Slow blog day, I guess.

Saw this in the Jpost. It is the Egyptian government who is forbidding them to cross the border, not Israel. Walt tries to paint the US and Israel as responsible, but it is usual for Walt to blame Israel for things for which it is not responsible. And for Walt to hold us responsible because we aren't putting pressure on Egypt? To borrow a phrase...now that's chutzpah!

But from Colleen Rowley's blog at HuffPo.

BTW, links work, but have no additional formatting to point them out anymore http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/gaza-freedom-march-disapp_b_405176.html

While I agree with the majority of your expressed opinions, I wonder if you apply the same standard to Israeli invocations of The Holocaust. For every Hedy Epstein, there are probably dozens of Holocaust survivors who strongly disagree with her - how would you respond if their story was published by the MSM?

It's on the BBC actually, or at least it was yesterday.

It's on the front page of google news. A quick search of google news also has dozens of articles including ones from all over the western world including the Christian Science Monitor, the BBC, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Washington Post and the NY Times both have a reuters story on their websites
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/28/AR2009122801266.html

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/28/world/international-uk-egypt-gaza.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gaza%20protest&st=cse

Even a Loisville paper is covering it from a local angle
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091228/NEWS01/912280361/Louisvillians+among+Gaza+supporters+blocked+in+Egypt

"There is also a separate effort to bring a convoy of relief aid to the Gazans, under the auspices of the group Viva Palestina). "

Here is a list of Israeli aid to Gaza in one week alone

Weekly summary of the Gaza crossings: 13-19 Dec 2009
- 553 truckloads (13,587 tons) of humanitarian aid were transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom cargo terminal and the Karni conveyor belt.
- 2,024,628 liters of heavy-duty diesel for the Gaza power station and 604 tons of cooking gas were delivered via the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Nahal Oz fuel depot.
- 298 Gaza residents entered Israel for medical reasons and 135 humanitarian cases crossed via the Erez Crossing.
- 50,000 carnations were exported from the Gaza Strip, and 200 liters of pesticides were imported in preparation for the planting season.

Here are pictures of "starving Gazans under siege" from a newspaper publish in Gaza
http://www.paltoday.com/arabic/News-64161.html

Ah yes, David. I remember the story about the New York Times reporter visiting Stalin's labor camps and writing about the "apple-cheeked workers gamboling in the snow".

Al Jazeera English has had continuous all-day coverage of the Gaza crisis. UNpersonnel and NGO representatives were interviewed, among them Richard Falk. The Goldstone Report detailing Israel's war crimes was discussed in detail. Palestinian women carrying white flags, some of whom where intentionally shot to death by Israeli soldiers, were interviewed. Since Israel refuses to allow the import of building materials int Gaza, many Gazans have had no recourse but to dig caves into the ruins of their homes and are living there. The list of Israel's crimes against humanity is too long to detail here. The Lifeline to Gaza Convoy and Code Pink received repreated coverage thruout the day.

The best part of AlJazeera's reporting was that, except for a couple of Egyptian officials, it felt no need to present the "opposing view". After all, Jack the Ripper was caught in the act.

Except for a couple of

"brutal Israeli assault" colorful!
"Israel and the United States don't want the adverse publicity that the Freedom March might generate" uncited claims representative of two entire governments!
"are perfectly content to let the Gazans suffer" fair!
"the collective punishment that Israel is inflicting on the population of Gaza" balanced!
"...why the blogosphere is so important." humble!

"Have you heard about the 'Gaza Freedom March?' Probably not."

For the same reason one doesn't hear about Uri Avnery in the establishment press. For the same reason one does not hear about the annual peace gathering at the terrorist training center located at Fort Benning, aka School of the Americas.

Professor, did you also know that.
There are no bad followers. There are only bad leaders (like Hamas).?

Did you know that, had Hamas leaders never provoked Israel with 8 years and 10.000 rockets deliberately targeted on Israeli civilians, they could have prevented all those sufferings from happening to their own people, (just compare the lives of the Pals in WB to that in Gaza).

Did you know that, Hamas is a branch of that dreaded Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt?. A fundementalist Islamic organization with sole mission to replace Egypt secular goverment, with an Islamist one.

Did you know that, Hamas's terror mission against Israel had attracted members of Al Qaeda, Hizbollah and the Iranain regime into Gaza to be used as launching pad.to distablize Egypt & Jordan as well?.

Did you know that, Hamas was smuggling weapon and rockets onto Gaza through tunnels dug between Egypt (Through Sinai) and Gaza.?
(why do you think it is Egypt, and not Israel which is building those massive underground walls made of thick steel, 75 feet deep along Egyptian-Gaza border) . Even Ban Ki-Moon support it.
You don't believe me. Here it is.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2050542&Language=en

Did you know that, the reason for Egypt's strong stand against Hamas therefore, has much more to do with protecting its own sovereignty against Islamists, then be a puppy of US or Israel.

If you don't believe me, then by all means, go here and learn about Hamas's real agenda spelled out in its own 1988 charter. Where they tell you in plain English that, killing Jews, is a matter of holy religious obligations, and less to do with piece of land.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

Your right to freedom of expression notwithstanding, it is time for you and your sidekick (Mershheimer) professors. to get real. Travel to both sides of the conflict, and listen to both sides, before you come here with your heart bleeding stories about how to blame Israel for all Arabs ills and failures.

Most important of which, GET YOURSELF FAMILIAR with that famous Arab & Islamic culture, and the manner by which they address these conflicts, first among themselves, and more important with those outside their narrow and rigidly structured cultural & religious confines.

As an Israeli & American, who was born and spent my early childhood among Muslims, I can assure you sir - you have lot more to learn about the intricacy of Islamic religion, cultural, its insidious and pervasive affect on its people.

By ignoring the role of their own leaders in this conflict, you are not doing the Pals any favors.

sincerely

Now a second New York Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/middleeast/30egypt.html

This was covered in The Christian Science Monitor yesterday, actually three times, but here's the post from the region.

Egypt cracks down on foreign protesters heading to Gaza Strip

American and European activists attempting to go to the Gaza Strip from Egypt to protest Israel's actions during last year's Gaza war have been blocked from doing so – and say they have been harshly treated by Egyptian authorities.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2009/1229/Egypt-cracks-down-on-foreign-protesters-heading-to-Gaza-Strip

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd in solidarity with The Gaza Freedom March

Given that the issues surrounding the blockade were fairly simple, and well within the capabilities of HAMAS to comply, why the protestors aren't demanding that HAMAS actually stop their violence, stop their promotion of violence, and accept the previous treaties signed by the Palestian Authority.

One would think that a party responsible for the well being of Gazans would actually try to take this into account.

"Via this formulation and given the relative numbers the obsession with the Holocaust is then far far more anti-Christian for ignoring what was happening to, say, slavic Christians too under Hitler and the Christians under the Bolsheviks."

That argument is utterly incoherent. Focus on the Holocaust is a lesson to precent genocide anywhere not just to Jews. if you go to the Holocaust museum in DC, you can see exhibits on genocide all over the world. Obsession with israel is meant to demonize. Learning about the holocaust is not meant to demonize anyone except those killing hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

"We are constantly told by Israel and its extreme partisans that Israel is on an absolute precipice facing some existential threat. And now lately we are further told that the whole Western world at least is facing that same threat with Israel being on the very front line of same. But when someone takes heed of the alarums and simply comes to different conclusions about its dynamics and suggests that Israel is not blameless, suddenly they are "obsessed" and anti-semites"

That is a straw man argument. No one is saying Israel is blameless, but what Israel haters are doing is saying that Israel is the worst of the worst and that if only Israel left the West Bank, Hamas and all the other Palestinian terrorist organizations would give out flowers to Israelis and sing Kumbayah.

The attempt to single out and demonize Israel has nothing to do with a difference of opinion about a terrorist threat. It is an attempt to single out Israel and hold it to a far different standard than any other country on the planet.

For example, at the exact same time of Operation Cast Lead, the Sri Lankan government killed 20,000 civilans and displaced almost 200,000 more in it's war against the Tamul Tigers. Did the world even bat an eye? Was there a UN investigation? Why has the UN Human Rights council condemned Sri Lanka while it has condemned Israel 15 times and has not specifically condemned a single other country?

Why isn't professor Walt asking why no one is covering the anniversary of the slaughter of 20,000 Sri Lankan civilians?

If you focus soley on demonizing Israel, as Professor Walt does, and you ignore far far worse situations in the rest of the world, then you hold the Jewish nation to a far different standard than any other. And that is the very definition of antisemetism.

"Via this formulation and given the relative numbers the obsession with the Holocaust is then far far more anti-Christian for ignoring what was happening to, say, slavic Christians too under Hitler and the Christians under the Bolsheviks.”

“but only that if you think as ALLANGREEN does that a focus on the Palestinian situation is per se anti-semitic then it would seem you would have to accept that former formulation as well. To paraphrase what you said (in a different context), to do otherwise would be to hold things to "a far different standard," right? "

First let's look at your premise that "the holocaust is to the Bolsheviks " as "Israel is to Darfur."

The Nazis exterminated 13 million people including 6 million Jews in a literal attempt to wipe out an entire people. Historians working after the Soviet Union's dissolution have estimated victim totals ranging from approximately 4 million to nearly 10 million, not including those who died in famines.

Some have also included deaths of 6 to 8 million people in the 1932–1933 famine as victims of Stalin's repression. This categorization is controversial however, as historians differ as to whether the famine was a deliberate part of the campaign of repression against kulaks and others, or simply an unintended consequence of the struggle over forced collectivization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin#Calculating_the_number_of_victims

So the two are comparable in the number of deaths, although Stalin killed as many as he pleased and Hitler would have killed many millions more if he wasn't defeated. Stalin also killed for political power not with the intent to exterminate an entire people. Somewhat analagous to why hate crimes are deemed worse than the same crime for money.

Now let's compare current situations between the Palestinians and Darfur.

First in Pictures.

Here are pictures of Gaza today as reported by Palestine Today, a Gazan newspaper in November
www.paltoday.com/arabic/News-64161.html&hl=en&langpair=auto%7Cen&tbb=1&ie=windows-1256

Here are pictures of Darfur
http://thegirlcanwrite.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/starving_child-sudan21.jpg
http://www.treehugger.com/colin-finlay-starving-child-darfur-photo.JPG
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/images/darfur_starving_girl.jpg

Do the two seem remotely similar as a humanitarian crisis? Just look at those pictures and tell me why people obsess over the way Israel treats the Palestinians vs. how the world could care less about the people of Darfur.

Second in Numbers
Total number of Palestinian Deaths in Last 20 years: 8,000—including 3,400 from 2000 to 2004 after Arafat started the second intifada and suicide bombers were blowing up Israelis every month and 1200 in response to 8,000 rockets from Hamas. These are the numbers by the most left wing Israeli group B’tselem and include both combatants and non combatants. I will not get into the argument of the exact split right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict#Casualties

For comparison Jordan killed 10,000 Palestinians (estimates range from a low 5400 to a high 20,000) in a single month in September 1970.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_in_Jordan#Casualties

Darfur
From 2003 to 2005, 200,000 people minimum were killed--FIFTY TIMES higher per year than Palestinian deaths including Palestinian combatants.
http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-09/nu-ssd091406.html

Bottom line. The genocide in Darfur is so much worse a humanitarian crisis that it is laughable to even talk about them in the same breath let alone completely ignore Darfur as the world basically does.

“Moreover you just utterly failed to even mention my point that Israel can hardly complain about being a focal point of concern when it claims to be in existential danger and indeed that the rest of the Western world is in the same danger and it should be paying mortal attention to its plight from same.”

This makes absolutely no sense. It is not just that Israel is a focal point. The issue is that it is demonized. Are you saying that Israel would not be the focus of demonization if it simply stopped saying it was under an existential threat from Iran? It was being demonized far before that.

You can also hardly blame it for thinking it could be in existential danger when Iran has at the very least called for the end of the state of Israel (and arguably for wiping it off the map). It is also in existential danger just by Iran acquiring the bomb as 25% of Israelis polled would consider leaving Israel if Iran got the bomb. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1087472.html

“And you further utterly failed to address the money issue that I and another poster brought up too: It's *our* bloody money going into this fracas, unlike in the Sudan or Sri Lanka. “

All of your economic arguments are straw men. 95% of the aid that goes to Israel now is military aid that goes right back to US companies creating American jobs. It wouldn’t even need that aid if its neighbors hadn’t invaded it three times. Also, imagine how much it would cost the US if Israel had no military aid, didn’t have an army as a deterant, and was invaded again? To save Kuwait it cost the US $61 billion and other countries $50 billion. That’s more in a single year than the US has given Israel over 30 years.

Not to mention the fact that Israel was the US’s strongest ally in the Middle East for decades during the cold war and was surrounded by Soviet allies like Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

I know Walt favors throwing Israel in the trash bin now that the cold war and Israel’s usefulness is over, but even from a cynical “realist” perspective, what message does that send to any future ally, that we will forget you as soon as your usefulness is over?

“Take away the jihadist versus U.S. issue alone and see—as was the case before 9/11—just how little attention is paid here to Israel and the I/P issue. And that was when we had *still* been depositing huge glops of money on the Israeli's heads.”

You are just late to the bash Israel party. It has been going on long before 911. And 911 had nothing to do with Israel. It had to do with the US troops being in and protecting Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam, as bin Laden explicitly and repeatedly said. It wasn’t until much later that Bin Laden tacked on the Palestinian rhetoric because he knows the world demonizes Israel more than any country on the planet.

Interesting, Walt's blog was heading to the dead-end, until Israelis or pro-Israelis stepped in and brought it back to life. (“you are welcome Professor – De Nada”)

Let me address some of your comments here.

KENNETH SORENSEN wrote:
“It is their area,”
Wrong. Who is their anyway? You are oblivious that most of Islam's tenets were based on Judaism.

“it is their part of the world”.
I assume by “their”, you allude to “Muslims”. If that is the case, then nothing is theirs – except Mecca & Madinah where “their” (Islam) was born. Everywhere else was taken by force, and returned to their rightful owners (Jews) by force. Period.

“and it is your people that should never have been allowed to set up a state from scratch.”. ALLOWED?. Who's permission should have had we asked, to return to the land of our ancestors?. A land from which we were expelled twice before. A spiritual center of which, we have never ever given up hope to return to – which we did. As the late Abba Eban had said. We (the Israelis), DO NOT ASK anyone's permission, nor the approval whether we have the right to live where we can defend ourselves from further senseless persecution – NO ONE.

Israel and the “destabilization” crap. Just travel to the region, see for yourself how Israel measures, compared to its neighbors – in term of economic, education, scientific progress, political, respect for individual rights, quality of life, etc. then come back here and we will talk some more about reality.
My country is on the forefront of the 21st century, while its neighbors, people are forced and anchored in the 7th century mind set.

Quote: “This is the great task of our generation to see to that Israel is shut down in an orderly fashion, so that the historic mistake of setting up a homeland in someone else's can be corrected. ”

What you are saying is, Replace a democratic, and advanced country, with yet another dysfunctional corrupt and backward Islamic fundamentalist state like the one in Gaza. Ha?

Every day we see thousand and thousand of innocent people are being blown up in pieces, for a decadent religious ideology (72 black eyed virgins waiting in heaven) – All chant the same horn “Allah woo akbar”.

No Mister, the greater task is, for our generation to confront and remove a cultural and religious which glorifies suicide bombing of innocent civilians, human stoning for adultery, honor killing. Forced child marriage to old man, genital mutilation of 12 and 13 year old girls. Preaching of blind hatred of others. A religious which does not respect woman's fundamental human rights to chose her own husband. Treated her like personal property, there for the sol pleasure of her husband. A religious which teaches no to trust, nor take infidels (non-Muslims) as friends. A religious which requires the whole Army of the country (Turkey) to keep the fragile democracy and freedom of expression to the people.

I guest, all these terror attacks around the world, 95% of which is perpetrated by Muslim against Jews, Christians, Hindus, and yes other Muslims as well, are not enough to convince myopic skulls like you that, the real threat to our societies and stability of the world is NOT Israel, rather the insidious ideology of Islam.

Yeah, keep pining all Arab & Muslims ills and failures on the Jews (“Zionists”). Those days are long gone. The fact is, the Arab & Islamic worlds, including the Palestinians are forced to take responsibilities for their own actions and mistakes. It looks people like you don't like it. Sorry.

I was going to respond to the last post, but it is too rediculous.

Com-on Arvay (or whatever name you call yourself). Get real, there are no "atheist" people as well. These people who call themselves as such, they warship stones and anything closer to their toenails. They believe in emptiness, and the ones who wish to show to everyone else. "you see! how smart I am, smart enough to know that by insulting others wishes and desires, will bring me nothing but ridicule and denigration from others.".

Why don't tell me, do you believe in anything to which you can't touch, eat, or smell, you shallow individual what is it that you do believe in. ?

Your intellectual bankruptcy, shallow understanding of basic human development and intellectual/spiritual dimension, is sure evident here. What drives people to commit good and evil thing to one another. Otherwise you would know better then that, insulting other does not gain you much respect and consideration.

arvay writes:
Quote: "The fact that 1.5 billion Muslims either hate or dislike us because of Israel".

Sure they do, here are the reason why.

A partial list of atrocities committed by Muslims against other civilians, including other innocent Muslims.

1. RUSSIA - Muslims attack in Moscow theater killed 118 innocent civilians. Kill 530 innocent women & children in a school - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL
2. AUSTRALIA – An immigrant Muslims from Lebanon, gang rape an Australian girl. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
3. SRI LANKA - Muslims attack Christians Hindu and Chinese, causing riots and death and destruction. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL
4. SINGAPORE - Muslims attacking Christians Hindu and Chinese. - BLAME ISRAEL.
5. MALAYSIA - Muslims attack Christians and Hindus and Chinese. - ARVAY BLAME ISRAEL.
6. KASHMIR - Muslims burn Hindus, constant attacks on innocent people. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
7. INDIA - Muslims blow up temples full of people. Constant attacks on innocent people. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
8. PHILIPPINES - Muslims kidnap rape and kill Western civilians. Demanding for separate Islamic state. Abu Sayyaf kills 182 Western tourists in Bali resort. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
9. SOMALIA - Muslims committing genocide on Christians (all dead or gone) WOMEN AND KIDS ENSLAVED killing UN aid workers. - why not? ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
10. SUDAN - Muslims also committing Genocide on Christians in Darfur region. Killing UN aid workers. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
11. SERBIA - Muslims attack Christian Serbs and churches. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
12. BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Muslims Bomb churches beating Christians. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
13. IRAQ - Muslims Kill neighboring Muslims and infidels oppressing all non-Islamics. - ARVAY BLAMES ISRAEL.
14. INDONESIA - Muslims murder “infidels”, teachers and destroy churches (Christmas eve) and ethnic homes and businesses. Rape and attack Christians. Sure ARVAY, BLAME ISRAEL.
15. BANGLADESH - Muslims kidnap enslave, murders, bombings. - ARVAY, BLAME ISRAEL.
16. SAUDI ARABIA - Muslims hijacked US planes and fly into populated buildings, oppression of all other religion and killing opponents. Kill other Muslims in a Car Bombing. Obviously - ARVAY, BLAME ISRAEL.
17. YEMEN - Muslims blow up USS ships (Cole) and attack foreign nationals. - ARVAY, BLAME ISRAEL.
18. CHINA - Muslims undermine the governments slow acceptance of capitalism with guerrilla attacks on industry and usual threats and harassment. - ARVAY, BLAME ISRAEL.
19. PAKISTAN - Muslims attack and kill foreign civilians and other innocent Christians trying to assist. wHY NOT ARVAY, BLAME iSRAEL
20. SIERRA LEONE - Muslims slaughter of Christians. Reasons - ARVAY, BLAMES ISRAEL.
21. UGANDA - Muslims genocide of Christians, Muslims calling for separate state. - BLAME ISRAEL.
22. RWANDA - Muslims genocide of Christians, calling for separate Islamic state. - BLAME ISRAEL.
23. ZIMBABWE - Muslims murder Christians, deportations and harassment. Who else? - BLAME ISRAEL.
24. CONGO - Muslims Murder Christians. Demanding for separate Islamic state. - BLAME ISRAEL.
25. NIGERIA - Muslims kill Christians. Again calling for separate Islamic state. - BLAME ISRAEL.
26. NAMIBIA - Muslims committing genocide of Christians. Calling for separate Islamic state. - BLAME ISRAEL.
SOUTH AFRICA - Muslims persecute Christians. Calling for separate Islamic state
27.ALGERIA - Muslims behead Christian priests, churches destroyed. Demanding Sharia Law throughout the country. - BLAME ISRAEL.
28. ENGLAND - Muslims in Race riots 2001 get ready for more! Beating up innocent old ladies and men and killing and raping teens. - BLAME ISRAEL.
29. AZERBAIJAN - Muslims harass Christians are jailed, deported or killed. Churches burned or boarded up. Who else?. - BLAME ISRAEL.
30. IVORY COAST - Muslims commit genocide of Christians. - BLAME ISRAEL.
31. CHECHNYA - Muslims blow up police stations and churches, killing telecoms workers and innocents. - BLAME ISRAEL.
32 AFGHANISTAN - Muslims (Islamists) attack Americans and killing each other over fundamentalist Islamic Rule. - BLAME ISRAEL.
33. SPAIN – Muslims blow up a commuter train killing 192 innocent civilians. - BLAME ISRAEL.
34. IRAQ – Muslims kidnap, and kill other Muslims, as well as non-Muslims who came to help them. 200,000 so far and counting. - BLAME ISRAEL.
35. ENGLAND: 07 July 2005. Muslims blow themselves up in subway station, and Bus in the heart of London. Score of innocent people die. - BLAME ISRAEL.

36. HOLLAD: November 2004. A Moroccan Muslim murders Dutch film director Van Gogh, for producing a film about real life of Muslim women. - BLAME ISRAEL.

Arvay,
Look mister, It is easy to label anyone with derogatory labels. Only intellectually and cultural bankrupt individual do that. You can label and denigrate groups of people such as Jews all you wish. The bottom line is, as long as per-capita, Jews contribute more, to better the quality of life for mankind, then Atheists on this earth - that is what matters. That is what people look for. The rest of your argument is just empty rhetoric and hogwash. The rest of your argument as as hollow and devoid as your core belief.

Role up your sleeve and help solve the problem of hunger, education, cure deceases, . Jews do more then their shares to solve these problem - YOU DON"T.

Get off you rear end and do something about it, instead of venting your frustration on others who had done nothing to hurt you.

I am glad that, through his clever positioning, Allangreen ha forced you to expose your true face, as Muslim masquerading as "Atheist". As one, you go to great length to defend Muslims, and attack Jews.
(Arvay, I have never read, nor heard of this gentleman before, except on this thread. Trust me, you are no match to his intellect,).

Now, getting back to your convoluted theory of the universe - all based on "proven scientific theories". Yes, most discoveries of today ARE predicated on proven science. That was not the case in ancient time though, as illustrated with the phenomenon of the "burning bush" in Sinai. What the hell do you think that was?. It was gas leak seeping from the ground, most likely a lightning had set it off, and created this fire in form of a bush. After all how many of those "burning bushes" to you see in any oil field today?.

Since no one could explain this natural phenomenon in scientific terms, they attributed it to "god" created one. One way or another, that theory had remained with the cultural/religious folklore.

I have no problem with your refusal to believe in anything more then the shallow two-dimensional view, that, if you can't touch, smell, feel, see or hear, then it does not exist. I do though have problem with your condescending attitude and utter ignorance on the unverse with greater dimension, to which you had convinced yourself with.

While you (and others like you) believe in "hardware", where everything must be "proven by science again and again", human endeavor consist of 'software" as well. Some of which (like equations of mathematical and chemical reactions, or various laws of Physics), etc.), there are other dimension (like spirituality, and belief ) which make up the human being as a whole.

If dumb like Atheists refuse to acknowledge this dimension, rather chose to denigrate it, that does not mean they do not exist as valid part of our lives.

Had Atheists been right with their theories, I am sure many more people would join them all on their own. They don't.