A People Under Siege Over Millenia (and on ATS)

I think that this article has a lot of explanatory power. Perception is stronger than reality. You have to understand both side's perception if you are to solve a problem. I highly recommend reading this article: www.tabletmag.com...

The Israel story is framed to seem as if it has nothing to do with events nearby because the “Israel” of international journalism does not exist in the same geo-political universe as Iraq, Syria, or Egypt. The Israel story is not a story about current events. It is about something else.

For centuries, stateless Jews played the role of a lightning rod for ill will among the majority population. They were a symbol of things that were wrong. Did you want to make the point that greed was bad? Jews were greedy. Cowardice? Jews were cowardly. Were you a Communist? Jews were capitalists. Were you a capitalist? In that case, Jews were Communists. Moral failure was the essential trait of the Jew. It was their role in Christian tradition—the only reason European society knew or cared about them in the first place.

The world’s only Jewish country has done less harm than most countries on earth, and more good—and yet when people went looking for a country that would symbolize the sins of our new post-colonial, post-militaristic, post-ethnic dream-world, the country they chose was this one.

When Israel opened a transportation service for Palestinian workers in the occupied West Bank a few years ago, American news consumers could read about Israel “segregating buses.”

You don’t need to be a history professor, or a psychiatrist, to understand what’s going on. Having rehabilitated themselves against considerable odds in a minute corner of the earth, the descendants of powerless people who were pushed out of Europe and the Islamic Middle East have become what their grandparents were—the pool into which the world spits. The Jews of Israel are the screen onto which it has become socially acceptable to project the things you hate about yourself and your own country. The tool through which this psychological projection is executed is the international press.

Boy have you opened a can of worms with this thread. But one thing I think that many do not understand, since the Jews have been persecuted over the centuries, it only makes sense that they would band together and attempt to affect the outside world.

the old saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." seems to apply here. It is survival after all.

Just gonna post this reply so I can follow this thread . . .

And catch the fireworks

Somehow I find myself at odds with the term you used "Perception is stronger than reality." I tend to think perception creates reality.

How incredible is it that the Jewish peoples of the Earth were able to maintain such a strong sense of identity throughout their entire culture?!

Jews from all over the world prior to Globalization and the founding of Israel still had such strong cultural ties to each other even after several millennia of persecution, forced segregation and isolation throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle east.

They then were almost entirely wiped out in Europe.

Pretty amazing that Jewish people wherever they are found pretty much always posses exceptional education, have a deep sense of community, incredible work ethic, a great sense of humor and an incredible concentration of power.

Consider, a global community of no more than 18 million (less than the population of metropolitan NYC) in total with the educational attainment, influence, accumulated assets/capital & cultural power of the Jews.

Its a pretty remarkable phenomena, maybe the lesson is that many of our cultures should learn a bit from Judaism because they always seem to thrive if given the chance.

While many people in the west love to berate Jews due to their wealth and power (projecting deep-seated cultural anti-semitism), many are unwilling to work anywhere near as hard as most Jews I know, or willing to put in the hours getting the education.

a reply to: rusblued9217
Only jews are smart and work hard and have a deep sense of community and are funny?? LOL wow. SMH
It's easy to control all those things and keep others out once you control the currency.

Funny that almost everywhere throughout history that they've ever tried to be part of has expelled them. Why is that? Oh, and no I don't hate jews. I hate all religions equally but I have tolerance and work on a person-to-person basis, meaning: If the person is a decent person then I don't give a damn what color, religion, etc., that they are. All I see is the good decent person.

originally posted by: Fylgje
a reply to: rusblued9217
Only jews are smart and work hard and have a deep sense of community and are funny?? LOL wow. SMH
It's easy to control all those things and keep others out once you control the currency.

Funny that almost everywhere throughout history that they've ever tried to be part of has expelled them. Why is that? Oh, and no I don't hate jews. I hate all religions equally but I have tolerance and work on a person-to-person basis, meaning: If the person is a decent person then I don't give a damn what color, religion, etc., that they are. All I see is the good decent person.

You completely twisted what the poster you quoted said and then you prove to be the definition of anti-Semitic. You say in one breath you treat all people equally yet you come to Jews assuming they have an inherent character flaw that made them deserving of being thrown out of countries. Well done.

a reply to: hoth12
I never stated that they deserved it. I just quoted history. Anti-Semitic? lol I don't hate Jews, Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians

originally posted by: Fylgje
a reply to: hoth12
I never stated that they deserved it. I just quoted history. Anti-Semitic? lol I don't hate Jews, Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians

This is one of the worst back-pedals I have seen on ATS yet, and there's a lot of laughable backpedalling on this site. But in your statement is the answer to a lot of the criticism of Israel. Having been thrown out of country after country and being persecuted to the point of near extinction, the Israeli's will not let that happen again. They will not bow to anyone who states they will wipe out Israel and then actually tries to do it. No one on this site would allow that to happen to them either but they call for the Israeli's to do that.