How being in Israel changed me.

[Furunculus]

insightful post hooha, my thanks, the experience obviously made quite an impression on you.

you have to wonder if turning israel in to the home of every jew, as happened in the late 20th century, rather knackered the cohesive civil society necessary to sustain the ideals of the original liberal democracy........

[Hooahguy]

I have oft asked the rabbis at my institution on whether they think Israel should be a democratic state or a Jewish state, since the two cannot co-exist in the same country. Every one of them answered the latter.
Im pretty annoyed right now. In fact, I began printing out pictures of people like Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, and Washington (as well as Patton, Churchill, and Eisenhower) and pasting them on my dorm wall to make a political statement.

[Hax]

Last night, I attended a lecture about the Gaza strip. I won't say too much about exactly what kind of people there were, but let me tell you, I felt a Zionist in comparison. Death glares when I dared mention Hamas' manifest that contains anti-Jewish slurs.

The speaker (dr. Sara Roy, from Harvard) had some interesting things to say though; with the embargos on exports and imports that have gradually been put in place since the 1990's up until the siege of 2006, along with the dismemberment of the Palestinian state, in essence severing the Gaza strip from the West Bank economically, have ground the Gazan economy to a near-halt; 30 to 35% of all people are unemployed, with unemployment amongst the youth hovering around 49%. The private sectors is nearly completely gone, only the public sector has grown, with about 14%.

Of course, the problem is that once people have nothing to live for, they're not afraid of doing anything. In my opinion, the siege and blockade of Gaza is more a threat to Israel itself than to anyone else.

She also noted that the issue of Israel being a Jewish state is something the Israelis themselves should decide.

[Papewaio]

Closed as per request.