Every country on Earth will bring up prisoners and refugees to leverage changes in two country's relationships.

Is there no reporting of dead Palestinian children by Israeli forces in the Jerusalem Post? I think Israel's citizens have a right to know what happens during their country's military movements. 

Haaretz reported it. (click here)

I personally don't consider Pew Research as a valid source of information. It is frequently an outliar statistically. Pew is driven a lot by US Republican propaganda.

March 9, 2016
By Ben Sales

Pew's results iclick here) are inconsistent with previous studies in a country that see its Arab minority as proof of commitment to democratic values and diversity.

JTA - In a survey that spanned politics, religion and interfaith relations, one statistic stood out: nearly half of Israel's Jews support expelling the country's Arabs. 
The Pew Research Center’s study of Israelis’ attitudes, which had its findings released Tuesday, had asked respondents whether they agreed that “Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel.” Forty-eight percent of Israeli Jews agreed, while 46 percent did not. Among self-described right-wing Jews, 72 percent agreed, along with 71 percent of religious Zionists.
The figure was inconsistent with the findings of previous studies and provoked strong reactions in a country that sees its Arab minority as proof of its commitment to democratic values and respect for diversity. It has also shone a spotlight on what has been seen previously as a fringe proposal. No party in the Israeli Knesset advocates mass population transfer, and it has never been seriously discussed as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict....

Just because Pew is in the USA doesn't mean it should carry any brevity. Any study that is obviously an outliar has to be identified exactly the way Haaretz has placed this Pew study into context. Related research should be included when evaluating any statistics available, but, there has to be an accounting of the bizarre differences. Applause to Haaretz. Well done.

The very last thing Israel should be doing is expelling Arabs that live and work in Israel. The rights of school children have to be returned, too. Prime Minister Netanyahu should be reining in his extremist members of government.

March 13, 2016

By Lahav Harko\

Palestinian refugees as an example of what not to do (click here) in its current refugee crisis, MK Tzipi Livni said at the Global Baku Forum in Azerbaijan on Friday.

Speaking at the international conference on security matters, Livni (Zionist Union) compared the absorption of Jewish refugees from Arab states to the situation of Palestinian refugees, saying that the latter are “used as bargaining chips” by their own leaders.

“Refugee status is inherited, and the issue makes it difficult to solve the conflict. They’re waiting for a solution that will never be,” she stated.

The world can only learn from Palestinian refugees how to create a problem, Livni added, emphasizing that they are the only refugee population in the world in which the status is conferred to later generations.

Former Lebanese prime minister Fuad Seniora, who held his post during the Second Lebanon War, when Livni was foreign minister, was present at the conference....

March 13, 2016
by Fahwad Al-Khadoumi - NSNBC

The Palestine Journalists’ Syndicate (click here) strongly condemned Israel’s closure of Palestine Today TV after a raid on Friday. The TV channel’s website appears, moreover, to have been subject to a cyber-attack as internet security software flags its website as dangerous. The head of the TV channel, one journalist and a broadcast technician were detained.

The Palestine Today TV station located in the Israeli occupied Palestinian West Bank was closed after Israeli soldiers stormed the TV channel’s premises on Friday.

The Palestine Journalists’ Syndicate condemned the raid, the closure of the TV channel and what it denounced as the abduction of the head of the TV channel, Farouq Oleyyat, from his home in Birzeit. The Syndicate also strongly condemned the detention of journalist Mohammad Amro and Broadcast technician Shabeeb Shbeib.

The Syndicate denounced the closure as part of Israel’s illegal attacks and its escalation of violence against media and journalists in occupied Palestine. The Syndicate also called on Arab and international media and news agencies to denounce the Israeli violations to pressure Israel into ending its illegal policies targeting fundamental rights including the freedom of speech.

The attack against Palestine Today TV has apparently been expanded to also include a cyber-attack against the TV channel’s website. Attempting to acces Palestine Today TV’s website on Saturday gave the following result (See image to the left).

NSBC International Editor-in-Chief, Christof Lehmann, noted that the raid and the closure of the TV channel is one in a series of blatant violations of Palestinian journalists’ and media’s rights. Lehmann stressed the need for international lawyers to investigate whether:

“The sadly non-binding UN General Assembly Resolutions 110, 381, and 819 apply in this and similar cases Resolutions 110, 381, and 819 are regulating the erection of obstacles to the free exchange of information and ideas as well as propaganda.”

Lehmann added that:“The real irony and tragedy is that these resolutions were adopted after WWII and at least in part to prevent a repetition of the tragic dehumanization of European Jews, Gypsies and others by media and the crack-down against media that would not follow suit. It is tragic and deeply disturbing to see Israel repeat these same mistakes today”....

The reason the television was shut down, is tactics. Strategy. Prevent communication and contain any threat. That is standard operating procedure during military movements.

Yassin Abu Khousa, 10

March 12, 2016
by IMEMC News

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza (click here) has reported, Saturday, that a child, six years of age, who was seriously injured after the Israeli Air Force fired a missile into their home in northern Gaza, killing her brother, died of her serious wounds.

Her brother, Yassin Suleiman Abu Khousa, only 10 years of age, was instantly killed after the Israeli army bombarded the family home.

Her other brother, Ayyoub, 13 years of age, suffered moderate wounds.

"I was sleeping in the other room, my kids and their mom were sleeping in this room, then I heard the blast, and rushed to their room," The father said, "My boy was instantly killed, drowning in his own blood; my daughter was very seriously injured."

His other son said the family was sleeping when the Israeli missile struck their home, and that when he looked at his brother and sister, he found them heavily bleeding from their heads and various parts of their bodies.

The Israeli Air Force also fired three missiles into Falasteen and Asqalan bases, run by the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, in addition to Fayez Abu Jarad base, in central Gaza, and the Sourani Mountain area, east of Gaza city....

PNN archive image

March 12, 2016

...WAFA correspondence (click here) said that soldiers fired at least six missiles at Palestinian fishermen’s boats, despite sailing within the six-nautical-mile allowed fishing zone. The current six-nautical-mile fishing zone falls drastically short of the twenty nautical miles allocated to Palestinian fishermen in the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The attack caused severe damages to three boats, whereas no injuries were reported among fishermen who were forced to leave the sea, for fear of being injured, killed, or detained.

The Israeli navy targets Gaza fishermen and farmers along the borderline on an almost daily basis, in a blatant breach of a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in August of 2014, following 51 days of bloody aggression on the Gaza Strip, which claimed the lives of over 2.200 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians.

According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), all Israeli attacks on Palestinian fishermen have taken place within the distance of six nautical miles, which it said “proves that Israeli forces' policies aim to tighten restrictions on the Gaza Strip's fishermen and their livelihoods.”...

It is believed Palestinian Hackers briefly took over Israeli television. (click here)

The film is genius, but, it is rough to watch.

Besides the extreme inhumanity of the Holocaust; the picture brings to life what a command structure can do. Every action of the power structure to kill human beings without regret was Hitler. Every person that died resulted from the command structure that took orders from Hitler. Allegiance was without question. The German Shepards received more respect than any human being.

The human race has come a long way since WWII. We need to move further along the timeline of peace internationally. There is no reason to delay.

"Fanfare For the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

"...in two years I'm going to be off on my own..." Empowerment needed to teen girls.

March 13, 2016
By Cosima Marriner

In her final year of school, (click here) Ruby Leonard is trying to keep everyone around her happy: parents, teachers, coaches, friends, and her body that wants some sleep.
"For me right now, the hardest thing is finding a balance between academics, co-curriculars, friends, sleep," the 17-year-old said.
"Being a teenager comes with a lot more independence, responsibility and pressure ... There are a lot of expectations and roles one's expected to play that often clash and so, for me, those different roles are my beams and I'm trying to find the balance."...

Give them space, legitimacy and continue involvement as a parent. They are growing up and not growing apart from their family.

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The power sharing platform should insure the Syria opposition stability is vital and important.

I don't see failure of the power sharing government. Shai and Sunni are equally influential in maintaining the peace.

The humanitarian aid will bring people together to end the violence of civil war. Syria needs to be rebuilt. Much work awaits Syrians. I would think the most important buildings to be returned are schools, mosques and minarets.

Syrians need to turn their tanks into bulldozers to begin to clear the rubble and reprocess it back into buildings.

Water availability is what caused so much of the unrest. It brought famers out of their land into the cities and the instability grew facilitated by international criminal terrorists. Water viaducts and dams and sources need to be examined and added to the reconstruction of Syria.

Syria needs a permanent fix to water supplies leading to irrigation of the land.

March 13, 2016

After five years of bloodshed, (click here) a quarter of a million deaths, and the flight of millions of refugees Syria has arrived at a critical juncture. A diplomatic framework is in place to end the carnage, a two-week-old partial cease-fire is holding, and peace talks are set to resume in coming days.
"The indicators from a distance are all good," said Bassam Barabandi, a Washington-based former Syrian diplomat serving as a political adviser to the Syrian opposition. "But it's a fragile moment, and the way is still long," he added.
Few think fighting will end altogether, and the efforts could collapse again at any point. Bitter divisions over the future of President Bashar Assad threaten to scuttle any serious negotiations for a political transition in the immediate future.
At the heart of the diplomacy is an internationally shared desire to end a war that has unleashed Islamic extremists across the globe, destabilised neighbouring countries and inundated Europe with refugees.

..."I never imagined the regime would last until 2016," said Amer Matar, a Syrian journalist who was among opposition activists in early protests. He was detained twice and tortured before fleeing to Turkey and then to Germany, where he has been living for nearly three years. His brother, Mohammad Noor, disappeared more than a year ago. "Syria will never be the same. I don't think it will be one Syria," he said.
Former US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, said he, like many other seasoned diplomats, underestimated the ability of the Syrian Government to survive so long, not imagining that Iran, Hezbollah and Russia would intervene so heavily on Assad's behalf.
The US and Russia last month engineered a partial ceasefire from February 27 that excludes Isis and the Nusra Front. Peace talks are to resume tomorrow in Geneva after a previous round collapsed because of a government offensive in Aleppo. At the heart of the talks will be such issues as a new constitution and elections, said Staffan de Mistura, the UN's Syria envoy.undated Europe with refugees.

March 12, 2016
By Kim Chandler
                 
A prison in southern Alabama that serves as the state's only execution facility (click here) was on lockdown Saturday, hours after a violent uprising left two prison officials injured.
Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton said the prison warden and a corrections officer were stabbed in the uprising at one of the dormitories at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in southern Alabama, just outside of Atmore. Their injuries were not life-threatening.
About 100 inmates were involved in the disturbance in which inmates took control of a prison dorm and started a fire in the hallway, Horton said.
Holman is the only state prison where executions are carried out, although the dormitory where the violence erupted is not death row.
Horton said three emergency response teams were deployed to bring the prison dorm under control. He said the facility is now calm and remains on lockdown. The violence erupted Friday night when an inmate stabbed an officer while the officer was trying to break up a fight between two inmates. Warden Carter Davenport was stabbed when he and other officers arrived to assess the situation....

In Australia, diabetic amputations increase three percent to 10 percent of the people diagnosed with diabetes.

March 13, 2016
By Tim Barless

The incidence of diabetes (click here) is growing at 7 per cent to 10 per cent a year and has resulted in an increase in amputations of 25 per cent in two years, according to Diabetes NSW.
"We talk about this issue as the [medical] tsunami of the modern age," says Sturt Eastwood, the chief executive of the organisation.
Type 2 diabetes - which can be delayed or prevented in 58 per cent of cases - represents 85 per cent to 90 per cent of all diabetes cases. It usually develops in adults over the age of 45 years but is increasingly occurring in younger age groups.
It is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin and/or the insulin does not work effectively to meet the body's needs. It is managed by lifestyle changes such as following a healthy eating plan and doing regular physical activity....

Pain, shortness of breath because of particulate exposure and heart disease possibly diet related OTHER THAN generational (genetic) causes.

The other candidates are not going to get away with lying. About a week or week and a half ago Donald Trump said to the crowd he was not going to continue his boisterous and divisive speech. He said it. It was captured on video. The people are upset about the country and the their economic plight. The people don't have lobbyists in Washington, DC and they want someone who speaks to them.

Donald Trump has always been the man to speak to the life these people understand. There is a lot wrong in the country and it in majority lies in the southeast USA, including Texas. Life is far too difficult and work too hard and it is time that ends and people understand their meaning as a human being and not a cheap extension of Wall Street.

The number of Americans (click here) receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) more-than doubled over the past two decades, from 5.2 million to 11.7 million by the end of 2011.

The number of residents receiving disability insurance from the Social Security Administration (SSA) varies from state to state. In West Virginia, close to one in every 10 people aged 18 to 64 was receiving SSDI benefits from the federal government, more than three times the rate in states like Utah and Alaska....

...In fact, states with the highest disability claims tend to have the highest poverty rates and the fewest jobs offering competitive wages. Seven of the 10 states with the most residents receiving disability have among the highest poverty rates in the country. The number of jobs in these states in manufacturing and retail, which tend to pay modest wages, are above the national average. Meanwhile, jobs in finance and professional occupations are scarce....

...In principle, the reason Americans apply for disability is because their health prevents them from working. A review of a recent Gallup-Healthways survey shows that nearly these states with the highest rates of disability are in the top 10 for serious conditions, including heart attacks, diabetes, hypertension and recurring knee, leg and back pain. West Virginia, the state with the highest disability rate, had either the highest or the second-highest rate in the country for all of these conditions....

The percentage in the graph (click here) is what indicates the degree the citizens receive disability benefits. Table 67.

The highest number of disability is West Virginia. What do most people do in West Virginia? Work for the coal mining industry. No surprise there.

Second is Kentucky. What does McConnell always complain about? Coal mining. Two for two is coal mining.

Third is Alaska. There is a lot of work with natural resources including fishing. Commercial fishing is a very, very rough occupation. There is a weekly television series about it.

Tying in fourth and fifth place is Mississippi and California. Interesting, Mississippi is the most impoverished state of the 50. Poverty pushes people to the limit of human endurance. Runners and Extreme Sports is demanding; but; the reality is their lives are harder to live than their sports heroes. California is petroleum and fishing. There are also migrant works. None of those jobs are easy. They are all physically demanding and in some cases such as the petroleum industry are deadly.

Sixth is Maine and is the first state that comes out of the double digit percentages at 9.4 percent. Maine is mining, fishing and farming. They are all physically demanding. Farming calls in disability with knee and back injury.

Next, in seventh place is Louisiana. It is one of the most dangerous economies with the offshore petroleum industry and fishing. Add to the physical demands on the body the exposure to petroleum products and all the by products such as sulfur. Sulfur in the air is caustic. In the states that claim any petroleum product as part of their economy can count on disability claims.

Eight place is Tennessee. The industry within a state that causes PERMANENT disability does not have to be it's majority industry. A state can gain a GDP that includes smaller percentages from industries such as mining and logging. All these are physically demanding professions that result in permanent disability.

Ninth is South Carolina. Mining, fishing and logging. There can be others in the health care industry that wear out their backs and knees from lifting and moving patients.

Tenth place is Rhode Island surprisingly, but, there is a significant number of construction workers.

CITIZENS of the USA are tired of the pain of living. These are not easy jobs. They are physically taxing. How many Americans carry over the counter pain relievers in their lunch boxes to work? Plenty.

Americans are tired of pain, DISAPPOINTMENT and fear.

AAPM - American Association of Pain Management (click here)

Don't tell me about my country, I know about my country! They are off limits to propaganda.

I don't make money doing this. It all started as a request from someone who thought the speech I made and the questions I answered for people about the climate crisis needed expression in a larger setting.

I don't have millions of readers like the newspapers or the media outlets. I bring a point of view to the format of the public realm and it is valued by some who come to the blog regularly.

I thank those that value what they find here. It is good to know it counts. 

Thank you.

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Just a word about the demonstrations in Chicago. I think it is very healthy for the country to find itself again. 

Something happened along the way from the 1990s. Somehow the people were quieted and mostly dispassionate about their lives and their values. Everything turned to money and suing in the courts. I don't consider that healthy. The courts are power and are not easily accessible by everyone. The USA is not suppose to be a rich man's game. It is suppose to be a democracy where people can have freedom of speech, including demonstrations, to let their government know the citizens are not happy.

This discontent in the country has been growing and it is understandable the elections are going to find citizens upset with their lives.

It think it is about time the people expressed themselves. There doesn't have to be violence. But, there should be a safe method of expressing the discontent in the country.

Nice pictures of the State Dinner of Canada. I really like the gown the First Lady worn.

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (click here) and Michelle Obama before the state dinner at the White House on Thursday.
Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

This is what I was met with when I tried to log into my blog.

This is outrageous. I don't spam. I would not know how to spam.

KNOCK IT OFF !!!!!!!!!!!

You can take your Stuxnet Virus and stick it where the sun don't shine !!!!

History defines politics in the USA with demonstrations and freedom of speech..

This kind of rancor is not unusual for USA political gatherings. 

The conventions always prepare for demonstrations. The Republican convention in NYC actually had the city government sequester demonstrators in side streets. But, the demonstrators were allowed to march.

The Donald Trump campaign should seek to diffuse the organizing around their rallies. He should hold smaller more organized gatherings. Donald Trump have always held large rallies in stadiums. He has never held small household gatherings with supporters. Small gatherings can be televised as it happens OR after the gathering has broken up. He can take questions from the media inside the gathering and/or outside of it.

Donald Trump has not demonstrated his ability to have interpersonal relationships with political supporters. He should show his more personal side.

At the last debate it was noted by Senator Cruz that there is two Donald Trumps. The one people see in public and then the one behind the scenes.

Donald Trump should rebut that and hold intimate political gatherings and address questions and carry out conversation and humor. He should have gathering with friends that know him and discuss the problems of the country as if a casual evening.

I think it is important Donald Trump HUMANIZE himself and let the country know he is a person with friends that see the world similar to him. He should allow people to see him disarmed from the issues at hand that are carried out in rallies.

He doesn't have to lose his momentum. Besides it will give the police and security a break.

I wish him luck.

The hidden truth about Hillary Clinton. Will her image further be diminished by the devil himself.

First published in 1971, (click here) Rules for Radicals is Saul Alinsky's impassioned counsel to young radicals on how to effect constructive social change and know "the difference between being a realistic radical and being a rhetorical one." Written in the midst of radical political developments whose direction Alinsky was one of the first to question, this volume exhibits his style at its best. Like Thomas Paine before him, Alinsky was able to combine, both in his person and his writing, the intensity of political engagement with an absolute insistence on rational political discourse and adherence to the American democratic tradition.

©1971 Saul D. Alinsky (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

The next PR issue for Hillary Clinton. Ben Carson, "...The dedication of the book is to Lucifer, the original radical. I don't want to have anything to do with that book."

Okay, Hillary, fess up. When was the last time you were at a devil worship service?

For those curious, that is a rare book. It perhaps may be found in book stores that specialize. A 1971 book is a rarity these days. It probably has value if it is on anyone's book shelf.

If the reference to Saul Alinsky is any indication to the successful run for the presidency, Hillary Clinton is a shoe in.

February 3, 2012

By Theresa Riley

The way Newt Gingrich (click here) refers to the connection between Barack Obama and Saul Alinsky, one might think the president and the community organizer were golf buddies… except for the stubborn fact Alinsky died in 1972 when Obama was 10.

Among Gingrich’s quotes: “Obama believes in Saul Alinsky and secular European socialist bureaucracy.” And “Saul Alinsky radicalism is at the heart of Obama.”
Two things Obama and Alinsky do have in common are their Chicago home bases and parts of their resumes. As NPR puts it, “President Obama proudly talks about his days as a community organizer in Chicago, and the late Chicagoan Alinsky ‘wrote the book’ on community organizing.”...

I am sure Lucifer has brought success to Playboy for all these decades.

“My only fixed truth is a belief in people, a conviction that if people have the opportunity to act freely and the power to control their own destinies, they’ll generally reach the right decisions.”
— Saul Alinsky to Playboy, 1972

It sounds like empowerment and not Satan worship.

Donald Trump is correct, the Republican debate was far better than in the past.

Ben Carson's endorsement will help serve to unite the Republican Party.

March 10, 2016

By Robert Costa

Miami — Conservative favorite Ben Carson, (click here) who last week suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, plans to endorse Donald Trump on Friday morning, according to two people familiar with his thinking.

The endorsement, perhaps the most high-profile nod for Trump since New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie backed him, was finalized Thursday morning when Carson met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the luxury club owned by the Republican front-runner, the people said. The sources requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Friday’s announcement will also take place at the club in Palm Beach, Fla., where the onetime rivals will appear alongside one another at a news conference....

The country says good-bye to a friendly, delightful and mission driven First Lady.

March 11, 2016
By Alex Dobuzinski

Close relatives from 10 White House families (click here) - from Caroline Kennedy to first lady Michelle Obama - were expected to attend funeral services on Friday for Nancy Reagan at her late husband's presidential library in Southern California.

The memorial service for the former Hollywood actress and first lady capped two days during which thousands of mourners filed past her flower-bedecked casket as she lay in repose at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, north of Los Angeles....

First Lady Nancy Reagan served the public in the White House with concern for drug addiction. Her dedication to the country never ended even after leaving the White House. She took a vital role in finding advances to end Alzheimer's Disease.

She will always be remembered and the country sadly says a final good-bye.

Here it is. Whether Romania realizes it or not, Netanyahu is building his coalition.

March 7, 2016
By Tovah Lazaroff
PM tells visiting Romanian President Werner Iohannis (click here) that Israel is a "beacon of democracy" that protects the world from dangers such as Iran, ISIS.
Israel is a beacon of democracy that protects Europe and the entire world from the dangers of Iran, Islamic State and a radicalized Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis on Monday.

“When you look at the Middle East there isn’t one country, a beacon of freedom, of democracy, of human rights, that protects not only itself, but by so doing protects everyone else, including Europe.

“It is this basic understanding that we want to impart to our European friendship,” Netanyahu said. The two men made brief statements to the press at the start of their meeting in Netanyahu’s office....

Where does Netanyahu think he is going with this? He refuses to meet with the USA and then courts Europe.

Trudeau is correct and every country approached by Israel needs to take the same policy. Embrace Israel but make it emphatically known the peace process is not an option.

March 8, 2016

By Ryan Maloney

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (click here) says Canada will be a frank voice in the Middle East, even if that means criticizing a friend and ally in Israel.

Trudeau made the remarks Monday at a global town hall hosted by The Huffington Post Canada, dedicated entirely to foreign policy. Paul Darlaston, a HuffPost reader, asked the prime minister why he appeared unwilling to differentiate his government from the past Conservative leadership by calling out Israeli actions that "block the peace process."...

This is the perfect response to Israeli paranoia.

Northern town demands 1,263 euros for helping suspicious armed 'agents' whose car entered a prohibited area and got stuck in the mud.

March 7, 2016
By Ofer Aderet

The town of Quarnbek (click here) in northern Germany is demanding reimbursement to the tune of 1,263 euros for extracting the vehicle of two “Israeli agents,” ostensibly members of the Mossad, who got stuck in the mud.
A report about this strange incident, which took place in mid-December 2015, was broadcast Saturday on Germany's NDR television station.
According to the report, the story ostensibly involved two armed members of the Israeli espionage agency – thought to have been dispatched to monitor the transfer of a German submarine from the North Sea port of Kiel to Israel – who got stuck in the mud in their Ford Focus on the banks of the Kiel Canal....

Perhaps Germany needs to put the submarine on hold for now to bring Israel to the peace table.

I think the UN Security Council needs to convene. Unfortunately, Netanyahu is not giving anyone choice to end hostilities.

The Israeli military does not want conflict. The problem is Netanyahu.

Others within the Israeli government should be sought to bring pressure for a peace negotiation. The extremists have the power and they are putting Israel in the direct path of a conflict. That is completely unwise and lends to extremist views.

March 6, 2016
By Mike Smith


Jerusalem (AFP) - Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot's (click here) mother said he was destined to be a wise man, but some of Israel's rightwing politicians were not so sure after a recent speech.

The plainspoken military chief of staff, with his familiar greying buzzcut, said what in other situations may seem obvious, but it touched a nerve in Israel.

"When there's a 13-year-old girl holding scissors or a knife and there is some distance between her and the soldiers, I don't want to see a soldier open fire and empty his magazine at a girl like that, even if she is committing a very serious act," he said.

"Rather he should use the force necessary to fulfil the objective."

Many have described his comments as common sense, but the remarks were only the latest from Eisenkot to stir debate.

The 55-year-old, who recently marked a year as Israel's top soldier, has won praise from those advocating a moderate approach in the face of calls to crack down more harshly on Palestinians.

But rightwing politicians, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, have called such comments inappropriate.

The controversy has come amid violence since October that has killed 181 Palestinians and 28 Israelis.