MUST READ: The ideological roots of media bias against Israel

[shira]

http://fathomjournal.org/the-ideological-roots-of-media-bias-against-israel/

The West today is preoccupied with a feeling of guilt about the use of power. That’s why the Jews, in their state, are now held up in the press and elsewhere as the prime example of the abuse of power. That’s why for so many the global villain, as portrayed in newspapers and on TV, is none other than the Jewish soldier, or the Jewish settler. This is not because the Jewish settler or soldier is responsible for more harm than anyone else on earth – no sane person would make that claim. It is rather because these are the heirs to the Jewish banker or Jewish commissar of the past. It is because when moral failure raises its head in the Western imagination, the head tends to wear a skullcap.

As one BBC reporter informed a Jewish interviewee on camera several weeks ago, after a Muslim terrorist murdered four Jewish shoppers at a Paris supermarket, “Many critics of Israel’s policy would suggest that the Palestinians suffered hugely at Jewish hands as well.” Everything, that is, can be linked to the occupation, and Jews can be blamed even for the attacks against them. This isn’t the voice of the perpetrators, but of the enablers. The voice of the enablers is less honest than that of the perpetrators, and more dangerous for being disguised in respectable English. This voice is confident and growing in volume. This is why the year 2015 finds many Jews in Western Europe eyeing their suitcases again.

The Jews of the Middle East are outnumbered by the Arabs of the Middle East 60 to 1, and by the world’s Muslims 200 to 1. Half of the Jews in Israel are there because their families were forced from their homes in the 20th century not by Christians in Europe, but by Muslims in the Middle East. Israel currently has Hezbollah on its northern border, al-Qaeda on its northeastern and southern borders, and Hamas in Gaza. None of these groups seek an end to the occupation, but rather openly wish to destroy Israel. But it is naïve to point out these facts. The facts don’t matter: We are in the world of symbols. In this world, Israel has become a symbol of what is wrong – not Hamas, not Hezbollah, not Great Britain, not America, not Russia.

I believe it’s important to recognize the pathologies at play in order to make sense of things. In this context it’s worth pointing out that I’m hardly the first to identify a problem – Jewish communities like this one, and particularly organizations like Bicom, identified a problem long ago, and have been expending immense efforts to correct it. I wish this wasn’t necessary, and it shouldn’t be necessary, but it undoubtedly is necessary, and becoming more so, and I have great respect for these efforts. Many people, particularly young people, are having trouble maintaining their balance amid this ideological onslaught, which is successfully disguised as journalism or analysis, and is phrased in the language of progressive politics. I would like to help them keep their bearings.

MUCH MORE AT LINK ABOVE...

[Scootaloo]

1. What Mr. Friedman misses...

That’s why for so many the global villain, as portrayed in newspapers and on TV, is none other than the Jewish soldier, or the Jewish settler. This is not because the Jewish settler or soldier is responsible for more harm than anyone else on earth – no sane person would make that claim. It is rather because these are the heirs to the Jewish banker or Jewish commissar of the past.

The "Jewish Banker" was always a straw man. A shadowy assumption made to put a face to economic troubles - a face that was, of course "not us." The global economy was never manipulated by "Jewish bankers." There were no grand Hebrew plots for world takeover as one finds in these froth-mouthed conspiracy theories. It also carries the assumption that all Jews are wrapped up in this grand conspiracy.

Israeli soldiers and "settlers" are not ghosts. They are not figments of imagination. They are not illusory alien faces made to explain internal problems. No, the soldiers enforcing the occupation of Palestine and Golan are very real, as are the settlers who take advantage of that oppression. The complaints about them are focused on what actual evidence shows that they do. It's not a conspiracy theory to say that Israeli soldiers beat the living shit out of children. it's not a conspiracy theory to say that Israeli settlers burn and pillage and terrorize the Palestinians whose lands they are invading. It's not a conspiracy theory to point out that while settlers are doing this, the soldiers are there, guns pointed at the Palestinians who are being abused.

[shira]

4. What you're missing is that an AWFUL lot of news stories on Israel.....

.....are either misleading, false, exaggerated, or complete BS.

Not all, but a LOT. Meanwhile, the real threats Israel is facing (in particular its Jews) are always minimized, making Israeli actions appear almost always to be malicious in intent. Terrorists in Gaza are but innocent victims, no evidence of human-shielding or firing from populated areas. Bogus claims of Apartheid and Genocide. Portraying terrorist thugs on the Mavi Marmara as victims of the IDF. Anything Israel does in defense is disproportionate.

It's a constant drumbeat that never stops, and certainly wouldn't stop if Israel were to completely hand over the W.Bank and Gaza tomorrow, lifting its siege, ripping out all settlers, paying $250B for refugee compensation, etc. Once rockets are fired over the new Israeli borders into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel will once again be accused of war crimes for daring to defend its citizens. The muckraking will continue. The UN will only investigate Israel. This is what the world is supposed to see, not reality.

It's a rigged game.

This rigging leads to 40% of Europeans believing that Israel is currently waging a war of extermination against the Palestinians.

A myth, like the Jewish bankers and Elders of Zion.

================

You had no idea just yesterday how bad France's Jews had it. They make up <1% of the population and yet 50% of all racist crimes are committed against them in France. How could you not know this? Well, it's not your fault as you're not really supposed to know that. It's not something important you need to know about.

Again, a rigged game.

[Scootaloo]

9. And the Gish Gallop goes on.

The real threats Israel faces are indeed not much reported on. After all, all the fake non-threats it faces are so much more interesting to western audiences. Who wants to know about Israel's economic slump and worsening diplomatic relations with its allies, when we can read exciting headlines about how Iran has been "on the verge" of nuclear weapons since 1998? Who needs to know about the rise of fascist parties and politics in Israel, when we can instead have Bibi solemnly telling us we need to attack Iraq, to keep ourselves and Israel safe? What gets better headlines Shira? News of Israel's shady spiderweb dance with Saudi Wahhabist groups (including Hamas, back in the day) that threaten not just Israel but the entire region, or dire accusations that not buying sabra hummus makes you a Nazi?

To address your other points...

1) The mere state of being Palestinian does not make one a terrorist. Thus when people decry the large loss of civilian life owing to Israel's use of explosive incendiary devices on residential areas, it's not saying "terrorists in Gaza are but innocent victims."

2) Similarly, the peopel aboard the mavi Marmara were not "terrorists." terrorist, again, has an actual meaning, and "hitting a soldier wuth a deck chair when you are boarded in international waters" is not part of that definition. Just because an israeli soldier shoots you in the back of the head does not make you a terrorist, either.

3) Apartheid is a reality. Several million people live under Israeli rule, with no say in that rule, becuase htye are not jewish. Those people live under a separate set of laws from the Jews - a set of laws that restricts them more, punishs them more harshly, and limits them further. because they are not Jewish. The moment Israel allowed its citizens to set up colonies in the west bank, gaza, and Golan, it became an apartheid state.

4) Israel's end goal in this conflict absolutely is extermination of the Palestinian people. perhaps not at an individual level, but certainly as a people, the goal is eradication. Nothing, no moment in the history of Israel, shows any action or effort otherwise. From the eradication of 700,000 Arabs from the territory israel wanted to claim, to the disenfranchisement, theft, and abuse of those who yet remained, then the brutalities of nearly fifty years of occupation and pseudo-annexation. The efforts by Israel's organs abroad to fight any and all recognition of Palestinian rights or existence. The claims ranging from people like you all the way up to prime ministers, proclaiming that there is no such people. And that when Israel kills their children, its' their parents' fault. This war will not stop until either the rest of the world forces Israel to halt, or Israel succeeds in its eradication of the Palestinian people.

Again. Unlike Jewish banker conspiracies and the Protocols... this stuff is really happening. You seem to exist in a space where anything negative spoken about Israel is both completely false, and targets all Jews. I suppose this belief provides a nice shield, so that you don't have to face the reality of what you support - Abuse.

[shira]

11. Your entire post is ridiculous & shows you're part of the problem....

....not part of the solution.

I'll start with your 1st paragraph for now by quoting Friedman, who knows very well what the hell is going on:

Israel currently has Hezbollah on its northern border, al-Qaeda on its northeastern and southern borders, and Hamas in Gaza. None of these groups seek an end to the occupation, but rather openly wish to destroy Israel. But it is naïve to point out these facts. The facts don’t matter:

All are very real threats to Jews who've been under constant threat and who have been attacked relentlessly by terrorists targeting them from across their borders since 1948, well before the excuse of occupation and settlements. Like the Fedayeen & Syrians shooting from the Golan Heights down into Israel.

You mentioned Iran, but they are behind Hezbollah and Hamas. They've been at war vs. Israel for years. They've made their deadly intentions perfectly clear during that time.

Now for your points 1 and 2:

1) The mere state of being Palestinian does not make one a terrorist. Thus when people decry the large loss of civilian life owing to Israel's use of explosive incendiary devices on residential areas, it's not saying "terrorists in Gaza are but innocent victims."

Hamas in Gaza are terrorists. They're not victims or innocent civilians no matter how much their fans and defenders want to portray them as such in order to demonize Jews for defending themselves.

2) Similarly, the peopel aboard the Mavi Marmara were not "terrorists." terrorist, again, has an actual meaning, and "hitting a soldier wuth a deck chair when you are boarded in international waters" is not part of that definition. Just because an israeli soldier shoots you in the back of the head does not make you a terrorist, either.

Those who attacked the IDF on the Marmara were Jew hating supporters of Hamas. That's kinda important to note. Here they are before the incident singing about killing the Jews.

And here they are preparing weapons well in advance. Not just "deck chairs".

[shira]

12. Addressing your points 3 and 4...

3) Apartheid is a reality. Several million people live under Israeli rule, with no say in that rule, becuase htye are not jewish. Those people live under a separate set of laws from the Jews - a set of laws that restricts them more, punishs them more harshly, and limits them further. because they are not Jewish. The moment Israel allowed its citizens to set up colonies in the west bank, gaza, and Golan, it became an apartheid state.

What a joke.

I'm expecting some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory for this, but no western nations accuse Israel of Apartheid. None of the major NGO's like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty have labeled Israel Apartheid. Full Stop.

We've beaten this dead horse so many times here. If you want to continue on another thread, maybe dig one up from the past - we can continue there.

4) Israel's end goal in this conflict absolutely is extermination of the Palestinian people. perhaps not at an individual level, but certainly as a people, the goal is eradication. Nothing, no moment in the history of Israel, shows any action or effort otherwise. From the eradication of 700,000 Arabs from the territory israel wanted to claim, to the disenfranchisement, theft, and abuse of those who yet remained, then the brutalities of nearly fifty years of occupation and pseudo-annexation. The efforts by Israel's organs abroad to fight any and all recognition of Palestinian rights or existence. The claims ranging from people like you all the way up to prime ministers, proclaiming that there is no such people. And that when Israel kills their children, its' their parents' fault. This war will not stop until either the rest of the world forces Israel to halt, or Israel succeeds in its eradication of the Palestinian people.

If Israel's goal is the extermination of the Palestinian people, they're doing the worst job of genocide in the history of mankind. The Palestinian population in both Gaza and the W.Bank has only grown since 1967, at least as much as Israel's. The Jews have repeatedly offered the Palestinians practically everything they've called for WRT 2 states. These are not the actions of a nation intent on obliterating the other. The Palestinians have rejected all offers for peace and 2 states w/o so much as a reasonable counter-offer. Obviously - using your logic they prefer all the nasty shit you just mentioned in #4 over their own freedom, sovereignty, and yes - existence as a people. Actually, as we all know their leaders want Israel and its Jews gone and Israel's offers don't give them an easy way to attain that goal. Hence the rejections.

Again. Unlike Jewish banker conspiracies and the Protocols... this stuff is really happening. You seem to exist in a space where anything negative spoken about Israel is both completely false, and targets all Jews. I suppose this belief provides a nice shield, so that you don't have to face the reality of what you support - Abuse.

There's criticism and then there's tinfoil hat crank conspiracy lunatic nonsense. This "stuff" is really not happening and as Matti Friedman eloquently put it...

In the aftermath of last summer’s Gaza war, and in light of events in Europe in recent months, it should be clear that something deep and toxic is going on. Understanding what that is, it seems to me, will help us understand something important not only about journalism but about the Western mind and the way it sees the world.

What presents itself as political criticism, as analysis, or as journalism, is coming to sound more and more like a new version of a much older complaint – that Jews are troublemakers, a negative force in world events, and that if these people, as a collective, could somehow be made to vanish, we would all be better off. This is, or should be, a cause for alarm, and not only among people sympathetic to Israel or concerned with Jewish affairs. What is in play right now has less to do with the world of politics than with the worlds of psychology and religion, and less to do with Israel than with those condemning Israel.

[Scootaloo]

16. I'm puzzled why you decided to split this drivel into two posts.

First off, you're sort of right, I'm not part of the solution you want. We've seen what your "solution" is, Shira. I'm not a snuff fetishist, after all.

1) I speak of those people who die and suffer and are innocent. You just continue calling them terrorists and wishing death on them.

2) Singing a shitty song and then using plates to fight back when attacked does not make someone a terrorist, Shira.

3) There is no equality between the Jews and non-Jews both ruled by Israel. Jews hold a place of privilege and power by state mandate. Both within Israel, and absolutely within the territories beyond its borders that it rules. This is apartheid.

4) I didn't say "genocide." I said Israel seeks the eradication of Palestine. The scattering of its people. The dissolution of its culture. The conquest of its lands. The forbidding of its name. It's very Roman, in its way.

[shira]

17. Your posts are still fictitious, out to lunch....

1) I speak of those people who die and suffer and are innocent. You just continue calling them terrorists and wishing death on them.

I'm speaking of Hamas and you know it. I find it incredible you see them as innocent victims.

2) Singing a shitty song and then using plates to fight back when attacked does not make someone a terrorist, Shira.

Look at you downplaying what those thugs did against the IDF. They prepared for a confrontation well in advance. Deck chairs and plates? More like metal bars and stun grenades.

I should've included the part where the IHH terror group behind the Marmara attacks was investigated and charged by Turkey for its involvement with Al-Qaeda:

http://www.voltairenet.org/article181842.html

3) There is no equality between the Jews and non-Jews both ruled by Israel. Jews hold a place of privilege and power by state mandate. Both within Israel, and absolutely within the territories beyond its borders that it rules. This is apartheid.

If it's apartheid, then find one western nation that calls Israel and apartheid state. Name one major NGO like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International that labels Israel as Apartheid.

You shouldn't have any problem doing this.

I predict you'll come back with some tinfoil hat conspiracy to explain why no one credible buys the Apartheid slander.

4) I didn't say "genocide." I said Israel seeks the eradication of Palestine. The scattering of its people. The dissolution of its culture. The conquest of its lands. The forbidding of its name. It's very Roman, in its way.

40% of Europeans say Israel is conducting a war of extermination vs. the Palestinians. You seem to have concurred, but now you're pulling back. Of course you don't think 40% of Europeans are out of their goddamned minds.

As I wrote before, if Israel sought the eradication of Palestine, they're doing a terrible job of it. Over the past 15 years, Israeli heads of state have offered the Palestinians nearly everything they demand WRT a peaceful 2-state solution. This is the polar opposite of wanting Palestine gone in favor of a greater Israel. Rather than acknowledge that, you'll go on claiming Israel has never offered the Palestinians their own state & that they want no Palestine - ever.



No one sane buys the false narrative you're selling.

[Scootaloo]

18. Not at all, Shira. See, let's start from the top.

I'm speaking of Hamas and you know it. I find it incredible you see them as innocent victims.

Well the thing is, I'm not speaking about Hamas, a point I made clear from the beginning. You are conflating "Hamas" and "Palestinian," as you are prone to do.

I should've included the part where the IHH terror group behind the Marmara attacks was investigated and charged by Turkey for its involvement with Al-Qaeda:

http://www.voltairenet.org/article181842.html

Throwing plates and chairs at soldiers who are attacking your boat in international waters is not an act of terrorism, Shira.

If it's apartheid, then find one western nation that calls Israel and apartheid state. Name one major NGO like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International that labels Israel as Apartheid.

You shouldn't have any problem doing this.

I predict you'll come back with some tinfoil hat conspiracy to explain why no one credible buys the Apartheid slander.

In 2009, a study was performed by the South African Department of Foreign Affairs on this exact subject. They spent eighteen months collecting and analyzing data. The finding was that, indeed, Israel fits the itnernational definitions of colonization and apartheid. The report was published in 2012 as a book, Beyond Occupation.

I'm confident that the government of South Africa is pretty familiar with the notion of apartheid.

40% of Europeans say Israel is conducting a war of extermination vs. the Palestinians. You seem to have concurred, but now you're pulling back. Of course you don't think 40% of Europeans are out of their goddamned minds.

I do concurr. I'm just also explaining to you that "eradication" and "genocide' are different ideas.

As I wrote before, if Israel sought the eradication of Palestine, they're doing a terrible job of it. Over the past 15 years, Israeli heads of state have offered the Palestinians nearly everything they demand WRT a peaceful 2-state solution. This is the polar opposite of wanting Palestine gone in favor of a greater Israel.

"Nearly." That's an important word, isn't it? of course, what the Palestinains "demand" is what is theirs by right and intrnational law, and by intentionally falling short - Or mostly, falling very far - Israel knows their "offers" will not be accepted. And then what does Israel do? It continues expansion into Palestine and oppression of Palestinians. If Israel were serious about peace, it wouldn't continue to make the situation worse. Ergo we must conclude that israel has no interest in peace. And why would it? it's winning, after all.

It took four centuries to eradicate the First Nations from the United States. it took two hundred years to eradicate the Khoisan from south Africa and another hundred went into trying to eradicate the Xosha and Zulu. In its seventy years, Israel's done as fair job as can be expected, eradicating Palestine.

[shira]

19. LoL. More proof that some people are just impervious to facts & reasoning....

Like religious fanatics who will not accept or acknowledge anything that destroys their worldview, the politically compromised are the same.

[Scootaloo]

20. Yes, you are.

Fact one: Living (and dying) in Gaza does not make you a terrorist.

You fail to understand this.

Fact two: Throwing plates at someone boarding your boat does not make you a terrorist.

Something else you fail to understand.

Fact three: South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs holds that Israel practices apartheid.

You're simply wrong.

Fact four: Genocide and eradication are different things. Israel has been eradicating Palestine from day one

You seem to have a glimmer of understanding here, to judge from your plethora of 'yeahbut" attempts on the issue.

[shira]

21. LoL. n/t

[Scootaloo]

22. I've never played league of Legends. Is it good?

[aranthus]

2. The media?

All of the media? Really? Is there this kind of bias against Israel in the Wall Street Journal? The Washington Times? Fox News? Talk Radio? What about media in Europe that isn't on the Left? You already know the answers to these questions. Which is why I find it interesting that the author titles his piece "The-Ideological-Roots-of-Media-Bias-Against-Israel." Because ideology does seem to be a cause of bias in the media. He just doesn't actually discuss the ideology that seems to be at the heart of it.

[shira]

3. Not sure that's how Friedman titled his speech.

Looks like Fathom gave a title to it themselves.

[aranthus]

5. You could be right,

in which case the title doesn't match the talk.

[enough]

6. What? Media bias against Israel? Certainly not in the US. (nt)

[guillaumeb]

7. media bias against israel?

The Palestinians are generally portrayed in the US media as monsters who want only the complete destruction of Israel. The Israelis, by contrast, are always the innocent victims, even as Israeli policies are clearly designed to create an Arab-free Israel.
Prior to the partition, 100% of Palestine was settled by a mixture of Semites, both Arab and Jew. Then came the partition, a plan imposed by European colonial powers that arbitrarily decided that the Palestinians who lived in that area, their ancestral homeland as well, would be displaced by the Jews.
The Palestinians did not take this well, so various Israeli terror gangs, chief among them Irgun and Stern, hastened the displacement process by means of mass shootings and bombings.
The end result of 65 years of land theft is that the remaining Palestinians are displaced from 78% of their lands, a process that has continued from 1967 to this day. How often do we read that this Israeli seizure of land is illegal under International Law? Rarely. The western media, when it refers to the illegal seizure of lands at all, simply refers to "disputed territory" as if the land theft was only a matter of opinion.

[aranthus]

8. You are evidence of it.

Would you have this incomplete, one sided, inaccurate, and yes, biased, understanding of the history of the conflict if it weren't for what you learned from the media? Okay, and also academia if you went to college?

[Scootaloo]

10. Maybe you should make the effort to correct what he says

Let's see how accurate your perspective is. it ought to be fascinating.

[aranthus]

13. I have found that trying to correct people who hold these beliefs is pointless.

[font color=blue]That seems to include you. In any event, this one time:[/font]

Prior to the partition, 100% of Palestine was settled by a mixture of Semites, both Arab and Jew.

[font color=blue]Not true and complete: The original Palestinian Mandate included what is now Jordan. However, Britain, in violation of the Mandate, split off Jordan and gave it 100% to the Arabs. So only about 20% of Palestine was populated by Jews. Second, the Jews and the Arabs were two separate peoples, each of whom was entitled to a separate national identity. Third, Although there was intermingling, the Jews were a majority in some areas, and the Arabs in others. So what is the point of this statement? It’s to set up the false, “imposed by European colonial powers” meme below. Nonsense in the service of nonsense.[/font]

Then came the partition, a plan imposed by European colonial powers that arbitrarily decided that the Palestinians who lived in that area, their ancestral homeland as well, would be displaced by the Jews.

[font color=blue]Except that no partition was imposed by European colonial powers or any outsiders at all. The partition plan was a suggestion for resolving the conflict in Palestine peacefully. It was one of many that the Palestinians had rejected previously, and have rejected to this day. And the British, to whom it was directed, had told the world that they weren’t going to enforce it unless the Arabs agreed. Nothing was going to be imposed on them. Second, and more egregious, is the complete failure to accept or mention that Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jews, and that the Jews have as much or more right to a state in the area as anyone. Third, there was no plan to displace Arabs until the Arabs launched a war to displace the Jews.[/font]

The Palestinians did not take this well, so various Israeli terror gangs, chief among them Irgun and Stern, hastened the displacement process by means of mass shootings and bombings.

[font color=blue]The Palestinians started a war to drive out the Jews. Context is important. Irgun and Lehi were in part responding to Arab violence.[/font]

The end result of 65 years of land theft is that the remaining Palestinians are displaced from 78% of their lands, a process that has continued from 1967 to this day. How often do we read that this Israeli seizure of land is illegal under International Law? Rarely. The western media, when it refers to the illegal seizure of lands at all, simply refers to "disputed territory" as if the land theft was only a matter of opinion.

[font color=blue]There was no land theft. Also, the assumption that all of Palestine is “their lands” meaning Arab land, is just historical political and factual nonsense. Did the Palestinians own all of the land? No. Did they ever have sovereignty over any of the land? No. Were they the only people living on it? No.[/font]

[guillaumeb]

14. fact vs belief

The mandate of which we speak was European colonizers deciding how to divide up territory that was not theirs to divide. These divisions set up much of the conflict that persists to this day in all of the African territory. This division by colonialists is fact, easily researchable, not opinion.

Second, the decision to give the Jews a homeland in Palestine arose from the Balfour Declaration, a 1917 statement of principle by then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour that laid out Balfour's support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Again, easily searchable. To claim that the Declaration was a "suggestion" is disingenuous at best. When a great power makes a statement of support for an idea, and Great Britain was a great power in 1917, the word suggestion is inaccurate. Balfour, as a powerful member of government, was not expressing his personal opinion but was diplomatically expressing the wishes of the British government.

As to the idea that Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jews, might I make the claim that because the United States is/was the ancestral homeland of the First Nations that partition of this country in favor of the First Peoples is proper and just?

I believe that a careful reading of my statement will show that I referred to the fact that Palestine was settled by "a mixture of Semites, both Arab and Jew". Where is there any failure on my part?

As to who started what, in 1946 the King David Hotel was bombed by the Jewish terror gang, Irgun. The head of this band of terrorists was Menachem Begin. Careful readers of history might remember Begin as a Prime Minister in Israel.
This was followed in 1948 by the massacre at Deir Yassin, also planned by Begin. 260 civilians died at the hands of the Irgun terrorists.

There is too much evidence about Israeli theft of Palestinian lands available to reply further. Any neutral reading of the historical record supports my position on this.

[aranthus]

23. As I said, pointless.

I will offer one example of why, and then we don't have to discuss this further. Your original post referred to the "partition," which most people on this board recognize refers to the Partition Resolution of 1947, and not the Balfour Declaration of 1917. So I pointed out that the Partition Resolution was merely a suggestion, which is entirely true. Instead of conceding the point, or trying to come up with some argument against it, you shifted the goal posts to the Balfour Declaration, which of course, didn't partition anything either. I have too much to do to waste my time with that sort of game playing. Have a nice day.

[Scootaloo]

15. Thanks. I just wanted to see what your perspective was

You didn't disappoint.

[question everything]

24. Israel has nothing to do with this

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, an Egyptian cleric, Muhammad Hussein Yaqub, speaking in January 2009 on Al Rahma, a popular religious TV station in Egypt, made the contours of the new hate impeccably clear: “If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them…They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing…You must believe that we will fight, defeat and annihilate them until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth…You will not survive as long as a single one of us remains.”

From http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026175415

And now, with the war in the Ukraine, each side is blaming... the Jews.