One hardly expects victims of racial and religious intolerance . ..

[defendandprotect]

to turn around and inflict that same kind of damage on others . . . !

More Crusades, more religious hatred --

And, again and again, religious insanity -- !!!



Israeli soldiers say army rabbis framed Gaza as religious war
Cliff Churgin | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: March 20, 2009 06:48:01 PM

JERUSALEM_ Rabbis affiliated with the Israeli army urged troops heading into Gaza to reclaim what they said was God-given land and "get rid of the gentiles" — effectively turning the 22-day Israeli intervention into a religious war, according to the testimony of a soldier who fought in Gaza.

Literature passed out to soldiers by the army's rabbinate "had a clear message — we are the people of Israel, we came by a miracle to the land of Israel, God returned us to the land, now we need to struggle to get rid of the gentiles that are interfering with our conquest of the land," the soldier told a forum of Gaza veterans in mid-February, just weeks after the conflict ended.

A transcript of the testimony given at an Israeli military academy at the Oranim college on Feb. 13 was obtained on Friday by McClatchy and also published in Haaretz, one of Israel's leading dailies. The soldier, identified as "Ram," a pseudonym to protect his identity, gave a scathing description of the atmosphere as the Israeli army went to war.

"The general atmosphere among people I spoke to was . . . the lives of Palestinians are . . . let's say far, far less important from the lives of our soldiers," Ram said. The religious literature gave "the feeling of almost a religious mission," he said.

Jonathan Peled, the Israeli Embassy spokesman in Washington, said that Israel "absolutely" had no intention of expelling Palestinians from Gaza and has no territorial or other claims there. While he hadn't seen the religious literature mentioned by the soldier, he said the Israeli army "is a secular army and is not run by any religious institution but by army commanders answering to the democratically elected government of the State of Israel."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/64518.html

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Sad to say, but at this point: that's *exactly* what I expect.

As Archie Bunker once said.... "faith in humanity is one thing; but people is something else."

[madrchsod]

2. i take it the christians are next on the list...

Abraham did`t do a very good job of raising is kids