Have these politicians seen the pictures of the dead babies, the boy being abducted by troops? I understand Franken, etc, but how can the supposedly pro-life politicians be in on this?

They line up like stooges...Pawlenty, Coleman, Kline, Bachman, Dayton; et tu Franken. Not a day that makes me proud, Minnesota. This is the way it happened in Europe in the late thirties...there in this tragic expose, is revealed the ugly backside of the human condition clapping in catatonic unison ...call it what you will.

>> This is the way it happened in Europe in the late thirties... <<

It would be good to conduct this discourse without branding Israel and its supporters as Nazis. Beyond desecrating the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, it is not an apt analogy and puts an end to any rational discussion of the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There is a range of opinion in the Jewish community about Israel's war in Gaza. Jews are deeply distressed by the civilian casualties in Gaza and on the Israeli side. Hopefully, a cease-fire can be established quickly that will allow Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace, or at least without the threat of bombs exploding around them.

Our family has many Jewish friends. However,I am appalled and very offended by the horrifying Israeli attacks on Gaza and the inhumanity and brutality evident there. Israel’s behavior is a great tragedy for the United States and for Israel as well. We all regret the rocket attacks, but Israel’s behavior is bad for our own country and for Israel, as world press reports display. The violence of Israel’s air strikes is bringing widespread condemnation in many countries at a time when we very much need friends. I hope that our government will turn the entire matter over to the United Nations and abide by UN resolutions.

Our policies in Palestine have been too one sided. I agree with former President Jimmy Carter in this regard.

Mr. Mordecai

You claim there is a range of views.

All i hear is Mark Rotenberg spending 6 months to define what is terrorism. I guess he does not know the words settlements, colonization, starvation etc....

I dont hear the same voices speak out when AIPAC invites right wing nuts who openly support the expropriation of Palesinian lands.

I don't hear Mr Hunegs and his organization calling for a halt to the settlements.

So where exactly is the 'range of views'. All we see is our local politicians line up like boy scouts on AIPACs command

Why is Al Franken's title in the video 'Senate Candidate?' Did the Minnesota Election Commission not declare him the Senator-Elect?

I understand that election results are pending court action, but is it inappropriate to call Mr. Franken Senator-Elect?

Congresswoman Bachmann's invoking of Joy and Rejoicing in this forum is disturbing. Would she choose different words if it were her children or grandchildren that were the casualties of the conflict?

These publicity seeking (or newspaper selling) abusive leaders of our state and of our nation have no business wasting more tax payer's money and time getting involved in such a ceremony or even expressing their one sided support for the promulgators of a foreign religious and clearly expansionist conflict of any kind, let alone one which clearly shows early signs of low scale genocide by the Israelis and is not directly related to their own duties and responsibilities of office. Getting their smug, pseudo patriotic noses out of this mess before they get theirs and ours clipped would be my strong and humble suggestion. This, before they help lead us into a much greater military engagement with the entire Arab nation in order to save Israel's hide and to promote a culture which may well be quite far along in the process of consuming what's left of our own. Oh, by the way, I believe that neither side is right if they take human life to assert it.
TimHolminParis

Do you have family or friends in Israel? Maybe you have family or friends in Palestine. I think the majority would answer the first question. I have friends in Israel and I know that they have become more and more bigoted and militant over the years against Arabic people. As far as I can see Israel has all the money and power and the people in Gaza have only words to throw at Israel. An unspoken policy to confine and eradicate people in Gaza is to me, at least, the same as a few words in a constitution. It is ironic that good people support getto-izing and systematic killing of neighbors. Now for a long time people in Gaza will say, 'they murdered my grandson'. What peace can be had from that? Give us you poor, your oppressed. Go look at the Statue of Liberty before you take sides my friends.

What's quite odd is the disconnect one sees now in the Rasmussen Poll:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/americans_closely_divided_over_israel_s_gaza_attack

The polls shows that Republicans do favor the continued bombing by a significant majority but Democrats did not. Glenn Greenwald commented on the situation here:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/02/israel/

What's so odd then is to see the Democratic politicians all embracing such right-wing and war-supporting Republicans to the point where KSTP actually misidentified Mark Dayton as John Kline! The hugs all around at the Israel first rally belie pre-election promises of ending war(s) and putting human needs before the war profiteers' interests.

GROUP THINK is apparently at work among the politicians but hasn't yet affected us lowly thinking people/voters.

So I just read that the Israeli Central Elections Committe has just banned Arab political parties. How many of last night's attendees are going to condemn this action? The U.S. gives its unflagging support to Israel because they are a "democracy?" What a joke.

Critics of Israel will stop making Nazi comparisons when the IDF stops acting like the Gestapo. This is nothing to be ashamed of. Most individuals who abuse children were themselves abused when they were children. But the chain of abuse never stops until you stand up and say, "enough -- I don't want to be like this anymore."

Had Germany not built the ovens, how would their camps have differed from what we find in Gaza?

Because Israel was founded by people who were egregiously abused, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Israel behaves towards Arabs as the Nazis behaved towards Jews. No, there are no exact parallels here, but any objective observer would find it hard to congratulate Israel on working so hard to perpetuate this strife.

The confluence between the nutsy Ron Paul wing of the right and the standard moonbatty left is saddening; about the only thing that they seem to have in common is the poorly disguised antisemitism.

Sigh.

Now come the Nazi comparisons here for Israel. Come on people. Babies die in any war, no matter who it is at war. Why do you think they say; "war is hell"? Sheesh; we had our own babies die in wars here. And I agree with the other poster that you really are out of line now trying to compare or equate Israel with Nazi Germany in pattern and tactic. Israel has done nothing but tolerate the belligerence of Hamas for some time and now has no more time for them. Some of those "youth" in Gaza have pro-Hamas teaching and are being raised up specifically to further the hate, and to try and annihilate Israel. It is ugly. No doubt about it, but I support Israel on this. It will end soon, but only after Hamas' has had its knees broken out from under it. That's a cancer I'm sure none of you want to see migrate here.

This is the internet, editors... can't you post the entire unedited video of this event?

If bandwidth is your concern, then make it into a bit torrent and you won't have to worry about that.

I would like to see everything that everybody had to say.

Is it anti-semitism or the plain ole truth. Of course when questioned about Israeli actions like the Land Grab, the pro-semitic baiters come out of the woodwork. Why next Joel, will accuse the rest of us as Holocaust deniers and the rest.

Oh yeah, Israel has nothing but tolerate Gaza rockets. Does that nothing include a blockade of food and medicine, more land expropriations ? Thats a whole lot of nothings.

I'm not surprised at Republican politicians pretending there is only one side to this conflict, but I'm disappointed by the DFLers. I appreciate that Franken referred to a two-state solution and humanitarian aid, but he still lent his presence to a jingoistic pro-war event. The Americans who act like one side is entirely right just enable to people on each side who won't negotiate. Why does the Israeli government keep listening to American neocons? They haven't steered them right yet, and the Israelis keep making the same mistakes over and over. If they were smart, they would cut a deal with Fatah for a Palestinian state. When Fatah is able to deliver, that will kill off Hamas. Just killing lots of people won't work.

I pray thanks to the God of Abraham, Jacob and the followers of Jesus and of Muhammed for the presence in our Congressional delegation of Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum. The behavior of other Minnesota political leaders - and, indeed, of virtually the entire U.S. House of Representatives, excepting Ellison and McCollum - is embarrassing.

I am also grateful for my friend, Lisa Albrecht, whose refreshing message appeared in Saturday's MinnPost.

How can we not be disturbed by the profound, lingering (if often subconscious) guilt from the anti-Semitism that prevailed in the USA as elsewhere until after the 1940s Holocaust, and its destructive impact on U.S. foreign policy and global human relations?

"Is it anti-semitism or the plain ole truth." The former.

As to accusations about being Holocaust deniers, I dunno; I guess that'd depend on whether or not you are. Are you?

I'm kind of curious about these "land appropriations" in Gaza that you seem to find in your world; in this one, Israel withdrew from Gaza (foolishly, in my opinion) totally in 2005, and can hardly "blockade" Gaza, as the Egyptian border is totally controlled by -- wait for it -- the Egyptians, who are perfectly free to give the Gazans whatever charity they care to.

Considering church basements and state policy:

If a meeting of political intent is held within a religious institution and is duly covered by the media for public consumption, how should such an alliance be viewed?

When issues involved have representative signifigance on a greater stage: offering statements that define both national and global policy, and the issue may decide the fate of one or some or many - all uniquely human, what can be learned here...what can be justly assumed?

where is the coverage of the 200+ people who demonstrated outside the JCC??????? one sentence does not cut it and demonstrates the bias of the article. is franken/coleman handshake more important than people who disagree w/ israeli gov't policy????? you are not better than the strib, folks. c'mon. lisa albrecht

Land Appropriations - Oh wait, Israel under International law is the controlling authority in Gaza. Ah, but lets blame it all on Egypt. Why not ? Hand over Gaza to our favorite American sponsored butcher in Egypt and then say "look there is Palestine"

The rope-a-dope by Israel and its apologists on their land scam never ends.

At some point we're going to have to realize that all the rhetoric and recriminations coming from both sides is counter-productive. It's time we put the past behind us and look toward a balanced and responsible solution for peace. Those that can't reconcile themselves should be ignored and cast aside for the sake of everyone.

Interestingly enough, "International Law" is not something that Hamas sympathizers not only get to turn on and off when they feel like it, but wave as some sort of vague flag.

As to the notion that it's horrible for Gaza to be an Egyptian possession, that's one of those notions that seems to have its own set of on and off lights -- you know: like the necessity of an Arab Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan, something that was clearly off the table when it was in Arab hands, but became (somehow or another; magic must have been involved), after the '67 war, when Hussein of Jordan foolishly decided to side with the Egyptians, and lost it.

I think a balanced approach is a bit much to ask; me, I think an unbalanced one, where 76% of the Palestine Mandate were to be given over the the Arabs of the region, would be just fine.

Heck, we could even call the state "Jordan," just like they do now.

Mr. Schoen: In addition to representatives Ellison and McCollum, 20 others voted "present" rather than approve Israel's actions toward Gaza and 5 voted "no" (Kucinich, Moore, Paul, Rahall and Waters). Kudos to them all.

I, as do others above, find it disheartening that the Congress so completely buys into the AIPAC propaganda portraying Israel as a helpless (!!!) victim. The best, truly best, support we could give Israel is to stop our military support and help them to learn that Arab rhetoric about Israel's right (or not) to exist is JUST WORDS. Killing thousands of people and destroying infrastructure over words is not going to help anyone, least of all Israel.

Fraulein Vetsch is, of course, almost right; were the Arab rhetoric simply a matter of words, it wouldn't be important. When the words are followed by, say, missiles, though, it's hard to simply wave them away, although the Hamas terrorist (but I repeat myself) apologists do try to.