I make a habit of reading Mr. Lendman's posts to find out what the liberal left is thinking about affairs in the Middle East. And I try to keep an open mind about the facts in a given situation, but the current post entitled Naked Israeli Aggression escapes reason. While I firmly believe the secular Israeli government suffers from many of the same delusions that the U.S. government does about matters of truth, I must wonder how any rational person would react to someone raining missiles on a civilian populace. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate that one man's terrorist is another man's patriot, but if you keep poking a dog with a sharp stick it will bite you. Hamas is their own worst enemy and they are about to get their proverbial ass whipped - again. Unfortunately it is the innocent who suffer in war, not the hard-hearted, bone-headed politicians.  And the oil rich potentates of the surrounding region will once more cry about the deplorabe situation in the Gaza - and do nothing to help the suffering of their own people.  The truth is Israel has a right to exist and to defend herself just like any other sovereign nation on the planet. Those who believe she is an occupier and should be destroyed, are living a fantasy, a very dangerous one.