If an American player said they supported the US decision to bomb Iran, would they be suspended?

@stockwellpete said in #69:

The gap in life expectancy between Jews and Arabs is increasing, about 5 years for men and 4 years for women. This is a consequence of Israel's apartheid system.

The "arabs in Israel are doing better than elsewhere" argument is also incredible because the main reason for lowered life expectancy in arab countries are the wars and machinations of the US/Israel (and Britain...).

It's also moving the goalposts, the point is: arabs are second class citizens in Israel.
not: Arabic citizens in Israel have it worst of all Arabic people in the world.

Also even the classification of arabs vs jews is nonsense and reveals Israeli racism, there are many Arab Jewish people, but somehow those are counted as "Jewish" demographicly.
Which is the same racism but reversed as counting mixed children as "black" in the USA. It's all pretty out in the open if you're not in the Zionism cult...

@lonelypeanut said in #71:

The "arabs in Israel are doing better than elsewhere" argument is also incredible because the main reason for lowered life expectancy in arab countries are the wars and machinations of the US/Israel (and Britain...).

It's also moving the goalposts, the point is: arabs are second class citizens in Israel.
not: Arabic citizens in Israel have it worst of all Arabic people in the world.

Also even the classification of arabs vs jews is nonsense and reveals Israeli racism, there are many Arab Jewish people, but somehow those are counted as "Jewish" demographicly.
Which is the same racism but reversed as counting mixed children as "black" in the USA. It's all pretty out in the open if you're not in the Zionism cult...

I agree completely. Some of the arguments on here are just despicable. For me, to decry Palestinian resistance is equivalent to saying that the Nazis had the right to defend themselves against heroic Jewish resistance fighters during WW2 e.g. Warsaw Ghetto 1943, or at Treblinka concentration camp 1943.

@stockwellpete

Is what Israel is currently doing genocide? How many countries are attacked again and again by people who want to destroy their state? I put it to you that the Israeli forces react to provocation and that propagandists such as yourself batten on this. If you want to find genocide, then consider Rwanda, with millions killed quite purposefully; and you mention Russia, again launching unprovoked aggression (although using the word genocide in Ukraine is rather stretching the point).

And I notice you say "you" and "you" and "you". Well, 'you' sound like some type of Trotskyist, who doesn't take time to consider the facts as opposed to the use of meretricious slogans. And your opponent cannot care, in your Manichaean wish to see the world as purely the good and the evil.

@stockwellpete
You refer to second-class citizens in Israel.

I don't notice you referring to Jews in Arab countries. They're not citizens at all; in fact, they aren't there. Presumably if you get your wish, the saintly non-Zionists will sort this all out. Peace and love.

Palestine resistance: The killing rape and abduction of innocent young people. Like the attacks on athletes, etc etc, I so admire your heroes.

@coledavis said in #73:

@stockwellpete
Is what Israel is currently doing genocide?

Yes, of course it is. See the links to Amnesty and HRW I provided on look up the ICJ ruling (January 2024).

How many countries are attacked again and again by people who want to destroy their state? I put it to you that the Israeli forces react to provocation and that propagandists such as yourself batten on this. If you want to find genocide, then consider Rwanda, with millions killed quite purposefully; and you mention Russia, again launching unprovoked aggression (although using the word genocide in Ukraine is rather stretching the point).

Israel came into existence through the First Nakba in 1948. The violent expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and many were killed. They ended up in refugee camps across the region. That is the main reason why Israel was attacked by local elites in subsequent years. Also, Israel supported the western imperialist powers, France and Britain, during the Suez Crisis of 1956 making it very clear what its purpose in the region was = a gendarme state for western imperialism.

There is no genocide in Ukraine. You can still take a train from the Polish border into Kiev. If Russia had intended to commit a genocide then all the main Ukrainian cities would have been flattened a long time ago. And it wasn't unprovoked aggression either. The Ukrainian army increased the shelling of its own citizens in the Donbass and was about to mount a military offensive there. The western powers said nothing and were just watching the situation deteriorate.

And I notice you say "you" and "you" and "you". Well, 'you' sound like some type of Trotskyist, who doesn't take time to consider the facts as opposed to the use of meretricious slogans. And your opponent cannot care, in your Manichaean wish to see the world as purely the good and the evil.

Is that what Trotskyists do then? Say "you", "you", "you" over and over again. Perhaps they are counting their members? I have no idea as I have never been in a Trotskyist organisation myself, although I have campaigned quite happily with them over the years.

Anyway, this is my last conversation with you unless you withdraw the odious smear that I am an anti-semite. If you had said that to me at a chess club I would have pushed a rook up your nose! Will you withdraw the remark?

@coledavis said in #74:

Palestine resistance: The killing rape and abduction of innocent young people. Like the attacks on athletes, etc etc, I so admire your heroes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_and_gender-based_violence_against_Palestinians_during_the_Gaza_war

So, you're a violent person as well as an antisemite. Maybe you're not a Trot; your statements are akin to fascism.

Oh, and a Putin apologist to boot.

Another one blocked. C'est la guerre!

@stockwellpete

Iran is indeed a land of ancient brilliance, unmatched poetry, and a people with warmth, intelligence, and dignity that shame many of their so-called “leaders.” But don’t dare confuse the greatness of Iran with the disgrace of the regime that rules it. The Islamic Republic is not Persia. It is a hijacker of Persian legacy—parading around in the robes of history while jailing its poets, exiling its intellectuals, and spilling blood in the streets.

Yes, Iran gave the world Rumi and Hafez. Today, their modern counterparts are silenced, banned, or imprisoned. Yes, it gave us Isfahan and Persepolis. But the same regime you glorify has bulldozed pre-Islamic heritage sites and censors art, music, and even the sound of a woman singing. Iran’s people lead in science, cinema, and literature despite their government, not because of it.

You talk about Iran’s generosity and hospitality? Absolutely true. But those same people are being beaten in the streets for demanding the right to live freely. They chant “woman, life, freedom” while facing bullets. They build startups and universities while their internet is shut off, their professors purged, and their brightest minds flee for exile.

Enough with the whitewashing. You do not honor Iran by defending its oppressors. You spit on its legacy when you confuse the resilience of its people with the rot of the regime. The Iranian people are not the Islamic Republic. They are its first and longest-suffering victims. If you truly love Iran, then stop apologizing for the tyrants who’ve crushed it since 1979.

Iran deserves its greatness back—not slogans, not terror exports, not uranium buried under mountains.
It deserves liberation from the parasites who wrap themselves in history while robbing their people of a future.