Hamas – the terrorist organisation – have said they want to send people to fling molotov cocktails over the border and breach it. Hamas are using kids as human shields and know the media will be sympathetic. You expect Israel to sit back and not defend itself?

Are you under the care of a physician?

You are trying to smear Israel by claiming that they have the support of "right wing evangelical americans". Not true!

The American people, US politicians (including Democrats) and the recent US presidents have supported Israel and recognised Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel is surrounded by countries who want to wipe it off the map and are attacked by terrorists every day. That is never reported. When they respond, they are the bad guys?

Why do the left always support terrorists over democratic states?

Hmm, I read his response twice and while I see his logic I am still struggling to see reasonable.

Firing live ammunition at unarmed civilians. What is your take on that?

Palestinians lived on that land for millennia until they were violently dispossessed by people without any legal claim. Since then they have been degraded, humiliated, crushed and beaten in every way imaginable and with full international asent. I am no advocate for terrorism but I would be genuinely interested to know: if YOU were them, what would you do?

That moral fuzziness aside, terrorism is bad and I suspect Israel deals with it largely in the same way we dealt with the Irish issue and Spain dealt with ETA. I have no issue with Israel where they are acting within acceptable and proportionate parameters to protect their people. Firing live ammunition on unarmed civilians - whether organised by Hamas or not - is obviously not acceptable. I cannot believe you are defending it.

I am bored with the surrounded by enemies point. This suggests there is some unity in those enemies or prospect of real threat. What applied 40 years ago does not apply today. All of those "aggressors" are so busy with their own issues and the widening gap in the Islamic schism that I suspect they have largely forgotten this enemy. And besides, the US supported Israeli military would easily brush away any attack.

I agree I may have overstated the evangelical point. My take on US attitude to Israel is that 40% of the population are evangelicals and genuinely believe that the earth was created 4700 years ago on a Friday. They will support whatever Israel does and would not waste a thought if every Palestinian was driven into the sea. In this view they conveniently ignore the fact that 9% of Palestinians are Christian.

This group strike me as those who always vote and thus carry considerable weight in US policy. They are the main cause of this problem and you will note that every time the Republicans are in office, Israel's behaviour gets worse.

However, you then have a considerable Jewish lobby. Also, many Americans are Christian if not evangelical and probably lean towards Israel. Even for the atheists, I am guessing 9/11 made life very difficult for Palestinians.

Otherwise, you have a small liberal group who have to be very careful if they make any pro-Palestinian comment; and sympathetic young educated types who can't be @rsed to vote and thus don't count.

The truth is that in Israel you have a powerful regime; and a beaten and oppressed minority. In any other circumstance, the natural inclination towards sympathy for the underdog would cause that regime to temper its conduct. It seems that, with Americans, Israel is an exception to that.

BTW I am not left wing. However, if Israel does consider itself to be a true democratic state on a European model, then it better start behaving like one.

Palestinians lived on that land for millennia until they were violently dispossessed by people without any legal claim. Since then they have been degraded, humiliated, crushed and beaten in every way imaginable and with full international asent. I am no advocate for terrorism but I would be genuinely interested to know: if YOU were them, what would you do?

That moral fuzziness aside, terrorism is bad and I suspect Israel deals with it largely in the same way we dealt with the Irish issue and Spain dealt with ETA. I have no issue with Israel where they are acting within acceptable and proportionate parameters to protect their people. Firing live ammunition on unarmed civilians - whether organised by Hamas or not - is obviously not acceptable. I cannot believe you are defending it.

I am bored with the surrounded by enemies point. This suggests there is some unity in those enemies or prospect of real threat. What applied 40 years ago does not apply today. All of those "aggressors" are so busy with their own issues and the widening gap in the Islamic schism that I suspect they have largely forgotten this enemy. And besides, the US supported Israeli military would easily brush away any attack.

I agree I may have overstated the evangelical point. My take on US attitude to Israel is that 40% of the population are evangelicals and genuinely believe that the earth was created 4700 years ago on a Friday. They will support whatever Israel does and would not waste a thought if every Palestinian was driven into the sea. In this view they conveniently ignore the fact that 9% of Palestinians are Christian.

This group strike me as those who always vote and thus carry considerable weight in US policy. They are the main cause of this problem and you will note that every time the Republicans are in office, Israel's behaviour gets worse.

However, you then have a considerable Jewish lobby. Also, many Americans are Christian if not evangelical and probably lean towards Israel. Even for the atheists, I am guessing 9/11 made life very difficult for Palestinians.

Otherwise, you have a small liberal group who have to be very careful if they make any pro-Palestinian comment; and sympathetic young educated types who can't be @rsed to vote and thus don't count.

The truth is that in Israel you have a powerful regime; and a beaten and oppressed minority. In any other circumstance, the natural inclination towards sympathy for the underdog would cause that regime to temper its conduct. It seems that, with Americans, Israel is an exception to that.

BTW I am not left wing. However, if Israel does consider itself to be a true democratic state on a European model, then it better start behaving like one.