Venezuela Expels Israeli Ambassador

[bemildred]

Source: CBS/MMIX

(CBS/AP) Venezuela ordered the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and some embassy staff on Tuesday to protest Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The decision by President Hugo Chavez, a longtime critic of U.S. and Israeli policy, to kick out the diplomats appeared to be the strongest reaction yet to the Gaza offensive by any country with ties to Israel.

---

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said its U.N. mission is joining with other countries in demanding the Security Council "apply urgent and necessary measures to stop this invasion."

---

"Now I hope that the Venezuelan Jewish community speaks out against this barbarism. Do it. Don't you strongly reject all acts of persecution?" Chavez said.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/06/world/main4703025.shtml

---

:popcorn:

[devilgrrl]

1. How typical is it that that evil Hugo Chavez is a Jew hater?

:sarcasm:

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. Meh. It's in keeping with his solid anti-US policies.

After all the argument that US = Israel has been posited in the past. I'm not really that surprised by Chavez's actions.

[IndianaGreen]

5. US policies harm the American people and our neighbors

Chavez is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist.

Viva Chavez!

[EFerrari]

46. There would be no invasion without = US.

[LakeSamish706]

3. Good on Hugo Chavez is all I gotta say. n/t

[pl259]

6. Send some of the flames over this way, I just put on my asbestos jammies

:D

[Voice for Peace]

13. exactly what I was about to say.

good on hugo. Somebody's gotta do it.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mamameow]

57. war loving countries

israel, iran, and u.s. we keep good company

[bemildred]

7. Foreign Ministry: Venezuela must decide if it supports terror

The Foreign Ministry condemned Venezuela following its decision to expel the Israeli ambassador from its territory due to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. "Israel will continue to defend itself before its enemies including Hamas and Iran, with which Venezuela has created strong ties," a ministry statement said.


"Venezuela needs to choose which side it is taking in this war. It must choose between those who fight terror and those who support it. It's not surprising that Venezuela is once more clarifying to the world which side it is on." (Roni Sofer)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651846,00.html

[scarletwoman]

9. Venezuela does NOT support terror, that's precisely why they expelled the Israeli ambassador.

Viva Chavez!

sw

[MellowDem]

33. Is that why they also have such close ties to Russia?

Viva hypocrisy!

[bemildred]

35. They have close ties with Russia because they expelled the Israeli ambassador?

Or what?

[MellowDem]

38. Who said that was why they had close ties to Russia?

Not I. Most likely because it's a strategic position for Venezuela to be close with countries like Iran and Russia, fellow petrodictatorships that can support each other! But, I guess you'd have to ask Hugo yourself. Strange, when Russia invaded Georgia, where was the righteous fury of Chavez? Where oh where could it be?

[bemildred]

39. You said it. I'm just trying to understand what you said.

You said they had close ties to Russia for some reason: "Is that why they have close ties to Russia". So what is "that" there?

[MellowDem]

41. It was in reply to Scarletwoman...

In her post she says Venezuela does not support terror. I naturally do not agree with that given Chavez's close ties to Russia and Iran, and find it hypocritical.

[bemildred]

44. Most of Europe has close ties with Russia and Iran, you know.

Oil, gas, stuff like that. Does Europe support terror?

[MellowDem]

50. Apparently so.

Having an ambassador from Israel in your country means you are supporting terror. And yes, I really do believe every country supports terror in some ways or other, just the way the world works I guess.

[EFerrari]

43. You don't know a thing about Venezuela, do you?

[MellowDem]

51. It's in South America...

So I guess you're wrong. I DO know something about Venezuela!

[GoesTo11]

94. !!

Yes you do!

[bitchkitty]

67. Russia didn't invade Georgia.

And Chavez is not a dictator, petro- or otherwise. But don't let the facts dissuade you.

[HEyHEY]

72. coulda fooled me.

[SOS]

97. Those tanks are in response to Georgian attacks:

From the new York Times, November 7, 2008

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question

TBILISI, Georgia — Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.

Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/europe/07georgia.html

[HEyHEY]

98. It still doesn't mean they didn't invade

Invasion doesn't imply one side is right or wrong, it implies one country rolled into another.

[Abq_Sarah]

77. Where was the righteous fury

Of most of the world?

[Name removed]

83. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rpannier]

89. But he willingly supports the most oppressive and despotic governments on this planet

Beginning with North Korea

[scarletwoman]

103. Working to form a bloc to oppose the Imperial Hegemon is simply smart politics.

The U.S. props up Saudi Arabia, for gawdsakes. One of the most repressive, regressive regimes on the planet. It's all about strategic positioning.

Geopolitics -- that's the way it works. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

sw

[rpannier]

107. I see

Interesting...

I thought Hugo Chavez was this great humanitarian who was interested in the plight of the oppressed and down-trodden.

Now he's a savvy politician in bed with a country that has city sized Gulags and engages in human trafficking on a scale that is matched by no other nation.

[subsuelo]

10. Yes... forcing sides to be chosen...

We begin to see the larger plan unfold.

[IndianaGreen]

12. It is the US that supports terror by not extraditing jetliner bomber Luis Posada Carriles

LUIS POSADA CARRILES
THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD
CIA and FBI Documents Detail Career in International Terrorism; Connection to U.S.

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 153

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/index.htm

[IndianaGreen]

14. Viva Chavez!

Death to Imperialism!

[High Plains]

8. You go, Hugo! One country does more than mouth platitudes.

Meanwhile, Washington fiddles while Gaza burns.

[Pastiche423]

11. Viva Chavez!

I hope other countries follow his lead.

[harmonicon]

15. Bravo!!!

If only the US would do the same.... oh... wait.. yeah, I forgot: Israel is our surrogate for carrying out the really awful crimes that we don't want our name officially on. Sucks to be from the US sometimes. I bet it also sucks to be from Israel.... especially when we see how a truly democratic country that believes in peace and solidarity, despite lack of military might, will stand up and renounce injustice where it finds it.

[BunkerHill24]

16. Man! No matter what you think of Hugo, he's got some balls! ...

Ahem! no pun intented!

:applause:


Kicked :kick:

And

Received...with pleasure.

[ShadesOfGrey]

27. He sure does. If only our leaders would grow some...

I'll keep hoping.

[KoKo]

30. Brass Balls...and not afraid to show'em EITHER!

Good for you, Hugo! Stick in in their eye!

[Jefferson23]

17. YES YES YES!!! Way to Go Chavez!!!!!!!!!!!!

[captain jack]

18. Chavez yet again sets the bar higher than critics can reach.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bushknew]

20. Has any other world leader/ country come out against Israel's massacre?

[razors edge]

52. Not that it means much, but...

Mauritania withdraws envoy from Israel

Mauritania, one of the few Arab countries that has full diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv, has withdrawn its ambassador from Israel.

"The Islamic republic of Mauritania has decided to recall its ambassador to Israel as of today (Monday)," a source at the Mauritania Foreign Ministry was quoted by AFP as saying.

The move is interpreted as a protest by Mauritania, one of the three Arab League countries that have ties with Israel, to the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip.

At least 531 Palestinians have been killed and over 2,600 others are wounded in an Israeli onslaught on the densely-populated region.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80691§ionid=351020506

[Hardrada]

21. Another Viva! for Hugo Chavez.

Other lands, take heed and follow suit!

[L0oniX]

22. \/\/()()T

[Jim Sagle]

23. Up Hugo's ass with a Qassam rocket.

[StClone]

34. Violence

What a noble solution!

[scarletwoman]

36. How many UN schools has Chavez bombed?

[Jim Sagle]

37. How many rockets get lobbed over the border into Venezuela?

[scarletwoman]

42. Oh, yeah. Poor, poor Israel, with the finest weaponry that money can buy -- with nukes, even.

Poor, poor Israel -- who has dispossessed, abused, humiliated, and slaughtered the indigenous population with impunity for decades.

Poor, poor Israel -- who bombed Gaza's power plant in 2006, who blockades all entry into Gaza, who refuses to deal with the democratically elected government, who continues to steal more land, who drops cluster bombs by the thousands in civilian areas...

Israel is a terrorist state. It shouldn't come as any surprise that the people who are being terrorized are going to fight back.

sw

[Abq_Sarah]

79. And I suppose

It's completely logical then to strap C-4 to your children and send them out to kill civilians because your own leaders have been using you as cannon fodder for years in the pursuit of $$$$$.

[ronnie624]

81. Can you provide a link to some information about such incidents? n/t

[Chulanowa]

85. Just as logical as mandatory military service for your children

and send them out to kill civilians because your own leaders have been using you as a chesspeice in their attempt to milk free cash out of the US.

[EFerrari]

48. You're kidding right? The fake war on drugs pushes Colombian paramilitaries

into Venezuela all the time for Venezuela do deal with.

Your tax dollars at work.

[eridani]

86. During the ceasefire, there were none lobbed into Israel--they're doing ethnic cleansing anyway

If killing 15 people in 8 years is terrorism, that would apply to Israel's automobile drivers as a class.

http://www.juancole.com/2009/01/have-bush-and-neocons-ruined-it-for.html

Kadima examples: Israelis point to thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel, without mentioning that no Israelis had been killed by them during the truce stretching from mid-June, 2008 until December 26. That is, the prelude to the most violent Israeli attack on Gaza since 1967 was . . . not a single Israeli death at the hands of Hamas in the preceding half-year. And in 8 years, Hamas had killed about 15 Israelis with those home made rockets, during which time the Israelis had killed nearly 5000 Palestinians, nearly 1000 of them minors. The rockets were small, handmade affairs for the most part and most landed uselessly. Some did damage to property and a few wounded or killed people. That would be a legitimate assertion. But the quotation of "thousands" of rockets is a half-truth and intentionally misleading.

[Recursion]

101. From Colombia? Quite a few. Not to mention...

...that coup against him we didn't even bother to hide our sponsorship of.

[Recursion]

102. Dupe. Delete

I swear I only hit "Post" once...

[IndianaGreen]

40. Having anal fantasies again, Jimbo?

Viva Chavez!

[EFerrari]

45. Progressive DU speaks out!

[High Plains]

70. Advocating assassination are we, Mr. Zionist?

[Tarc]

24. Chavez isn't right on everything

But this one has has 100% correct. Here's to hoping, however fanciful it may be, that Obama follows suit.

[IMPERIUM V]

84. Are you kidding?

The US will stop propping up Israel the day the moon breaks out of the earth's orbit.

[Tarc]

105. Mindless enablers like you

are the reason why this nonsense is perpetuated.

[Hulk]

25. A tip of my hat to Hugo Chavez and Venezuela...

...the WHOLE WORLD should be doing this. Instead, we all stand by and plead with them to stop the slaughter.

What a bunch of toothless pansies. And meanwhile, men, women and children are being murdered by the israeli zionists. Scum bags!

[bitchkitty]

26. Bravo!

If only we had a leader who would do the same.

[GB Observer]

28. Israel has been ignoring international calls for cease-fire

I support this move by Chavez.

[KoKo]

29. Kool...."You Go, Hugo!" Always standing up for something that means a lot to

us Dem Progressives!

[NeoConsSuck]

31. A true leader!

while the rest of the world leaders twiddle their thumbs as Gaza residents (including children) are slaughtered, this brave man has the courage to take a stand.

[Broadslidin]

32. Oy Vey, what a stark difference between President Chavez and the "gigglin' ghoul"....

Thankfully,
the CIA's "National Endowment for Democracy" failed
miserably in its attempted Venezuelan coup.

[IndianaGreen]

47. Venezuelan press: Israeli ambassador kicked out, but Venezuela doesn't break relations with Israel

"El presidente Hugo Chávez, que ha sostenido encuentro con altos funcionarios del Consejo Social Judío y siempre se ha opuesto al antisemitismo como a cualquier tipo de discriminación y de racismo, hace un llamado fraterno al pueblo judío, a través del mundo, para que se oponga a estas políticas criminales del estado de Israel que recuerdan las peores paginas de la historia del siglo XX con el genocidio del pueblo Palestino", indicó.

http://www.eluniversal.com/2009/01/06/pol_ava_gobierno-expulso-a-e_06A2183891.shtml

My poor translation of El Universal article is as follows:

President Hugo Chavez has maintained a dialogue with high officials of the Social Jewish Council and has opposed anti-Semitism as a type of discrimination and racism, and calls on the global Jewish community to oppose the criminal policies of the State of Israel that brings to mind the worst pages of 20th century history with the genocide of the Palestinian people.

[BlackmanX]

49. Good for Chavez

I wonder how much aid he's sent to the palestinians.

[bowens43]

53. Once again Venezuela shows the world that it is morally superior to the US nt

[Andrushka]

54. Gotta love the guy

Chavez rocks.

What a world we live in when kicking out diplomats is the "strongest reaction" by any country to this barbarity by the rogue Israeli state. What SHOULD be happening is not only diplomatic protests like this, but a complete freeze on Israeli assets and so forth worldwide (like what is done to lesser "rogue nations"). The fucking hypocrisy is astounding. Still, I don't want to take away any kudos that should go towards Venezuela for this protest. It should be the very least all countries should be doing right now.

[IndianaGreen]

56. Israel must be embargoed and isolated like we did apartheid South Africa

and white supremacist Rhodesia.

[IndianaGreen]

55. Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask

Wednesday, 7 January 2009

What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre. And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.

What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was. After covering so many mass murders by the armies of the Middle East – by Syrian troops, by Iraqi troops, by Iranian troops, by Israeli troops – I suppose cynicism should be my reaction. But Israel claims it is fighting our war against "international terror". The Israelis claim they are fighting in Gaza for us, for our Western ideals, for our security, for our safety, by our standards. And so we are also complicit in the savagery now being visited upon Gaza.

I've reported the excuses the Israeli army has served up in the past for these outrages. Since they may well be reheated in the coming hours, here are some of them: that the Palestinians killed their own refugees, that the Palestinians dug up bodies from cemeteries and planted them in the ruins, that ultimately the Palestinians are to blame because they supported an armed faction, or because armed Palestinians deliberately used the innocent refugees as cover.

The Sabra and Chatila massacre was committed by Israel's right-wing Lebanese Phalangist allies while Israeli troops, as Israel's own commission of inquiry revealed, watched for 48 hours and did nothing. When Israel was blamed, Menachem Begin's government accused the world of a blood libel. After Israeli artillery had fired shells into the UN base at Qana in 1996, the Israelis claimed that Hizbollah gunmen were also sheltering in the base. It was a lie. The more than 1,000 dead of 2006 – a war started when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on the border – were simply dismissed as the responsibility of the Hizbollah. Israel claimed the bodies of children killed in a second Qana massacre may have been taken from a graveyard. It was another lie. The Marwahin massacre was never excused. The people of the village were ordered to flee, obeyed Israeli orders and were then attacked by an Israeli gunship. The refugees took their children and stood them around the truck in which they were travelling so that Israeli pilots would see they were innocents. Then the Israeli helicopter mowed them down at close range. Only two survived, by playing dead. Israel didn't even apologise.

Twelve years earlier, another Israeli helicopter attacked an ambulance carrying civilians from a neighbouring village – again after they were ordered to leave by Israel – and killed three children and two women. The Israelis claimed that a Hizbollah fighter was in the ambulance. It was untrue. I covered all these atrocities, I investigated them all, talked to the survivors. So did a number of my colleagues. Our fate, of course, was that most slanderous of libels: we were accused of being anti-Semitic.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-do-they-hate-the-west-so-much-we-will-ask-1230046.html

[HEyHEY]

58. Hugo is totally against persecution, unless you don't agree with him politically.

[IndianaGreen]

59. Really? How come there is an opposition press in Venezuela?

How come he did not execute the coup plotters, as we would have done in the USA?

[HEyHEY]

61. Tell that to Radio Cracas.

Look I don't hate Chavez, I just think sometimes he's full of shit and a hypocrite, this is one of those times. Kick out the ambassador, great, but don't try to sell me he's some great, kind man.

[IndianaGreen]

63. Radio Caracas had its license not renewed, as discussed ad nauseum in DU at the time

They are still on the air, satellite radio. The airwaves belong to the public, not the corporations, particularly when one abuses the airwaves (like Rush Limbaugh in the US).

Hugo is a great, kind man. who would have not have invited the likes of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his swearing in.

Viva Chavez!

[HEyHEY]

65. After fighting for it, face it that was an attempt at press control

I don't want to argue about that, this is a different thread topic. I just notice that Chavez, while a hell of a lot better than most leaders on the planet can be a prick too.

[StClone]

73. There may be arguments as to the degree

But Radio Caracas was part of an attempt to propagandize an overthrow Chavez. Now I don't know how they'd handle that in Canada but I'd think in the U.S. it would raise more than eyebrows.

[HEyHEY]

75. We'll see if Limbaugh gets pulled over the next eight years.

[Zorro]

60. Hugo the attention whore

Why he isn't demanding Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel?

IMHO Israel has a right to retaliate, after being on the receiving end of 6,000 rockets in the past couple of years.

Hugo is showing his solidarity with the Hamas terrorists and their Iranian puppetmasters. That's not a commendable action.

[HEyHEY]

62. in five ...four ...three .....two....

:hide:

[IndianaGreen]

64. You are ignoring the 18-month long blockade of Gaza by Israel, a policy of deliberate starvation

You are also ignoring that it was Israel who first broke the ceasefire.

[Zorro]

66. You are ignoring that Hamas instigated the blockade

Shoot rockets into Israel, get an economic blockade.

Continue shooting rockets into Israel, get a military incursion.

What's the solution? It's very simple.

For starters, stop firing rockets into Israel.

Then acknowledge Israel's right to exist.

[Andrushka]

68. Then watch the goalposts get moved again.

FFS.

Viva Hugo!

[Ned_Devine]

76. "Then acknowledge Israel's right to exist." Well, by that rationale...

...shouldn't Israel acknowledge Hamas' right to exist?

[rpannier]

90. I'd be with you if you would say

Israel acknowledge Palestine's right to exist.

Hamas is a political organization, like the Labor Party, Fatah or the Likud

[Dorian Gray]

92. No....

Hamas is not a country or a people. Israel should recognize Palestine's right to exist.

[IndianaGreen]

100. Zionists don't see Palestinians as a people, even Golda Meir said that

Hence the inherent racism in everything Israel does to the Palestinians. Israel wants to keep the best land that it took in 1967.

[LeftishBrit]

106. Hamas is a political party, not a nation

The equivalent would in fact be 'recognizing Palestine's right to exist' - an inevitable part of a two-state solution.

[ronnie624]

96. Perhaps a history of expansionism plays at least a minor role in the conflict.

U.N. blasts Israel for West Bank housing expansion plan

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Israel on Monday for planning to build housing units in a West Bank settlement, saying the decision conflicts with "Israel's obligation under the road map" for Middle East peace.
art.ban.ki.moon.gi.jpg

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: The plan conflicts with an "obligation under the road map" for peace. Israel's settlement activities have long been a major bone of contention in efforts to bring peace to the region. In December, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered his government not to start any new construction projects in the West Bank without his approval

<http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/10/israel.palestinian.settlement/index.html>

Report condemns Israeli expansion

A US-led investigation into the causes of the Middle East conflict calls for Israel to halt the illegal expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

The big increase in settlements over the last decade, often provocatively placed on hilltops overlooking Palestinian towns and villages, is one of the biggest causes of Palestinian hatred of Israelis.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/may/05/israel>

Israel accelerates settlement expansion after Annapolis

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush follow contradictory policy tracks. In the major media offensive accompanying last November's US-sponsored Annapolis peace conference both leaders presented themselves as the peace makers of the region. In Annapolis, Olmert committed to freezing settlement expansion. However, since that time according to numerous sources ranging from Israeli newspapers, to Peace Now, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as well as the websites of the Israeli Central Bureau, and the Ministry of Construction and Housing, Olmert's government has been accelerating illegal settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land.

<http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9606.shtml>

Rice warns Israel on settlement expansion

An Israeli plan to expand settlement activity in disputed areas of East Jerusalem could slow progress toward a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned during her latest peace mission to the region.

"At a time when we need to build confidence between the parties, the continued building and the settlement activity has the potential to harm the negotiations going forward," Rice said in a Sunday appearance with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem.

<http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/080616/2008061623.html>

Israel announces Golan expansion

Israel has unveiled a $60m plan to build homes for thousands of new settlers on the occupied Golan Heights.

Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz says the population will rise by 50% over three years to strengthen Israel's grip on the land seized from Syria in 1967.

Syria has reacted angrily, saying sovereignty should be resolved by international law, not military power.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3358797.stm>

Group Says New Israeli Expansion Breaks Vow

Despite six months of talk in Israel about a withdrawal from much of the occupied territories, new houses and trailers continue to be erected at many Jewish settlements, and expansion into disputed land continues unabated, according to Peace Now, an advocacy group that also monitors settlement growth.

At a news conference, the group presented aerial photographs taken between February and early July that showed new trailers, buildings, roads and other infrastructure improvements on settlements in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The expansion, it said, violates pledges by the Israeli government to limit settlement growth to land within the current boundaries, as well as the spirit of a withdrawal plan from Gaza and the four West Bank settlements. However, the group could not say whether any of the expansion in the Gaza Strip took place since early June, when the Israeli cabinet approved the plan

<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE4DF163DF930A15754C0A9629C8B63>

[StClone]

74. This is more complex than that

If over six years and 6000 rockets Israel responds now between Bush and Obama doesn't that sound a bit odd?

Wouldn't the casualties be hundreds if not thousands to ligitimate the Israeli reaction? Israel controls the water into Gaza and electricity. They turn it on and off on a whim. Hamas is a bad bunch that have come to be reinforced by isolation and poverty induced by outside powers.

We give Israel billions and high tech weapons so we are more than to blame for inflaming the conflict. Much of Hamas's rockets are rarely as effective as IEDs used in Iraq. They range from homemade rockets that barely fly to outdated Qassam which may be deadly but more often than not are poorly guided and fall indiscriminately though often with little effect other than fear.

Compare that to 500 dead in a few weeks.

[ClayZ]

69. Good! K and R

[Better Believe It]

71. Thank you brother Chavez!

[anonymous171]

78. lol A Chavez thread and an Israel thread.

This should be interesting :popcorn:

[HEyHEY]

80. I know, it's like the perfect storm

[EFerrari]

82. Just wait until Cynthia McKinney and Cindy Sheehan weigh in on the expulsion!

lol

[Behind the Aegis]

87. Laughable, but expected by him and those like him.

(and no, not talking about his expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.)

[rpannier]

91. Just remember

Chavez supports Gim Jeong-il in North Korea.
So, Jeong-il must be a great guy who cares about the plight the North Korean people. :sarcasm:

[Greyhound]

88. K&R

[harun]

93. Viva Chavez! One of the few leaders with credibility on this issue.

[Mosby]

95. Did Venezuela kick out the Lebanon ambassador last year?

The Lebanese army shelled a Palestinian refugee camp for three months starting in May of '07. If I recall, it started because a terrorist group residing in the camp robbed a bank. The armed conflict left 450 Palestinian refugees dead.

[scarletwoman]

104. Lebanon is not occupying Palestine. And it wouldn't even have Palestinian refugees if not for Israel

[Judi Lynn]

99. Chavez calls Israeli offensive in Gaza 'cowardly'

Chavez calls Israeli offensive in Gaza 'cowardly'
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 |

Caracas, Jan 7 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called the Israeli Army 'cowardly' for its offensive in the Gaza Strip, and said the people of Israel should protest the operation that has killed more than 580 people.

'How cowardly is the Israeli Army. They attack a people that is exhausted, asleep, innocent, and they boast that they are defending their people,' Chavez told reporters Tuesday. 'I call upon the people of Israel to rise against that government.'

He said that presidents Shimon Peres of Israel and George W. Bush of the US should be tried for 'genocide' at the International Court of Justice.

During a visit to a children's hospital in Caracas, Chavez said the international community must put a stop to the 'madness' in Gaza, adding that his government was working to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

Chavez said while his government respected Israelis living in Venezuela, he wished that 'the Jewish Venezuelan community spoke against this barbarity'.

http://www.nerve.in/news:253500197464

[Judi Lynn]

108. Venezuela isn't the only Latin American country speaking out about this pathetic tragedy.

You may appreciate seeing an article posted in the Latin America forum:

Invasion of Gaza Met With Protests Throughout Latin America
Posted by subsuelo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x10898