For some reason, only the intro to my last post made it to the site.  (Was it too "controversial" or was it the lengthy block quotes from the NYT?)  I'll try again.  

A NYT front page article details the extraordinarily vile hate speech and incitement against Israel and Jews being pumped out by official agents of Hamas in Gaza.  Eric Alterman suggests the piece is missing the “context of what is being done by the Israelis to inspire much of this hatred,” i.e., settlement expansion, roadblocks (intended, one should add, to block the suicide bombings that are the logical conclusion of the incitements), and the general misery of life in the territories.  While those are correctly seen as obstacles to peace, they cannot in any way explain or justify the comparison of jews to pigs, the glorification of martyrdom and slaughter of innocents, the insistence on the extermination of Israel.  The prevalence of similar propaganda in the state-run Arab media and Hezbollah, which are outside the territories, renders absurd any effort to “contextualize” what should properly be seen as incitement to genocide.  In view of this, is it not reasonable to insist that Hamas recognize Israel’s right to exist as a precondition to talks?       

In order to provide a respite from all the Hillary vs. Obama sniping, I'd like to bring up a topic sure to promote unity and harmony: the Middle East.