Discuss Tim Rutten's Jan. 14 Op-Ed column.

Let's see if you open all the gates for the Palestinians so they can do whatever they want, then how do we stop the suicide bombers, remember that is why the Israeli's restricted access in the first place. You idiots who think the Israelis hate the Palestinians and are just trying to punish them are out of your so called minds. Or you are just anti-Jewish and that clouds your thinking altogether. Bravo to the mayor.

vegasguy10 @ 1:24 PM PST, Jan 16, 2009

if mr. Villaraigosa's act was really matter of conscience he should support the Palestinian not Isreal the real victim in middle east but this article and mr.Tim tried to foul american people again and again by claiming that Isreal suffer from Palestinians terrorism and that is most ridiculous idea.Isreal is terrorist state build on stealing Palestinians'land destroing thier life killing them and after that called them terrorists.mr.Villaraigosa doesn't care about injustice he just want to buy Jewish votes

jav @ 12:02 AM PST, Jan 16, 2009

Andre from Sacto: Where people have disputes over land the CIVILZED, MORAL thing to do is NEGOTIATE-- not commit murder and engage in terrorism. If you don't understand that, I won't waste more of my time addressing your points. BTW, Israel's army wouldn't be in Gaza at all if Hamas didn't attack Israel. Hamas wants Israel to kill its people (other than its leaders, who hide) so it can score propaganda points. When Palestinians terrorists accidentally kill Israeli arabs, they say, "Well, they should be happy; they're "martyrs" now.

Martin K @ 1:37 PM PST, Jan 15, 2009

I'm sorry but this tired analogy to Mexico is utterly ridiculous. You could make the analogy if there was no state of Mexico, the U.S. controlled all sea access to Mexico, controlled all of Mexican airspace, regularly cut off supplies of food, medicine and fuel to Mexico, deny Mexicans the freedom to travel outside of Mexico or to other parts of Mexico itself, regularly assassinated Mexicans in Mexico, regularly bombed Mexico, held thousands of Mexicans in U.S. jails, had facilitated hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens moving into Mexico and stealing land. If all that were true then you could argue it was a somewhat similar situation.

Javier @ 12:30 PM PST, Jan 15, 2009

Thank you Tim Ruten for your column. I am proud of your support for Villaraigosa's position. If rockets were landing in San Diego, supported by the Mexican government, there's no question that the US would have a powerful and unpleasant response. All moderates, on both sides, support a 2 state solution. Hamas' goal is to destroy Israel and murder all Jews in and out of Israel and establish a caliphate. That's what they have said in numerous forums and interviews.

JKLK @ 11:57 AM PST, Jan 15, 2009

From an article by an Israeli writer Uri Avnery "There can be no life in Gaza without a steady flow of supplies.But the crossings were not opened, except for a few hours now and again.The blockade on land, on sea and in the air against a million and a half human beings is an act of war, as much as any dropping of bombs or launching of rockets.It paralyzes life in the Gaza Strip: eliminating most sources of employment, pushing hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation, stopping most hospitals from functioning, disrupting the supply of electricity and water."

Fighter of no War, Dweller of Nowhere @ 11:40 AM PST, Jan 15, 2009

As a Latino I am embarrassed by our Mayor bowing to powerful Jewish groups. It isn't a question of even handedness, it is a question of not taking sides in a conflict on the other side of the world and putting LA on the terrorist radar.

Miguel @ 6:01 AM PST, Jan 15, 2009

Jeeze, my good opinion of Tim Rutten has really taken a hit with this article; I used to think that he was far too intelligent to buy these shopworn memes of the hardcore Zionist right, such as the analogy of Mexican terrorists lobbing explosives into California. We don't maintain 600 checkpoints in Mexico and give the power of life and death to young GIs over the indigenous Mexican population, it doesn't maintain gulags with scores of thousands of Mexicans arrested without charges for "security reasons" it doesn't blockade Mexico and prevent the essentials of life from being delivered to a population of 1 1/2 million people there.

JA @ 11:17 PM PST, Jan 14, 2009

i am outraged that the mayor would speak out on this issue. i am no friend of islam (or any religious lunatics) but i certainly do NOT want my mayor weighing in in favour of the israeli massacre which has killed 300 innocent children. shame on him and shame on america for backing this horrific war crime!

jennifer @ 10:13 PM PST, Jan 14, 2009

Hamas has been killing people in Israel for years. They killed at least five American tourists along with Israelis and Palestinians. They killed over one hundred Palestinians in Gaza when they took over by force. That anyone would support Hamas' using children as shields and putting innocents in harm's way every day, their killing wedding participants who play music at their celebration and that train children to be suicide bombers is beyond belief. Hamas' charter calls for Israel's destruction and no negotiations. Blaming Israel the deaths in Gaza is akin to blaming the allies for the deaths in Germany.

CALIFORNIAMARTY @ 7:36 PM PST, Jan 14, 2009

Next