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I really dislike how we have to pretend Israel is a perfect nation that hasn't done anything shady. They may not be as bad as alot of the Middle East, but they aren't perfect, and for some reason you can't bring that up...
I really dislike how we have to pretend Israel is a perfect nation that hasn't done anything shady. They may not be as bad as alot of the Middle East, but they aren't perfect, and for some reason you can't bring that up...
I cannot rep you enough.
I grew up amongst Jews, went to school with Jews, and lived amongst Jews, and have a great admiration for the Jewish people. They have been overall a positive influence in America (and Canada, and Britain, etc.) At one time I greatly admired Israel, which for a long time seemed like the only Middle Eastern nation that shared our values. However, this isn't your father's Israel. The actions of Israel today, its repression of Palestinians, its drift away from democratic values towards racism, Putinism, a disregard for human rights, and a vicious ultra-nationalism fueled by the settler movement and espoused by politicians like Netanyahu and Lieberman have caused it to lose the moral authority it used to have to the point that today it has no more moral authority than Lebanon or Turkey. I support the Jewish people but I do not support Israel as it is right now - and if Israel continues to be an oppressive nation than the US should not financially support it, especially considering the US is more or less broke.
I really dislike how we have to pretend Israel is a perfect nation that hasn't done anything shady. They may not be as bad as alot of the Middle East, but they aren't perfect, and for some reason you can't bring that up...
I grew up amongst Jews, went to school with Jews, and lived amongst Jews, and have a great admiration for the Jewish people. They have been overall a positive influence in America (and Canada, and Britain, etc.) At one time I greatly admired Israel, which for a long time seemed like the only Middle Eastern nation that shared our values. However, this isn't your father's Israel. The actions of Israel today, its repression of Palestinians, its drift away from democratic values towards racism, Putinism, a disregard for human rights, and a vicious ultra-nationalism fueled by the settler movement and espoused by politicians like Netanyahu and Lieberman have caused it to lose the moral authority it used to have to the point that today it has no more moral authority than Lebanon or Turkey. I support the Jewish people but I do not support Israel as it is right now - and if Israel continues to be an oppressive nation than the US should not financially support it, especially considering the US is more or less broke.
I agree that it is hard to know if one is criticizing Israel if they just don't agree with Israeli policies or are anti-Semitic. I think it depends on who is doing the criticizing.
As for the remarks above, Israel is no more racist or oppressive than it has been in the past. Israeli Arabs still prefer to live in Israel rather than in any future Palestinian country. Israel is still the most democratic country in the region.
As for the American financial support, I think the Americans should first take care of their own people's problems before sending financial support to any other country except in emergency/humanitarian situations. (I don't think Israel should be singled out. For example Egypt has been receiving financial support all these years and nobody was criticizing the former Egyptian regime for its actions towards its people.)
I've come across a few irrational, far-right wing fascist Israelis and their supporters. I believe they are mostly ultra-Orthodox Jew, but there could be more sects involved. These are the ones who are loudest and most obnoxious about Israel. They commonly denounce any slight against Israel as being anti-Semitic in whole, and they commonly call more liberal Jews (the entire Reform sect, I believe) as anti-Semitic. They also routinely support the round up of Palestinians.
These are the ones who are most annoying about this subject. It's sad too, because they are supporting the very things that were imposed on them by Nazi Germany... yet they are so blind to it that they have no idea.
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