Nikon Addict said:

From what I understand Hamas rise to power was the result of the corruption that existed under Yasser Arafat. The Palestinians were given a lot of money in order to help them develop their so called state/nation. Instead of helping his people Arafat and others lived large at the expense of their people. The Palestinians elected Hamas in response to the corruption and here we find ourselves today.

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Nikon Addict said:

I've come across quite a bit of information claiming Saudi Arabia supports terrorism. They're an extremely oppressive society yet they remain one of our strongest allies. I'm not trying to change the subject, I'm just trying to quickly point this out. I don't get it...

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Nikon Addict said:

From what I understand Hamas rise to power was the result of the corruption that existed under Yasser Arafat.  Instead of helping his people Arafat and others lived large at the expense of their people.

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Quote:

Regardless of one’s views on the hyper-polarized subject, one unfortunate detail often goes unacknowledged: Israel is directly responsible for the growth of Hamas.

Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who served as Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s, told Pulitzer prize-winner and former New York Times journalist David Shipler that he had helped finance the Islamic movement in Palestine in an attempt to counterbalance the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and the communist movement.

“That early funding helped nourish the seeds of Hamas and other Muslim movements"

Avner Cohen, who worked as a religious affairs official in Gaza for twenty years, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009 that “Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation."  Instead of trying to curb Gaza’s Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah.

The Israeli government’s contribution to Hamas’ growth is now admitted and is markedly similar to the U.S.’ role in birthing another terror group: al-Qaeda. In the 1980s, around the same time Israel was lending support to Hamas to shift the region’s political balance in its favor, the CIA was offering substantial support to the militant mujahideen in Afghanistan. Though the goal was to undermine the Soviet Union’s power in the country, the mujahideen eventually evolved into al-Qaeda, which, like Hamas, remains a violent faction that the U.S. continues to cite as a justification for ongoing military operations.

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Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

Democracy Now! is a great program. 

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I love Amy... I applied for an internship for her program about three weeks ago. I haven't heard anything yet... Wish me luck!

Nikon Addict said:

In general, I believe the world generally "tolerates" Israels actions because of U.S. support of Israel. This support has been long standing, dating back to the United Nations land split. Today, we have a bunch of lunatic evangelicals who directly influence the President... Each Wednesday a group of them "hands on pray" over Trump in the oval office... These same sick individuals consider the recognition of Jerusalem as an important step in fulfilling scripture. There are a bunch of them... My favorite is Paula White... She's Trump's "God Whisperer"... She had an adulterous affair with the infamous Benny Hinn, another prosperity gospel preacher who heals people of all sorts of illnesses by touching their foreheads. Anyway, after the affair was disclosed Paula White told her parish "God has forgiven me" instead of asking her parish for forgiveness. She also told her parish that God told her to tell them they needed to give the church one month's salary. There's so much more on White but I just wanted to give you some idea who is "spiritually" advising our President. Then there's Robert Jeffress... He's on Fox quite often. He said now that Jerusalem has been recognized the next step is to destroy a particular Muslim Mosque located on a particular mountain and erect a Jewish church/temple in it's place. Again, this is important in order to speed up the second coming of Christ. At least according to him... This is what we're dealing with here. Loony tunes hell bent on fulfilling scripture regardless of who it might hurt. I'm being serious, this is what they're up to... How can there be peace when whack jobs are plotting to demolish a holy Mosque?

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