Israeli soldiers complain that presence of video cameras is "intolerable" because it makes it harder to simply kill the Palestinian protesters.

Courtesy of Ynet News:

According to S., orders to open fire address situations of a clear and present danger and only if there is a person with the means and intent to kill. "But what is an angry mob throwing stones and sometimes rocks at you if not a life threatening situation? I wouldn't order opening fire at a crowd of people but we can't have a situation where you stand in front of a person with a rock and start to ask yourself is this person life threatening. If I shoot at him I go to jail." 

T., a combatant in an infantry brigade, also claims that soldiers are not equipped to handle the complex situation on the ground. "There's nothing more humiliating for a combatant than to see his friends run," he says. 

He criticizes the army for sending such a small group of soldiers to Qaddum on Friday at a particularly volatile time. 

T. says the cameras on the ground undermine the forces' efforts. "A commander or an officer sees a camera and becomes a diplomat, calculating every rubber bullet, every step. It's intolerable, we're left utterly exposed. The cameras are our kryptonite."

So to be clear, the problem is that with the Palestinians now more capable of documenting atrocities against them, it makes it a hardship on the Israeli troops to dish out those atrocities.

Uh huh. And remember this is taking place on the West Bank, which is essentially land now occupied by the Israelis that the Palestinians historically believe to be their birthright, and which 164 countries refer to as "Occupied Palestinian Land."

Boy it just sucks having to treat human beings like human beings doesn't it?

Here perhaps I can offer the Israelis a little advice. "You know if there is something that you want to do to another human being, that you DON'T want captured on video, perhaps you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. I'm just saying."

(H/T to The Electronic Intifada.)

The dangers of taking the Bible, or any religious book, too literally.

Boy this guy is really the poster child for Christian tolerance, love, and acceptance, isn't he?

We keep hearing from the Far Right that the Qaran is this horrible, hateful book, just chock full of calls for murder and the mistreatment of women.

However the facts are that compared side by side the Bible is actually the more violent of the two books:

"By the standards of the time, which is the 7th century A.D., the laws of war that are laid down by the Quran are actually reasonably humane," he says. "Then we turn to the Bible, and we actually find something that is for many people a real surprise. There is a specific kind of warfare laid down in the Bible which we can only call genocide." 

It is called herem, and it means total annihilation. Consider the Book of 1 Samuel, when God instructs King Saul to attack the Amalekites: "And utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them," God says through the prophet Samuel. "But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."

In fact just in the first four books of the Bible, the cruelty and violence is sickening. And don't think the violence ends before the  pages of the New Testament begin.

I am not trying to pit one Abrahamic religion against another, and I certainly do not think the Qaran is much better. I am just reminding people that these books were written a very long time ago, by people who were not nearly as evolved or as highly educated as the people living today.

We are less violent, less misogynist, and less intolerant, not BECAUSE of the teachings of Islam and Christianity, but DESPITE the teachings of Islam and Christianity.

Just in case you think I am only picking on these two religions, let me just point out that my beloved Buddhism has also done little to reduce the number of wars fought by its adherents. And in Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" we see Taoism interwoven into the very fabric of the military instruction within.

Remember, man will always be man, regardless of how they worship, or to which God they send their prayers.