Does the fact of any country's (probably) violent origins have anything to do with its existence now? Is there a founding that invalidates a country's existence?
Let's say that I agree that Israel did this or that, even the one-sided claims of my left-of-Hamas friends. What then? What does that mean right now? In other words, where does the story start? The Jews were displaced 2,000 years ago, so does that give them prior claim, if living on the land is your criterion? My father was thrown out of his country in the 1930s. Does anyone think I can waltz in with right-of-return to his old house in Berlin? Does anyone ever get anything back? If everyone gets to retrieve what they lost, Manhattan goes to the Indians, England to the Saxons, Rome to the Sabines, bits of every single Arab country to the 500,000 Mizrachi (Oriental) Jews they expelled, & so on & on & on. Every country has blood on its hands, past and/or present.
I keep trying to think through why so many people seem to care so much about (big, bad) Israel, in what seems a very one-sided way. I've seen really hysteric posts about some Israeli actions that didn't involve anyone dying; no similar outrage about tens of thousands of murders in countries like Syria or Pakistan. Why? It has always seemed that it could only be because it's the Jews.
This article suggests some answers:
An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth
A former AP correspondent explains how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters
By Matti Friedman
click on the photo caption or use this:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/183033/israel-insider-guide?all=1
Thoughts?
Let's say that I agree that Israel did this or that, even the one-sided claims of my left-of-Hamas friends. What then? What does that mean right now? In other words, where does the story start? The Jews were displaced 2,000 years ago, so does that give them prior claim, if living on the land is your criterion? My father was thrown out of his country in the 1930s. Does anyone think I can waltz in with right-of-return to his old house in Berlin? Does anyone ever get anything back? If everyone gets to retrieve what they lost, Manhattan goes to the Indians, England to the Saxons, Rome to the Sabines, bits of every single Arab country to the 500,000 Mizrachi (Oriental) Jews they expelled, & so on & on & on. Every country has blood on its hands, past and/or present.
I keep trying to think through why so many people seem to care so much about (big, bad) Israel, in what seems a very one-sided way. I've seen really hysteric posts about some Israeli actions that didn't involve anyone dying; no similar outrage about tens of thousands of murders in countries like Syria or Pakistan. Why? It has always seemed that it could only be because it's the Jews.
This article suggests some answers:
An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth
A former AP correspondent explains how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters
By Matti Friedman
click on the photo caption or use this:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/183033/israel-insider-guide?all=1
Thoughts?