As to the "passions" if I were wanting to get a topic locked/deleted for specific ideological reasons it would be quite easy. The first thing to do would be to divert attentions away from the topic I felt uncomfortable with. Next I would begin with mildly abusive ad hominems or false accusations directed at the poster. Next I'd use a-historical concoctions and knee-jerk labels to confuse and rile the matter further. Ultimately the thing sparks an all out feud and thread locked. Great I win. Topic no longer discussed and "chilling effect" put in place. Sound familiar?
Three further points:
1) Passionate and contentious discussions are important. Show me a discussion group that has no such thing and I'll show you a classroom where very little is being learned or even being said;
2) If what was considered in that particular thread was "too passionate" I am confused to how limited are the boundaries;
3) Noone has given any refutation of merit to dispute the quotes listed.
In light of all of this and in light of the larger picture, wholesale censorship and media distortions regarding Israel/Palestine, I find the pulling of the thread to be quite disturbing.
What would be highly instructive is to go to say FAIR's website and get a close examination of how the media distort's the picture. If that picture cannot be righted in some small way at a place like this we are in deep trouble.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=18®ion_id=21
The degree to which Israel and the IDF have been involved in brutal acts can hardly be overstated.
Liberal thy name is hypocrisy. What's new?