The Palestinian leadership is associated with a lot of groups who talk big and do very little. Terrorism against Israel is pretty consistently blow entirely out of proportion (consider that by third party accounts the Israelis have always killed far more civilians than the supposed hordes of arab terrorists which are generally believed to be besieging them).

On the other hand there has been a pretty consistent low grade terrorist push by the right in this country (particularly two groups- the militia movement which seems now to have adopted the anti-immigration cause ala the minutemen, and the fundamentalist "christianists"). While they are never, inexplicably, given much press as they keep on killing.

An analysis of domestic US terrorist groups reveals that over half are "Christian Identity" white supremacist groups. But instead of dealing with these murdering scum we have the FBI targetting the ELF/ALF who are guilty of only property damage.

Seem strange? Surely the priorities of the government couldn't have anything to do with it, right? I mean we know our Department of Justice is immune to political pressure, right? Well...

So what do you have? You have a nation with a low level of terrorism that is blown entirely out of proportion and another country (that's us) with low level terrorism which is ignored because it is politically expedient.

Even leaving aside the fact that I live here and am about a million times more likely to be killed or widowed by some douchebag calling himself christian than muslim, I find the case of terrorism that gets universally ignored a tad more concerning.

Timothy McVeigh, meanwhile, was merely a criminal who was arrested, tried, convicted, and executed. His influence on American politics was essentially nil.

As to "There are enough hard right whack jobs in this country who are just as willing to murder (the Oklahoma City bombing leaps to mind)," that strikes me as ridiculously disingenious. Yes, we have nut jobs. No, they're not the dominant -- or even a dominant -- actor in US politics. By contrast, terrorism has been at the heart of Palestinian politics for decades.

Well let's talk about where the rubber meets the road. Accoring to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Martyrs'_Brigades#Activities

Al-Aqsa has had four "notable attacks" with a grand total of 54 deaths. Even assuming that is only a fraction of their total carnage, McVeigh killed nearly 200 and injured another 800.

When the entire Al-Aqsa brigade is overshadowed by one rightwing american nutjob I think it might be time to re-evaluate which country has had terrorism as a dominat factor (and notice that isn't even mentioning things like the abortion clinic bombings, targetted assassinations of pediatricians, hate crimes agains gays/blacks/jews, et cetera).

See my point?

You have a group in a country advocating violence against a governmental figure. this statement is made to a population with a long established history of extra-judicial violence.

Now explain to me how the above statement isn't applicable to both Coulter and the Al-Aqsa.

As to "There are enough hard right whack jobs in this country who are just as willing to murder (the Oklahoma City bombing leaps to mind)," that strikes me as ridiculously disingenious. Yes, we have nut jobs. No, they're not the dominant -- or even a dominant -- actor in US politics. By contrast, terrorism has been at the heart of Palestinian politics for decades.

Are you saying that because the al Aksa Martyr Brigades is "a Palestinian terror group" that their threat is more likely to be acted upon? If so I agree, but I don't see how that changes the fundamental situation.

There are enough hard right whack jobs in this country who are just as willing to murder (the Oklahoma City bombing leaps to mind).

One person advocates assassination of a government official and the other... advocates assassination of a government official.

But the other is a Palestinian terrorist group, not me. The quote is a non sequitur.

I'm not sure how it's meaningfully comparable, to be honest.

???

One person advocates assassination of a government official and the other... advocates assassination of a government official.

You don't see any comparison there?

Is it meaningfully different than, say, Ann Coulter saying "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee"?

I'm not sure how it's meaningfully comparable, to be honest.

Lovely. This demonstration further illustrates that the Palestinians aren’t ready for self-government...

Is it meaningfully different than, say, Ann Coulter saying "We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee"?