Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumBecause they were Jews
To observers across the world, Israelis reaction to the abduction and murder of three teenagers may seem a bit overwrought. Of course, the deaths of any three children, anywhere, is horrific. And yes, a tightly knit country like Israel will invariably respond with greater emotion than might citizens of other countries.
But still, how does one explain the presence of thousands of weeping people at the funeral, most of whom did not know the families? Why did Israelis across this country light hundreds of candles on sidewalks, hold each other and cry softly? Why were Jews across the world, in France and in Australia, in the U.S. and in South America, so mesmerized for three weeks as thousands upon thousands of Israeli soldiers searched for them? Sad as it undoubtedly is, many people might understandably ask, What am I missing here?
Its a fair question, with a tragically simple answer. What has Israelis so shaken is the simple fact that the three boys were hunted, kidnapped and murdered simply because they were Jews. They were not soldiers. They had not strayed into Arab villages. They were but the latest victims in a long, painful history of millions who preceded them killed because they were Jews.
Had they been Druze Israelis, they would not have been touched. Had they been Muslim Israelis, they would not have been kidnapped. Had they been Christian Israelis, they would not have been shot. A millennium after the Crusades, and almost three quarters of a century after the Holocaust, Jews are still dying simply because they are Jews. The quiet, dignified weeping throughout Israel is a response to our renewed awareness that this horror is simply never going to end.
http://m.nydailynews.com/opinion/jews-article-1.1852099
King_David
(14,851 posts)As Israeli author Amos Oz has noted, when his father grew up in Europe, the walls were covered with graffiti that said, Yids, go back to Palestine. So we came back to Palestine, and now the world shouts at us, Yids, get out of Palestine.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)"and now the world shouts at us, Yids, get out of Palestine."
No, the world has been telling Israel to get out of the West Bank by removing the illegal settlements, and Israel tells the world to go fu*k off.
The world doesn't care for apartheid and self victimization king.
BDS.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)"We can forgive you for killing our children, we can't forgive you for making us kill yours."
I'm just tired of children dying.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)I read all the posts, but never respond, because I have NO CLUE how this situation should be resolved
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)is illegally squatting on territory that does not belong to it?
You don't understand that Israel has been an occupying power in the West Bank for 47 years?
You don't understand that a state of apartheid exists in the West Bank by Israelis on Palestinians.
The easiest way to resolve a large portion of that problem is to remove the illegal settlements that never should have been built there in the first place.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)what came first? The chicken or the egg?
It is like an escalating circle of violence
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)settlements in the West Bank are illegal.
I'm not sure what the whole chicken-egg thing relates to, frankly, and you will have to be more clear on that.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)I totally agree that Palestine (West Bank) has been invaded by Israel and the Palestinians (or are they Arabs or Muslims or both?) in Jerusalem have been decimated, Israel is still OUR ally?
Shaktimaan
(5,397 posts)Considering what's been happening in Syria and Iraq and a hundred other places I really don't see how you can even remotely make that statement with any seriousness.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)there will resolve...but the Israel / Palestine problem seems to be FOREVER
Shaktimaan
(5,397 posts)What makes something horrific to you? How long it goes on for or how much horror is actually produced by it?
I mean, the Iraq war for example saw dozens of times the number of casualties and destruction in just three or four years versus the entirety of the I/P conflict. Black Septeber killed more Palestinians in a few weeks than Israel has, ever, added up over decades.
What exactly could possibly make it the most horrible thing on earth at any given moment?