what are your associations with the word israel? what are your opinions on anything related to israel?
130958
omg! i cant believe how many people are so rude to Israel!\n(ahem, Desi_Godfather, freedomhammer, fu_smoker).\nwhen i think of israel, i think of a beautiful country of old and new. histroy dating back thousands of years, and yet the modern-ness of today. i think about how its the second country with the best technology, thanks to incredibly smart israelis. i think how you can do so many things there like seeing fish and underwater animals only found in israel. i think of hundreds of water sports. so many delicious foods and great traditions. you think terrorism, i think of the wonder.
582968
You are severely misinformed.  Israel is the only non-Muslim nation in the Middle East and it is the smallest.  Everyone else is bigger and against them.  Jewish pride!\n\nADDITIONAL UPDATE: The Palestinians do not have a recognized "country"  they live in the occupied areas.  Israel was officially recognized as a nation in the late 40s by the world...  The Gaza Strip (the 10% you are referring to) is not a country.  It is within the NATION OF ISRAEL!  Simple history and geography...  Also, in every war or conflict when one side attacks another there will usually be a counter move.  In a conflict does it even make sense to stay and get hit????  No, you strike and dodge the incoming counter attack.  Please, before you go bashing on Israel understand the situation more fully.  For instance...do you even have a clue about the Balfour Agreement?  Probably not...and it's probably the most important moment in turmoil for the Middle East and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.  As for the Reigning Queen comment below...do you honestly think that anti-Semitic comments will win anything?  No, what it can get you however is the enduring respect of thousands of Neo-Nazi bigots who are following the failed ideas of a man who not only DID NOT succeed in killing us but who also had the guts to commit suicide...yeah, great leader.  \n\n    Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.
112070
Jews have always been in the area now known as Israel.\n\nA short allegory of Israel:\n\nPretend that Israel is an apartment building.\n\nSome jews live there, some Arabs (Jordanians). Many empty nasty apartments.\n\nThe Health Department says you Jews need a place to live. Take these places, fix them up, live here.\n\nTired Jews move into vacant apartments, in spite of the hatred and attacks and murders by the Arabs (Jordanians).\nThem fix up the apartments, live quietly, and protect themselves.\n\nHealth Department comes by and says, good job, you can keep the apartments and the building itself.\n\nJews now own the building. Arabs (Jordanians) say "Oh my God, they will murder and kill and rob and rape us simply because we murdered and killed and robbed and raped them, how unfair!!"\n\nArabs (Jordanians) run away leaving vacant apartments.\n\nAbandoned apartments become property of the landlords (Jews) and are turned over to other settlers who move in.\n\nArabs (Jordanians) go to all other Arab countries and whine about reparations and poverty. Other Arab Countries kick them out.\n\nArabs (Jordanians) decide that they need a new image.\n\n"Hey!!! We're Palestinizers now! Palestinites? Palestonians? Palesturgers??? (Gets out Liberal Arab Talking Points Crib notes) Oh! Palestineans! Right. These mean thoughtless cruel non burkah wearing Jews have DRIVEN us from our ancestral lands in Palestan. Wait!! Palestine. Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoo (are the cameras still on me?) Hoo. We are peaceful people so murder them, rape their women, crush their children, blow up their weddings, funerals, cafe's, busses, wait - don't hurt the furniture, we'll need that!"
251951
Jewish people do discuss their opinion on the immigration issue.  I don't live in the United States at the moment so I'm a bit out of the loop on this issue, but I tend to be very compassionate towards illegal immigrants.  I think it's important to remember that we were all created in the image of G-d, that all people are entitled to live with dignity, and that we should try to think of what is moral and what is just, and then make that into a legal reality.  Sometimes laws are not just.  One of the central ideas in Judaism is that it's our duty to create a more just world.
219175
Id say people in the Middle East have an extremely biased view (if any) on the Holocaust. Im Lebanese, living in Lebanon, and i can say that the Holocaust is praised (unfortunately) in most Arab countries since Israel is viewed as the main enemy (along with the US). It's sad to see educated people praising Hitler and the horrible genocide he commited against Jews. Being an Arab Christian, my backgroud education gave me the right idea about the genocide. However, most Muslims have this haine for Jews (mostly because the Sheikhs and Arab leaders examplify Israelis and Jews as the force of evil and war in the world). I dont want to sound too pessimistic but a better education will not be the solution because Imams (or Sheikhs, as in muslim religious leaders) will still endoctrinate their followers... The only solution in my opinion is the creation of two states (Israel and Palestine) after both forces recognize one another according to international law. It's a shame extremism (whether ultra-orthodox jews or fanatic muslims) is the obstacle of bringing people together..
580075
i'm thinking you're right on the money.\n\n\nrani...aha the truth comes out..we're the enemy and we're always going to be the enemy because we support Israel.  Let's cut the crap shall we and get down to the truth...you people just hate the thought that Israel even exists...you will never accept it as a nation..never respect it's sovereignty, and never forgive the U.S. for supporting Israel.  Well it's going to stay that way so get used to it.\n\nBut you know what..there was another option...we could have stayed home..and let you all deal with saddam.  We could have let saddam take over kuwait, then invade saudi. Then let Iraq and Iran fight it out some more....and the first damned time one American..just one...was murdered..by some terrorist hijacker...or some building was blown up, just one incident on American soil, and we turn that entire area into a glass parking lot and say theres your freaking palestinian homeland....you want it that way..you ungrateful piece of camel shit?
390998
Here's the deal:\nAccording to the Bible, the Jews were ordered by God to take over that land, which was then called Canaan. The Jews did conquer it but were forcibly removed by the Romans in 70 and 135 AD from the land after their revolts were crushed.\nThe Jews returned to that land in 1948 after Israel was re-established as a nation by the UN, so don't let anyone tell you Israel is a rogue nation. Israel has the right to exist; it came into being legitimately. The Palestinians claim to have ownership of that land, but this is not true.\nThey claim that the Canaanites were Arabs, when they were not. According to the Bible, Noah had three sons, one of whom was Shem, the ancestor of the Jews and Arabs. The Canaanites came from the line of Ham, Noah's other son. So the Canaanites were not Semites, therefore they were not Arabs. The Canaanites are gone and so are their descendants, so there is no one left to rightfully fight the Jews for that land.\nThe main problem is misdirected nationalism. The Palestinians didn't even call themselves Palestinians until AFTER 1948. The Palestinian people are merely a ploy being used by the Muslim nations to regain land that was lost to the Jews. After all, according to Islam, any land that is conquered in the name of Allah can never again come under non-Muslim rule, or a Jihad, or Holy War, must be declared in order to regain that land.\nThere are elements in the media that affect this conflict. The Palestinian media greatly brainwashes the youth of Palestine into believing a warped view of history.\nSo in short, religion has everything to do with this conflict, nothing else really matters. It's Judeo-Christianity vs. Islam.
260446
I live in the UK, and the newspapers I read are certainly critical of Israel, but also condemn Palestinian suicide bombings. People here definitely have a different view of Israel than the Americans I know. A few years back a group of Palestinians came to Edinburgh and was hosted by a youth organisation I'm part of. However, I don't think it was a particularly constructive endeavour, as it turned out our visitors were wealthy and priviledged, hardly representative of Palestinians, and had a tendency to steal.
131587
Israel is definitely a flash point in the mideast and a big reason why there is such a reift between the US and most of the Muslim world.   I have no clue why we continue to support them to the extent that we do ---- likley due all the political contributions in the US ---- We let Israel have a secret nuclear weapons cache, but we threaten Iran for the same thing - no wonder we are viewed the way we are.   I am not saying give the land back. but clearly the borders need to be reset and a lot more settlements taken down --- The US policy on Israel has not worked in the US's favor in over 4 decades ---- It really needs to change
526693
i am very pro-israel but i think that you need to calm your tone otherwise you will not be taken seriously on this forum. criticising the british of today for not staying in palestine over 50 years ago is not constructive
505442
My dear young lady, if we could all just repect each others faiths and religions there would be more than enough room for all of us. I hate to say this but the Israelis are being as naughty as the Nazis when it comes to the Palestinians. It's sad and very very wrong. Blessings.
231286
Israel is the only country in the middle east that has a Judeo-Christian ethic and belief system.  Many Christians and Jews in the US support them because of that.  Also, they are of strategic importance to us militarily.
87337
i'm from israel! its the best place to be!!sure i can help u. flootzy@yahoo.com
300253
a letter by Ghandi:\n\nSeveral letters have been received by me asking me to declare my views about the Arab-Jew question in Palestine and the persecution of the Jews in Germany. It is not without hesitation that I venture to offer my views on this very difficult question.\n\nMy sympathies are all with the Jews. I have known them intimately in South Africa. Some of them became life-long companions. Through these friends I came to learn much of their age-long persecution. They have been the untouchables of Christianity. The parallel between their treatment by Christians and the treatment of untouchables by Hindus is very close. Religious sanction has been invoked in both cases for the justification of the inhuman treatment meted out to them. Apart from the friendships, therefore, there is the more common universal reason for my sympathy for the Jews.\n\nBut my sympathy does not blind me to the requirements of justice. The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood?\n\nPalestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct. The mandates have no sanction but that of the last war. Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.\n\nThe nobler course would be to insist on a just treatment of the Jews wherever they are born and bred. The Jews born in France are French in precisely the same sense that Christians born in France are French. If the Jews have no home but Palestine, will they relish the idea of being forced to leave the other parts of the world in which they are settled? Or do they want a double home where they can remain at will? This cry for the national home affords a colorable justification for the German expulsion of the Jews. \n\nBut the German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in history. The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to have gone. And he is doing it with religious zeal. For he is propounding a new religion of exclusive and militant nationalism in the name of which many inhumanity becomes an act of humanity to be rewarded here and hereafter. The crime of an obviously mad but intrepid youth is being visited upon his whole race with unbelievable ferocity. If there ever could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified. But I do not believe in any war. A discussion of the pros and cons of such a war is therefore outside my horizon or province. \n\nBut if there can be no war against Germany, even for such a crime as is being committed against the Jews, surely there can be no alliance with Germany. How can there be alliance between a nation which claims to stand for justice and democracy and one which is the declared enemy of both? Or is England drifting towards armed dictatorship and all it means?\n\nGermany is showing to the world how efficiently violence can be worked when it is not hampered by any hypocrisy or weakness masquerading as humanitarianism. It is also showing how hideous, terrible and terrifying it looks in its nakedness.\n\nCan the Jews resist this organized and shameless persecution? Is there a way to preserve their self-respect, and not to feel helpless, neglected and forlorn? I submit there is. No person who has faith in a living God need feel helpless or forlorn. Jehovah of the Jews is a God more personal than the God of the Christians, the Musalmans or the Hindus, t
20093
You pat my back , I pat yours.\nIt is the mutual secret pact with Israel that the USA and Israel supports each other in every good and evil the other do.\nThere are too many crimes against humanity done by Israel to mention.\nIsrael would only oppose the US if it is against their national interest, which would be a rarity.\nThe  USA on the other hand benefits little except for support in spying on the people in the Middle East , at which Israel is better equip that the USA.\nUnfortunately , some of the information can be really biased
453684
Israel - \nwhich means Iran will certainly deserve it\n\naaR - you are now officially Iran's puppet. Just what they want \n             to hear\nAnd Stephanie----you are REALLY starting to get on my nerves\n       So many biased opinions & so little knowledge
298795
It is a bit hypocritical. We attack Iraq for violation of one UN resolution, but support Israel who is in violation of 4 UN resolutions.