The US is crticized after the Zeta Mexican Cartel attacks San Diego!

I see what you did there. 

This would never happen in the US because the US gun owners would far outgun the cartel.  Oh wait, it's California, never mind they're not allowed to have guns.

I agree wiht Tony, it's not California..It's The Republic of Kaliforna...

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It's incorrect because the drug cartels in Mexico are better armed than the Mexcian army!

... Thanks to the US.

Tear down the wall and open the borders - they just want to get that dang little Taco Bell dog.

I don't think it's comparing US/Mexican to the Palestinian/Israeli situation as much as it is an exercise to look at it from the perspective of the Israeli people.  IF Mexico were to do what was suggested in the OP then we American's would be outraged and demand that our government do something, whereas today many people in the US blame Israel and are on the side of the Palestinians in the struggle over there.

Still not buying it. If the drug cartel in Mexico (not Mexico, the drug cartel in Mexico) did this, our government would indeed do something. I think it's too broad of a comparison and doesn't account for the historical context of either bordering nation relationship.

I'm not saying anything specifically about the involvement of Palestine. 

Interesting piece of fiction.  I wonder if there is a movie in there somewhere.

The did make Battlefield Los Angeles - Aliens attacking LA...

Israel, this morning, attacked and killed the Hamas military leader, and in a separate attack, his deputy.  They also attacked and destroyed nearly 2 dozen sites that Hamas had been using to launch missles at Israel.  Also, attacks on at least another half dozen Hamas leaders took place....no word on success of those operations.

if this escalates i have a feeling that it's going to affect a lot more than just those two countries.

and i agree that the original analogy using the zetas is not a good one.

The original analogy was meant to simply demonstrate how Israel is too often criticized (especially in Europe) when they respond militarily to rocket attacks on civilians.  Would the same people criticize the US for defending it's citizens?

This is not the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank launching these attacks, it's Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.  I myself have personal experience with the latter.  I could show you pictures of my scar from the shrapnel (although no one would actually WANt to see that picture... it's a "million dollar wound").  I sat in a Merkava, finger on the trigger, unable to fire because of the human shields they use.  They do not target military targets or attempt to achieve military, strategic, or political gain.  They rockets they use are either hand-made or very old Russian Katyusha rockets in which you point them in a general direction, fire, and hope that they come down on people.  And just everytime, they're pointing them at civilian towns and Kibbutzim.

I will be the first to admit how the Israelis treat the Palestinians.  I'll tell you what continuous settlement building in the West Bank does.  What not being a citizen and living in an occupied land does.  What having to rely on your "occupier" for basic infrastructure needs does.  Wat it does when you rely on your occupier to approve all fincancial transfers coming into your economy.  What happens to so many Palestinians who live in the West Bank, but work in Israel and every time the border is closed, what that does to their jobs...  I'm am by no means a "support Israel no matter what and with no conditions" type of guy.

But Hamas and Hezbollah are NOT political parties or national leaders.  They are terrorists, or more accurately, organized criminals taking advantage of a weak country or region that cannot control them.

... The same as the Zetas.

scars are cool, but the stories behind the scars are cooler.  sounds like you have an interesting background.

i thought i read a while back that hezbollah actually has members serving in the lebanese cabinet.  how does that happen, that's crazy?

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Although never sat in a Merkava. God Forbid.

Unit 601

82nd Ga'ash Armor Battalion (Merk-2) on remote station outside of Yiron (home) on the northern border.  "Gimel" wasn't a bad tank.  It was better being in it as compared to cleaning it!

The shrapnel came from a Hezbollah Katyusha which came down while I was on leave, back home at Yiron, in the middle of picking in the pear fields.  We were running for the irrigation pump house when one came down very close behind us.  Blew out both of my ear drums and when I tried to get up and help the others, I fell and knew I had been hit.  Was able to crawl inside.  Only one friend was killed in the attack.

601, eh?  Manat test pilot?  Wasn't your slogan, "mahkbail et kol ha-ladone"?  (Tried to print in Hebrew and the BB couldn't handle it)

For most of you not in on the joke...  I was a "grunt".  Ron 'r1237h' on the other hand was in the Israeli Air Force.  In the fighter test division none-the-less.  That means that Ron basically got all the 'pizza' which is basically what the Hebrew phrase above says.

Quick correction. 601 is combat engineers (Handasa kravit). Meaning we were both grunts. Closest I got to the air-force was a helicopter mechanic I went out with. One visit to her base showed me the difference between infantry and air-force (the food, rooms, etc....). My better half did mikzo'ot on the Merkava 2. She was in that nice unit that does a bit of everything, before deciding where they want to serve.

The air force one you referred to is the 601 squadron. I should have been more accurate and said "Gdud 601", but I wasn't aware that there is another unit 601.

More like "testing you out" and then "oh crap!  The response."  And it's just Hamas, or wings of Hamas.  Hezbollah is in southern Lebanon.  A couple of interesting things about all of this...

• Hamas and the Palestinians are trying to employ a US media strategy of, "we don't know who started it.  We say the Israelis, they say us.  But that's not important.  We are willing to have peace talks."  We KNOW who started it and it wasn't the Israelis.
• Hamas is not in full control of all of its members and militas.  Some of those launching rockets that started it all are fringe radical parts of Hamas and may not have had full consent of the Hamas leadership.  The political wing of Hamas is FURIOUS about all of this!  The Palestinian Authority is THRILLED!  This may be their chance to get rid of Hamas in Gaza once and for all and take back over again under Abbas.
• That Hamas leadership is based in Syria and they've been quite cut off and have their own issues to deal with.  Hamas leadershiip is in a bit of dissaray right now.
• The Muslim Brotherhood has always been sympathetic towards Hamas and the Palestinians, but they've wanted to be in control of them and not let them take on their own "unauthorized" military actions.  A lot of these weapons and rockets were smuggled into Gaza through tunnels hidden from Egyptian leadership.  Egypt is upset with Hamas like a parent is upset with a child who keeps getting into trouble.
• Even though the media will play up the casualty numbers of 800+ Palestinians and only 3 Israelis so far...  The Palestinians have launched over 1,000 rockets at Israeli civilians.  Just because their guidance sucks and they can't hit anything and the fact that almost all of the deadliest potential rockets have been shot down...  And the fact that Hamas like to hide its leaders in heavily populated "human shield" areas.  Don't fool yourself into thinking that this fight is one-sided with the Israelis being the heavy-handed bad guy.  Once again, there's a Hamas media strategy at work here.

Some things from my friends and family in Israel:

• "Iron Dome" the anti-rocket missile system is makign a HUGE difference.  It can detect incoming rockets and determine if they're going to land on a populated area.  If so, a counter-missile is launched.  The system has been about 90% effective.  This is giving the PM and Kenesset some wiggle room.  If more Israelis were killed, the public would be screaming for a ground campaign.  But that's not happening.  SO it makes it easier on the Israeli leadership to stick with airstrikes.
• When the sirens go off, a lot of people rather than running for shelter in their bunkers, are going outside to video the Iron Dome intercept.  My cousin Jay has sent me some pretty cool shots of rockets being blown out of the sky.
• This has been a good excuse for Israel to take out some more of Hamas' military leadership.  As well as bomb the tunnels and rocket storage sites.
• Israeli elections are coming up.  A ground offense would be highly unlikely at this point.
• "If the Arabs put down their weapons, there would be peace.  If the Israelis put down their weapons, there would be no more Israel."

Oh yeah.  They stirred up the hornets nest all right.  If you keep pulling on the tiger's tail...