Quote of the day

"When does the mandate of victimhood expire?" he asked. "At what point does the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews cease to excuse the state of Israel from the demands of international law and of common humanity?"

Fintan O'Toole, the Irish Times' resident philosopher-in-chief, daring to speak the unspeakable.

If you aren’t tired of all the media coverage and speculation by western writers from their safe offices (like me!) , then you can read the Robert Fisk’s full article, Wherever I go, I hear the same tired Middle East comparisons, in The Independent here.

Fisk continues to say that “journalists should be on the side of those who suffer” – sounds like liberation theology to me.

For a visual representation of O’Tooles thoughts, see Zapiro’s two most recent cartoons.

And then, to balance it out, here’s another well argued piece in the Sydney Morning Herald, from a different point of view - It's too easy just to blame Jews.

Whoever is to blame, it is still a very complex and sorry situation. I hope the violence stops soon, though I’m not holding my breath. Ever since I was old enough to read, I can recall newspaper headlines about violence in the ‘Holy land’ region. When will we realise that violence is never redemptive?