Israel bashing!!

A place for everyone on this site to bash Israel because I'm really sick of having to defend the Jewish homeland on every single thread. I'm hoping this will really streamline the whole process.

It's not a terrorist or oppressive regime by any means. I admit it does do it's fair share of discrimination.

Israel should not be the Jewish Homeland, it should be the homeland of all whom choose to live there.

I understand why people think Jews need a "safe haven", but there's other ways to protect minority's. Many of them already exist, like Amnesty Rights. The solution is universal right of movement. Destroy all barriers on immigration.

Israel should be free to be settled by Arabs and Jews alike.

Israel, an Illegal state that forced itself into occupied land, that constantly cries about their hardships be it past ones such as the holocaust, or present of being Arabic tension. The majority of their policy's are borderline if not straight out Neo-Nazi policy's including the forced relocation of Arabic citizens, Jews being treated more fairly in their nation regardless of how much they bs about it not being a Jewish Theocracy. For a nation being so young it is one of the worlds worst human rights violates when it comes to war, their illegal blockade on Palestine prevents food, medicine, toys etc from reaching Palestine. Pro-Israel advocates say that Israel supplies Palestine with these things (barley any) but let us also remember how the Canadian government did the same thing to the native population to make them reliant on being provided for.

So all in all right behind America on the nations I dislike.

srael is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.7 million, about 1.3 million — 20 percent of the population — are non-Jews (approximately 1.1 million Muslims, 130,000 Christians and 100,000 Druze).

Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, it is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. Arabs currently hold 8 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Israeli Arabs have also held various government posts, including one who served as Israel's ambassador to Finland and the current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. Oscar Abu Razaq was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Interior, the first Arab citizen to become chief executive of a key government ministry. Ariel Sharon's original cabinet included the first Arab minister, Salah Tarif, a Druze who served as a minister without portfolio. An Arab is also a Supreme Court justice.

Arabic, like Hebrew, is an official language in Israel. More than 300,000 Arab children attend Israeli schools. At the time of Israel's founding, there was one Arab high school in the country. Today, there are hundreds of Arab schools.

In 2002, the Israeli Supreme Court also ruled that the government cannot allocate land based on religion or ethnicity, and may not prevent Arab citizens from living wherever they choose.

The sole legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that the latter are not required to serve in the Israeli army. This is to spare Arab citizens the need to take up arms against their brethren. Nevertheless, Bedouins have served in paratroop units and other Arabs have volunteered for military duty. Compulsory military service is applied to the Druze and Circassian communities at their own request.

Some economic and social gaps between Israeli Jews and Arabs result from the latter not serving in the military. Veterans qualify for many benefits not available to non-veterans. Moreover, the army aids in the socialization process.

On the other hand, Arabs do have an advantage in obtaining some jobs during the years Israelis are in the military. In addition, industries like construction and trucking have come to be dominated by Israeli Arabs.

Although Israeli Arabs have occasionally been involved in terrorist activities, they have generally behaved as loyal citizens. During the 1967, 1973 and 1982 wars, none engaged in any acts of sabotage or disloyalty. Sometimes, in fact, Arabs volunteered to take over civilian functions for reservists. During the outbreak of violence in the territories that began in September 2000, Israeli Arabs for the first time engaged in widespread protests with some violence.

The United States has been independent for almost 230 years and still has not integrated all of its diverse communities. Even today, 60 years after civil rights legislation was adopted, discrimination has not been eradicated. It should not be surprising that Israel has not solved all of its social problems in only 57 years.

I will always support Israel personally.

Also let us not forget that Israel and any part of Zionism is based on the Talmud, a book that advocates that anyone who is not Jewish is inferior and a subhuman.

Also, Norman Finkelstein is a good source for learning on Israels Fascist policy's.

Good for you!!

I don't think so Historian Michael Levi Rodkinson, in his book The History of the Talmud, wrote that persecutors of the Talmud, both during and subsequent to its formation, "have varied in their character, objects and actions" and the book documents a number of critics and persecutors, including Nicholas Donin, Johannes Pfefferkorn, Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, the Frankists, and August Rohling. Many attacks come from antisemitic sources, particularly Christian antisemites such as Justinas Pranaitis, Elizabeth Dilling or David Duke. Criticisms also arise from Muslim sources, Jewish sources, and atheists and skeptics. Accusations against the Talmud include alleged:
1.Anti-Christian or anti-Gentile content
2.Absurd or sexually immoral content
3.Falsification of scripture
Many of these criticisms, particularly those by antisemitic critics, are based on quotations that are taken out of context, and thus misrepresent the meaning of the Talmud's text. Sometimes the misrepresntation is deliberate, and other times simply due to an inability to grasp the subtle and sometimes confusing narratives in the Talmud. Some quotations provided by antisemitic critics deliberately omit passages in order to generate quotes that appear to be offensive or insulting.

Criticism has been leveled against Finkelstein from several angles. The first sources are responses from those whose work Finkelstein has discussed. Daniel Goldhagen, whose book Hitler's Willing Executioners Finkelstein criticized, claimed his scholarship has "everything to do with his burning political agenda." Peter Novick, Professor of History at the University of Chicago and a noted Holocaust historian whose work Finkelstein says inspired "The Holocaust Industry," has also strongly criticized the latter's work, describing it as "trash." Similarly, Alan Dershowitz, whose book The Case for Israel and Finkelstein's response Beyond Chutzpah sparked an ongoing feud between the two, has claimed Finkelstein's complicity in a conspiracy against pro-Israel scholars: "The mode of attack is consistent. Chomsky selects the target and directs Finkelstein to probe the writings in minute detail and conclude that the writer didn't actually write the work, that it is plagiarized, that it is a hoax and a fraud," arguing that Finkelstein has leveled charges against many academics, calling at least 10 "distinguished Jews 'hucksters', 'hoaxters' , 'thieves,' 'extortionists', and worse."
Israeli historian Omer Bartov, writing for The New York Times Book Review, judged The Holocaust Industry to be marred by the same errors he denounces in those who exploit the Holocaust for profit or politics:
'It is filled with precisely the kind of shrill hyperbole that Finkelstein rightly deplores in much of the current media hype over the Holocaust; it is brimming with the same indifference to historical facts, inner contradictions, strident politics and dubious contextualizations; and it oozes with the same smug sense of moral and intellectual superiority... Like any conspiracy theory, it contains several grains of truth; and like any such theory, it is both irrational and insidious.'
In 2003, Finkelstein published a considerably expanded second edition of this book, focusing especially on the Swiss Banks case. He identifies areas where people have attacked the book, but claims that none of them question his actual findings.
Finkelstein has accused Jeffrey Goldberg of "torturing" Palestinian prisoners during his IDF service in the First Intifada. Goldberg referred to the allegation as "ridiculous" and he had "never laid a hand on anybody." Goldberg said his "principal role" was "making sure prisoners had fresh fruit." He characterized Finkelstein as a "ridiculous figure" and accused him of "lying and purposely misreading my book."

Is Judaism a official religion and is Islam not a official religion?
Is Israel a Jewish State or a Arab State?
Werent people calling for jail terms for not accepting Israel as a Jewish State?
Is there not Jewish Symbolism?
Dont Jews have a easier path to citizenship then Muslims?

For once, I agree with Che. I despise Israel.

It often makes people uncomfortable to refer to Israel as “the Jewish State” because it suggests a theocracy and, therefore, the demise of Israel as a Jewish state is viewed by some people (even in Israel) as a positive development. Israel is not a theocracy; however, it is governed by the rule of law as drafted by a democratically elected parliament. It is informed by Jewish values and adheres to many Jewish religious customs (such as holidays), but this is similar to the United States and other nations that are shaped by the Judeo-Christian heritage and also have expressly religious elements (e.g., church-state separation in the U.S. does not preclude the recognition of Christmas as a holiday).

Israel has no state religion, and all faiths enjoy freedom of worship, yet it is attacked for its Jewish character, whereas the Arab states that all have Islam as their official religion are regarded as legitimate.

The Jewish people are a nation with a shared origin, religion, culture, language, and history. And why shouldn’t the Jewish people have a state? No one suggests that Arabs are not entitled to a nation (and they have not one, but twenty-one) of their own or Swedes or Germans, or that Catholics are not entitled to a state (Vatican City) headed by a theocrat (the Pope). To suggest that Zionism, the nationalist movement of the Jewish people, is the only form of nationalism that is illegitimate is pure bigotry. It is especially ironic that the Jewish nation should be challenged given that Jewish statehood preceded the emergence of most modern nation-states by thousands of years.

It is also not unusual that one community should be the majority within a nation and seek to maintain that status. In fact, this is true in nearly every country in the world. Moreover, societies usually reflect the cultural identity of the majority. India and Pakistan were established at the same time as Israel through a violent partition, but no one believes these nations are illegitimate because one is predominantly Hindu and the other has a Muslim majority, or that these nations shouldn’t be influenced by those communities (e.g., that cows in India should not be treated as sacred).

In the United States, a vigorous debate persists over the boundaries between church and state. Similar discussions regarding “synagogue and state” are ongoing in Israel, with philosophical disagreements over whether Israel can be a Jewish and a democratic state, and practical arguments over Sabbath observance, marriage and divorce laws, and budgets for religious institutions. Nevertheless, most Jews take for granted that Israel is, and must remain, a Jewish state. Arab citizens also understand that Israel is a Jewish state and, while they might prefer that it was not, they have still chosen to live there (nothing prevents Arabs from moving to any of the 180-odd non-Jewish states in the world). Both Jews and Arabs realize that if Jews cease to be a majority in Israel, Israel will no longer have a Jewish character or serve as a haven for persecuted Jews, and that is one of the elements underlying peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Congradu-frickan-lations You and and half the people here.

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First off, I don't think the Islamic republics of th world are legitimate, but thanks for assuming that I support evil, oppressive regimes just because I hate Israel. Its flawed to say that Jews get a state because Arabs have a bunch. Those are just countries mostly populated by Arabic peoples, whereas Israel is viciously oppressing the Palestinian people and denying them the right to live in Palestine.

I am saying it implys Jews are privileged.

Judaism is the De Facto state religion, and its not right that Arab states have state religions ether.

Arabs are not entitled to a state, no ethnic group of people are entitled to a state. Not the Germans, not the Jews, not the Arabs. People who wish to live in a certain area have the right to form a state of there own, but if I had it my way, there would be no borders in this world. ALL NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS ARE ILLEGITIMATE!

I believe that Muslims should have the right to freely move to India and that Hindus should have the right to freely move to Pakistan.

Israel shouldn't have a Jewish Character, a Muslim Character, or a Christan Character. It should have a diversity Character, as should every other state. BTW, Its called wanting to live were you were born and not abandoning the Palestinian Cause.

I think Israel has a right to exist, and that in general, most of their citizens do what is necessary to survive in a harsh location. However I do believe their foreign policy is at best; oppressive, war mongering, and elitist, and at worst, neo-nazi-esque with indiscriminate killing of perceived threats, including woman and children and the ability of Mossad to overstep governmental barriers can be quite disturbing. At the same time, I am largely sympathetic to the cause as I was Jewish, and a lot of my friends are Jewish, and a lot of them have family in Israel.

I never said you supported oppressive regimes. But I would encourage you to read my posts on this thread. I put a fair amount of time and effort and they address all of your grevences. also arabs can live in palistine if they want to.

I can't see you saying anything that justifies the vicious repression of the Palestinians. I've never seen anything that justified it anywhere, for that matter.