Food & Drink0 min ago
Support For Israel
Should our government do more to support the state of Israel?
I believe they should
I believe they should
Answers
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I think Israel has a right to exist in peace alongside its neighbours, but I also believe in a viable Palestinian state and I'm not convinced Israel really wants that.
Israel seems torn between its desire to be both a Jewish and a democratic state. If it remains democratic, Arabs will eventually outnumber the Jewish population and vote for alternative, non Jewish governments. If Israel becomes a Jewish state and denies voting rights to non Jews or worse still, begins evicting non Jewish citizens to the Palestinian territories, it will experience even more condemnation around the world.
However, I do not have a great deal of sympathy for the Arab viewpoint that criticises Israel for the theft of ancient Palestinian lands. When does a piece of land become the permanent property of one set of people?
Land theft is, and always has been, a political reality around the world and if we all adhered to the principle that land should be returned to the owners on such and such a date, the world would turn upside down.
Turkey could be expected to return Istanbul to the west, China would be forced to relinquish its stranglehold over Tibet and one could argue the Great Plains be returned to the Lakota and other native American tribes.
I admire Israel but at the same time am disheartened by many of her actions. Such is the nature of politics and nation states.
I've just re-read this and realise what a completely woolly answer this is. Maybe, I should be a diplomat?
Israel seems torn between its desire to be both a Jewish and a democratic state. If it remains democratic, Arabs will eventually outnumber the Jewish population and vote for alternative, non Jewish governments. If Israel becomes a Jewish state and denies voting rights to non Jews or worse still, begins evicting non Jewish citizens to the Palestinian territories, it will experience even more condemnation around the world.
However, I do not have a great deal of sympathy for the Arab viewpoint that criticises Israel for the theft of ancient Palestinian lands. When does a piece of land become the permanent property of one set of people?
Land theft is, and always has been, a political reality around the world and if we all adhered to the principle that land should be returned to the owners on such and such a date, the world would turn upside down.
Turkey could be expected to return Istanbul to the west, China would be forced to relinquish its stranglehold over Tibet and one could argue the Great Plains be returned to the Lakota and other native American tribes.
I admire Israel but at the same time am disheartened by many of her actions. Such is the nature of politics and nation states.
I've just re-read this and realise what a completely woolly answer this is. Maybe, I should be a diplomat?
this wasn't strictly land theft, suffragette: Israel was in effect given the land by the rest of the world to compensate for the outrages of the Holocaust and as an acknowledgment that Jews wouldn't be safe anywhere else. By rights they should have been given a chunk of Germany. Instead they were given land occupied by the Palestinians, on the grounds that God told them several thousand years ago that they could have it. Why should the Palestinians have to pay for Nazi crimes?
Anyway, Israel has just admitted it has nuclear weapons (an open secret for a long time but officially denied), so I'm darned if I can see why Britain should give them any more support. As Gromit has pointed out, they already have the total support of the USA, and that should be enough for any country.
Anyway, Israel has just admitted it has nuclear weapons (an open secret for a long time but officially denied), so I'm darned if I can see why Britain should give them any more support. As Gromit has pointed out, they already have the total support of the USA, and that should be enough for any country.
Our politicians could have been more vocal in supporting Israel building the barrier which has been so effective against suicide bombers, and less vocal about condemning Israels incursions into Lebanon and Gaza. European so called "peacekeepers" on the Lebanon border are allowing Hizbollah to rearm, as a result of the watered down UN resolution that got them there. European guards at the Raffah border crossing do little or nothing to prevent arms being smuggled into Gaza, more should be said about that.
Israel has a right to exist. That is non negotiable, to the ire of its neighbours, including Syria and Iran. So Blair should not be making overtures to these two countries to include them in any discussions, unless and until they accept the fact of the state of Israel.
Israel has a right to exist. That is non negotiable, to the ire of its neighbours, including Syria and Iran. So Blair should not be making overtures to these two countries to include them in any discussions, unless and until they accept the fact of the state of Israel.
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The Jew are a people, like any other people, but for many years a people without a land. This was mandated to them by the United Nations and they declared their independence in 1948.
They were immediately attacked by five Arab armies, and won. So, by politics and diplomacy the won the right to exist, and then defended that right by force of arms.
Yes, they are a legitimate country with a right to exist.
They were immediately attacked by five Arab armies, and won. So, by politics and diplomacy the won the right to exist, and then defended that right by force of arms.
Yes, they are a legitimate country with a right to exist.
Theland, does this sound like a good idea.
Solution to the War in Iraq:
The Sunnis and the Shias are at war with each other. Why not ship all the Sunnis to Wales. The displaced welsh will sort themselves out somehow. Obvously having an Islamic state in the middle of a christian one might cause a bit of tension, so the EU could give the Islamic State of Wales $6billion of aid to defend themselves.
Solution to the War in Iraq:
The Sunnis and the Shias are at war with each other. Why not ship all the Sunnis to Wales. The displaced welsh will sort themselves out somehow. Obvously having an Islamic state in the middle of a christian one might cause a bit of tension, so the EU could give the Islamic State of Wales $6billion of aid to defend themselves.
The problem everyone seems to miss about Israel is that it's an infant country yet. The Arabs had their land sidetracked to accomodae it's birth and in the big scheme of things 60 years is no amount of time for any ill feelings to have subsided. If you are hoping for peace any time soon you are hoping that human nature will not be as it is and although my wife is Jewish and therefore some of my children also, neither she nor I applaud the heavy handed manner that Israel conducts itself. My son was in Lebanon to cover the Israeli incursion there and he said had he been Lebanese there is no way he wouldn't be fighting Israel.
With regards to Tony Blair not making overtures to Iran and Syria, that would be a huge mistake indeed. People who feel they are disregarded, unheard etc are violent. That is true of anything from individuals to States. You cannot expect them to realistically be overjoyed at Israel's relatively new presence in their backyard and not talking to them and including them in vital talks about the region really will not help.It's not for us to sort out the Middle East, the Middle East must do that themselves ultimately. I'd imagine you'd be pretty ticked off if the Iranian President started trying to make decisions about the borders between England Scotland and Wales, so Iran and Syria are understandably incensed at US interferance. It's not team America ( and it's $6billion dollars worth of "moral support" for Israel) World Police you know, or at least it shouldn't be, and none of this should have anything to do with God!�
With regards to Tony Blair not making overtures to Iran and Syria, that would be a huge mistake indeed. People who feel they are disregarded, unheard etc are violent. That is true of anything from individuals to States. You cannot expect them to realistically be overjoyed at Israel's relatively new presence in their backyard and not talking to them and including them in vital talks about the region really will not help.It's not for us to sort out the Middle East, the Middle East must do that themselves ultimately. I'd imagine you'd be pretty ticked off if the Iranian President started trying to make decisions about the borders between England Scotland and Wales, so Iran and Syria are understandably incensed at US interferance. It's not team America ( and it's $6billion dollars worth of "moral support" for Israel) World Police you know, or at least it shouldn't be, and none of this should have anything to do with God!�
