Well the goal of the forum is to have this discussion and hopefully expand understanding
Do you think you would hold the same views on Israel-Palestine had you not been Jewish Jomodo? I'm asking because you seem pretty much in line with me on everything else.
socially liberal, fiscally conservative?
In general I agree
Whenever the topic of Jews or Israel comes up there is always a canned response from the crowd 'fuck the jews' or 'fuck Israel' with not much substance beyond that (with the exception of a few who can phrase it in drawn out terms with more eloquence).
I used to be one of the liberal Jews who was very critical of Israel's actions. I was raised reform in a fairly secular enviornment (keeping basic minimal traditions) However, largely in part to this site and the prevalent anti-semetic rhetoric that plagues this particular topic, it pushed me to further exploration and polarized my perspective. In this pursuit of knowledge, along with 2 trips to Israel I have strengthened my ties to both the local and international Jewish community. I have always been a huge advocate for human/civil rights and social justice. At the same time the more research and education I pursued, the more 'Zionistic' I became.
As I have stated/implied before, my support of Israel does not automatically translate to the subjugation of the Palestinian’s. Their plight is undeniable, and Israel plays its part, but so do the Palestinians, as well as it’s Arab brethren in the surrounding states and it is the responsibility of all three to find a suitable coexisting resolution. They should have more local autonomy, but need to respect Israels sovernigty and right to exist.
http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/1411.htm (memritv.org is an organization one of my long time family friends works for, the transmissions are intercepted by memri then translated into Hebrew. He then translates the Hebrew into English)
People easily spout off their tongues that ‘the Holocaust happened like 60 yrs ago, get over it already’ however, contrapositively this statement ‘can not’ be used when referring to the displaced Palestinians, (although it could just as easily be applied if one were to take such simple logic into consideration). That hypocrisy right there demonstrates the double standard. What else is absurd is the constant comparison of the Holocaust to the present Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is a stretch by all means to use this simile. The refugee Palestinian population has tripled in the last 60 yrs. The Jews exterminated in the Holocaust wiped out one third of the entire global Jewish population in less than a decade.(this is the most obvious, there are many more difference, but perhaps I should save those for when someone gets bored and runs out of stuff and makes that a subject of a thread, b/c hey, when things get slow, it's always appropriate to sprinkle a little Jew hate around, don't want that getting too stale)
Regarding the Armenian Genocide, I like how this excerpt sums it up….
http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/facts/answers.html
‘History is too important to leave to historians. By leaving the Armenian injustice of World War I uncorrected, the stage was set for the Holocaust of World War II. The abandonment of the Armenians was not lost on Hitler. Hitler said before sending his troops into Poland, "Go, go kill without mercy. Who today remembers the extermination of the Armenians?" ‘
Part of the reason I believe in the prevelance of Holocaust education is not only b/c of the importance of preaching ‘never again’ but a multitude of reasons. The Genocide was against the Jews, but there was also the mass murder of political defectors, socialists, communists, gays, Gypsies, mentally disabled, lepers, ect. hitler and The Nazi’s had an intention for global domination
As the last of the holocaust survivors pass and the deniers get louder the harder the push for Holocaust awareness/education becomes.
Sadly the cries fall on deaf ears in the leaders of the world as Rwanda, Cambodia, Darfur, are all travesties, and the phrase ‘Never again’ rings with empty and desperate hopelessness., these countries too run the risk of being forgotten genocides. (while Darfur seems to be the uncared about current Genocide).
Listen to George Carlins skit on bombing brown people to pshycoanalyze western societies thoughts.
All I know is if the tough economic times were to really spiral downhill brown shirts can come knockin’ again any day…. (which is why I have no idea how any Jews can still live in Eastern or Western Europe). USA or Israel all the way…
pardon the runon's and rambling, it's late i'm out
