Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/UN-Israels-foreign-direct-investment-dropped-46-percent-in-2014-407152

The level of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Israel dropped a dramatic 46% between 2013 and 2014, according to the 25th World Investment Report, released Wednesday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The drop from $11.8b to $6.4b brought Israel to its lowest level of FDI since 2010. The 46% decrease was significantly larger than the general 16% drop in global FDI that year, and the 28% drop in FDI to developing countries.

Globally, the UN report said, the decline in FDI came from the "fragility of the global economy, policy uncertainty for investors and elevated geopolitical risks."

FDI is considered a crucial element for increasing productivity and output. Israel's productivity is notoriously low, and is often cited as a factor behind high levels of poverty and even inequality.

"With the increase in the labor force participation rate likely to level off and unemployment already at record lows, future employment growth will likely slow to the rate of working age population—some 1½ percent," the International Monetary Fund wrote in its annual article IV consultation Wednesday. "If productivity does not pick up, GDP growth will slow accordingly."

THE HAGUE - The Palestinian Authority made its first submission of evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court on Thursday, trying to speed up an ICC inquiry into abuses committed during last year's Gaza conflict.

The move may leave Israel in a quandary since it must decide whether to cooperate with the ICC investigation or find itself isolated as one of a very few countries that have declined to work with its prosecutors.

Israel denies allegations of war crimes by its forces during the 2014 Gaza war and accuses Islamist terrorists who control the Gaza Strip of atrocities in firing thousands of rockets at Israeli population centers.

Standing outside the ICC after meeting the court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said he had submitted dossiers on the Gaza conflict, Israeli settlements on land where Palestinians seek a state, and treatment of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

"Palestine is a test for the credibility of international mechanisms ... a test the world cannot afford to fail. Palestine has decided to seek justice, not vengeance," Maliki said.

A cease-fire in August ended 50 days of fighting between Hamas in Gaza and Israel in which health officials said more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.

I can't believe you lot constantly harping on about Israel and not a word against ISIL and the rest of the cowardly Islamic terrorists.

What happened yesterday in Tunisia is what Israel faces on a daily basis , I just hope we react in the same way that they do !

And luckily for me my daughter flew home from Tunisia on Wednesday , other parents won't have been as lucky.

ISIL has nothing to with Israel. Israel's problems with Gaza and Palestinians is a domestic issue and caused by Israel's behaviour. Israel will continue to have their problems long after ISIL have been defeated. Hamas and the Palestinians in general are all opposed to ISIL. The Palestinians fight Israel due to their appartied behaviour and their constant land stealing. They are conducting a resistance to Israel. They want their land back. The ISIL situation may have a resolution even if it takes ten years. The problems that Israel has will last for many generations to come unless their attitude changes. This thread does not discuss ISIL, because the subject is really Israel and Gaza.

Tunisia is not a country that I would visit. That applies to Algeria as well. It has been clear for the last two years or more that they are unstable and you should expect further attrocities. The problem is compounded by Tunisia having a weak border with Lybia. Morocco is probably the only north African country that is fairly safe at present.

I know an Algerian businessman living in London who was asked to visit Tunisia last year for a potentially lucrative deal. He was offered armed guards while he was there, but he still declined as he thought it too dangerous to do ongoing business there.

Errr yes Haystack I know ISIL has sod all to do with Israel but the comparison I made (though maybe not clear enough) was that Israel lives with this kind of threat day in day out from Palestinian terrorists and has done for years.

If we bomb the feck out of ISIL next week are you going to condemn our government and defend ISIL as you defend Palestinian terrorists ?

Cowards both of them , they both attack defenceless people then cry foul if their families suffer in the fallout.

I agree with Israeli retaliation and hope we do the same. Any collateral damage is tough shit after what happened Friday.

The difference is that the Palestinians are fighting to get stolen land back. Israel is just going to have to put up with attacks on them for generations to come. Israel should never have existed. The similarity is between Israel and ISIL.

ISIL are a collection of crazies that need stopping.

The similarity is between Israel and ISIL

You need psychiatric help Greg. Seriously.

G

Both are ideology based land grabbers

The United Nations Human Rights Council decided on Friday to adopt a resolution condemning Israel over the UN report into the Operation Protective Edge in Gaza.

Out of 47 nations only the US voted in favour of Israel. Israel has diminishing support in the world.

All European Union member states, including Britain, France and Germany, voted in favor in favour of the resolution.

From CIA NEWS TODAY

Under European Commission’s 2013 guidelines member states cannot lend to Israeli entities operating in Palestinian territories

JERUSALEM — THE European Union (EU) agreed this week to push ahead with labelling Israeli goods made in settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move that has alarmed the Israeli government; but now there are proposals to go much further, including targeting banks in Israel.

In a paper to be published next Wednesday, the European Council on Foreign Relations, whose proposals frequently inform EU policy making, argues that the EU is in breach of its own laws and must move much more firmly to distinguish its dealings with Israel from Israel’s activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which it has occupied since 1967.

European diplomats have said that labelling goods is only the first in a series of steps the EU could take against Israel over its settlements policy, one that in financial terms is expected to have a relatively minor effect on the country’s economy.

However, the new proposals would go much deeper and further, reaching into banking, loans and mortgages, qualifications earned in settlement institutions and the tax-exempt status of European charities that deal with Israeli settlements. "Under its own regulations and principles, Europe cannot legally escape from its duty to differentiate between Israel and its activities in the occupied Palestinian territories," says the report, titled EU Differentiation and Israeli Settlements.

The authors argue that by pushing much further to separate the EU’s dealings with Israel from the settlements, it will force Israel to decide what sort of relationship it wants with Europe and, in turn, encourage it to return to talks with the Palestinians on a two-state solution to the conflict.

The most significant proposal is on banking, where Israeli institutions have daily dealings with major European banks, while also providing loans and financing to Israeli businesses and individuals based in the settlements.

Under European Commission guidelines from 2013, EU and member state-funded lending cannot be provided to Israeli entities operating in the Palestinian territories.

With the British government holding a controlling stake in some banks following the financial crisis, that would in theory prevent those banks providing financing to Israeli counterparts that have dealings in the settlements.

"Do day-to-day dealings between European and Israeli banks comply with the EU requirement not to provide material support to the occupation?" the report asks, saying it is an issue that EU member states have yet to resolve.

The issue extends into loans and mortgages. An Israeli with dual European citizenship should, in theory, not be able to use a settlement property as collateral for a European loan since Israeli-issued property deeds are not recognised. Another area in which the EU may be in violation of its own rules relates to European charities that are tax exempt while using funds to support activities in the settlements, which the EU regards as illegal under international law.

And the report questions whether Europe should accept qualifications from academic, medical and other Israeli institutions based in the West Bank given that it does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territory.

Likewise, there is a question mark over whether the EU should be dealing with Israeli institutions — such as the ministry of justice and the national police headquarters — which are based in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli government has described Europe’s steps on labelling as discriminatory and wrong-headed, suggesting that they are akin to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which Israel regards as anti-Semitic. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised his concerns about labelling in a meeting with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, in May. She raised the issue of the EU further differentiating its dealing with Israel.

Mattia Toaldo, one of the authors of the European Council on Foreign Relations paper, said the EU needed to explain more clearly the legal obligation the EU faces when it comes to differentiation, making a sharp distinction with the BDS campaign.

And the ultimate aim, Mr Toaldo said, should be to urge Israel towards a two-state solution.

"Differentiation is a legal prerequisite for the EU in order to avoid violating its own laws," he said.

"You have to do it legally and by the book, but it is also beneficial to the peace process because it changes the calculations by the Israelis."

Reuters

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.679129

Palestinians Are Fighting for Their Lives; Israel Is Fighting for the Occupation

That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time.

Hay

You really are so naive as to buy into this horseshit?

A series of unprovoked suicide attacks mainly on unarmed israeli civilians, including mothers, children, and babies carried out by crazed radicalised islamists?

They're not fighting for their lives, they're fighting for their Mullahs and their prophet. They're fighting for their deaths and their martyrdoms.

That article was from an Israeli newspaper.

Many Israelis have the view that the occupation of Palestine and settlement building is the cause of the violence. Don't forget the violence by settlers inflicted on unarmed Palestinians on a daily basis that is apart from Palestinians killed by settlers. Don't forget the Palestinians shot by Israeli soldiers jus for approaching the Gaza fence too closely. Don't forget the shooting of Gaza fishermen shot by soldiers while fishing offshore. Don't forget the shoot to kill policy of Israel soldiers in demonstrations and Gaza which are fully documented by ex Israeli soldiers. Don't forget the illegal occupation of Palestine and constant stealing of their land. And who are the settlers instructed to harass and kill Palestinians but the extremest Rabbis while the government and soldiers look the other way.

Oh, so it's not fundamentalist Islamists looking for virgins then?

As somebody posted earlier.

What goes round, comes round!

Just fundamentalist Zionists looking to steal land.

Hays - post 6851: Just fundamentalist Zionists looking to steal land.

Fundamentalist Zionists? That's not a term I'm familiar with.

Islamic fundamentalists take their fundamentals from the q'uran. Christian fundamentalists take their fundamentals from the holy bible. Where do you suggest fundamentalist Zionists take their fundamentals from?

There are huge numbers of references to fundamental Zionists. Here is one from the Guardian

Both Palestinians and Jews are to blame, but the Israelis are not helping the cause with their constant building on occupied land while thumbing their nose at the international community and countless UN resolutions. Being the ones that could get the peace process rolling again, they are hijacked by their fundamental Zionists who believe that GOD has given the Jewish people that land, and to no-one else.

With the recent Gaza blockade the Jews have resorted to tactics worthy of the worst kind, persecuting the poor and helpless Palestinians just like they were persecuted in the past.

It's an awful shame and this from the people of the bible. I am disgusted by the Zionist fundamentalists amongst them that are at the root of this evil (these guys look and act so much like those Iranian ayatollahs) It's almost as if these fundamentalists want to make the Palestinians pay for what they the Jews had endured when they were persecuted in Europe as some sort of vengeance, Those fundamentalist Zionists are all European (Russian etc.) in nature, not like the more affable Arab Jews who have learned to get along with their Arab cousins.

Just look at the patent racism of Israelis. An Eritrean asylum seeker was shot and then lynched by an Israeli mob because of his appearance. The Israelis were shouting "death to Arabs" while they beat him to death.

'As the young man lay on the floor, a mob cursed him, kicked him and hit him with objects. Security camera video showed Zerhom in a pool of blood as he was rammed with a bench and kicked in the head by passers-by, while an Israeli officer and a few bystanders tried to protect him. Zerhom later died at a hospital.'