Dear Swede,
I’m sure you are a nice and wonderful person, but I have to be honest. I don’t care what you or the world thinks anymore. I’ve become tired of hearing distorted truths about my home. I’ve become tired of thinking about my national identity as a battle. I’m going to keep living my life, and I’m going to keep supporting my government to make sure that I can keep living my life.
I really don’t care if you think my neighbors are out to destroy my country or not. (They are by the way.) I don’t care if you think we are trying to remove non-Jews from Israel. (We aren’t by the way.) I really don’t care. Instead, I care about getting other Jews to feel proud of our home and our nation. I care about working 6 days a week, and bringing food to my family, and helping the company I work for become a better company.
I care about my friends and the people near me, and about making life worth living. If I have to do that with your accusing eye constantly looking for bad things to say about Israel, my home, then so be it.
But frankly, if you can’t work to stop evil in the world, if you can’t stop the Sudanese from raping, the Syrians from killing tens of thousands, the Arab countries from repressing women, the corrupt governments in South America, the totalitarian countries of Russia and China, then why in the world should I care what you think about the Democracy I live in?
Why should I care what you think about the my home which helps the people in Haiti, and helps the Sudanese build new farms, who helps the Indians with irrigation technologies? Why should I care what you think of us when we are the one force for good in the region? I don’t, and if you keep shaking your fists at those terrible Jews then you are just going to become dissapointed when we continue to flourish, thrive, grow, and improve the world for those willing to accept our help.
אבי
Good letter/article!
Instead of Sweden bashing the Israelis. why don’t they actually open thier eyes and see the thruth, instead of Arab lies? Do they condemn China? No..Russia…No…..Argentina….No.
They support fascist countries all around the world whilst condemning the one democratic country in an are dominated by religious fanatics and extremists. Sweden loves it’s reputation for neutrality. This is just a smokescreen for a country that doesn’twant to be involved in anything in case they get called bad names. Hypocrites every one!
Hi
I am also from Sweden and I agree with lots of what the article says but it is funny how you Andy has become some sort of expert of Sweden. We do condem both China and Russia and then you are saying that we support fascist states. Can I ask where you come from? England or USA, really doesnt matter because both those countries has always been the biggest supporters of fascist states. Wasnt Augosto Pinochet a great guy you think? Or the gowernment of Colombia? Well, you supported both.
”Arab lies”, do you actually think that the arabs only lie and Israel always has truth on its side? So nice if we had a black and white world…
Hi Andreas. I’m not hear to attack you. I met many nice Swedes in my life. with one girl, i’m still in touch. she’s from stockholm, and she’s sweet (but naive about politics).
I just remember that a few months ago, K/Carl Bildt condemned Israel again. afterwards, I can see your ambassador sitting along side the Iranian president. of course it was a good meeting, without any words about executing gays/lesbians to death- just bcs of who they are.
it’s just one example out of many. I hope most Swedes are not having this hypocritical point of view (but when it comes to europe, the kingdom of political correctness, it’s hard to believe that assumption).
Shalom! 🙂
well, if Israel is being condemned, they are because Israel did something bad
or do you think they should start condemning Israel because of something else?
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
enough said
Ah the stupid numbers game! Do you think that the terrorists are not trying? Israel constructed the security barrier for that exact reason. Take for example that between 10-30 people are killed in a suicide bomb, 100-200 are injured.
Over the past few years 1000 suicide missions have been thwarted by the security establishment and security measures taken.
Now simple maths shows that if those were successful then between 10000-30000 Israelis could have been possibly killed and over 100000 injured!
So there is your numbers game debunked!
BTW you do not even give any dates which is common place to try and make Israel look worse…BTW according to BTselem 1500 people have been killled in the West Bank over the past 12 years!
More Palestinians have died in Syria than by the IDF in almost a decade…so the condemnations are unfairly placed on ISrael while totally ignoring the factors that preceded the retaliation by Israel.
Take for example the blatant violations by terrorists in Gaza….only after the 6th violation Israel responded…that shows more restraint than Turkey, Iran, Iraq, South Africa, Many parts of South America, Russia,. China and whoever….just goes to show!
How many people are there in Palestine?
There are always two sides to any conflict. The arab world has dozens of examples of brutal and dictatorial governments. They are constantly being acted on. Name a arab country that hasn’t had a missile lobbed at it, an invasion, or some sanctions.. that list would be quite small… In Israel you have a growing population in a no mans land. On one hand you covet their property greatly..on the other you want the people gone into their own state(s). Do you not think that keeping an open sore for 50 years would not lead to conflict? Yes, the conflict becomes excuses for others..radical islamic groups..nationalistic dictators..and general crazy folks. Keeping it going fuels the excuses. They view that they don’t have to compromise or make the tough decisions, because Israel doesn’t either. It took a foreigner from the US, to bring people to the table. Why must the US or Europe act the adult??? If you want to lead, then do so..but don’t gripe about being scolded should you choose to not lead.
I’m a swede, and I’m not politically active, and I agree with every word you said above. Except for ”hypocrites every one.”
// Rolf Lampa
Dear Israeli,
We Swedes DO care. You were supposed to be the good guy, but you’ve resorted to Apartheid tactics, and land grabbing. THAT is why many Europeans are so upset with Israels behaviour.
And it’s good to see you don’t pull the usual gigantic straw man of anti-killing Palestinian civilians is the same as hating all jews because they’re jews.
But there’s something really wrong with your occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It’s evil and it won’t ever be right.
You’re killing kids and act like you have a divine right to do so. Even if Israel is a quite secular state.
If YOU demand a right of self preservation, why do you deny that to the Palestinians?
PS
And don’t think we’re impressed with all the fake Swedes coming to your aid.
OK, here we go again:
Dear… ahhm, whoever you may be-
It’s really not anyone’s fault that you obviously do not know anything about Israel, it’s long and complicated history and what it presents today. There’s nothing wrong with that of course. What is very wrong is that you only THINK you care, just because of something you see on your television. It’s not just that your don’t care at all, but you (and people like you) insist for some reason, to stick to those LIES (yes, lies!!!) on your media, without even doubt for a moment about it or try to ask relevant questions.
Let me point on the most common bulls you constantly hear about in your media:
”Occupation”, ”Apartheid State”, ”Nazi state”, ”killing babies”, ”discrimination”, ”stealing lands of other”, ”Palestine”, ”Palestinians”, ”Separation wall”, ”Aggressive policy”, ”War policy etc.
– all of these cliches has absolutely nothing with reality. I’m not going to start writing why, as you can find it all over the net and in you local library.
Please note that the media is NOT and official source for information. The assults on Israel, you see are nothing but a way to manufacture negative content to stick people like you to the screen and be exposed to advertisements! That’s right, the media is a business like any other business. It’s interest is rating and not objective review.
If you do care and interest, like Kim does and you start reading some official history books about Israel or at least start with the websites, that show the content which you media insist to hide from you. Only then, you’ll be able to make a judgement or maybe even offer a solution, which is fair to all. As long as you know nothing, you can’t do nothing, except repeating the same lies, you are exposed to.
If you do care about peace in the middle east, you should study about it and it’s people. This is the only way to make you understand why there are no ”Palestine”, or ”Jordan”, or ”Lebanon” or ”Iraq”. Why a 2 state solution will do only an irreversible damage to both Israelis and much more to the Arabs. Read about the British mandatory time in this land. Read about the Pogrom against jews in Jerusalem in 1920. Read about the ”Palstinians” part in HITLER’s army!!!! Read about the Independence war 1948, who occupied Judea and Samaria for 19 years and why they never built any infrastructure there. Read again about 1967 (”6 days war”) and the earlier and later attempts of the Arab world to eliminate ISRAEL. How about some archaeology? Qumran scrolls, Gaza synagogue (2th century), Greeks, Romans, Muslim, Christians, Ottomans etc. etc. Read about Israel democracy and government. You’ll be surprised to know how the Israelis are ready to accept the Arabs in their state. Read about the new antisemitism in Europe…
That’s OK – I know you won’t bother. It’s going to take ages and too many efforts. It’s much easier for you to watch TV…
Did you ever ask yourself why do you accept and welcome them so easily?
– Please answer to yourself and try to be honest.
We in Israel, already know why…
_______________________
These lines were written from Ariel, Samaria, Israel
Dear whoever you are,
Unlike you’re assuming, I get my information from history BOOKS and not websites.
There are some very basic facts about the Palestinian-Isreali situation that no one disputes.
My history books tell me that Palestians used to live on the Westbank and in the Gaza strip. But that after 1968, there was a war, Israel took advantage and occupied the West bank. THAT is an evil thing to do, and THAT is what I and most Swedes and Europeans want you to do: return to the 1968 borders.
In any conflict, or any situation, the responsibility for the solution lies mostly with the most powerful party. That’s Israel. And just like we don’t call it abuse when a 4 year old kicks his dad in the shins, we can’t hold the weaker party in this case responsible for much.
You can of course claim (and whine) that you’re so poor and lonely and helpless and defenseless, but nobody really believes that, since you have nukes, nukes on subs, AND the military might and the economic power of bipartisan America at your beck and call.
Look, you came in, in 1917 , or earlier and you took over through bribery, lies, confidence trickstery and war. Officially you have 78% of the land we called Palestine. Off the remaining 22% you’ve also appropiated the best and the most fertile lands, and you’ve turned Gaza into the worlds largest open air prison colony, like Devils Island or Australia, but not nearly as nice as those were.
How about giving at least the 22% back, provide access to drinking water, close the wall, but really and forget all about it? We’ll even throw in half of Jerusalem.
I wonder why the author had no response to your points. I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Isreal as invaders.
To me it seems like the many injustices done to the Jewish people over the ages has left them with a need to ”get back” at someone. This is the only reasoning that can explain the megalomanic, egocentric and expansionist views that are supported by the OP and so obvious in zionistic internal and external policy.
I can never agree with the persecution of jews over the last millennia, nor can I believe in their persecution of the Palestinians during the last century. It is so sad that violence begot violence. But Israel is a prime example of just that.
Just one question: are you saying the wall does not exist ??
By the way, I am an Israeli and I see the wall …. something wrong with my eyes ??
Avi,
This is the best letter from Israel that I’ve read so far.
Thank you so much.
Shoshi
The best thing to do in life is to live it so fully and normally as one can and trust in God. May God bless you and your family.
Our God loves truth and justice. He will deal with our arrogance and our lies in due time, because He knows the hearts of men … and He will deal in righteousness, with great divine Love, and He will restore our spirits and bring us back to Him as a remnant, after He has dealt with us.
-Prophet Zacharia from chapter 12 to the end-.
and, more important than all: ”They shall look upon Him, whom they have pierced, and cry on Him as on an only son …” _Zacharia chapter 12_
Hello, iam a Swede and i agree 100% with your letter. and the sad truth is that we Swedes are having very similiar problems, in Sweden we native Swedes are not allowed to feel proud of our culture and who we are. Our politicians hates us, and you guys, but love hateful and intolerant muslims. Keep being proud of who you are and stand up for your country.
Best Regards Tommy From Sweden
Not proud? Are you forgetting about the Royal Wedding? Princess Madeleine is suddenly not Swedish anymore? I felt very happy and proud about that!
WOW ! How things have turned around !
Now 68 years after the end of WWII, the ally of Israel in Sweden is an anti muslim racist who 70 year ago would have certainly been a Nazi sympathiser.
Are Israelis:
1) ashamed at the way in which they have spent their moral capital since WWII
or
2)Pleased at their ascendance in the Euro/American power structure over the last 70 years…
impartial observer of world history
Hi,
I am Swedish too and a warm supporter of Israel. We are quite a few here, actually. But most aren’t. There’s a very strong anti-israel sentinent in Sweden, sometimes (but not always) bringing thoughts back to German 1930’s. The anti-israelism turns to hatred of jews, worst in areas with a large immigrant muslim population, no need not to be clear about that. However, muslims alone don’t explain the anti-israel sentinent in Sweden. It’s very much also about journalists of leading papers, being extreme leftist, behaving like a sect. Going into the details why I think Sweden has become this way, would make this message too long.
God bless Israel and Sweden.
Patrik from Sweden
Hi Patrik, I think your comparison between Sweden now and Germany is obscene. That is the type of relativization that is a real racist threat. Also, the real hatred of Jews (in a few places in Sweden) is a vey real problem but as long as you and other self-proclaimed friends of Israel equate every and any criticism of Israel with anti-semitism then any reasonable discussion becomes impossible. If I am wrong, and the swedish media is overflowing with anti-semites, please provide some links to articles that you deem to be anti-semitic.
Some of us Swedes support Israel and do our best to change opinion, but we face massive resistance. I wish we could do more.
OK, here’s another swede supporting Israel. So, it’s not really ”everyone of them” as stated in a comment above.
However, Swedish media is often bashing Israel, onesidedly. But, many ”regular people” (mostly biblically faithful Christians) support Israel and pray constantly for Israel.
You’re not alone, and God will keep his promises.
// Rolf Lampa
”Dear Israeli… I really do care.”
I am getting tired and more and more frustrated by hearing, expressed by so many friends of Israel, that Swedes are the enemies of Israel. I do care for Israel and the Jewish homeland, and I care about what you think of me. We all need friends in the world, and I believe you should care as well.
All the best!
Bertil (Swede and leftist btw)
God bless you! We are so many, many christians here in Sweden hwo supports and prays for Israel! Jesus Christ, the Son of God was a jude and was crusified in Jerusalem. And I know that He loves you with an everlasting love, and He wants to protect you from your enemies under the shadows of His wings. But there´s also many people in sweden hwo does not support Israel, but who believe the lies that media is spreding, becaus of there lack of understandning! (But you can watch: ”Israel news now!” It´s a christian news program that is telling the truth about the situation in Israel and all about the attacks from the Arabs).
Jesus Loves you! <3
erm
OK?
Dear Israeli,
1- I have no idea how I ended-up in this page.
2- I’m neither a Swede nor live in Sweden.
3- I’m a non-Arab Muslim who values living in a secular state system.
4- I have deep respect for Israel and its achievements. Sweden is Sweden; I don’t even need to comment on that.
5- I believe Israel has a right to exist. Not because I believe god has given you this right but because you have earned this right yourselves.
6- The above pointer doesn’t change the fact that there are others, namely Arabs, who continue to have also a right to exist in the land where they are and always were, which happens to be Israel today.
7- The fact that other (maybe all) states are liars and manipulators doesn’t change the fact that Israel is also distorting the facts against the wellbeing of its non-Jewish citizens.
8- Israel is indeed trying to remove the non-Jewish out of Israel. That you don’t “care” about this fact doesn’t change what’s obvious.
9- I don’t get along with Arabs. I’d rather hang out with Westerners. But, Arabs = Terrorists is an over generalisation made by a significant amount of people in Israel and it is not just.
10- Just because there is evil in the rest of the world doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye to the sufferings of Arabs who currently live under Israeli control and also have a right to have their own state. You don’t care but I do. Everybody should.
11- Israel is a beautiful country with all necessary institutions working perfectly (I’ve been there, girls are amazing…) I must admit that life in Israel is much better than in my country. But still, I think there is a theocratic understanding in the very foundations of this perfect democracy which some can never embrace. For them, others’ grapes will always be sour until they can have their own grapes. You can’t blame them for feeling this way.
12- You should contribute to the peaceful solution of the current situation as it will allow you and your children as well as others have a more prosperous life in the future.
13- Arabs have a responsibility as well but not caring doesn’t diminish your responsibility as an Israeli. I believe you are responsible because you owe them and must return at least some of it back.
14- Although you say you don’t care, I think you do care very much indeed (since you have written this piece).
15- “They put the mockingbird in a golden cage and she said she wanted to go home” is a proverb from my country. Among all the people in the world, you should know better than anyone else what’s like not to have a home.
16- Most Muslims may be intolerant as “Tommy N” has commented but isn’t there a similarly radical and intolerant community in Israel making the solution impossible? Is there really a difference between some cave man mullah or some Jew with strange hair and hat, still living in – I don’t know what century – hanging around in certain places in Jerusalem, harassing Muslims and Christians alike with their words and sometimes even physically? (I don’t mean all orthodox Jews). It is religious extremism; let it be Islamic, Jewish or Christian…
17- Kind regards to all…
Dear eddey you got no idea what you talking about
Do you know that the fact the Arab states aren’t giving citizenship for the Palestinian refugees’ in their country is a crime by international law !!
The Palestinians have no right of return due to the fact that one million Jews from the arab states where forced to live their homes ,Israel took in one million Jewish refugees from the Arab states the same should the Arab states do for the palastinian refugees !!!
When someone ever blames Israel for removing the non-Jewish out of Israel – you can always use this video to remind them that there are also other countries in the world…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnHuVss5mDA
So…
Your actions against the Palestinian people is not comparable to the apartheid-system of South Africa?
You do in fact not build your own variant of the Berlin wall?
You have not been killing thousands of civilians because you have the power to do so?
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
Numbers last updated August 31, 2012
But OK, let us use some imagination and pretend you are right (which you aren’t), we, the rest of the world, don’t care about what you think. If you are being an a-hole, you will be treated like an a-hole.
And if you can’t figure out why your ”neighbors” are out to destroy your country, I will give you a helping hand on the subject. If you behave badly, and mistreat people, you will be looked upon as if you where an idiot.
What your nation is doing towards the Palestinians is such a thing, and maybe your nations actions against those who are weaker is the real problem and the reason why the rest of the world look at you the way they does.
and the numbers are counted from september 2000 until august 2012
@DannyBoy
I’ve seen a thousand ignorant people like you on the net before – ”number” boys who count dead bodies. It’s like taking the Nazi’s side in WW2 because the Germans had many civilians killed in Allied bombings.
First and foremost, we do not need your or anyone’s permission to live in the land of our forefathers. The fact that 200 years ago muslims from syria, jordan and egypt came to our land seeking temporary work under Ottoman rule and stayed here, is for some reason, unknown to pricks like you who consider 1948 as the dawn of history. The land is Jewish and have been for 3000 years – deal with it. It is true that we where under abusive muslim occupation for a long time but it does not make the land islamic. Look at the ”Sharia for Britain”, ”Sharia for Belgium” etc movements in Europe and you will get the picture as to the Islamic method of stealing land from the natives – this is what they did in the land of Israel as well.
Furthermore, thank God that they have more casualties than us despite ALL their efforts.
Wow, this is the total ignorance. Do you really think that a whole country in the middle east was unpopulated from the forced removal of the jews by the romans up until 200 years ago? And don’t medieval buldings, 500-year-old olive groves and other indisputable facts that show continous inhabitation matter to you? Get out of the propaganda echo chamber and look at what exists in Israel/Palestine!
@DannyBoy
The answers to your claims, lays in your own comment:
1. B’Tselem בצלם & rememberthesechildren
2. ”Berlin Wall”
3. ”The world doesn’t care what you think”
4. ”What your nation is doing towards the Palestinians”
__________________________
1. B’Tselem is a radical left-wing, civil organization, who is known for its inaccurate, sometime false or fictional information and manipulative facts. Btselem people have even ADMIT that their sample is not reliable, doesn’t reflect the specific death cases and therefor not valid. Btselem had admitted that several times in the past!!!!
Here’s a simple one – Just the comparison between IDF and Gaza deaths is ridicules and very wrong. Gaza has a few terror organizations. The most known ones are Hamas and Fatah, which are in a conflict between themselves and there are many mutal killings between these 2 groups. You must have seen the dead body, being dragged by a motorbike on the streets of Gaza – that’s a Fatah activists… His killing has nothing to do with the IDF.
If that is not enough, then there are also different tribes of arabs living in Gaza. They never get married with each other and some are in a feud and runs a tribal militias. So yes, there are also killing between the Arabs clans and families – all of that is something you never hear about on the commercial media!!!
Why do Bzelem and such organizations they do this?
– Money (lot of it!!!!) which comes from anti-Israeli organizations in both radical Islam and radical Christian world.
– Political agendas against the right parties (Israel has a full democracy )
– social agenda
____________
2. ”Berlin Wall” – That’s belongs to Berlin, so please let’s respect the memory of the WW2 victims and leave this topic in Germany.
As for the concert wall in Israel –
Did you ever asked yourself how much money such wall cost to make? If it was all about limiting people to move from one place to another, there would be no need for a concert wall. A much cheaper wire fence can do that job too.
This wall is there to STOP the BULLETS flying from ARAB towns, by ARABS, over Israeli towns, roads and passing by Israeli people.
I bet that no one ever bother to report on that in your local media, but you can still find the facts around the net, among all the Anti-Israeli propaganda.
As for preventing Arabs to move into Israel – this is a results of EXTREME TERROR ACTS, by ARABS since the 2nd Intifada in 2001 – Shooting attacks on Israeli, Suicide bombers in buses 3-4 times a week (yes!!! that’s REAL), explosive devices in public places in the major cities in Israel , staננing attacks and of course 13 years of Rockets (Kasam, Grads etc) being shot from Gaza, over Israeli cities, despite Arafat sign on the Oslo Agreements !!!
Do you still wanna talk about ”Berlin Wall” ???
They may have build one in Malmo, one day…
______________
3. ”The world doesn’t care what you think”
I think that this blog and many others prove this to be wrong too 🙂
(Thanks Kim) and that without talking about the many politicians, academic people and artists around the world, who show their support in Israel.
_______________________
4. ”What your nation is doing towards the Palestinians”
Well – what do you know about that?
What do you know about the reasons?
what do you know about the different Arab-tribes who migranted to Israel in the past 200 years and now, they so-call themselves ”Palestinians” since 1967…
– You know ONLY what your MEDIA WANT YOU TOO.
The academic term to this phenomenon is – ”Construction of reality”. The media may be accepted as an official and reliable source of information, while in actual, it’s a commercial business. Like any other business, it meant to make prophet. In this case it’s adverts. The only problem to expose the audience to it is how too make them keep watching it. Therefore – over-dramas, shock, negative information. war, fights, conflicts, blood libels…
I guess that you have never seen in your local news any reports about Barkan factories, in Samaria (a part of the so called ”West Bank” since recent years). This is were Arabs and Israelis have been working together for almost 30 years now and all doing perfectly fine!!!
BTW, if you support the boycott on this factories, remember that the people you hurt are the arabs who live in Samaria and have no other way to make a living (no, the Palestinian authority doesn’t develop any employment or infrastructure, for it’s citizens – Israel does that part).
______________
I hope that this was read with care and attention.
If you really interest in this topic – You can easily find a lot of valid information about Mass media, IDF, Israel, Jews, Anti-Israeli organization, The New Anti-Semitism, Hamas, Fatah, Oslo agreement, Wall, rockets, British Mandatory, Israel’s wars, Jews history and archaeology, who are those ”Palestinians” really are and even their part in Hitlers forces…
– It’s all out there – you just have to switch your mind from adverts consuming to learning and start to accept the fact that you’ve been fooled and brainwashed by very evil people – I know who they are, what they are like, so I can’t blame you for your false assaults.
Peace!
If you realy didn;t understand by now DannyBoy who behind this site and how the only power the palestinians have is there lies, you are in the right way.
We love people that never was here or saw in their own eyes what and how and especially why they live or die this way, it seems u even blind than we thought, well im not worried u know why, coz soon Europe will wake up from her sleep and it will be with REAL FIREWORKS, GL with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHbCGC6amdk
it’s easy for you to say people havn’t been there or this or that doesn’t fit with what you believe is needed to decide what is right from wrong
I have been there, so that’s not the point
the point is the obvious part where the Israeli state commits crimes against humanity in the same ways as the apartheid system in South Africa, and big parts of what the damn nazi’s did you you people.
but I guess you forget very easy, or believe you have the right to treat others the way you didn’t like getting treated your self
so one can wonder; do you actually use that brain very much or do you just walk around hating?
no offense, but people like you are nothing but dummies
Ntw here is another non Jewish, nor Israeli, Non muslim that understand better
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1N1zhUm84w
instead, he’s a christian nutcase who also belives Sweden is the home of Satan and that swedish meatballs are tainted with HIV
nice try man
by the way
if you don’t know what a fallacy is, I suggest you hit the word in a dictionary and then learns how to give arguments for real
Hey Danny!
the difference between me and you is that i actually went and see for myself, i suggest you will learn a bit history and not be fooled by their propoganda.
it’s easy for you to say people havn’t been there or this or that doesn’t fit with what you believe is needed to decide what is right from wrong
I have been there, so that’s not the point
the point is the obvious part where the Israeli state commits crimes against humanity in the same ways as the apartheid system in South Africa, and big parts of what the damn nazi’s did you you people.
but I guess you forget very easy, or believe you have the right to treat others the way you didn’t like getting treated your self
so one can wonder; do you actually use that brain very much or do you just walk around hating?
no offense, but people like you are nothing but dummies
and what propaganda?
Your actions against the Palestinian people is not comparable to the apartheid-system of South Africa?
You do in fact not build your own variant of the Berlin wall?
You have not been killing thousands of civilians because you have the power to do so?
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
Numbers last updated August 31, 2012
these are all FACTS
you trying to make it propaganda is just lame and a proof you lack proper arguments
treat others well and they will treat you well
when you rape and murder innocent you will not be treated well because you are not doing anything to be treated well, but everything to be treated just as badly as you treat the Palestinians your self
@ Danny ”BOY” The definition of Apartheid is different laws from different ethnic groups with the same citizenship.
The war between Israelis and Palestinians is a war between two people.
Really don’t understand your comparisation..
As for the numbers you mention, the source says it all.
Leftist propaganda bullshit……why don’t they mention how Hamas uses their own people as human shields?!!
and there are not different laws for different ethnic groups in Israel?
are you really trying to make that argument to make yourself look like an a-hole, or do you use it because you lack proper arguments?
everyone in the entire world knows for fact that Palestinians is NOT treated, NOR have the same laws, as others
wake up
your lies and fabrications won’t work with me nor with anyone else with an IQ over 100
in all honesty, all you do is make your self look stupid
good luck with that
why should it mention how Hamas uses (how many? give us numbers plz) human shields when the numbers are correct and the truth is that
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
it has nothing to do with ”lefties” or ”righties”, and honestly I don’t understand why you are trying to make the ”lefties” look bad when they are not the problem
as far as I know they aren’t the people who rapes and murders innocents since they want it to end, unlike you militant extreme right wing dummies
Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ɐˈpɑːrtɦɛit]; from Afrikaans ”the status of being apart”) is a system of racial segregation.
residential areas aree segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals
segregating education, medical care, beaches, and other public services
Institutional racism
all those are signs on Apartheid (just use google and find out for your self) and all those things are what Israel are doing against the Palestinians
but I guess racists all over the world work in the same way, you included. just because you where in focus for the nazi’s it doesn’t mean you can’t act like racists your self, and it does NOT give you the right to do so either
Youtube a bit Pat condell, you might understand why you are so worried about the palestinians and not consider how your country will react to 12k missiles in 8 years, Does Israel need to let the missiles fall in order this lol site will be true?
Or and i am just asking who you think support gaza in oil, water and humanitarian aids? Arabs? Haha no.
Plus show me one ”Apartheid” state that call civilians and drop letters before any attack as response to the terror they do, congratz you are officialy blind.
what Nora says
so many extremists on this site, and in all honesty none of you extremists is in any way better than the Nazi’s or the KKK
I am ashamed to be calling you humans, because you lack all what makes humanity humane
You are an idiot through and through Dannyboy. Why don’t you go protest in Syria or Egypt or Iran or Gaza? The real apartheid is there – where women are subjugated, where homosexuals are hanged in the streets from cranes, where children are butchered with knives because they came out from the wrong vagina, where preachers scream from the top of their lungs that Jews and Christians are pigs and apes and should be killed wherever and however it is possible, where women who are raped get flogged or stoned to death, where minorities of all types and shapes are abused 24/7 by your ”peace loving” islamic friends.
You are ashamed to call us humans? You should first look at the mirror you two-cent-no-good-cyber-prick! What kind of a nazi sub-human POS support such two legged monsters??
FUCK YOU 🙂
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
enough said
you obviously don’t know what apartheid is Yaron, but thanks for the awful try!
my 5 year old seems to know more in the matter than you do.
If that’s all you’ve got then you are even more worthless than I thought.
I’m a Swede living in Israel for 20 years. I know where Avi is coming from although I disagree with the implied generalisation of all Swedes.
Most Swedes are decent people, who until recently were mostly sympathetic to Israel, and who understood Israels predicament of being a small Jewish state in the midst of a hostile Arab world. This changed over the past two decades or so. There are many reasons for this. I believe the main reason is that the Arab-Israel conflict entered a stage of ”cold war” between most of the Arab world and Israel, while the remaining ”warm conflict” has been that between the Palestinians and Israel and between Israel and the Hizbollah. The conflict is thus wrongly seen by many good people as a condlict between a Goliath (Israel) and a David (Palestinians). Indeed today in the western debate the term ”The Israel-Arab condlict” has been replaced by the misleading term ”The Israel-Palestinian conflict”.
Good people see the statistics of civilians killed on both sides. But since they aren’t actually aware of the facts they conclude that Israel is the more aggressive side.
Even if we would assume that Israel was the aggressive side, it still makes no sense that 4000 Palestinians killed over the course of 12 years get immensly much more media attention than hundreds of thousands of Sudanese over the course of two years, tens of thousands of Iranians in a decade, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi during the course of Saddam Husseins regime. Etc etc.
So why is that Palestinian lives are seemingly higher valued by western media than other nationalities? Many Israelis believe that anti-Semitism is the main reason, that it isn;t actually care for the Palestinians, but an opportunity to bash the Jewish state. I believe there is some truth to that. But I actually believe that the main explanation is much more trivial. In terms of conflict areas, Israel is heaven on earth for western journalists, which I believe is one of the reasons so many come here. They stay in complete safety in nice Tel Aviv hotels, have access to great food, nightlife, etc. Where would you choose to work? Tel Aviv or Syria? Tel Aviv Or Darfur? Moreover, they won’t ”disappear”, or get executed, or tortured, if they write something the Israeli authorities dslike. On the other hand, when they leave the comforts of Tel Aviv and go to visit Gaza during a day trip there (60 km from Tel Aviv), they do have to think twice about what they write. They could ”disappear”, or get shot, or kidnapped, the next time they visit. The assymetry, as it is in so many other aspects of this conflict, is working against Israel also when it comes to this issue.
Israel has a very tough uphill battle in presenting it’s case to the world. That is the sad truth. So it is up to us Israelis to be ”ambassadors”. You don’t do that when you write arrogantly ”I don’t care what you think”. We should and must care.
those four thousand Palestinians died over the past 12 years where only the civilians
add up another 10000 and you’ll get closer to the real number, and if that isn’t many enough I wonder when exactly are people supposed to care?
in my world people are supposed to care for EVERY life, but I guess I’m the only one with a humane view
Maybe it is in your world a humane view to give the same weight to terrorists, who kill and mame civilians, as to innocent by standers. You and me definitely live in a different world when it comes to morality.
I didn’t point that out, but a large part of the innocents killed in the Palestinian camp, are actually to blame on the terrorists since they systematically use the civilian population as human shields.
I should also add that many of the Palestinian casualties are actually killed by Palestinian terrorists in order to gain sympathy for the Palestinian cause. Dannyboy may ask ”give examples”.
The prime example is Muhammad Al-Dura, maybe the most famous Palestinian civilian casualties of all times. A French court agrees with my point, although Dannyboy obviously won’t.
Just a Q for you Dannyboy: You say: ”in my world people are supposed to care for EVERY life”.
Does that include Adolf Hitler? Adolf Eichman? According to what you wrote it is EVERY life.
I don’t cry when mass murderers get killed. On the contrary.
Another Q for Dannyboy:
Does your grief for lost lifes include Israelis? Why do I get the feeling that it doesn’t? Let’s hear you cry for the death (brutal) of Baruch Goldstein, and I might believe you. I personally don’t cry for Baruch Goldstein. I don’t cry for the death of terrorists or massmurders.
Dannyboy you may admit that you just hate jews you idiot stop using black whith numbers and look on the facts
much more than 129 israeli children where killed , and you can’t blame the jews for protecting their children and citizens , that’s the reason that the israeli victims are less , but you should blame hamas for storing the rockets in their childrens room so the child can be bombed and become a holy shaid , you should blame hamas for shooting rockets on civilian targets
now a few facts
1- The head general of the brittish army and a few more NATO generals Indicated in the UN that no army in the history of the world has done more that the IDF to prevent civillian Casualties and they do understand what war is about much better than you i can send you a youtube link of that Indicatetion if you want
2- You are acussing israel on aparthied , a few facts the israeli arab citizens enjoy equal rights – the israeli security guards in the west bank barriers (i haved been one) find evryday palastinians trying to pass bombs and weapons for terror – before the first intiphada in 2000 palastinians could move freelly to work in israel there was no single barrier in the west bank ,but when the palastinians used this freedom to bomb buses ans city’s in israel we haved no choice but to defend ourselves by bulding a big wall and place barriers in the west bank in order to stop terror, even some ordinary palastinians suffer blame the terrorists for this barriers – the same is in gaza israel have to put a blockade on gaza in order to stop weapons from coming in to hamas (the UN said after investigating the gaza flotilla that the navy blockade on gaza is legal under international law in order to prevent rockets from coming in to gaza) the gaza residents are suffering from this siege Blame hamas, no terror no siege – no terror – no war – no terror – no barriers !
Aparthied is racial Discrimination because of ethnicy religion color or race ,israel is not discriminating palastians because any of this reasons israel is defending it’s self from terror
maybe saudi arabia is a aparthied because they do not allow in jews in to their country because they are jews -so watch your mouth when you are using the word aparthied !
DEFENDING YOUR SELF FROM TERROR ISN’T APARTHIED !!!!!!!
but defending your self from terror according to you, is terror
wake up from the delusions man
You are an idiot you got no idea how a war zone looks kike do you ?
No defending yourself from terror is a duty , what the hell is your reply but defending your self from terror according to you, is terror , can’t you understand what is written ?
i would love to see when your beloved muslims in malmo will start to bomb buses , you will say oh no don’t defend yourself it’s terror , do you know that in your own country sweden in malmo there are naigborhoods where the police are afraid to go in ?
You know what i suggest you should go in to one of the muslim masques in sweden, and you should listen to what the imam says , i’m sure in most of the masques you will here kill the jews ,the swedidh women are bitches,the sweds are monkeys pigs etc’ , i’m not saying this because i care about sweden i want you to see all of that so your dumb head can maybe get a idea of what israel is dealling with , by the way by your opinion the americans and english where not allowed to bomb the german army because of the civilians in germany, wake up from your delusions !!
By the way a point of view for you , untill 1967 jordan controlld the west bank and eygept Gaza, why did no body claimed than about the exictence of an palastinian nation , and most of all why didn’t jordan claim back the west bank and eygept Gaza when they made peace with israel ? well i guess nobody wants the truble makers !
Here is a youtube clip after watching that you will see are idiotic your comments are
http://youtu.be/_hmT4Ri78aM
Dear danny we shouldn’t Care of what the world thinks we should defend our self against this Palestinian terrorists you will ask why ? Because the whole world except the USA hates jews including the so called civilized europe who murders in the last 2000 years more than 10,000,000 Jews ,Jews where not allowed to live in Sweden until the 1887,
you Europeans are barbaric antisemites I don’t think that you suddenly changed your genetic hate towrerds Jews ,
proof of that is ,first of all I want to ask the EU how dare you to speak about the palastinian homes before you even didn’t return to me my grandfather’s assets and property in Germany Romania poland ? Six million Jews where murdered during the holocaust where have you all human Europeans than why, didn’t you protest than free the Jews ?
Oh I forgot you are human only when Jews protect themselves against the hamas who want the Jews to be neighbors of the fish in the Mediterranean sea , Proof millions of people are slaughtered in Sudan syeria Iraq sir Lanka burma north Korea and you do know bout it ,but oh no the brutal Jews are the biggest war criminals when they kill by mistake a child who his father wants him to become a shaid because he shoots rockets from his room on civilians in Israel , Europe deported the Jews from Europe to Israel after the holocaust hopping that the Arabs will finish their job , but surprise the Jews managed to defend themselves against the Arab world and they are a strong country and a world leading country in science technology medicine – that is driving you Europe crazy isn’t it ?
During the yom Kippur war no European land gave permission for the USA aid transport aircrafts to land on your soil for refueling because your desire was that the Arabs should destroy us !
Personally I hate hamas less than you barbaric Europeans ,because the Muslims always treated the Jews better than you UN human Europeans
Israel will continue growing and you will continue suffer from your immigrants
Go to hell europe
and the palestinians shouldn’t defend them selves?
what exactly is it that you can’t figure out by those numbers???
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
and you say you defend your self?
well, it seems you are slaughtering them and just using the ”we defend our selves” as an excuse
simply lame, so plz, try with a better argument
No body is slauaghtering palastinians, stop repeating again and again your numbers comments , you don’t argue with the facts you just repeat the same crap again and again ! mabey hamas is slauahtering pathach members in gaza by throwing them down from the 8th floor !
The truth is i dont really care about idiots like you ,but for other balanced people who see this i want to say a few facts
1- israel never bombs gaza for no reason, so if the palastians want to defend themselves they should simpley stop shooting rockets into israel , israel is the strongest army in the region if israel would just bomb gaza without carring for civillians, half gaza would be dead now !
as for your numbers comment i figure out one thing ,the reason that the palastinians numbers of death is higher is very simplen – the palastinian terrorists are hideing beyond their civilians ! israel is protecting their civillians ! nothing more to say – http://youtu.be/_hmT4Ri78aM
2 – israel withdrawed from gaza in 2006 the palastinians instead of making gaza a peredise, decided to make gaza a weapons factory , just a few days ago a rocket was fired on a kindegarten in sderot (which is by the way in the UN recognized 1948 israeli borders) thanks god this kindergarten was closed because if not, about 30 small children would be death by now , but i guess by your opinion this palastinians are jusr defending themseves , by targeting a kindergarten with small jewish children, while israel respones is just on terrorist targets israel haved never bombed a school with small children just because they want to kill palastinian childrens ! well mabey you don’t think that the israelis have human rights too ?
I guess your reply dannyboy will be like palastinians dead are more than israelis blaaaa ! well if you realy know what’s going on in the region let me see you argue with the facts!
Well, part of your hate is at least directed in the right direction, Europe. In my opinion Europe as a whole has a very big responsability for the situation in Israel/Palestine right now, since the holocaust and remaining antisemitism after the war forced many jews to flee. What I think is the problem is that the Palestinians had to take the brunt of the retaliation from jews instead of the european powers. Naturally, the palestinians get resentful when their land is taken away (around 10% of present day Israel was owned by jews in 1948) and naturally the jews want a homeland, but the root of this conflict truly lies in Europe.
Now to what I don’t agree with is your thinly veiled racism against palestinians and arabs. There is a conflict and of course Israel, with its superior and devastating firepower would like that war to be conducted in a totally open field where they can bomb the palestinian fighter to nothing in a few minutes. The guerilla war, hidden in the civil infrastructure, is the only war the palestinians can fight and it isn’t good, but it definitely doesn’t mean they’re evil.
About the genetically coded hate, that is just plain racism. You should focus on the christian culture and its embedded hatred of jews, something which is common among the fanatic christians who support Israel because they want all jews to gather there, convert to christianity and so precipitate judgement day. Me and others who criticise Israel have much more respect for the jewish religion and culture than these christians.
DannyBoy if you see a 17 year old with an automatic machine gun as a child then
good for you.
The truth is you don’t really know this conflict or the problem in this region and you just post the same fabricated data.
To say that Israeli citizens get any better treatment then palestinian is not true …
But i guess it is much more fun to demonstrate against the only democracy in the region that is by mistake also jewish.
how many Palestinian kids at the age of 17 has those machine guns?
most of them throw rocks, and get killed by airstrikes
it’s the other way around, Israel is EXTREMELY well armed compared to the Palestinians, claiming otherwise is pure idiocy and proves a lack of any form of objectivity, meaning, you are biased.
biased opinions is of none concern of mine, I prefer to look at the truth, and what you guys on this site is making up is far from the truth, it’s simply personal subjective opinions and not based on any proper facts what so ever.
a shame really
and I want to make clear I have nothing at all against jews, have a couple as friends and worked with several without any problems. what I’m against is the imperialism you emply, the settlements AGAINST INTERNATIONAL LAW and murdering of innocents (I can bet everything I own that those 1,151 Palestinian children killed by Israel where IN FACT no terrorists, but I believe their relatives will be way closer to becoming such because of what Israel does), implying Apartheid laws separating Palestinians from the rest, and in many ways in the exact same manner as the Nazis did to the Jews during WW2, murdering people trying to bring food and resources YOU deny the Palestinians in INTERNATIONAL WATERS like some god forgotten 17th century PIRATES
snap out of it man, really
A few facts , rocks are as deadly as a gun when throwing them on a car
the palastinians have full stocked supermarkets they live in a better life style than most arab countrys
You make me really angry when you compare the holocaust to the palastinians. because my grandfather is a holocaust surviver , i was in the israeli army in the west bank , and a visit to auswicz terezin camps – i didn’t find any gettho or camp in the west bank . for sure somebody comparing between this two things is meantely ill !!!!
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4363898,00.html
as for aparthied you can see my comments before nothing to argue about !!!
you say you don’t hate jews but you are against imperialism , what the hell israel has to do with imperialism the jews are victims of imperialism !!!
i can bet with you that 95% of this palastinian children where used as human shiled ,or involved them selves in terror , i found my self in the west bank small children with knives bombs and guns ! so you can lie how much that you want !
a taste of how freedom in a palstinian country would look like –
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-sentenced-for-liking-anti-PA-FB-status-308221
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134245/Former-Palestinian-intelligence-officer-sentenced-death-selling-home-Jews.html
except there were no such numbers of dead palestinians.not even close… ( thats even before counting the palestinans dying in car accdedents,heart attacks and so on -proclaimed as ”murters killed by israel”.
but what do facts matter…
its not as if people like danny care to come over to israel to find all those ”dying people”.
about palestinans that are unfortunatly killed (as there are israelis killed by palestinian terror acts) i think its kind of hard to blame a nation for the death of anyone who lives in the intention to ”die one day while killing israelies”, and who sends his children to commit suicide-murders. these are the only people (for who is interested in facts) that get hurt by israel. and personaly, i dont think the israelis should appologize for that.
and avi never said he doesnt care about people (no matter who they are), he said he doesnt care what some misinformed or racist people in some countries (and of course its not all the people in those countries) think.
i dont think its arrogant, its about being a realy good guy, giving to the world so much over the years, and then hearing pregidist twisted mean things about yourself, all the time. and while hundreds of thousands are being murdered around the world-hearing hypocrite people obsessing about one dead palestinian that israel killed in self defense (although you will never hear it was self defense, or that i was one) while he was trying to murder people ”in the name of islam”.
hope europeans will wake up soon,before they have to deal with what israel is dealing now…but also surrounded by 1 billion muslims…
so you claim the numbers are false???
Children killed:
Israelis 129
Palestinians 1,151
(source: rememberthesechildren)
Civilians killed
Israelis 731
Palestinians 3,535 – 4226
(source: B’Tselem)
People killed in the course of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 408 (or more)
People who were the object of a targeted killing
Israelis 1
Palestinians 238
(source: B’Tselem)
those numbers?
REALLY????
it’s fine by me if you lie to yourself to make yourself feel better, but don’t even try to lie to someone else on the internet, the STATISTICS and FACTS are VERY easy to get a hold on, and this statistics was at the time (last year) VERY accurate
plz try again, with a less faulty argument plz
i told you there are no such numbers (its called a propaghada lie ,if you insist) and you just wrote them again? your point?? be tselem is a pro palestinian propaganda organization (with some self hating jews working there too). so the fact that you look there foe your ”info” sums my point. its also funny that someone who reads things in propaganda publishings tells people who live it day by day -about their lives. you dont have a clue, and until you do (meaning living in israel for good period of time) , please dont teach us about your ” STATISTICS and FACTS” , meaning….some humility and caution would be advised…
have a nice day.
Historical fact. The PLO was formed in 1963, 4 years before the ”West Bank” and Gaza were taken over by Israel (the so-called 67 borders).
Ask yourselves the following questions before passing judgement on Israel:
1. What exactly are the PLO out to ”liberate”? They’re out to exterminate the Jewish presence in the Middle East.
2. Can you name a single Palestinian (or Arab, for that matter) leader who recognises Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state? Note, the Palestinians are vying for a Palestinian state, so it stands to reason that a Jewish state should exist too, right?
3. Up until 1967, Gaza was Egyptian. The ”West Bank” was Jordanian. Can you name a single Palestinian organisation which operated to liberate Gaza or the ”West Bank” from its Egyptian and Jordanian occupiers? One? You can’t because there isn’t.
4. What was the capital of the Palestinian state before 1948? *Any* time before 1948 (go back as far as you like). Name one Palestinian president/prime-minister/king/emperor/whatever from before 1948. One? You can’t, because there isn’t.
5. And finally, Israel withdrew to the internationally recognised borders in Gaza almost a decade ago. The border between Gaza and Egypt is open. Even the border between Israel and Gaza allows thousands of tons of goods to pass through every day. Electricity and water to Gaza are largely supplied by Israel. Why are the Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza into Israeli cities? This’ll send you back to question #1. QED.
why would they?
why don’t YOU recognize a Palestinian state and let them get a place in the UN???
why can’t you see the three fingers pointing back at yourself everytime you point fingers at others?
How can you think of saying, ’Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
and as far as I know I never said anything about a Palestinian state before this or that year so don’t even make such silly arguments.
they are known as fallacies and fallacies I don’t deal with. you better learn how to make a proper argument
I advise everyone on this thread not to argue with Dannyboy. I asked him some tough questions, which he didn’t reply to. For obvious reasons, since his true answers would make him contradict himself.
Except for publishing more or less reliable statistics on deaths among Israelis and Palestinians over and over again, you cannot expect to enter a meaningful dialogue with this person.
So, Danny Boy is an imbicile and bigot? Well, I am self-hating Jew in USA who thinks his arguments are woefully short on the extent of the partial trusths he cites and how many stock points of Likud govbernemnt propaganda that he lets go without argument.
Salient facts:
The Israeli Berlin wals were occaisioned by the invitation and immigration of Russian Jews during the time of starvation in Russia caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s. Over one million Russian Jews emigrated to Israel who were willing to work low skilled jobs at the low pay that the Palestinian day workers held by passing through ”checkpoints’. The checkpoints were eliminated and neighborhoods divided and olive orchards ruined and Palestinians homes bull dozed. This is the not the Spirit of Shalom! The Lukid government is an efficient manager of public opinion through its relentless hammering of shibboleths such as ”used children as human shields”. There is no factual basis for this ridiculous idea that serves only to dehumanize the enemy.
International law, written after the end of WWII included intentions for protecting civilians from the atrocities expereinced by teh elderly, Roma, Jews and Slavs as well as all nationals who suffered under corporatist movement of Mussolini and Hitler. This same body of international law included the retention of any ”lebensraum” land siezed in war. The intent was to discourage agression for the purpose of expansion. There is a worrysome rhetoric coming form Israeli commentators who say again and again
Dear self hating Jew. SOme replies to your comments:
1. Dannyboy is probably not an imbecille. But probably a bigot.
2. ”The Israeli Berlin wals”. Now that’s a ridiculous twist. The two barriers are actually opposites. The Berlin wall was raised to keep a people closed in. The Israeli was errected after the Palestinian terrorist organisations terrorized Israel for a couple of years during 2001-2003, and was errected to keep terrorists out.
3. The Russians indeed did low paid jobs after they came in the late 80’s to early 90’s. Since then they advanced and today are above average in terms of income in Israeli society. Your theory lacks any historic context. The Israeli barrier was raised 10 years after the situation you describe, and had nothing to do with the Russian immigration. See point 2 above.
4.”” ”used children as human shields”. There is no factual basis for this ridiculous idea ””
Oh yes there is. Your claim is simply ridiculous. Why do the Hamas and the other terrorist groups fire rockets from residential buildings? Stockpile weapons in schools and hospitals, in mosques and residential neighborhoods? Or do you deny that this is the the fact? In that case, why don’t you let us know where they actually stockpile their weapons, and where they actually launch their rocket attacks from? No one will be happier than us Israelis if we could take out the enemy without collateral damage.
5. As to the ”lebensraum” comment:
I actually doubt you are a Jew. No Jew would use that vicious lying deceiptful and hateful comment against the Jewish state. Not even the most famous ”selfhating Jews” such as Noam CHomsky. He would label that comment for what it is – as anti-semitic.
I suspect that Lon is Dannyboy in an new disguise…
that Israel will grow in spite of public opinion. Is this meant to imply lebensraum? One hopes not, but that is teh implication.
Holocaust has been promoted by Likudists like Netanyahu, to exclude any victims of the Nazis and Italians (and international bankers) such as the first victims; the elderluy Germans. There were between 22 and 32 million Russians, 15 million of whom were civilians, who were killed in WWII. Many prisoners of war were sent to Auschwitz in Poland. Few people are aware that eugenics began in the Ivy League universities in USA and that communist Slavs were included in the gene pool to be eliominated (partly because they has ”round heads like Orientals”, according to Lothrop Stoddard, Revolt Against Civilization, Harvard, 1922) The Holocaust is not an exclusively Jewish event and that fact makes the extermination of Jews the more relevant to the policies of Israel today. The propaganda is hedonistic and proud and based on the dead of every one of the Nazi victims of all religions and ethnic backgrounds. For shame, the Jews in Israel extend racial hatred to theri fellow brothers of their father Abraham who is at the core of Christian, Jewish and Moslem religions. A national and respected journal of genetics published an article reporting DNA sequencing that found not one difference between Arab and Jewish heritage! Israelis freaked when this article was published and demanded retraction and disregard for scientific process; trumping with political pressure. Palestinian vs Israel is a first class example of sibling rivalry; one that will rival Cain and Abel.
Correction: That is, prohibition of retention of any land gained by agression and war…..This is violated by Israel and continues wirth each new settlement in ”occupied territories”. These territories are illegally occupied and are a barrier tio any sincere attempts at peacemaking. A shame, a shame on all of Israel and its fascist Lukid government.
Dear lon den (maybe benladen ? ) you are probaley not jewish at all if you deney the holocaust, which was aimed to kill evrey single jew in europe , my grandfather lost his wife and two small children !!!
Who told you that the occupation is illegal ? israel signed a peace treaty with jordan and eygept who gave up on this land , The international law is that if a country gives up on land after a war, the country who occupied the land gets the Sovereignty on the territory ,so i guess by law israel has the leagl Sovereignty over the west bank and gaza , this is the law and opinion of leading profesors on the world !!!
The west bank is devided in to three territory’s A B C- A&B is under the Palestinian Authority , C is under israeli civil control of the israeli govermant – most of the settlments are in territory C where 150,000 jews live ,and about 50,000 arabs ,now evrey one agrees that israel shouldn’t control the arabs ,because we want to remain the only jewish state on the world ,that is the reason israel didn’t Annexed the west bank
But to my knowlage the israeli govermet is now working on a simple plan ,in the west bank territory C will be Annexed to israel with giving israeli citizeship to the 50,000 arabs who live their , Territory A&B will be returend to jordan , the west bank to eygept ,how simple is that ?
The best proof thet there is no palastinian nation is that until 1967 no one claimed about such a thing palastinian nation !!!
Even those arabs who left their homes because of a war they started should settle in the arab countrys’ ( who by the way are criminals under international law for not giving citizenship to the refugees in their countrys’ ) because about one million jews where expelld from arab countrys’ ,For the same reason no body is asking the arabs to returen their jews nobody should ask israel to return the arabs!!!!
This is not an answer to anybody in particular, but written by a 40 something person who is not of any significant heritage, has not felt oppression, other than by fiscal burocrats, and has no relatives killed in orchestrated events. I do not count war as an orchestrated event. War is a chaos of things going beyond control (fobar). A holocaust I do think is an orchestrated event and as such is much more prone to cause the surviving target and their coming generations sadness, pressure, feeling of being left outside.. etc.
It is ironic, that since the Genghis Khan, btw. nice to have that put in your CV (means ruler of everything), human kind has had the historic knowledge of a long run best practice. In other words how to do stuff so that things develop, run smoothly and so forth. What ol’ Genghis did was that he got rid of nepotism, the practice of giving the best jobs to your brothers and uncles, and instead made appointments based on merit. And alas, there you had it, combined with some other features he built an empire geographically bigger than the next three history has known combined.
The irony is that inspite of this historical knowledge, nowadays also confirmed by biology, the Nazis and other race segregators thought that they’ll find a better tomorrow by ”cleaning” the genepool.
Samuel Clemens once wrote, I don’t remember the book, but it was of his vision of heaven, where on Gods other side was sitting a tailor from somewhere I don’t remember, and on the other side Jesus Christ (now, this was his heaven according to what he had been preached so you guys with other gods, don’t get offended). So what was the tailor doing there?
He was the person God felt was next to him on the ”godlike” scale. This guy just didn’t go around shouting about his beliefs, so barely nobody knew him, but within his friends and family he was very much liked.
Ok, I’m rambling so back to the irony part. The thing is, and this is just an idea of mine, that as much as we have a need to understand were we are coming from, we also want things to get better. At least I have never stumbled upon a person who would like things develop for the worse. Maybe it is because there is a programming in the human race that when one day a wormhole opens up and an extraterrestrial race from one of the estimeted billions of exoplanets comes to visit, we will have the means necessary to keep thing from going fobar.
As somebody mentioned, the number of palestinians killed by Israelis gets a lot of attention in western media. For my part that is a sign of caring, not the other way around. It is the thought of having a bully (and here Israelis, give me some room, I do not count millennia of history) son that you would hope to behave according to his abilities. In the picture I’m having in my head, I see a frutile, developed, successful nation who does not want to help the little brother. And understandably so, little brothers can be annoying at times, they don’t understand that when you stick a fork in someones nose it hurts, and when they grow older they might even outrun you. But in order to make things work, you might have to show a little example.
I’ve read Joe Sacco’s ”Palestine”. I does not make me an expert on middle east, but it made sense. Had to stop reading it as night reading as it made me mad and confused, not best for sleeping. Can someone here say he or she has read it from cover to cover and say that for example the mowing of the olive orchards is not a basic example of someone bullying? Or that the book is just propaganda by an american born jew, the book did get a pulitzer.
The thing is, who knows if the inventor of the wormhole flusher already lost the scribbling paper block because the family never could afford to buy any? Could it be that the fundamental problem is that of space, the lack of it and the lack of finding modern solutions that are not based solely on the survival of the physically strongest?
Peace and preventives (you may choose the like) to all 🙂
Sweden are too big headed believes they are seen as so good and knows what’s good or bad.
When I lived in the third world I never heard or read a sentence about Sweden, and I’m not the only that experienced that – indoctrination has been a tool for the Swedish authorities to brainwash the citizens of Sweden.
I got my eyes opened up and realized what I had gone through.
Israel you the right thing to protect yourself, you have my thumbs up!
Good work Avi. I love israel and it’s people with all my heart.
Hi there. I am not sure why I feel compelled to reply. Perhaps it is because many of the above comments are obviously not grounded in reality.
I am a 47 years old Swede with 27 years of experience as an international consultant in all sorts of conflicts. I was involved for nearly 3 years in the implementation of the Oslo Accords back in 1993, which were orchestrated by the great Yitzhak Rabin. Rabin, it is important to recall, was an Israeli general who fought all of his life to keep his country alive, and who implemented such harsh measures against the Palestinian intifada that he became known as the ”bone breaker”, only to eventually realize that the end to the violence could only be achieved through negotiation d and dialogue.
The winds of change were blowing strong in the region in 1993 after the signature of the Accords. For many months at a time Palestinian and Israeli officials worked very hard together to establish cooperation agreements in all sorts of sectors. I personally coordinated such efforts in agriculture, fisheries, education and the management of nature reserves. My activities took me to Israeli and Palestinian communities in the west bank and in Gaza (which had not yet been evacuated), in the Negev and in the Golan, and to the Lebanese and Jordanian borders. Everywhere I went people seemed convinced that this was it – the end of the conflict, and the advent of a new Palestinian State living in peace with its Israeli neighbour. Even the communities living in the occupied territories – though not particularly happy about it – seemed resigned to the fact that they were going to have to leave. The optimism that permeated the region was incredible. It stayed with me.
But the process got derailed, by one thing only: the construction of the Israeli settlements that continued and even accelerated ten-fold while the Palestinians were implementing in good faith the various accords that had been negotiated. Of course it did not help that Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, but that is no excuse.
I would like to point out that when I went to the region in 1993 I was unfortunately somewhat biased towards Israel, as I had several very close Israeli friends from before. I even stayed at their home and in their family in West Jerusalem for the greater part of my time there – whereas all of my colleagues were staying at hotels in East Jerusalem (Palestinian side. That said, I made a point of not letting my bias affect my work.
Amazingly, by the time I left the region nearly 3 years later I was staunchly pro-Palestinian, as by then it had become clear as water to everyone involved that Israel never went into the peace process in good faith. Israel sabotaged the peace process and with it the work of all those people that believed in it, by continuing to build their colonies in the West Bank, around Jerusalem and on top of all the water points, thus making it impossible for a meaningful Palestinian state to ever see the light of day.
The Palestinians will probably never know peace. They will continue to live in camps as a repressed people, a people with no future. But Israelis will also never know peace, and your security will continue to be assured at incredibly high cost, because as a result of their failure to end the conflict they are now having to contend with a fanatical Palestinian entity that does not even recognize Israel’s existence nor its right to exist (Hamas did not exist back in 1993 – it is the failure of the Oslo Accords and Israel’s deceitfulness that led to its creation and its democratic election). Israelis were given a golden opportunity to finally live normal lives; instead they created a monster that for the moment is being kept at bay at high cost, but that one day is sure to become better organized and wreak havoc once again. Mark my words: despair drives people to desperate ends, it is only a matter of time.
I once loved Israel – my first time there was in 1988. Had the time of my life, great friends, great life. But security issues – both immediate and long-term – drove the various governments that came to power to implement the ugliest of policies that changed the face of the country irreversibly: the security wall that cuts across the region, the fences everywhere, the check-points that have multiplied – all of which, by the way, are profoundly reminiscent of the South African Apartheid regime which I also experienced – but also the race against time (which Israel will lose – this is inevitable) to maintain Jewish numbers above those of Arabs, which opened the gate to 1.2 million Russian immigrants (that changed Israel to its core) and explains the presence of 120,000 Ethiopian Jews who for the most part live in abject poverty due to their inability to integrate and who are even victim of racism in their new country. All in the name of security.
It is incredibly ironic – no one can possibly deny this – that Israel, whose people suffered so much at the hands of the Nazis that the world felt obliged to give them a new country, is in its turn wreaking the lives of another people, and finding justifications for doing so instead of fair solutions to end this injustice. Until you do, you will continue to be spat on worldwide – I am sorry, but that is a fact, and I do not believe one second that you do not care.
Man, you are ignorant!
Anyone who knows the middle east and Islam knows that there is a determination that Israel shall be eradicated. I applaud Israeli efforts to fight back and maintain the land promised to them after the first world war…and which they had to take by force after the second world war—Not given to them by a world that felt sorry for them!! It is a fact of life that people take sides, I am for Israel and many others in Sweden are also.
Dear Bruno,
I truly appreciate your concern about the region. But unfortunately you are completely wrong and your claim does not withstand basic logic and reality.
You claim that ”the process got derailed, by one thing only: the construction of the Israeli settlements…”
Firstly, as an international expert on conflicts (as you present yourself) I would expect more humility. You probably know that never one sole factor could ever be the sole cause of a conflict, or any other complex human reality.
Now, if indeed settlements are the sole cause of the problem, would you not expect logically that the dismantling of all Israeli settlements and military presence from Gaza in 2005 improve the situation or even solve the conflict there? The opposite precisely happened! How can that be explained?
The same thing happened in Southern Lebanon when Israel left and Lebanon has no more territorial claims. Things did not improve, but to the contrary.
How come that exactly during the term of the great Yitzchak Rabin, during the ”peace” process, that Palestinian violence (suicide bombings) against Israelis accelerated so badly? It has no correlation with settlements whatsoever .. they were hardly expanded then.
Same thing with the second Intifada in 2000, which was a strategic and intentional choice of the Palestinian leadership towards violence. How was that in the world connected to settlements? The Palestinians were offered in the Camp David summit an independent state on the vast majority of the West bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and were offered the dismantlement of many settlements! What causal relationship do you see here?
If anything, one could claim that each time Israel dismantles settlements or offers to do so, it derails the conflict. I don’t necessarily claim that, but your claim really really cannot be proven, other than basing it on your gut feeling and acceptance of a false narrative and propaganda.
Now, please please please check your facts. They are wrong all over the place. A couple of examples:
”Hamas did not exist back in 1993” – Wrong! They were established in 1987. In 1993 they were deep in the business of sending suicide bombers to kill civilians in Israeli cities (yes… during the beautiful years with winds of change that you were so lovely describing).
”Israeli settlements continued and even accelerated ten-fold” – False. According to all data (take a look at the references through Wikipedia, but I am happy to see anything else), Israeli settlement population including East Jerusalem grew from 281,000 in 1993 to 534,000 to 2010. Not even double.
Finally, a few words of annoyance. You talk about Israel like a betrayed man that decides he is now in the business of educating his ex-lover, telling her how awful she is and explaining to her what is good for her. Well…. you are wrong. You do not know Israel, real Israel, even if you spent overnight in Jerusalem a few times. And you don’t really know the conflict even if you met with a few paid officials during your visits. The conflict, and the Israeli and Palestinian people are much more complex than that.
Your comments about the Nazis etc. make me realize that you have the regular European tendency of having a romantic notion (again, ex-lover) about the old Jews, those poor victims of the holocaust that we felt guilty for not saving but now, alas, are not behaving according to our patterns. Where are all those weak people?
Well, indeed, the Israelis are not the old wondering poor Jews anymore. We have a national identity (sorry), coupled with some religious identity (sorry again), and a historical homeland in which we want to have a sovereign and peaceful state. And we do not want to see our selves as victims. When someone attacks us we usually defend ourselves and even fight back, and thank god we have the ability to do so.
Now, you can believe it or not – but I am positive that most Israelis will agree to an independent Palestinian state, including dismantling many settlements, if we realize that the Palestinians will accept our right to have a sovereign, peaceful state that is ***the homeland of the Jewish Nation****. Our leaders offered it in the past more than once. You can find many excuses why this reality has never happened, but I think that settlements is a really a poor one (even if it is popular to say so).
Shmuel
p.s. before you tell us how awfully we absorbed our immigrants, perhaps you can take a look a your home country. I am sure our immigrants have a much brighter future in our country, despite some bad cases of misjustice that must be fixed immediately.
Living in Sweden, I must say that most Swedes have a deep respect for Israel being THE democracy in the area, and of course a lot of Swedes have a deep emotional connection with Israel based on the history, but also a lot of people in my generation spent a summer or two there working in a kibbutz.
But this also mean that we expect other things from Israel than we do from other countries in the area, and react differently when bad things happen in Israel then in Iran for instance. It’s just like you expect other things from you cousin or nephew than you do from a wellknown gangster. Israel has been our friend for years, and we know that you are one of the good guys, so it doesn’t take that much to get a bit disappointed. (You can compare this to the ”riots” in Sweden recently, noone was really hurt, it was a small area with not a lot of people involved, in fact they were nothing compared to what has been going on in other countries. Yet this got a lot of publicity all over the world, because one did not expect that from Sweden.
We also expect other things from the USA, and will react totally differently if they do certain things that we would not react to if they happened in China. We think that USA is one of the good guys, so they should act better than China.
One thing I must agree on though, the attitude towards Israel is definitely different in a few parts of Sweden. Sad to say, but these are areas with a lot of Muslim immigrants from certain countries. THey don’t change their attitude towards Israel just because they move to Sweden. I think most muslims here don’t feel that way though, but some surely do. It is a failure from Sweden to not have been able to get a more peaceful attitude towards Israel into this group.
( I apologize if the English is a bit clumsy here and there in the text)
Well, impressive litterature. Did you know that a palestinian state never existed as an independent country? Arab palestinians lived there under the domination of other empires, without complaining so much.
Jewish archeological sites and cemeteries have been by sullied by locals.
In the beginning of the 20th. century, there were more jews than arabs in Jerusalem, where the living conditions were very bad, with high infant mortality due to the very bad conditions. All that changed after the recreation of the israeli state.
By the way, if arab palestinians don’t want to live among jews, they just have to travel some 20 to 200 km at most. Some jews made thousands of kilometers to rebuild a state, reforest deserts, dry up marshes, build universities, and so on.
So if palestinians and arab countries would, from the start of the recreation of Israel, have agreed to accept the jews, what do you think would have hapened ?
Dear Whoeveryouare,
If there is so much trouble in the world that the Swedes ignore in their apparent pre-occupation with bashing Israel (and noone but Israel) then aren’t you just now doing exactly the same in showing your country’s pre-occupation with trying to stave off criticism instead of addressing the problems in Israel, your region and the world? In a democracy, in a true democracy, you are entitled to your own opinion, feelings and thoughts and no one tries to shut you down. It seems that in Israel, any opinion that in any way criticises your country should be drowned (as in the example of the Aftonbladet newspaper article accusing Israel’s army of stealing organs from killed Palestinians, to which Israel demanded measures from the Swedish government and even an apology — good luck getting one from the country with the world’s oldest freedom of expression laws and where the government has no rule over the free press. Needless to say, the Israeli government later admitted the claims made by the newspaper were true). Any country that demands government intervention in the face of criticism from the press sounds more like a facist dictatorship to me than a democracy, or do you disagree? If so, please explain to us all how a democracy works in your mind. Isn’t it time that you grow up, Dear Whoeveryouare? Make mistakes, and you’ll be criticized, blamed and people may even utter a few bad words about you. Make good, and you’ll be praised. Even by Swedes! It’s simple as that.
”But frankly, if you can’t work to stop evil in the world, if you can’t stop the Sudanese from raping, the Syrians from killing tens of thousands, the Arab countries from repressing women, the corrupt governments in South America, the totalitarian countries of Russia and China, then why in the world should I care what you think about the Democracy I live in?”
I am a former Muslim of Indian Origin and in response to the above quote I just want to say that if your sole argument is, ”These people are worse than we are; why don’t you worry about them?”, you have lost the battle already.
The truth is that modern day Israel-Judea-Samaria and the West Bank is neither historically Arab nor historically Jewish. For the past 3000 years, both Arabs and Jews have alternately dominated the politics of the land and any fair nation that exists in that area has to be inclusive of both Arabs and Jews. Thus, an Israel that systematically excludes four million Palestinians and defines itself as a Jewish state will always have trouble selling the truth that it is morally in the right.
If Israel had any true courage it would propose a one state solution with a secular constitution that would include the four million disenfranchised Palestinians in the region. If America were really a principled ally of Israel they would demand that that American support would be conditional on the installment of American style freedom of religion in present day Israel.
If a one state solution is too idealistic then the only other option is for Israel to retreat to pre-1967 borders and, in addition, give a substantial part of the Negev to the Palestinians so that they can have a contiguous, and hence workable, future state. Since what I just proposed will never happen, the best possible future for the region is a one-state solution under a secular constitution.
I am not going to morally judge Israel for precisely the reasons the author mentioned–many of the countries surrounding Israel are far worse. However, I would like to say that if Israel wishes to ally its values and its identity with those of Western nations then it should expect hold itself to the standard of Western norms and political values.
Dear Isreal: I really don’t care about YOU. Really. But as long as your collective hand is out, taking money, arms and anything else the world is offering, then you have no standing to complain when we (the World) give an opinion of you, your behavior or situation. When you begin to ”flourish, thrive, grow and inprove the world” on your own, let us know. Until then, suck it up and learn to accept criticism.
Contemporary Israel-Judea-Samaria and the West Bank is neither historically Arab nor historically Jewish. For the past 3000 years, both Arabs and Jews have alternately dominated the politics of the land and any fair nation that exists in that area has to be inclusive of both Arabs and Jews.
An Israel that systematically excludes four million Palestinians and defines itself as a Jewish state will always have trouble selling the truth that it is morally in the right. – See more at: http://lettersfromisrael.com/2013/02/13/dear-swede-care/#sthash.fw1nxN2n.dpuf
arrogant , racist ,aggressive , self promoting , illegal construction of jewish settlements in occupied palestinian territories … to house racist , non hebrew speaking immigrants from south africa , russia and beyond … is currently the prime catalyst for the continuing conflict and will never be resolved … how can you blame the palestinians from sending over rockets ! they are motivated by the same sentiments that drove jews to carry out terrorist activities directed at the founding of the israeli state in the ’40s
Why do you talk about south America? I guess your President wasn’t charge for corruption? Porque no te callas sera mejor GIL..
I too support Israel’s right to deny emancipation to three million men, women and children because they’re not God’s Chosen People.