
What did the Egyptian voters expect. they elected Muslim terrorist group that supports other Muslim terrorist group. If Egypt is pulled into this mess Egyptians only have themselves to blame.
Joe,that's exactly how I see it,if it was the way Black bird looks at it then we would be in war every day,because there would be no hope about anything,you need to always have hope.
Can we please hear from an Egyptian without a white cloth on their head proclaiming to be on a mission for Allah? Someone with an unbiased, fair understanding of the conflict and someone with a positive peace plan. Is that too much to ask?
Oops that would require the Arabs to love Jews. Forget it, carry on.
Nobody wants to take a hard look at the fundamental psychology of human beings and the propensity for sociopaths to take control of organizations for the advancement of their personal goals. Sociopaths don't care for the common good or higher ideals. They will always foster and leverage conflict into advancing themselves. Sociopaths are risk insensitive and hyper aggressive. They will use what ever language or philosophical position they think people want to hear to create the conditions for their own success.
Until humanity comes to grip with steps necessary to test for and exclude sociopaths from positions of greater power and influence, not much is going to improve. Anyone hoping and praying for people to be "cured of their waring madness" will never see it while sociopaths are allowed to make those decisions.
Hey, they voted in the Muslim Brotherhood, did they not? A terrorist organization. Likewise, the Palestinians did the exact same thing when they voted in Hamas back in 2007. Now they're seeing the fruits of their brainwashed Islamist lemming thought process. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of folks.
Raise your glass. CHEERS!
So if Blackbird does the "right" thing because he has empathy for his fellow man and derives pleasure in extending a helping hand to someone in their time of need, and you do the same thing only because you expect to be rewarded in he afterlife, who is the more moral person?
Johnathon,
"With Iraqi wars barbaric, beastly, seventh century highly bigoted and despotic Sunni Saudi, Qatari, Kuwaiti and others Sunni Arab League members have become too strong with high oil price manipulations and outsourcing dirty job of removing Saddam from their midst to the US, British, and others!"
No such thing as too strong.
We have the largest trees in the entire world in the Northwest. When American lumberjacks stumbled on them back in the day they looked up, paused for thought and simply said, "we need a bigger saw", built a bigger saw and then went back and cut one down...then the next, and the next and the next and the next.
Our problem does not lay in a lack of strength to topple a nation...we are quite good at that. Our problem is that we want to then go into that nation and help the enemy rebuild it. That is the flaw in the Middle East nation building plan. Our government thinks that since we were so successful with Japan and the parts of Europe we helped build up after laying to waste that we should have no problem in our future nation building projects. The difference is this;
Radicalized Arabic Muslims do not care if they live or die. You cannot build nations with peoples who don't care about having nations. If the hand is forced take the nation back about a 1000 years and let them build the damn thing back up themselves. Egypt is one of the few ME populations that have a nation to lose. If they do not want to lose it, they will play nice with Isreal regardless of their opinion of Isreal. The Egyptians are not the loose cannon...
We should stay out of the whole damn area except when Isreal requires an augment in its defense capacity from time to time.
Side note; the US does not itself require the oil in the middle east. Our allies in Europe are the ones who need to be worried about middle east stability. If we stepped back Europe would suffer more than us and we of course don't want that but most of us here don't want 200,000 of our boys running arund some GD dessert getting shot at by people they are trying to protect either.
Seriously...simple...shove some missles and bombs down some key chimneys when needed and stay the hell out of it.
Sanescience, you do realize that your methodology would basically disenfranchise nearly every politician in the entire world. The nature of a politician is to be "almost" a sociopath. Same with business leaders. There's a thin line between the two. People in power get there by stepping on whomever or whatever is in their way. That is the way it has always been and I don't know that there is a way out of that because the people who aren't slightly sociopathic really don't want to deal with being in politics to begin with.
someotherguy-1373018
Precisely. I think if everyone knew this was their one and only existence there might be a good chance they would try and make the best of it. Death would be feared as it would be the end. Life would be cherished. If human's are ever to survive and create a better world in which to live they have to change their perspective. It would be nice if it could be done in a different fashion but with distrust, greed etc I doubt it.
Linda describes people needing hope. Hope is good....delusion is not.
PS...Joe. That's your perspective, not mine.
Cut off all US funding to Egypt as long as the MB is in charge.
So the new Muslim Nazi is the MB ?
someotherguy-1373018
No blackbird is doing something because he/she gets some kind of personal satisfaction from it. What ever makes him/her happy is right for him/her.
What do you mean the "right" thing. All of morality is 100% relative (in your estimation).
You also are confusing an afterlife with an absolute right and wrong.
There are a lot of things I don't do because of my beliefs, not really because of a reward but simply because they are wrong.
There is an Old Testament prophecy about Egypt being destroyed and uninhabited by man or beast for fourty years. If they get dragged into the Hamas bull crap with Israel this might be the fulfillment of that prophecy. Israel has the ability to totally destroy all of Egypt and they should be aware that if push comes to shove Israel may just do that very thing. You do not attack the man with a gun using only a rubber band and a spitwad.
Eze 29:8
¶
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
Eze 29:9
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and
waste; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD: because he hath said, The river
[is] mine, and I have made [it].
Eze
29:10
Behold, therefore I [am] against thee, and
against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste [and]
desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
Eze
29:11
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor
foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
Eze
29:12
And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in
the midst of the countries [that are] desolate, and her cities among the cities
[that are] laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the
Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
Eze
29:13
¶
Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of
forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were
scattered:
Eze
29:14
And I will bring again the captivity of
Egypt, and will cause them to return [into] the land of Pathros, into the land
of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
Picture's worth a thousand....
http://commonamericanjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/8ad8ccb145e9621b1c0f6a7067007c6e.jpg
ArchStanton....
Yes it is...
Click
Or this one...
Were you trying to prove something or are you just antisemitic?
"Israel and the United States] are provoking us to perform Jihad and we are ready for our blood to be spilled at the gate of the holy city [Jerusalem],” he said."
By all means come on over and spill your blood.
Just STOP asking Americans to pay for it...soooo tired of helping Egypt and the rest of the ME who then spit in our faces. Take care of your own country and support your OWN wars...we have enough on our plate.
Right. I'll believe it when they put on a uniform and form an army and march on Israel to show their courage and faith. (instead of hiding behind women and children and spouting the same tired rhetoric.)
Beware Steve, coz it'll likely be another 'mother of all battles'.
Those Egyptians who have little to lose or Muslim religious leaders who advocate violent Jihad (as long as they don't have to put themselves on the firing line) don't care about the Egyptian people they only care about glorifying war and death which is the force behind this slave driven theocracy called Islam.
@FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, they care about the money and fame they get. Time to take some of those religious out of this world. Let them go get their 72 grains of white rice.
Let's all understand one important fact that is not in the mainstream media - over 1000 were killed in Gaza for not voting for Hamas! Yes, once again, more were killed at the hands of their own than by any Israeli! Oh - and why can't Abbas step foot into Gaza - not because of Israel - but because of Hamas! And why isn't NBC.com reporting on Syria- as if that fighting magically stopped - no- because Gaza took over the news - how convenient for Syria!
Since Imperial Rome, it has happened again and again. Jews enraged their neighbors and repeatedly suffered disastrous pogroms. Excesses of Weimar Germany's monied Jewish minority led to the most recent which Israel promotes, actually advertises, as justification for its apartheid malevolence. “Never again” is lost on Netanyahu's Israel. Blind to history, its paranoid pursuit of invulnerability, territorial conquest and supremacist empire in, and beyond, the Mideast ensures “again” on a far grander scale. Abandoning and aggressively isolating the Jewish state would force it abandon its grandiose aspirations and thereby avert its destruction. There is no greater or kinder support that America could render to both the Mideast and its “inseparable Mideast ally.”
AMEN to that.
John,
"Excesses of Weimar Germany's monied Jewish minority led to the most recent"
I hope that is not an attempt to justify the holocaust. You sound like a smart guy so I'll assume not though that is a rather distorted view of the "most recent"...I think it more like;
Some Germans initially, and then eventually all Germans, were jealous of the resourcefulness and success of the Jews in Europe so they did the only thing that would satisfy their insatiable need to feel like a superior people and exterminated as many as possible.
None of us were around thousands of years ago to witness some of those events you mention, history written by the victor and all, but we certainly know what happened 70 years ago.
If you'd add that instead of the neutral garbage concerning that portion of your comment that would be great.
Also, grandiose aspirations? elaborate please.
John where did you study history? At a crash course summer camp from hezbollah You invent hostory and fractured fairy tales.Back to kindergarten for you... or some reeducation camp You are dangerous with your lies. Adding fuel ot the fire with your motor mouth seems like something out of Orwell´s 1984 .The bigger the lie the better.The nazis used it also.Were you rejected by a Jewish girl ? Where does this come from ?Your historical analysis about the Jews? Protocals of Zion,Mein Kumpf.No offense John, but your ideas are frankly big lies .Probably deliberate,but in any case. .. like noxious fumes!!
@BART MARTIN. why didn't you come right out and say what John really is? I will: he is a fringe nut job for the tea baggers, one of the YELLOW ELEPHANTS, part of the infamous keyboard division, that thinks (key word is thinks) he is an arm chair general, and complete ME historian.
We have all seen the regressive pugbags try and re-write history. Just another failed attemped by them. They always show up to prove how stupid and low informed they are.
Free elections in Egypt? The US clearly showed its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi when Hillary sat down with Morsi - the leader of the MB...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9400749/US-Secretary-of-State-Hillary-Clinton-meets-Egypts-Muslim-Brotherhood-president-Mohammed-Morsi-in-historic-first.html
There is the 1 BILLION dollars that the US has pledged to Egypt to "assist the move to democracy." Most Egyptians have NO idea how Morsi won and do not support him of the MB... they do know the the US certainly did support the MB & Morsi.... Egypt should be scared because the US meddled with their "democracy."
Let me see, according to this article, Hamas is a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood... and the US has labeled Hamas a "terrorist" group, while having dinner and giving aid to the MB who controls (in part) Hamas? The US and the games we play with other people and their countries...like we have NOTHING do here to help the US?
SallyAnn-You seem to be a very hate filled, ignorant person with no true grasp of politics (T-baggers involvement?), history (who tends to rewrite more?) and how did you not know that it is the democrats that dislike the Jews, even though they vote Democratic (that's a go figure!).
Well, I,m out of time, must be my neighbors dogs fault, she goes by the name flea-bagger!
I do NOT like or approve of Netanyahu, but please tell me what YOU would do to your neighbors if they continued to throw bombs at your home? Just ignore it? If the Palestinians want peace, all they have to do is STOP sending rockets into Israel and acknowledge the State of Israel...if not, they get what they deserve...and, PLEASE do NOT bore us all with a history lesson
John, your twisted logic is akin to you saying you are a kkk member. You remind me of the neighborhood bullies I grew up with and when confronted they ran home crying. What Israel is doing is what we do in the modern world. We don't take any of your bigotry. Never again means just that, NEVER AGAIN. You are just another hater in a long line of haters.
Hye Egypt, welcome to free elections - you put them in power. Oh, here is who you put in power "The country, which is led by Hamas' parent movement, the Muslim Brotherhood"
See the double games and backstabbings by the so-called US allies like Turkey, Qatar, Sunni Saudi Arabia and others.
The same Sunni Saudi & co bigoted gangsters have been trying to get their dirty jobs done by the US, British, France, Germany and other infidels against Syria and Iran just as they did with their Iraqi wars.
Why are there sanctions on Iranian oil hurting ourselves economically?
Hamas is linked to MB and Morsi is the Egyptian front cover Sunni Salaffi, MB and other label ones.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB, Taliban and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Libya, Yemen, Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Morsi is just a front for them. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
Even in Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Pakis and Sunni Saudis and co are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones. Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
They are making the lives of their own people also miserable by their Islamic religious madness to the intolerable levels.
Time has come for the Jewish lobby in the US and Israel to wake up to the double dealings and backstabbings by the Sunni Saudi & co barbaric, beastly and bigoted gangsters.
Just keep away from Syria and Iran. We will worry about the remaining after their Shiites vs Sunni battles are over.
We have only one real ally in the Middle East (bound,us to them and them to us,by the NATO treaty) and that is Turkey. They control the entrance and exit to the Black Sea. We have our biggest ME air bases there. They are one of NATO's biggest and toughest,most powerful armies. And have actually fought by our side in war.They are vital to any effective US influence in the ME.
They are also a model for secularism in a Muslim society. One we constantly mention to call for Muslim support. A country that is a secular society,but has an Islamist government,democratically elected.And yesterday our NATO ally,said that Israel was a "terrorist state". Interesting,how complex the different situations in the ME are.
Uncle Bob: Turkey was secular after Kamal Atturk. Don't forget the Armenian genocides in early 1900s.
Now there are genocides of Kurds.
Turkey has started marching fast backwards after Islamist Erdogan and his party got the control.
Did the NATO ally Turkey help NATO forces in Iraq?
Now Turkey is dancing as Sunni Saudi, Qatari and other Sunni Arab League rulers want it to dance!
Turkey is doing all sorts of seventh century desert dances and reminding that it is a NATO ally such that US and allies do their dirty jobs in Syria and Iran just like Iraq.
Mind you: Once the US and NATO forces are drawn into Syria and Iran, Sunni Saudi, Qatari, Kuwaiti, UAE, Turkey and other bigoted barbarians will vanish from the scene just like during Iraqi wars.
They will get busy into high oil price manipulations and funding their Salaffi and Wahhabi mosques all over the world.
Here again Sunni Saudi and co, Turkey will all be good guys and bad guys are the No. 1 hated US and allies and of course, "Zionist" Israel!
These seventh century barbaric rulers are the biggest backstabbers and ungrateful Islamic beasts.
In 1991, US lost hugely to save the Kuwaiti ruler with 65 wives at one time.
NATO forces in the last days during Iraqi war wanted a small favor from Kuwait. The ungrateful Kuwaiti rulers did not help!!!!
In 1991
You should be and deserve to be scared for electing (if that is what you call it) a terrorist to lead your country.
Nobody is OK with it. But what religion, what country is ok with with people that hide behind women, children, and babies? Oh yeah, the ones run by Islamist terrorists...
Not to mention they strap on bombs to their kids and send them into Israel to kill other child, women and innocents. Are these punks daft?
Egypt is only now realizing their inability to seal the smuggling tunnels into Gaza or failure to stop insurgents from using the Sinai to train and supply has now put them in a situation they would rather try to lie their way out of than actually DO SOMETHING about. Allowing their 'boys in Gaza' to have a few rockets certainly seemed innocent enough a few years ago, but now that Iran is able to smuggle hundreds of rockets to the terrorists, Egypt now must admit they were turning a blind eye to the situation for way too long. Now, the Egyptian government will SAY they don't want to get drawn into the conflict, but they will side with the Palestinians if Israel sends in ground troops.
Correct except it is thousands of rockets, many thousands. There have been more then a thousand fired into Israel this past month alone. What country in the World would put up with this. The answer is none. The USA would end this lunacy in a day if a border country was firing these rockets at us.
No money for Egypt until they renounce the MB.
Only solution is for Israel to call for a cease fire, agree to completely remove all occupational force Gaza.
If the Palestinians persist then invade the strip, run everyone out and flatten the whole mess. MHO
Israel offered that the last time, removed its forces the last time, didn't work. I suppose now they need to flatten it.
Politicans of all stripes are self-serving. It suited Egypt to claim Gaza as an Egyptian province for almost 20 years 1948-1967, and it suited the Muslim Brotherhood to tell Hamas they were joined in struggle against "Israeli aggression", but the fact is, the Muslim Brotherhood is bungling the Egyptian economy and the Egyptian military is needed to maintain order when their own government implodes.
A brief history of Muslim-on-Jewish violence pre-WW1: Aleppo 1850, 1875 Damascus 1840, 1848, 1890 Beirut 1862, 1874 Dayr al-Qamar 1847 Jaffa 1876 Jerusalem 1847, 1870, 1895 Cairo 1844, 1890, 1901–02 Mansura 1877 Alexandria 1870, 1882, 1901–07 Port Said 1903, 1908 Damanhur 1871, 1873, 1877, 1891. So it's not the partition of Syria after WW1 that's the problem, it's not the creation of Lebanon, of Palestine, of Jordan that's the problem, it's not the partition of Palestine that's the problem, it's not the creation of Israel that's the problem, it's not the annexation of the West Bank by Jordan or of Gaza by Egypt that's the problem, it's not the occupation of those territories by Israel that's the problem, it's not granting Gaza autonomy that's the problem. The problem with Arabs/Muslims is the mental illness and mysticism of Arabs/Muslims.
Peikovian-The problem with Arabs/Muslims is the mental illness and mysticism of Arabs/Muslims.
I could list a FAR more extensive list of Christian on Jewish violence during the centuries. Concluding with first the Czarist Pogroms,then with the Holocaust.What does that say about" the mental illness and mysticism of European/Christians". If we take the Bible literally,then you should ponder on this passage "Let them without sin,cast the first stone",and keep your hands off the rock.
Um.. Bob:
If you were a Bible believing Christian who had actually read it, you would have a respect for the fact that the Jews are called God's chosen people. It doesn't make them perfect.. but it does make genocide downright stupid as I see no way that would please God.
But being in Israel doesn't make you a Jew any more than being in my garage would make me a car.
An obvious deflection from a perfectly valid statement. The issue is Arab/Muslim violence. The culture that permits and encourages that violence went wrong with the teachings of al-Ghazali. "Cotton doesn't burn because of the flame. but because that is the will of Allah." The Arab/Muslim culture was once superior to Christian Europe, but for 900 years there has been decline, decay, collapse and mystic imbecility.
Yesterday, I saw a baby killed. What religion, what law, what country is ok with that?” he told NBC News, adding that the border with Gaza should be left open for anybody who wants to wage holy war against Israel. “I want to cut relations with any country that stands by Israel or supplies them with weapons.”
Hmm but it's OK to supply those in Gaza with weapons and launch rockets into Israel on a daily basis?
If the Many in the Muslim community do not stand up to the Few then the Muslim world is doomed. I do not want to see the death and destruction caused by war but the wheels of war are turning and it's time for the Muslim world to put and end to their fanatical ways.
The Muslim world does nothing when 30,000 Muslims are killed by Muslims in Syria but when Israel kills Muslims defending themselves the Muslim world wants to destroy Israel.
DW, it's more like 40,000, with over 1,000 of them children, but who's counting, unless it was Israel, and the use of Human shields by Hamas
Everyone seems very invested in a problem that is occurring several thousand miles from here. The Israelis are doing a great job testing out the "Iron Dome" and it appears to be money well spent. Hamas is doing a bang up job of getting those rockets into Israel even though they aren't hitting targets like they'd like to, they are bleeding the Israelis financially. Let's do the math...five million people die every day from one thing or another, that's right five million. The death toll in the latest exchange between Hamas and Israel is nearly one hundred and fifty. What's the big deal? Oh sure the human tragedy of a single lost soul is immense, crushing, but weighed against the five million other people who will die today, it's like spitting in the ocean to see if the water level will rise.
So, let's summarize...one side really dislikes the other and it's reciprocal, so one side shoots at the other and the other side shoots back...the solution is for more shooting except from parties not already engaged? Oh yeah, that makes sense.
What ya say we leave the Hamas and the Israelis to work this out between themselves. They seem to be motivated and well practiced at this and we could only screw it up even more, so let's leave well enough alone.
If moral equivalence was a reality here. Which it is not.
The problem that I have with your post is that Israel did not build the Iron Dome, we did. We back Israel regardless of whatever action they take and that is one of the reasons we are so hated in the Middle East. We are far from impartial and blind to bad behavior that the Israelis engage in.
Don't get me wrong Hamas is a terrorist organization, backed mostly by Iran, but when you can't stand against a tank you set up a trap. One man's monster is another man's hero.
Actually Kent, it was a joint project, a melding of technologies and shared finances. Both the US and Israel have been working on an automated detection, interception and even counter-battery fire system since the mid 1960's (Archer, etc.). The subject of the US and Israel is too long and too complex for us to cover in this forum, needless to say...it's a mess, a Gordian Knot of immense proportion and unlike Alexander the Great we can't just cut through it with the swipe of a sword.
Be that as it may (and I don't have favorites in this fight), if we want one side to win, we should be backing the Israelis. The Arab states have been unstable since their inception unless they are ruled by autocratic dictators and monarchs (I happen to think highly of King Abdullah of Jordan by the way). Israel for all it's faults (and there are many) is at least stable politically.
Egypt has done just fine for the 25+ years. They have stayed out of the fighting and kept the Peace with Israel. There should be absolutely no entering this because they have nothing to gain and everything to lose. This will not end until people can rid themselves of hatred and bigotry. They would rather just kill each other then have any kind of a Peace.
@ALAN, Egypt got it's ass handed to them the last time they tried to fight Israel. Lost their whole air force before they flew one sortie, lost most of it's tanks in the desert. Israel was kind enough to let the soldiers leave the desert, but not the military supplies.
Yes, Egypt has everything to lose if they put their nose in their. Hamas has peed off the Israels, and I have a feeling that before it's over, Hamas will cease to be a strong terrorist group, as most of them will be dead. Not to worry, there is more young, dumb, yes dumb, most can't read or write, people to join up with Hamas, as their mullah told them to. They also will receive their 72 grains of white rice. And that is the sad part, throwing your life away because some mullah told you to.
Well it is hard to say no when you have your hand out.
I do understand though why Egypt would be worried about getting drug into a war with Israel. The U.S. would side with Israel and no force on the planet can stand against our military. We spend more on our military budget than the next 19 nations combined. Including China who is trying to build up its military.
I still believe that we are to heavily invested in Israel. Mostly due to politicians trying to pander to the Jewish community for votes here in the U.S. We don't give any other nation in the planet as much preferential treatment as we give Israel. Yet, we expect the Palestinians to accept us as impartial negotiators for peace?
It is long since time that we as a nation took a step back and told both sides that they have acted childishly and that they need to knock it off before we make them. Israel oppresses the Palestinians and the Palestinians retaliate with acts of terror against Israel, which only makes them crack down even harder on the Palestinians and the cycle goes on and on.
Israel needs security, but gaining security through oppression has not worked and will not work.
Israel was created in self-defense against race riots in Palestine caused by Arab Nazi sympathizers. The American voters should have no false idea that militant Islam would be different under any circumstances.
peikovian-Israel was created in self-defense against race riots in Palestine caused by Arab Nazi sympathizers.
That is a totally false statement.The only people that would believe that are people that know nothing of history (i.e. most Americans,you hope).
Egypt??
Standing on both sides of the fence may work for a time, but it can also leave one with a fence post up ones rear end.
Sooner or later the Muslims must invade Israel.
Each region can only have despotic leader. It's time for the Egyptians and Jews to fight it out.
If that happens, and past history shows what has, and will happen again, my money will be on Israel. The only Arab country that could give Israel a big problem is Iran. And they have never attacked their neighbors directly, but have responded very decently when their neighbors went after them.
Something to think about, as those religious nuts in Iran may think this is their chance to destroy Israel, and show the rest of the Muslim world they are the real leaders. One problem with that, Israel once before, mentioned they would use their nukes if they were in danger of being competely overran. take it for what it's worth.
They've tried that several times. Got their asses kicked, they did!
Israel even took a good chunk of their land and gave most of it back to them after they took it.
Yeah. They really shouldn't give any back. It's like having a malignant tumor growing in your body....it should be removed, not controlled.
So, you are all for Armaggedon? That is what would happen...Israel has nukes...they send them over and the world is FORCED into it...and, it hurts everyone on the planet...but, yeah, let's just encourage them to fight it out
portia-So, you are all for Armaggedon? That is what would happen...Israel has nukes...they send them over and the world is FORCED into it...and, it hurts everyone on the planet...but, yeah, let's just encourage them to fight it out.
The point is that is exactly what a lot of the Christian right are looking for. That's the reason they are so pro-Israeli. They are looking for the return of the Messiah,and the end of days. No one really thinks all these ultra-Christian groups are suddenly pro-Jewish do you. They think supporting Israel with bring on the Rapture. The funny thing though,the Zionist Israelis know it. They just feed the fantasy,so they can get the aid,and laugh about it in private.
Just to set you on the straight and narrow SallyAnn, Iran is not an Arab country. Never has been, ok.
And, based on Iran's 8-year wartime effort against Iraq, I wouldn't give tuppence for their chances against Israel.
Someone needs to remind the Palestinians that the land occupied by Israel was given to them by the United Nations - the land is theirs and they have every right to protect it and themselves. If the Palestinians have a problem with that they should address it to the UN - not takeit out on Israel.
I hope you realize that we gave them Israel because after WWII we didn't want them coming here. There was just as much anti-semetic hatred in the U.S. back then as there was in Europe.
Otherwise, yes I agree that they have the right to defend themselves. Just don't try to dress them up as the victim here. They oppress the Palestinians, who retaliate with terrorist attacks, which causes Israel to oppress them.
Kent, it's more like the "Chicken-Egg" dilemma.
This is not really complicated in logic, but deep rooted emotional biases prevent logic from prevailing.
Hamas must stop sending rockets into Israel and stop stockpiling rockets.
Israel must stop assassinating and implement a plan to allow more freedom and access for Gaza (and phased in over time with milestones of proven trust).
Obama left them to flounder. They got their terroist inspired government replacement. He smiles at Hillary, and is worse than the old, so we give him money to be good. Sure. Now Egypt is afraid. Kind of works that way with all this it will be ok if we look the other way philosophy.
Man up you biatches.
Please Egypt stay out of it... you have enough problems
Be very scared Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has called for the destruction of Israel and you put them in charge of your country. What did you think was going to happen?
Oh by the way, Israel has nuclear weapons and you don't....
egypt should be scared if they would seal the tunnels on their side of the border missles and rockets would not be getting into gaza stop shooting 4th of july rockets at israel and they will not kick your butt and take your name the muslim brotherhood needs to reign these punks in before they really get hurt
Religion ,religion,religion and politics do not mix, period!!! Someone (Iran) wants a confrontation and get Israel to do something that the entire planet will despise them. Just like rockets are raining on Gaza...also in Israel. The difference is the news organizations are reporting more on Gaza and showing their innocent getting slaughtered just like in Israel. The difference is Israelis are not hiding in schools with children to shoot rockets!!! Palestinians need to understand that a two state solution will be finished if they continue to do this which is precisely what Iran wants. Iran wants to eradicate Israel from the planet, they don't want to make peace with them!!! I think they should go to the root of the problem and take out Iran!!!
Iran supplying the terrorist faction in Gaza (Hamas - not the average person on the street, or the PA) is the big problem. And if Egypt doesn't want to get involved, they should stay the hell OUT of this and sit on their hands, unless they want to broker a peace agreement, which would mean one 3-paragraph document stating this:
1. Hamas must give up all their weapons and surrender to a neutral party;
2. Hamas must make a blood oath never to shoot even so much as a bottle rocket into Israel;
3. If they do not accede to the above two stipulations, which are not up for negotiation, then Israel blows the entire mthrfkg territory into the Mediterranean Sea.
Simple. Easy to understand. Give up weapons, stop firing, or DIE.