Morally Damaged - Occupation?
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November 5th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I am surprised at this video and certainly hope that this is not a common sentiment because it is dangerous for Israel. While asking the question ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ one needs to step back and look at reality. Even before the establishment of the Jewish state, there were killings and massacres of Jewish settlers simply because they were Jews on ‘Arab land.’ Fivish was right. The idea of occupation is propaganda. When Israel was being attacked on all sides by Arab countries, the Palestinians were warned and so they retreated to the West Bank and Gaza to wait until the Jews were annihilated to come back. Their only problem was that Israel miraculously managed to survive. Many generous attempts were made to give the Palestinians land (despite the huge security risks) but they were all refused because they could not tolerate the idea of Jewish neighbors. Concessions and playing nice won’t bring peace. Just look at history.
February 28th, 2008 at 7:12 am
The sentiments expressed here are wrong! There is no occupation. You have only to check the Geneva conventions and UN resolutions to confirm this. Its all propoganda and lies. Jews should know the truth - the land of Israel is Jewish land. It was never ever Arab land.
Civilised nations build walls (Hadrians wall, great wall of china etc) rather than slaughter the enemy. Unfortunately the enemies of the Jews are implacable and one day will have to be destroyed.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
This Web site just puts video to overly simplistic ideas. I resent the notion that if you believe in G-d and learn Torah, you will pray for war just as these right-wing Jews do. On the other hand, if you are secular and question G-d’s very existence, then you’re willing to give Israel’s enemies whatever they want because it’s strictly a political problem.
First of all, not every Jew is either fervently secular or fervently religious. In Israel, the majority of the population is neither. No matter where you live, Judaism is a constant journey. Second, among those of us who believe in G-d, take Judaism seriously, and believe that Israel is the destiny of the Jewish people, not everyone is right wing. I believe in Torah AND Zionism. I am a peacenik at heart (albeit a realistic and pragmatic one) who goes to shul every week.
Fact is this: A clear majority of Israelis and a clear majority of Palestinians want to see two states living side by side. But both sides also have a bad history of electing or being led by extremist governments (Hamas, Netanyahu, Arafat, Begin). For all of their faults, Olmert and Abbas both lead moderate governments. Give them a chance. Twenty-five years ago, the very idea of discussion taking place was inconceivable. Will they figure out all the answers in the next six months? Probably not. But every step counts, and patience is a virtue.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I may be opening a whole different can of worms here, but:
I see this as a problem of mixing up the State of Israel with Judaism, of not separating synagogue and state. Israel was set up as a Jewish homeland and indeed it should protect Jews when necessary, but this conflict is not a religious one. This is a political conflict between the State of Israel, the Palestinian minority, and the surrounding Arab nations.
Extremists on both sides use overly-broad, grandiose, and vague language to sell political conflicts as religious ones. Whenever one side calls another “evil” or refers to an entire ethnicity or nation as “our enemies”, they are refusing to address the important nuances and details of the issue. Remember when President Bush called Saddam Hussein “evil”? That had nothing to do with whether or not he had weapons of mass destruction, but who can argue in favor of an “evil” man?
State security is, of course, extremely important. However, if Israel dehumanizes the entire Palestinian people because of the actions of its extremists (no matter how many of them there are), then it is simply oppressing an entire group of people for the actions of its radicals. Israel should treat the Palestinian people with respect and invite them to fully integrate into the nation, rather than throwing them behind some useless concrete wall.
If the entire Palestinian population lived with Jewish Israelis, it would be more difficult for extremists to bomb Israel without killing their own people. Also, if the IDF were to conduct a raid, both Jewish Israelis and Palestinians would undergo the trauma, and the IDF would be forced to be more careful and less brutal with its tactics, causing less outcry against them.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
It just shows how sick so many Jews are that they fall over themselves to sell out our homeland to a colonizing imperialist empire. To all Leftist Jews, learn Rambam Hilchot Melachim to learn the actual laws of Jewish warfare rather then perverted Goy beliefs that have infected so many Jews and raised a generation filled with self-hating treasonous Jews.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Great work!