Comments on: Will Israel Survive?

National Review Online: The Country At 60, Still Fighting For Its Survivial

[microchip470-2009]

(continued from before)When we hear about Israel%u2019s security policies (at airports and such), and that they spend more time searching Arabs than Jews. This is not really to say that they think Jews are superior to Arabs, but goes more with the fact that the Arabs are more likely to engage in suicide bombings than Jews as we have seen in the past. Basically, it is a really effective security strategy, even if it looks bad from a far, and the US should consider something similar, it may have prevented 9/11 from happening. To reiterate, Israel doesn%u2019t hate Muslims even though it is mainly Muslims who attack Israel. Israel hates radical Islamists who threaten the security of the state, but it recognizes that there are many peaceful Muslims out there who do not share the same ideas as the radicals. If there were a radical sect of Mexicans or Latin Americans who vowed to destroy the US, the US would target these extremist groups and would not be very friendly towards these people. Along that line, many people always complain about Israel%u2019s mistreating of Palestinians. Although the situation for many Palestinians is not that great, most of their condition is caused by themselves rather than by Israel. Israel imposes harsh restrictions on the Palestinians because it wants to limit the activity of radical militants and wants to send a message to the rest of the people that by allowing these militants to attack Israel, this is how you life is going to be%u2026continued

[microchip470-2009]

It%u2019s clear reading through the comments that many of you are misinformed and have never been to Israel to really know what life is like there. I would first like to clear up the myth that Israel has de facto apartheid. All Israelis, Jewish, Muslim, Chrisitian, Druze, and others are given equal rights, citizenship, right to pray, and voting rights. Even when Muslims praying at the temple mount through rocks down at Jewish prayers during Friday night (Shabbat) services, Israel still lets Muslims pray there. If Jews or Christians through rocks at Muslims praying in a Muslim country, they would lose any right they have to pray and would probably be executed. Further, there was a comment about how there are not many minorities in Israel%u2019s government; however, the Knesset (Israel%u2019s parliament) is made up of 10% of Arabs. Some may think this number is low, but the Israeli political system is different than in American. Israel has a parliamentary system, so voters vote for a party, which has a list of candidates, based on the percentage of the vote the party gets, that determines how many seats that party gets in the Knesset. So the low percentage of Arabs in the Israeli Knesset is not because of an Israeli desire to discourage Arab participation, but that fact that the Arab parties are not getting the percentage of votes%u2026continued

[idnnsg]

This article started off appearing to be a thoughtful consideration of various factors that affect Israel. As it continued, however, it became clear that the purpose of this article was simply to stir up fear to support more war.

I was especially struck by this one line, at the end of a long list of items which may threaten the continued existence of Israel: "An American presidential candidate wants to chat with that state''s leaders." Clearly, this is a reference to Barack Obama. Somehow, to Lisa Schiffren, the mere willingness to talk with another country''s leaders poses a gigantic threat to her beloved Israel! What a sick little mind this girl must have! If you don''t talk to people, you can''t find out what they want, what they "need", what they plan to do, or what things you may have in common. In that case, you are doomed!

IF much of Israel is like Lisa Schiffren, then the answer to the question posed by this article is no, Israel will NOT survive, and they will NOT deserve to.

[jdm2008-2009]

After al the bloodshed, the killing, the insults, denial, the destructions of Iran, Syria, Hezlilbah, Hamas, and any other group who sides with these enemies; Israel will survive! They will live to speak and give glory to a God who has always loved them and has never forsaken them.

[sepa2]

religious and ethnic matters aside the amazing thing is how US politicians have allowed to undermine our own interests. Case in point is Iran, we could have easily got them on our side with little compromise once we topple their enemy - Sadam. Iran is the main conduit to central asian oil. Russia is exploiting our foolishness to monopolize that region.

[babooph]

Poor Israel is an obvious target for a terrorist nuke-all those 100 nukes they have been given would have no real target to get back at- Idiotic US policy is largely at fault for this impending doom-what a mess!!!

[johnshaft4]

Screw Israel. They have no oil and we don''t need them. Some "promised land'' and "chosen people".

[juwboy]

SharnCedar and galloglaigh:

Are there mosques in Israel?

Yes.

Are there churches in Israel?

Yes.

Are there synagogues in Israel?

Yes.

Are there Korans in Israel?

Yes.

Are there Bibles (both Testaments) in Israel?

Yes.

Are there mosques in Saudi Arabia?

Yes.

Are there churches in Saudi Arabia?

No.

Are there synagogues in Saudi Arabia?

No.

Are there Korans in Saudi Arabia?

Yes.

Are there Bibles in Saudi Arabia?

No.

What is the penalty for the crime of attempting to smuggle a Bible into Saudi Arabia for your own personal use?

Use your imagination.

[A clue: bear in mind that the "kind and usual punishment" in Saudi Arabia for the female VICTIM of a gang rape is 100 lashes]

[algoresarse]

Posted by galloglaigh at 03:16 AM : May 10, 2008
+ report abuse

****88

you should had said that in arabic...

[galloglaigh]

Its so sad how even though many Arabs are mostly illiterate, primitive people who believe in killing non-believers...
Posted by ronen14 at 06:52 PM : May 09, 2008
________________________

A very profound (and hypocritical) statement that could and does apply to the people of many countries, including the U.S. The U.S. was initially settled by many "primitive people" who escaped England to practice religious freedom, only to come here and kill many "natives" whom they determined to be "non-believers" because they practices a "different" kind of religion.

Politics has killed hundreds of thousands; however, religion has killed hundreds of millions.

How many illiterate people live in the U.S. today? LOL!!! The Arabs were doing complicated math when the American and European continents were occupied by aboriginies and cavemen.

[galloglaigh]

Of course, God cares. Most of the comments made so far shows how naive, selfish and narrow minded most of you are. However, be rest assured that as long as there is God, the nation of Israel will survive. Wake up. In all that has happened and continue to happen with regards to the nation of Israel, do you still need more proof that there is God?
Posted by ehioghai at 05:44 PM : May 09, 2008
__________________

Get real. The only god that Israel knows is the god that hands them $10M/day--the U.S. taxpayer.
If not for "us" Israel would cease to exist.

[galloglaigh]

ISRAEL IS GOD''''S CHOSEN NATION.....
Posted by dtsingin at 04:37 PM : May 09, 2008
_______________________

If that is true why can''t they survive without $10M/day from us, as in U.S.?

[galloglaigh]

Posted by razzl at 02:50 PM : May 09, 2008
_______________

Very well said, razzl...

[galloglaigh]

These people are bigots, religious bigots, and they do not share our values. We should not have taken 9/11 for them, we should not be now in Iraq ford them, we should have nothing to do with a "Jewish state" other than demand they give political and religious freedoms to all their people.

Posted by SharnCedar
__________________________

I totally agree. Even Christians, who coddle Jews, are treated like third-class citizens in Israel. You will not find as many non-Jews in Israel''s government as you find Jews in U.S. government; in fact, you will be hard pressed to find any Christians in Israel''s government.

Israel is nothing like the U.S. and they do not deserve our support.

[down-ndirty]

"And now, sometimes the Israeli future seems just a little less clear."


Written by a Jew, this article is obviously lacking the whole picture and biased. Their future would be much less clear if it weren''t for the $10M/day in U.S. taxppayer support over the past few decades. All for what?

There will never be peace in the middle east until Israel moves back to the 1967 borders that they agreed on at that time. The Arabs will never stop attacking Israel until the Israelis move back to the agreed upon borders AND stop treating Palestinians like refugees.

The huge influx of Jews from other countries, especially Russia, hasn''t helped the situation. The fact that Israel''s population has outgrown its borders does not give them the right to simply "take" neighboring land from other nations. Israel has been doing this since 1967. We in the U.S. wouldn''t tolerate that from our neighbors; why should the Arabs?

[kaelinda]

I guess everyone has forgotten that it was all the neighboring Arab countries that attacked Israel in 1967, during the Six Day War. And again in 1973. Don''t talk about Israel''s lack of diversity until you''re willing to own up to the entire Arab world''s lack of diversity. When I was in Israel, I found it easy to attend a Christian church - but Christians aren''t allowed to worship at all in many Muslim countries. Nor are Jews. Arab-Israels are free to worshop whomever they choose. And as for Israel having lots of opportunities to make peace, every single time it was conditioned on Israel giving up some of the tiny little piece of land it has. The Balfour Declaration gave that land to Israel - including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. And the Golan Heights were won from Jordan when that country attacked Israel. How can anyone say Israel is a theocracy unless they''ve never been there and don''t know what in the world they''re talking about?

[tbweb]

Will Israel Survive?

If Israel doesn''t there won''t be anyone left around to find out, if Israel is destroyed, Israel has enough nuclear weapons to take the rest of the planet with it! It really does pain me to think about the nuclear disaster from the Russian Chernoble nuclear leak. 20 years later it still devastates and it was only a "leak", imagine an intentional nuclear detonation on the planet surface, if it happens we are all done! More and more and increasingly Politicians are talking about nuclear wars as if its the same as conventional wars, citing tactical nuclear weapons as if their small size matters or are less lethal! I and others pray we never find out. This is why Iran is so scary, the rest of the World is stepping back from nuclear weapons and Iran is rushing toward them, in the context of leaving its nuclear options open in an unverified way!

[rational_1]

Israel''s greatest threat may turn out to be internal, in the form of the differential birthrate between the Jews and the Palestinians; the revenge of the cradle.

[glock4me]

I expect that Israel would be more successful if it sought closer alliance with its neighbors and distanced itself from the aims of the colonial - crusader powers.

In any case, in the near term, it is certainly good to be alive.


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Posted by CBS_Oliver at 08:12 PM : May 09, 2008


CBS_Oliver, some interesting arguments about the 3-way religeous conflict in the middle east. Seems that until recently the Christians and Jews were run out of the area. Perhaps the whole Nazi Germany experience (REAL Nazis not the silly label thrown around by people to describe others they simply don''t like) pushed them into some sort of survival mode.

After 9/11 it''s pretty hard not to side with Israel (or at least against the Muslims). Too bad Israel isn''t sitting on top of a huge oil field... weapons for oil = 50 cents per gallon?

[ricknuber]

ehioghai:

If God will protect Israel, we can cut off her allowance...right?

Doubtful. This welfare state is only in existence because American taxpayers prop it up.