What's Wrong With This?

This is an article concerning Israel's readiness to bomb Iran's nuclear sites. I maintain that Israel has the right to defend itself. I said as much (and rather snarkily, too) on a particular board:

What do you expect? Someone has threatened to wipe their country off the
map. It's not like Iran is a beacon of enlightenment or anything. If you're
going to criticise Israel for wanting to defend itself, be so good as to take
every measure to make sure Japan doesn't re-arm. We don't want them to retaliate after an attack by Chinese-backed North Korea, do we?

This is what I got back in reply (I will withhold the name but not the comments, in red, spelling mistakes, irregularities and outright errors in all):

That quote was misinterpretted actually. It was directed, as far as I
know, at Zionism, not Jews. Iran isn't a beacon of enlightenment, but they don't
deserve to be randomly attacked...again. Israel did this before.

Defend itself from civilian nuclear reactors? Israel has a military
beyond most other countries. Iran doesn't even have a big military (it is just
defensive). Israel has invaded other countries several times recently. No one
has moved against them.

Zionism isn't nonsense. It is how they justify taking land from other people
and kill those people. Israel (the land it now is) wasn't empty. It was full of
people who grew up there for generations. They were forcibly removed, killed,
raped and attacked by the formation of the state of Israel. This was rather
recently. People are still alive who used to live there but were forced out of
their homes. Also, they continue to do it and even some Israelis are against it.
I'm not defending the state policies of Iran, but the lives of Iraninians who do
not deserve to have Israeli flown, American made (or other countries) war planes
come down and destroy their property and lives. That is all.

When I asked how Iran compares to Israel, this is what I got in return:

Quote from: OKinyobe

It's simple: show me where in the Islamic world Christians can freely go to
Mass and celebrate Christmas without the need for soldiers to protect churches.
That's all you have to do. I'm not going to ask you why anyone should be allowed
to protect themselves because I think the entire idea of security is just plain
wrong to you. Show me how Iran is a much better land-mass than Israel. Show me the freedoms, the trustworthy leadership and a basic infrastructure that allows its citizens to develop as a society. I know that happens in Israel. Can you say
the same for Iran? Can you say the same for the "poor" Palestinians who
encourage their children to blow themselves up?

Iran. The Iranian government protects Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians
and Jews. They do have an unfortunate anti Bahá'í policy though which does
result in some violations of human rights.

That happens in Israel for Jews. Look at Israeli treatment of non Jews,
especially Christians. It isn't as great as you think. You also have a lopsided
view of the Palestinians. Ever consider they attack, which is a small minority
of them, because of what Israel does to them? They (Israel) took their homes,
their freedom and attacks them still.

Israel encourages people to take the land of non Jews. Israel will
allow anyone who can remotely claim to be Jewish to enter the country and settle
down.

Until the state of Israel recognised the rights of all and is
impartial, there will never be peace until one side is completely destroyed. So
far, Israel has taken every oppurtunity to kill as many Palestinians as it can.
As long as a single person who is Palestinian who will attack Israel, Israel
will use that person as an excuse to conduct large scale destructive military
operations. Why use WP bombs to attack a single person in a crowded city? They
say Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields, but Israel has a large sheet of
targets including hospitals, refugees, and even a UN warehouse full of food!
Israel has a highly skilled army. Its special forces are superb. They don't need
to be using bombers to kill individuals in crowded neighbourhoods.

But all of this has nothing to do with Iran. Iran has Palestinian
refugees. Iran has not a military that is good for offensive (barely defensive).
Iran criticises Israel for its treatment of Palestinians and calls its policies
"racist. It doesn't launch air raids on their civilian nuclear reactors.

Question: did I miss something? Am I taking crazy pills? Israel, despite its insistence on a Jewish state, has proven it gives more freedoms to those living in it than any Islamic state, including Iran. Did something occur and I missed it?

One more thing: Tomas van Houtryve, a documentary photographer, captured a few yet very vivid scenes from North Korea in a series he called: The Land of No Smiles. His honest photographic expedition had a detractor:

That's a terrible "photo essay". One can draw no conclusions about anything
about that, other than he's a lousy photographer (and yes, I understand the
limitations...)

Most of those pictures can be duplicated in any large metropolitan city -
Toronto, Hamilton especially - pick your time, place, subject. If you look for
crap, you'll find crap. The girl with the flowers is a standard "verite"
setpiece, and one of the oldest cliche shots in photojournalism.

Well, having lived in South Korea, I can attest that nothing Mr. van Houtryve captured reflected the well-fed and vivacious natures of a free and consumerist nation.

I get so stunned when I come across people who would sooner shut their eyes than just accept that what goes on around them is real. Is it pride that prevents them from accepting the truth? Is it insanity? Is it ignorance?

I have no clue.