Thank you, your apology is accepted. I do disagree with you on this though. Israel is/was supposed to be a beacon of democracy. This is why it has received so much support over the years. Policies like the one just revoked and other harsh ones aimed at humiliation do absolutely no good and I won't stand for it as a jewish person.
funny, i didn't see anything about this on CNN the past couple days. but i did see looped footage on HRH david de rothschild's plastiki voyage about 7 times. ohh the irony..
Exactly. I have A LOT of jewish friends. And I hate how people will sometimes use this as a jew thing when it is in fact an israeli thing, they don't support or advocate what Israel does like this for ex, by any means. Jewish Americans are american first. And to the vid Mathloom posted, that is Norman Finkelstein, a jewish american who speaks out against the Israeli occupation, he is one of the most knowledgable people and one of the best debaters I have ever seen. There is a vid from the 80s where he is debating Wolf Blitzer on the matter and completely owns the **** out of him so bad Wolf Just walks out at the end.
Oh that's nice of Israel. Shoes, clothes, and some crayons. lol Stop and think about this for a second.... Destroy homes, uproot families, and deprive them of shoes and clothes??!? Absolutely pathetic. Us Americans are either too ignorant or pretend to play ignorant when it comes to human rights violations committed by Israel.
I'm not in favor of depriving people of shoes. But I am also not in favor of people hating on Israel. I think they made the right move by changing this now.
I'm an American first and a PROUD Jew. I'm a firm believer that Jews should have a homeland (have you been to Israel? It's absolutely beautiful). To walk the streets in Jerusalem on Sabbath is something you can't recreate. It's hard to see Israelis trade criminals and murderers for the dead bodies of captured soldiers. On the flip side, it's hard to know that they are holding prisoners that probably did very little wrong. It's hard to see missiles flying into jewish towns and schools. It's hard to see Israeli tanks pointed at kids throwing rocks. Two sides, both are wrong. No more jihad, no more heavy handed responses. Israelis need to learn that heavy handed responses only breed more terrorists. Palestinians need to accept that they should give Israel no reason to create new hyper-defensive policies (and they lead to ridiculous ones like... NO SHOES FOR YOU!!!). On passover, we are reminded how lucky we are to not be slaves and can live the life we choose. It is wrong to deny somebody else the same.
Fair post, though I don't necessarily agree with everything in it. Although I have to say that walking the streets of Jerusalem is actually literally being recreated.
I walked the streets of East Jerusalem when it was part of the Kingdom of Jordan. Point of view is everything, isn't it.
The Holocaust was a real tragedy of historic proportions. 9/11 was a tragedy of lesser but also important proportion. Just like we know now 9/11 was used by militaristic opportunistic leaders to scare a nation and a people in a very inappropriate way, so is the tragedy of the Holocaust being used. We should all be sorry about this.
It's not as moronic and insulting as banning shoes. The Palestinians are one step away from living like beasts.
Seriously, and I don't even know why I'm responding to this... stop thinking. Can you guess where these shoes are from? I see your statement is filled with valid points and arguments. It is so flawless that there is no more need for discussion as you have identified all the problems and given reasonable solutions to said problems.
Try to avoid getting off scale and leaving the debate . Do you agree that the Holocaust is used in an inapproriate way to scare and manipulate Jewish folk for political purposes by some Israeli and Jewish politicians? I think that is also what Finkelstein and some other progressive Jews are claiming.
I don't get your question. Manipulate "Jewish folk" for what political purpose? The continued financial and moral support of Israel? Look, I don't have a problem with what Finkelstein is saying. I have screamed with some Jewish friends and family over the topic of how bad (and sickening) some of Israel's policies are. I recently argued with my grandmother that our current administration was right to criticize Israel for continued expansion. Some of these kids, who are very religious, think Israel can do no wrong. On the flip side, and I have already seen the Arab/Muslim/Pro-palestinian majority on this website (I don't really care... this is a Rockets website), the large majority of anti-Israel folk see the Palestinians as being completely innocent regardless of what extreme actions they take. As I've said before, the blame lies on both sides. The extremists on both sides, who use religion as justification, thinks the other side is a criminal that needs to be uprooted. I'm not going to speak on behalf of Jews as a whole. Do I think the Holocaust is used in an inappropriate manner to push agenda? Maybe. This is kind of a loaded question. Could one argue that the Israeli policies are reaction to previous terror attacks? Yep, and a lot of people designing these policies are the sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors. Could one argue that these policies really only put Israel in more danger? Yep, and I think this is where Finkelstein should hammer in his argument. Do I think we should continue to discuss the horrors of it and the lessons we should all learn (not just jews) from it? Hell yes I do. Also, please define what you mean by a "progressive jew." I am willing to debate more about this as long as we continue in a civil manner. The second this goes south (anti-Zionist), I'm going to spend my time and energy in something much more beneficial to the world.
A reasonable answer. Netanayahu and his ilk use fear and remembrance of the Holocaust to frighten people into their obstructionist policies. Bush-Cheney were able to use 9/11 to scare the richest and incredibly dominant military power the USA into doing their bidding on the Iraq War and the "War on Terror". Similarly the Holocaust is used to frighten Jews into supporting what for lack of a better word I will call "right wing" or anti-peace or territorial annexation policies. By "progressive Jew" I meant folks who are not right wing militaristic types like Netanyahu.
