Israel Q.A.

[asiepshtain]

Since your Israeli I assume that your a major bad ass. I salute you for fighting for you country and what you believe in.

Actually a major misconception. While the joining the army is theoretically mandatory, quite a large slice of the population are exempt due to reasons of health, mental status, family/social conditions, and the like.
Even with those that are enlisted, the army has many more non-combat roles then combat ones.
I personally did serve in the army, and had many year of martial art training independently, but thats just me.

But thats just the physical side. Every person living in Sderot for the last eight year, under constant attack, is in my mind as major a bad ass as can be imagined. Mental fortitude is a big deal.

 

[asiepshtain]

Israel and Palestine are both wrong. Stop being such little bitches about it, realize that god doesn't exist and none of your war matters anymore. Who cares who started what? You're both terrible and need to grow up.

It's not about god, I'm not religious and I'm still stuck in this conflict. It's the front line of the east-west culture war. If it wasn't being fought here, it would have been fought elsewhere.

 

[asiepshtain]

Wow... I missed a lot. Some of this is in response to about two pages ago, but I worked hard on it, so please...? Also I want to restate my questions. As they appeared in the first post:

I want the accusations that Israel is an apartheid state cleared up, preferably with evidence to throw in the face of those I'd have to argue with. *Are* are Arab Israeli citizens denied any rights? *Are* areas of mostly Arab Israelis (or even areas of mostly Arabs who aren't Israeli) underdeveloped? *Is* there any sort of separate-but-equal going on?

I also want to ask about the Jerusalem question. I know the official government stance is that Jerusalem is the indivisible and eternal capital of the state, but do you feel it should not be divided? Do most Israelis feel this way? If it came to the point where a workable peace could be reached in exchange for a division, do you think the government would take it despite their official position?

Hmm, good questions. And thanks for rephrasing them, I didn't think they were questions before, but statements.

Arab Israeli are discriminated against. Sad, but true. While against the law, this discrimination is too widespread to be ignored, and I as a person have often protested this state of affairs. In contrast to the apartheid however, this discrimination is illegal and as stated before it is actively worked against by Israeli-Arab parties in the government.

It is my belief that discrimination is a leading cause to the decline of the relation between Israeli Jews and Israeli Muslims and one of the major threats to the state of Israel.

In regards to Jerusalem , the last government was willing to pull back from certain neighborhoods and hand them to the Palstinines. The current more right-wing government would probably not agree to this. This is a major point of conflict inside Israel, with many cheering for each different opinion.

 

[asiepshtain]

Just to lighten things up:

What did you think of "You Don't Mess with the Zohan"?

Haven't seen it yet, not a big fan of Adam Sander thou.

 

[asiepshtain]

Shoot.

lol

Not really, not funny at all.
People are dying here, real people.
My wife was on site for three terrorist attacks, in the first one the women standing next to her caught a piece of shrapnel and died. Dumb luck.

I'm not laughing.

 

[asiepshtain]

Have you used a TAR-21 yet and if so how does it perform?

I've been out of regular service for quite a while now ( I'm in the reserves ) so I never got a chance to handle one.

 

[Weaver]

Not really, not funny at all.
People are dying here, real people.
My wife was on site for three terrorist attacks, in the first one the women standing next to her caught a piece of shrapnel and died. Dumb luck.

I'm not laughing.

yeah you're right. An apology is obviously not enough in this case, but I offer my apology anyways. I will remove my original post.

 

[asiepshtain]

Have you had any experience with the Merkava? And what do you think of it as a tank compared to the other MBTs used in the world?

Didn't serve in the armored forces so I never used one, but I did get to train along side to them. Can't compare it to other tanks as my knowledge on the subject is limited, but let me tell you this.

You have never seen anything scarier then a dozen metal giants storming at you at 80 kilometers per hour, crushing everything in their path and firing shells every few seconds.
I thank god I was never on the other side of a charge like that.

 

[SnowCold]

Finnaly, some to stand up and make a thred about how we are not child eaters! good job!

and also: you say you are not exreme to either side but you voted Mertz? I sence a logical failure

 

[asiepshtain]

What's your personal opinion on right of return for Palestinian refugees and Israeli immigration policy?

Israel was created as a refuge for all the Jews of the world, our immigration policy ( If you're Jewish you're in) is a major part of that.

As for the Palestinian refuges I never quite understood that, Basically its a request to first get a Palestinian state and Then allow millions of people who are verbosely against Israel very existence into Israel instead of Palestine. If they want to move to Palestine after a two state solution I have no problem with that, But I'm not going to give citizenship to professed enemies of the state. That would be stupid.

 

[terminator320]

Not sure if it has been asked but what do you personally think of the actions that Israel against Palistinians. And secondly has israel always had the policy of retaliating in a rather extreme way. Oh and thanks for answering our questions.

 

[Weaver]

Do you believe in objective morality?

also, for what it's worth, here's my viewpoint of the war:
http://fatherjoe.files.wordpress.com/2006/07/pic17223.jpg

 

[SnowCold]

What is the general view on Americans over there?

America NEED'S Israel! while most of the orld hates you guys, Israelis consider America as the holy land (but they wont saythat in public because hating america makes them look more sophisticated and european

 

[SnowCold]

What are the attitudes towards Israeli atheists? Is it acceptable to be Israeli and not Jewish?

If you mean Jewish as a religeon, well, Israel Is a Jewish state for the ewish race, not the jewish beleivers, except the ultra orthodox (the Scared for Israelis), people here are excepting of Atheists, My family has religeouse friends, and we are non reliouse (that for them is the same as atheists) and we go along O.K.

If you mean Jewish as a race, well... While the goverment teart non jewish Israeli citizens the same as jewish, there alot of right-wing extremists that say the arabs need to burn in a fire and that we should make Kababs on there burning body, But most israelis are O.K., but get pale and almost faint when they meet with Israeli Arabs, but thats just in our blood >.>

 

[asiepshtain]

What's your personal opinion on right of return for Palestinian refugees and Israeli immigration policy?

Israel was created as a refuge for all the Jews of the world, our immigration policy ( If you're Jewish you're in) is a major part of that.

As for the Palestinian refuges I never quite understood that, Basically its a request to first get a Palestinian state and Then allow millions of people who are verbosely against Israel very existence into Israel instead of Palestine. If they want to move to Palestine after a two state solution I have no problem with that, But I'm not going to give citizenship to professed enemies of the state. That would be stupid.

In retrospect, this question deserves a more robust reply as it touches on some keystone Issues, here I go.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) defines a Palestinian refugee as a person "whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict".
Notice this refers only to the 1948 Conflict, this is vital.

In 1948 the tiny Israel state was given province over this area by UN Resolution 181
( http://factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000520.html ) the following day, Egypt, TransJordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq declared war on Israel. Thus began the war of Israel independence. The Arabs living in what would become Israel Fought for this coalition, attacking Israel people and forces. It is important to stress that not all Arabs living in the region were involved in this fighting. As the Arabs forces were slowly pushed back, many Arabs (Beggining with the richer ) began evacuating their homes, choosing to side with Arab league.

* this following section is completely my opinion *

Now, why did the Arab forces decide to attack Israel?
We posed neither military nor economic threats, the area belonged to the british before hand and thus wasn't taken directly from them, and Syria and Jordan care for the Palestinians about ten times less then we do. Why the war then?

You need to remember one thing, Arabs aren't citizens, they are SUBJECTS. Every single nation stated above was a dictatorship then and is a dictatorship now. The Arab people who were located in Israel would have become citizens, like the ones who didn't run are today. Full fledged, full rights citizen. It is my opinion that these nations could not handle the fact that Muslims near them would attain human rights, THAT IT WOULD LEAD TO REVOLUTIONS IN THEIR COUNTRIES. So thy first tried to destroy Israel, then demonized it.

The Arabs who choose to side with the Arab league actually choose being Arab subjects over Israeli citizens.

I do not see how Israel is endebted to these people, they choose to rise against us, against the Idea of citizenship, and side with people who were coming here to enslave them. And when they lost the war they come to us as if we were the aggresors.

In my mind, we owe them nothing, were they to side with us, they would have been both citizens and our brothers. They choose to be our enemies.

 

[asiepshtain]

Do you believe in objective morality?

also, for what it's worth, here's my viewpoint of the war:
http://fatherjoe.files.wordpress.com/2006/07/pic17223.jpg

Yes, but I believe humanity has not yet attained the level of thought required to achieve its understanding.

And thats a good comic, I agree with it.

 

[asiepshtain]

Finnaly, some to stand up and make a thred about how we are not child eaters! good job!

and also: you say you are not exreme to either side but you voted Mertz? I sence a logical failure

I voted Meretz ( A left-wing socialist party, very pro-peace ) out of alignment with their economic views, while I disagree with their view on the conflict.

And I do not see Meretz as even close to extreme. Were I an extreme left-wing person (like my brother is) I would have voted for Balad (an arab-israel party) like my brother did.

Meretz is the only left-wing party left in Israel politics today, with "Labor" (HAVODA) being a joke and KADIMA being made up of people I wouldn't trust to wash my car, let alone run my country, not to mention they are much more center then left.

 

[SnowCold]

Finnaly, some to stand up and make a thred about how we are not child eaters! good job!

and also: you say you are not exreme to either side but you voted Mertz? I sence a logical failure

I voted Meretz ( A left-wing socialist party, very pro-peace ) out of alignment with their economic views, while I disagree with their view on the conflict.

And I do not see Meretz as even close to extreme. Were I an extreme left-wing person (like my brother is) I would have voted for Balad (an arab-israel party) like my brother did.

Meretz is the only left-wing party left in Israel politics today, with "Labor" (HAVODA) being a joke and KADIMA being made up of people I wouldn't trust to wash my car, let alone run my country, not to mention they are much more center then left.

I was just making a dumb joke

 

[asiepshtain]

Finnaly, some to stand up and make a thred about how we are not child eaters! good job!

and also: you say you are not exreme to either side but you voted Mertz? I sence a logical failure

I voted Meretz ( A left-wing socialist party, very pro-peace ) out of alignment with their economic views, while I disagree with their view on the conflict.

And I do not see Meretz as even close to extreme. Were I an extreme left-wing person (like my brother is) I would have voted for Balad (an arab-israel party) like my brother did.

Meretz is the only left-wing party left in Israel politics today, with "Labor" (HAVODA) being a joke and KADIMA being made up of people I wouldn't trust to wash my car, let alone run my country, not to mention they are much more center then left.

I was just making a dumb joke

No problem, just saw it as another question to answer, no offense.

 

[Xsy]

Not sure if it has been asked but what do you personally think of the actions that Israel against Palistinians. And secondly has israel always had the policy of retaliating in a rather extreme way. Oh and thanks for answering our questions.

I'll answer this in parts :

what do you personally think of the actions that Israel against Palistinians

First i'd like to clarify , Israel is not taking any actions againt Palestinians as a whole , we have nothing against them. What Israel is doing is to fight the terrorist cells inside the Palestinian population that tries to harm Israel citizens and territories.
In my opinion its no way different from what America went to do in Afghanistan after 9/11 , I completely support fighting terrorism , capturing and preventing terrorists from doing their crazy stuff , and I think every right minded person should support it.

It true though that the Palestinian population probably get hurt , but the problem is that terrorists especially Hamas in this case , are hiding inside the Palestinian population which could obviously create unfortunate situations , but as I said in another post , if the Palestinian society will cast away their extreme brethren , their situation will improve rapidly as they wont be controlled by extremists anymore.

And secondly has israel always had the policy of retaliating in a rather extreme way?

Its kind of funny really , because in the past years there have been waves of criticism against our government because they didnt react to the constant rocket firing on our territory either from the south (Gaza ) or North (Lebanon by Hizballah ).

I could compare the Arab - Israel conflict to a fight between children , the 'Arab' child is holding a stick and poking the 'Israel' child in the stomach , the 'Israel' child dosent react but gets annoyed by the poking , than after a few years of constant poking the 'Israel' child cant take the poking anymore and retaliates with a punch in the face to the 'Arab' child , the 'Arab' child than runs to its parents crying , the parents than come to the 'Israel' child and rebuke him because of his 'bad' act , than the rumor spreads and the 'Israel' child becomes the bully of the neighborhood.

All of this sounds strangely familiar