Israel vs. Cyprus (life, country, people, culture)
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Israel (including the West Bank and Gaza) and Cyprus (including Turkish Northern Cyprus), both in the eastern Mediterranean, are strikingly similar in the following ways:
1) They've both been divided along ethnic/religious lines - in Israel between the Jews and Arabs, in Cyprus between the Greeks and the Turks. Their capitals, Jerusalem and Nicosia, have themselves been divided cities one way or another.
2) The Jewish and Greek halves are much more developed and democratic than their Arab/Turkish neighbours (both within Israel or Cyprus and the surrounding countries).
3) They were both under the nose of the British in the earlier 20th century (Israel as a British mandate, Cyprus as a British colony).
Of course, Israel and Cyprus have profound differences also, as follows:
1) Israel has about 10 times as many people as Cyprus, a correspondingly larger economy, and Israel also has a slightly higher per capita GDP than Cyprus.
2) Israel has much more scientific, technological, and military activity (including R&D) than Cyprus. In Israeli culture, there's much more non-conformity within the army and other institutions (influencing the course of scientific developments and so forth) than is the case in Cypriot culture. Israel is a Start-Up Nation where Cyprus is not. Moreover, Israel has had universities for upwards of 80 years whereas universities in Cyprus a) didn't get established until maybe the 1960s or certainly by the 1980s and b) aren't nearly as well known in the world.
3) Israel has had much more Jewish immigration in the past 60+ years than Greek Cyprus has had immigration from Greece and the Greek diaspora. Before that, Israel didn't have a Jewish majority for 2000 years while Cyprus has always had a Greek majority.
4) Israel is the only Jewish country in the world while Greek Cyprus is, ethnically speaking, a secondary country to Greece.
5) Israel doesn't have as much offshore financial activity as Cyprus.
6) Israel doesn't have civil marriage the way that Cyprus does.
Because it's interesting to see that in the Levant area, there's another small country besides Israel which is developed/democratic but surrounded by enemies and mired in internecine conflict of one sort or another.
Cyprus would be united with Greece if it weren't for Turkey. Turks only accounted for 20% of the population of Cyprus before the Turkish invasion. Cyprus is a lot closer to Turkey than it is to Greece. But, Cyprus will always be seen a Greek. It is possible that Greece and Turkey may go to all out war over the island at some point in the future.
Though, Greece has relinquished its claim of complete sovereignty of the island, Greek culture is still dominate on the island, even with illegal Turkish immigration in the north. You're looking at 850,000 Greeks and other legal westerners in the south vs 450,000 Turks, legal and illegal in the north.
Israel is similar in that it is a divided and contested land. Jews had not held political power there since the Hasmonian Dynasty and Herodian client kingdom of Rome ruled the southern Levant, over 1,900 years before Israels' reestablishment. Palestinians very well may be made up of the original Israelite inhabitance and 1300 BC century usurpers of Canaan, described in the bible and a hand few of other texts.
Judaism has in the past forced other people to convert to Judaism, example; the Edomites. Also, their have been documented Jewish kingdoms in Ethiopia, Yemen, and Southern Russian, all since the Levantine diaspora of "Holy Land" Jews. Many "Experts" try to claim that the Jewish Nation of Khazaria is largely a mythical revisionist invention. But, their are Hebrew coinage from southern Russia all the way to Poland that have been discovered. And, their are "a lot" of them.
Judaism has historically always sought converts, with exceptions being given to the relatively recent rise of Christianity and Islam in various nations that Jews had also lived in, taken into account. Even with all this acknowledged, one cannot deny that Jews are now a relatively small and United people similar to the Greeks.
When one coverts to Judaism he is more or less joining a national people and a religion. This is not necessarily true for any other major religion. I am part Polish Jewish myself and I take pride in that.
Cyprus would be united with Greece if it weren't for Turkey. Turks only accounted for 20% of the population of Cyprus before the Turkish invasion. Cyprus is a lot closer to Turkey than it is to Greece. But, Cyprus will always be seen a Greek. It is possible that Greece and Turkey may go to all out war over the island at some point in the future.
Though, Greece has relinquished its claim of complete sovereignty of the island, Greek culture is still dominate on the island, even with illegal Turkish immigration in the north. You're looking at 850,000 Greeks and other legal westerners in the south vs 450,000 Turks, legal and illegal in the north.
Israel is similar in that it is a divided and contested land. Jews had not held political power there since the Hasmonian Dynasty and Herodian client kingdom of Rome ruled the southern Levant, over 1,900 years before Israels' reestablishment. Palestinians very well may be made up of the original Israelite inhabitance and 1300 BC century usurpers of Canaan, described in the bible and a hand few of other texts.
Judaism has in the past forced other people to convert to Judaism, example; the Edomites. Also, their have been documented Jewish kingdoms in Ethiopia, Yemen, and Southern Russian, all since the Levantine diaspora of "Holy Land" Jews. Many "Experts" try to claim that the Jewish Nation of Khazaria is largely a mythical revisionist invention. But, their are Hebrew coinage from southern Russia all the way to Poland that have been discovered. And, their are "a lot" of them.
Judaism has historically always sought converts, with exceptions being given to the relatively recent rise of Christianity and Islam in various nations that Jews had also lived in, taken into account. Even with all this acknowledged, one cannot deny that Jews are now a relatively small and United people similar to the Greeks.
When one coverts to Judaism he is more or less joining a national people and a religion. This is not necessarily true for any other major religion. I am part Polish Jewish myself and I take pride in that.
Judaism has never forced others to covert to it nor do they look for converts. Hence the small population.
Judaism has never forced others to covert to it nor do they look for converts. Hence the small population.
Yes, forced conversion in Judaism is very well documented. I know the history, I am Jewish on my fathers side. I was raised Catholic, but Jewish history was part of my upbringing.
Yes, forced conversion in Judaism is very well documented. I know the history, I am Jewish on my fathers side. I was raised Catholic, but Jewish history was part of my upbringing.
Boy are you in the wrong forum if you are using a wiki as your source based on Christian sources in "Antiquities of the Jews" as it was based on misconceptions & misdirection's of the author.
Cyprus is reaching infinite more stable main events continuously compared to the tragic complex trajectory of Israel ironically not that far away. Never having any worries if I venture out into the mystical island of Cyprus. Even for the nightlife. Hopefully, they reach Ibiza's legendary unique atmosphere having to end up very ubiquitous all over every World. Cyprus is much more closer to Greece or Turkey than what is happening with Israel.
Cyprus is reaching infinite more stable main events continuously compared to the tragic complex trajectory of Israel ironically not that far away. Never having any worries if I venture out into the mystical island of Cyprus. Even for the nightlife. Hopefully, they reach Ibiza's legendary unique atmosphere having to end up very ubiquitous all over every World. Cyprus is much more closer to Greece or Turkey than what is happening with Israel.
Yeah, Greek Cyprus is essentially an eastward extension of Greece, and Turkish Cyprus is essentially an extension of Turkey.
Another key difference between the situation in Cyprus and that in Israel is that in Greek Cyprus, there have been no terrorist threats or attacks in Greek Cyprus at the hands of Turkish Cypriots since 1974 that I know of, sharply unlike Palestinian Arab threats and attacks that have been present in Israel and among Jews in the West Bank in the decades since. I don't think that Turkish Cypriots have been incited by the local authorities to rabidly hate Greeks and Greek Cyprus the way that the Palestinian Authority (and certainly groups like Hamas) in the West Bank and Gaza has incited local Arabs to hate Jews and Israelis with all their might. Plus, there's no BDS (boycott-divest-sanction) movement among pro-Turks towards Greek Cyprus (or Greece itself) the way there is among pro-Palestinians towards Israel, and the United Nations doesn't consistently make resolutions against Greek Cyprus or Greece the way it does against Israel, not nearly.
Anyone else confused about this thread or is it just me?
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