tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844367946876032905.post1899386132552028237..comments2023-10-03T23:58:17.279+11:00Comments on Middle East Reality Check: Rudd & Netanyahu Cross SwordsMERChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14500573372528287733noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844367946876032905.post-31266630004722548182017-02-24T06:05:30.045+11:002017-02-24T06:05:30.045+11:00Mannie, your explanation has more than a ring of t...Mannie, your explanation has more than a ring of truth about it, except to say that there is a push/pull factor at work here. <br /><br />The push came (and still comes to a greater or lesser degree) from Western politicians such as Balfour, who, instead of seeing Jews as merely one element in the religious mix of their nations, viewed them as essentially a foreign, 'national' element who didn't really belong in the country of their birth. <br /><br />The pull came (and still comes) from the Zionist movement which has always advocated the idea that Jews are a 'national', rather than a religious, entity requiring a "national home" (to cite the words of the Balfour Declaration) somewhere outside the country of their birth. And so, in an age of nationalism, the Zionists were able to exploit the non-inclusive/anti-Semitic mindset of Western politicians such as Balfour to advance their aim of channeling as many Western Jews as possible out of Europe and into what they decided would make the optimal Jewish "national home", Palestine. <br /><br />As an anti-Zionist, my view is that Jews (whether religious or merely cultural) are, or should be seen as, an integral and valued part of the open, multi-sectarian, multi-cultural, inclusive society into which they are born and raised. <br /><br />Zionists, on the other hand, would have them fixating on Israel and, if possible, emigrating there. MERCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844367946876032905.post-11900436610954348632017-02-24T00:19:17.250+11:002017-02-24T00:19:17.250+11:00Oh, we not only dare whisper, we actually shout it...Oh, we not only dare whisper, we actually shout it out loud on our blogs and on our web pages and wherever we can, but nobody hears what we are saying - not the government, not the opposition, not our politicians, not most people who believe "we support Israel because it is the "only democracy" in the middle east".<br /><br />An apartheid state which learnt from apartheid South Africa and also learnt to magnify and divide in a way that the South African apartheid government could only have dreamt about.<br /><br />When is the world going to wake up to the Israeli government and the lying Netanyahu and help the Palestinians establish their own independent state?<br /><br />My only explanation for it all is that they are all anti-semitic christians who are working hard to ensure that the Jews in all countries around the world are moved in all senses of the world to go to Israel and to rid all these countries of their Jewish populations - at last. Then and only then will anti-semitism presumably come to an end. <br /><br />But I have no intention of moving and will continue to support BDS in every way I can.<br /><br />Israel will be a democratic state when it becomes a bi-national state of Israelis and Palestinians with equal rights in every way possible. Human rights and freedom.Mannie De Saxehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12860936567655277147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844367946876032905.post-1375059050767566002017-02-23T19:28:53.814+11:002017-02-23T19:28:53.814+11:00Thank you Kevin for saying what the rest of us dar...Thank you Kevin for saying what the rest of us dare not whisper!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844367946876032905.post-21886636500905484742017-02-23T09:23:57.324+11:002017-02-23T09:23:57.324+11:00Good on you Kevin!Good on you Kevin!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com