Israel are going to start WWIII

The Russians are not storming around Ukraine, they have been bogged down with years.

Why would we think Irans military are more competent than Russias. They have a lot of missiles but in an actual war loads of them would be blown up on the ground in the first few days plus any capacity to replace them.

 He interesting to see if any posters would shift their opinion on israels actions if they do kill an Irish soldier

I severely doubt it.

If over 11,000 children slaughtered isn't going to shift an opinion I doubt anything will.

I am not sure why people are giving such a whiff of Wunderwaffe to Iran's missiles.

Yes they have them. Yes they could do damage. Yes Israel can't shoot down 100% of them.

But ballistic missiles won't win a war alone, and that's not even getting into the fact that Israel would target launch sites as a priority, has a massively superior air force and defense systems, Iran doesn't have the capacity to protect and sustain its facilities/production, etc.

Russia's been firing ballistic missiles against Ukraine since 2022, Ukraine's military is nowhere near as powerful/technologically capable as Israel's, and Ukraine isn't even able to strike back either.

Around 30 missiles hit one air base in the Iranian attack and did absolutely minimal damage. The idea that they are some sort of war-winning weapon in isolation is ridiculous.

It is in neither Iran or Israel's interests for a bigger war to break out, but the cards would be heavily in Israel's favor. Neither side is going to "win" a long range war arguably but Israel can most certainly cause far more damage.

Israel doesn't need "magical" F35s by the way. It has a modern and very well equipped air force. Iran's is a flying museum with a handful of planes from decades ago.

And for people who seem to think that air power doesn't matter, look what has happened Russia in Ukraine after being unable to gain air superiority. Look at what happened the Iraqi army in both Gulf Wars due to total air superiority.

I'm frankly amazed at the level of faith people on Boards.ie have in the Iranian military. It genuinely defies logic. I doubt even the Iranian people themselves buy into the hype as much as some posters here.

100% noticed this bias but I didn't want to make the genocide about religion because I think all religions are complete nonsense and cause nothing but hate. However it would appear criticising Israel's disproportionate actions is anti-Semitic whereas Israel's murderous genocide campaign is not anti-Islam. It just war. Am I doing this right?

Oft vaunted neutrality of ours?

Jean-Pierre Lacroix is in charge of UN peace keeping missions and as you can guess by the name he ain't Irish and he ain't from a neutral country.

You posting on here as if Irish UN peace keepers are some sort of Hezbollah sympathising armed force is in keeping with the smearing attitude you display when you post about Irish politics and society.

I'm a bit confused by this. You say yourself that she's targeted for being Israeli, which I can imagine does happen these days. So it's not about her religion? So it's not anti semitism?

Wait - so if someone is Israeli - as opposed to Jewish - it's fine to blame her is it? Is this a general rule? Can we blame all English people for Bloody Sunday now? And they can presumably blame us for Canary Wharf and the Warrington bombing?

But in any case, there are Irish people who are of the Jewish faith who are equally subject to harassment in Ireland because of the current conflict. Given that they don't vote in Israel, would you agree that that is antisemitism?

What are you waffling on about. I asked a straightforward question.

I'm not blaming them (the UN force) for the situation, but any articles I have read about it recently do say a part of the mission is to help ensure area is kept free of military forces other than the Lebanese army (their country) and the peacekeeping force itself.

See wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Interim_Force_in_Lebanon

and

https://unifil.unmissions.org/unifil-mandate

which seem to confirm what I thought (below 2 points…)

"Accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the South, including along the Blue Line, as Israel withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon."

"Coordinate its activities referred to in the preceding paragraph (above) with the Government of Lebanon and the Government of Israel."

…

"Assist the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in taking steps towards the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL deployed in this area."

From what I have read on the situation there, Hezbollah defacto has control over the area, and far from being stood down and replaced by Lebanese military as per the UN resolution it is active and armed to the teeth.

Anyway to get back onto main point of your posts about it (role of UN peacekeepers there), what I wonder in practice what can be done now that war has broken out (other than the UN forces hunkering down)? Like, what would you want to see the UN soldiers on the ground do about it (to protect civilians)?

I didn't make the original point, so I can't answer that question - I'll let that poster do that.

I was just struck by the fact that you seem to think that it would be acceptable to blame an Israeli person, rather than a Jewish Irish person, for the IDF's actions in Gaza, and I wondered whether you applied that logic closer to home.

I mean, if that's not why you asked whether the person referred to was Israeli, what exactly was your point?

I do find it … interesting how a country that in living memory elected Oliver J. Flanagan to the Dail, just happens now to be insanely preoccupied with the worlds only Jewish state. Which just happens to be a refuge for nearly half of the Jewish people, a country smaller than Albania or Djibouti, and which is constantly under attack - in this era by Iran and its axis of nasties.

It does make one wonder if certain traditional attitudes to Jews from recent history have simply morphed to be about "Israel"

What?

My friend, I'm responding to a post that thinks by virtue of the 30 or so F-35 wunderwaffen all of Iran will turn into a burning sea. I don't think there is anything magical about Irans ballistic missiles. But they have over 3,000 of them. Plus thousands more drones. Quantity has a quality of its own.

And the fighting is not going to be army to army. Or airforce to airforce. Or navy to navy. It's going to be Iran's drones and missiles versus israel's air defences, targeting israeli air bases that these F35s fly from. And israels very small airforce vs Iranian air defences striking civilian targets. Sure, israel will get in some hits. But Iran can take those hits and keep fighting until it wins.

Thats why we hear all these propaganda stories about the Iranians rising up and putting a pro-israeli government in power. Its literally the only way israel could win a long war.

And any negativity towards Hamas has resulted in posters being labeled enthusiasts for child killing, genocide-enablers and islamophobes, so, you know…

Meanwhile, in real life, the people getting hassled in Ireland are Jews. Not Muslims, and still less Irish people with opinions about Gaza or Israel. And that is anti semitism.