Probably the most comprehensive political history lesson I have ever received. Better smile as probably now on CAMERA.

Very interesting stuff. I am converting it to AVI so that I can share it with some friends. Its a lot of information and I am not entirely sure what to make of it. Also, I need to check references of the people that made the video in order to see it along side its makers political persuation. That will help me to keep things in perspective. Anyways it very provocative and gets you thinking.

So, thanks for the link, whichever of you gave me it. Here is the link for those that haven't seen it:

I hope we stop sending money to Israel though. Not just because it really is a terror state, but because it's also a 1st world nation. They don't need our money, and frankly, I don't think anybody should be given money because of their race. The holocaust ended 62 goddamned years ago. End of story. Apparently not for us Jews, not for Germany and not for the Palestinians - who had helped some of the Jews escape at that point in time.

Where'd the video go? I tried to watch it but said it was unavailiable.

"guarantee that the next generation of israelis and palestineans - my two boys included - does not grow up in an apartheid regime"

you're only 26 and you live in newzealand. your boys will grow up playing cricket and raising sheep. i wouldn't worry too much about it.

i'm not sure i've ever heard this apartheid nonsense from an israeli before, but now that i think of it, i still don't think i have.

...digging up old threads ...

That video made me completely change my view of the conflict.
It is hard to change core beliefs that have been indoctrinated.
I know all about it, I created two threads previous to seeing that video practically yelling my support for Israel and the USA, all the while making my-self look like a brainwashed tool, lol.

I cannot believe how much we have the wool pulled over our eyes on this matter.
And I do not buy that the Canadian government simply does not under-stand the conflict. I guess its possible, but highly unlikely. That tells me our PM is kissing Bush's ass and that is a big no-no in Canada. The fastest way for Harper to be shown the door is for people here to get that perception. (wether he actually is or not, and yes, GWB is hated that much here, even by our right wing)

Question is now, what do we do about it?
I have already emailed our current government with the link and my disgust at their position.
I doubt it will make a difference. But at least they know they have one red neck really pissed off.
A redneck with a vote.

Any-one else got any ideas?
I would start an online petition with a link to that video if I knew how to build a damn web page.

If that is your concern then you should find some links that show the situation from the other perspective...

... but as we both know for whatever reason certain posters want Israel destroyed....

While Hamas and other Palestinian political groups were using alleged civilian casualties to bolster their case with international public opinion, they demonstrably knew otherwise. In fact, they publicly bragged about the military activities of those they labeled innocent civilian bystanders.

The basis for many claims about the distribution of casualties was in a March report by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). Widely covered and credulously accepted in the Western media, the report was a seemingly comprehensive, detailed list of every death. The bottom line: the name, gender, age, location, and job of each person is detailed. Most importantly, the PCHR claimed 1180 of the alleged 1414 victims were civilians.

Our team cross-checked the names listed by PCHR with lists of "resisters" compiled by the Al- Mezan Center for Human Rights, lists of "martyrs" published by Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and other militant groups in Gaza, as well as from the Ma'an News Agency, and other Palestinian sources.

The IDF released its own report on casualties from Operation Cast Lead, saying that there were 1166 killed in Gaza, of whom 709 were known Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. The IDF did not release their list of casualties, so we could not check specifics against the PCHR claims.

Our results so far show that at least, if all armed police are counted, 428 of the 1180 people who PCHR classifies as "civilians," were, in fact, militants.

That means 662 people were legitimate combatants under IHL and therefor legitimate targets.

PCHR's criteria to determine exactly who is a "militant" are unclear. Sometimes they speak of "active combatants" but at other times they state, accurately, that any members of armed groups, such as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, would be considered legitimate targets under international law.

The team has identified members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, the PFLP and the DFLP considered "civilians" by the PCHR. Examples include Adib Harb (brigade commander for the PRC), 'Eid 'Oda al-Shandi (field commander in the al-Qassam Brigades) and even senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan.

The IDF has categorized most or all of the Hamas police force as "Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives" and therefore as legal targets. The PCHR takes strong exception to this categorization, saying that Hamas policemen are civilians.

Even by the PCHR's own criteria, our research has detailed proof identifying over 74% of the police killed in Operation Cast Lead some 206 of them out of 279, were also members of militant groups, predominantly the al-Qassam Brigades acting as combatants against Israel.

Certainly, the PCHR is aware of the affiliations of many of not all of the victims in Gaza . For example, the PRC al-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the most extremist group in Gaza which has been reportedly linked to al-Qaida, published a list of its 18 of its "martyrs" on January 22. Yet nine of them, including two commanders, were classified as "civilian" by the PCHR months later. Similarly, an al-Qassam Brigades' leader famous for developing the Qassam rocket, Amir Yousef Al-Mansy, was also called a "civilian." It strains credulity to think that the PCHR was unaware that they were militants engaged in fighting Israel.

Why, then, did they classify so many known militants as civilians? One can only conclude that the reason is to deceive the media.

Such a high number of Al Qassam members among the police killed indicates that Hamas itself does not distinguish between its so-called civilian and military wings. Effectively, Hamas considers its police to be the same as its military force. If Hamas does not make such a distinction, why shouldn't everyone else conclude that its entire police force is a legitimate target?

We have identified 355 militants in addition to the police, of whom 159 were identified as civilian by PCHR.
None of our findings are inconsistent with the IDF report on Gaza casualties.

While the PCHR misrepresents the facts about Palestinian casualties it makes other statements which reveal the highly politicized nature of the group that show it is not a human rights organization. For example, it consistently uses the phrase "IOF" ("Israel Occupation Forces") instead of Israel Defense Forces, the proper name of Israel's military, in trying to make Israel look as bad as possible.

The PCHR's influence cannot be overstated. UN groups routinely quote PCHR figures and reports. News media around the world rely on organizations like the PCHR to give them accurate information about what happens in Gaza. The PCHR presents itself as an unbiased party and is taken as such in media reports. The truth, however, is quite different.

Israel's war in Gaza was not aimed at causing civilian losses, nor was it a war of "occupation," as the PCHR would have it, but of defense. The fact that the casualty figures are being misrepresented is a demonstration of the fact that charges made against Israel are false. We are confident that as our research continues we will find many more soldiers of Hamas and other groups waging war against Israel disguised as civilians.

as someone once said about this conflict, how ironic is it that to get credible reports you have to go to the aggressor.