@Mariella "I will support the rights of all downtrodden people across the globe"

I think you're deluding yourself. I think you're driven more by hatred than by compassion.

You'll no doubt accuse me of being a typical zionist who wants to kill all Muslims and subjugate the world to my nefarious will but you'd be wrong there. I've been to Israel, and the West Bank as well as Gaza, and Jordan and met some wonderful people in these places, Jewish and Muslim, Christian Arabs too.

Before you generalise about all those who dare to defend Israel, take a look at your own prejudice.

@Jankaas, Sir Michael et.al.

See this report from this evening and now tell us how Iran is not developing nuclear arms:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/satellite-images-show-iran-clean...

well spoken marriella isreal can get away with MURDER in this day and age..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/08/gaza-first-five-star-hotel

This is terrible state of Gaza...5 Star hotel

Mariella, you are a shameless liar. The connection between the Jews and the Holy Land was and is unbroken. Stop your fantasies and come down to earth. The Jews worshipped in Jerusalem long before Mohammed and his fairy tales of horses and flying to heaven. Islamists always want more and more. They have Mecca, Medina and part of Jerusalem but now they want all of Israel.

The barbaric attacks on the Jews of Hebron in 1929 is well documented as were the countless other pogroms carried out by mobs of Arabs against Jews all over Palestine.

Let me tell you that before the Jews returned to Palestine, it was a backwater, left to rot by the Turks. And the attitude towards the Chritian holy places was disgraceful

Read Simon Sebag Montifiore's book 'Jerusalem' and learn. Read Mark Twain's reports from Palestine on its dire situation.

If it wasn't for Jewish capital the place would have remained in its sorry state. Now it is a country that is the envy of all freedom loving Arabs.

'Two of the diplomats told The Associated Press that those traces could have come from what they said was the testing of a small neutron trigger used to set off a nuclear explosion.'

And Julia's post about Sudan reminded me of this: Israel has taken in refugees from Sudan who know that the only country that they can live like human beings and not like cattle is Israel. Funny that they didn't stop in Egypt or an other backwater place. So Israel as usual and rightly so, takes in the Sudanese.

In the mid-1970s the late Robin Cook wrote an article in the New Statesman warning that selling vast amounts of arms to the Shah of Iran was not such a good idea. Even if the Shah was our friend he might not always be our friend and he might not always be in power.

And so it came to pass, within less than five years. An unfriendly regime came to power in Iran and inherited the vast amounts of arms that the West had sold to the Shah. And so the West tilted towards Iraq during the Iran - Iraq war, and so Saddam took the opportunity to develop some hideous weapons himself and so we had another problem.

That is why international law makes no distinction between the present nature of a regime when it comes to nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are so destabilising that no regime should have them. A stable, frendly and democractic regime today may be replaced by an unstable, unfriendly or autocratic one tomorrow. That is why the possession of nuclear weapons by countries outside the Big Five is a big problem. That is why the possession of nuclear weapons by countries who have not signed the NNPT is a big problem (though it is such a big problem our politicians are embarrassed to talk about it).

The old UN resolutions about Iraq that the UK claimed in 2003 to have been revived (in order to claim that the invasion of Iraq was legal) contain clauses that say that Iraqi disarmament should take place in the context of the creation of a nuclear-free Middle East. The fact that the UK used these resolutions to facilitate an attack on a country that did not have nuclear weapons, while neglecting the commitment to a nuclear-free Middle East, has convinced many countries that the UK is not really serious about disarmament and non-proliferation. If a nuclear-armed country that is not a member of the NNPT attacks another country because it might have nuclear weapons in future, and the UK/US/France etc allows it to do so, then the non-proliferation regime and international law will have taken another step in the downward spiral.

Look no further than some of the postings here by the zionist brigade. The Zionist apologists cannot tolerate any form of dissent. That you could even mention that Israel has a case to answer vis a vis the Palestinians is tantamount to treason. The amount of personal abuse heeped on Mehdi is truly shocking. Incitement to racial and religious hatred is a criminal offence in the UK. As for Israel being surrounded by 500 million Arabs, that is factually incorrect. Instead of trying to bully its neighbours, Israel should try to get along with them.

I know that Iran has a 100 year massive reservoir of oil and gas but the Iranians really need more nuclear peaceful electricity. Ahmadenejad, Khamenei, katami, the Ayatollahs, the imams the women-stoners all need lots of electricity to power up their VIBRATORS. Well worth risking a world war for!

Julia - excellent post, in both tone/content..

Sir Michael - just read "Mariella's" posts again, not just the content but the tone - and even you must conclude her posts are seriously unhinged, hysterical, deranged. If she really exists, and means what she says, then I do think she should seek psychiatric help....other posters have made pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel posts in rational, calm and passionate ways, but "she" clearly cant...it is not stigmatising people with serious mental health issues - like you say you have - to calmly point out how disturbed this poster appears to be, and "she" does genuinely appear to be

But anyway, lets move on with this....it is of course up to her to seek that help.

Could you assist. Name me a country in the world where Israel has acted as either a peacemaker ar has been at the vanguard of human rights activism. Correct me if I wm wrong but there are several critical report on Israel's human rights record by Amnesty International

Re; Jerry

WHy do you always personalise issues. Despite everything that Sir Michael, you have gone onto repeat and use the very same pejorative terms in your description.

If that is your final position, is ii anywonder that Palestinians are unable to reach an accomodation with Israel.

ADMIT IT. YOU ARE PLAIN WRONG.

@Parkour Pete: Nice attempts at sarcasm and playing the race card. Your over-simplistic analysis ignored the facts which I had clearly set out, but I suppose you're not one to actually read what others have written before chucking your tuppence worth in.

@Mariella: Thank you. I forgot how utterly dismissive Murray was of someone who knew what he was talking about. Even the IAEA report says there is no evidence that Iran is trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability. This is an artificial crisis being drummed up by Israel and her friends, and it has 2003 written all over it. Clearly nobody has learned anything from Iraq.

Although I am against stoning, the very fact that you bring it up in such a topic is rather amusing. I mean really.. from nukes to stoning?

Does that mean I should pipe up that the electric chair is still valid in some US states.. and the US has nukes**OMG what a revelation** Does that mean the US is evil? Should we be dealing with these people. Should they be allowed to have peaceful nuclear power? Just curious :)

Also the very fact that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other countries we like to associate with, trade with and promote as being "examples of peace" in the middle east also do this. What makes them different to Iran.. if we think it is so disgusting in Iran then surely we should also not trade with those other countries... your haphazard logic and straw clutching is amusing.

Always nice to read other people's opinions but sometimes the logic of some commenters seems so obscene. Unfortunately it also dilutes the valid and real debatable opinions shared by others **sigh**

In response to David@

Yes we must not forget that in the BBC programme shown last Sunday we had in audience a former IAEI inspector who had all the facts at his disposal. And yet, Douglas Murray who has no expertise in weapons inspection claimed to know more than the actual expert.

In response to Parkour P, anyone with half a brain can see that he is a diehard Israeli apologist, often resorting to personal insults which I have been on the receiving end of. I refuse to be silenced as I long as I have a breath in my body, I will defend the human rights of Palestinians.

AP Exclusive: Iran may be cleaning up nuke work

By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press

VIENNA (AP) — Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iSYai4zaB33ik1U_CGcYrq...

"The truth is that Israel does not wnat ot get on with its Arab neighbours"

Mariella is completely right with this statement and I am in 100% agreement with her, we are on the same page Mariella! :)

How would it be possible for Israel or any Sane and right minded person to get on with backward, ignorant, psychopathic, hateful, deceitful, wicked, evil Arabs who hate Jews, Israel and the West to there core and want to see them destroyed?

She is quite right, a point well made that Israel doesn't not want to get on with these Neighbours.

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3351.htm

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3346.htm

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3345.htm

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3349.htm

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3347.htm

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3343.htm

Mariella can you name me a single Arab/Moslem state that isn't either:
A fascist military dictatorship
A medieval savage theocracy
A primitive feudal monarchy
An apartheid state
An Islamist tyranny?
Can you name one that
Respects human rights
Where the rule of law applies
That respects freedom of speech
Has a free press
People are not shot dead in the streets for peacefully protesting
Has free election?
Answer....... None. Could it be something to do with adherence to the racist, bloodthirsty, tyranny-loving Koran?

@David & Mariella

I responded to you both with the disdain your inane postings deserved.

Marion/Mariella how much exactly does the Moslem Public Affairs Committee pay you to write this crap?

Lol, Marion and Mariella making conversation to herself, madness.

1. So what? Mainly Oil that the dumb ass Arabs didn’t find anyway, just lucky they happened to be on land where dinosaurs died millions of years ago. Otherwise more than likely they would be sitting in tents picking their feet, burping, farting and beating there women.

2. – Where did I say that? Its certainly a far superior country in probably most respects than any Islamic nation.

3. This is the problem with the dumb, they assume too much and don’t listen to words. Where did I say I wanted them wiped of the map? Calling someone wicked or evil doesn’t say I want them killed, However that is exactly what Arabs say about
Jews, that Jews are Evil etc and should be killed / Destroyed.

4. Definitely, No such people as Palestinian People, they are just Arabs same as Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese, No separate Palestinian language or Culture, Yassar Arafat made up the narrative to gain support, it worked, but it’s a LIE.

5. I merely react to hatred against Jews and Israel, I wish all people of the world freedom, peace and prosperity. The rhetoric from Israel is that we have had war’s waged upon us and terror from all the Arabs pre and post 1948 and so we understand the nature of our enemy, however the Uber Left, Islamic Supremacists and Liberal minded intellects try to tell us we are the issue.

If Israel is the land of democracy, could somebody please explain why it is building the largest prison in the world, as outlined in my previous submission taken from the Independent Newspaper.

@Mark Wallace

"What will it take for you to see the difference between a nuclear armed Israel and a nuclear armed Iran?"

now there's a dumb question. Israel has nukes, Iran does not.

and here's the view, which i agree with btw, from the Islamofascist Lefty Liberal Anti-Semite Efraim Halevy (ex-director of Mossad);

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4143909,00.html

i wonder if Mr Halevy spends much time in his Islamabad cave dwelling stoning women to death?