Jerusalem holy site is reopened amid tension

[Lite Beer]

Jerusalem holy site is reopened amid tension

Israeli police have reopened a key Jerusalem holy site after its closure amid tensions following the shooting of a prominent right-wing Jewish activist.

The Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif was reopened ahead of Muslim Friday prayers, but with restrictions on worshippers as a security measure.

Sporadic violence broke out in East Jerusalem and the West Bank but there have been no major clashes so far.

There has been an escalation of tension in the city in recent weeks.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas described Israel's temporary closure of the holy site as a "declaration of war".

The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif - is the holiest site in Judaism, and contains the al-Aqsa Mosque - the third holiest site in Islam.

The site was reopened to Muslim worshippers on Friday morning, with entry to men restricted to those over 50 amid fears of unrest after Friday prayers.

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29843876

-- BBC 2014-11-01

[Jingthing]

Closing a holy site temporarily clearly as a safety measure after a rabbi was shot is an act of war, is it?

This Abbas character is becoming a real drama queen.

He claims to want peace ... but he clearly wants to stir it up as he knows he is fading and very unpopular and can no longer compete with radical Islamic Jihadist Hamas, even in the West Bank.

It's like he's trying to out Hamas Hamas.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Jingthing

[bigjules007]

So this started because of a bunch of Israelis want to be allowed to pray at Temple Mount. And they call thereselves the temple mount heritage foundation.

This is a great fraud. I’m sure there are some Jews who really only want to be allowed to pray on the Mount without having any intention of bothering the Muslims and their holy places, who genuinely want religious coexistence up there. But they are incidental to the movement. The Temple Mount movement is and always has been a movement not for religious equality, but for Jewish religious domination and contempt for Muslims and Islam. Any one who thinks these Arab-bashers in the Knesset who want to let Jews pray freely on the Temple Mount are looking for peaceful coexistence, dream on.

I’m sure there are Jews who honestly just want to be allowed to pray on the Mount, nothing more, and who see this as an issue of religious equality. I would ask them if they favor introducing the same sort of religious equality for Muslims at the Western Wall, which Muslims worship as the Buraq Wall, the site where Mohammed mounted his winged horse Buraq and ascended to heaven. I think we know what the answer is to this.

Glick did not deserve to be shot. From all reports, he is not a man of violence at all; he could be described as the friendly face of the Temple Mount movement. But he works alongside men of the most violent possible intent. He is the window-dressing of a movement with a psychotic, apocalyptic goal, one that goes back to the Six Day War conquest of the Mount.

[MJP]

Steady down.

[Lissos]

.......Western Wall, which Muslims worship as the Buraq Wall, the site where Mohammed mounted his winged horse Buraq and ascended to heaven.

* chuckle *

[Jingthing]

The shooter of Rabbi Glick was later killed by the Israel Security forces.

Typical Islamic Jihadist terrorist response to that as well. Praising the shooting of a Jew for praying. What else needs to be said?

Islamic Jihad and Hamas both praised the shooting on Thursday. Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza Daud Shihab said that the “radical Zionist” got what was coming to him, and called him a dangerous inciter. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum praised the “heroic attack” and called on East Jerusalem residents and Palestinians in general to carry out more terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Fatah’s youth movement in Jordan also claimed in a message posted Thursday morning on the movement’s Facebook page that Hijazi belonged to the organization.

“With great pride Fatah salutes the martyr, its heroic ‘martyr of Jerusalem’ Mu’taz Hijazi, who carried out the assassination of Rabbi Yehudah Glick,” a poster on the Facebook page read.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/glicks-shooter-may-have-had-accomplice-shin-bet-says/

Edited November 1, 2014 by Jingthing

[NeverSure]

Interesting that the article doesn't bother to mention that there was one, and probably two large Jewish temples on that very site long before this current Muslim temple was built.

The first Jewish temple is disputed, but not the second one. It was built in 516 BC and destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Jews were run off and didn't get the land back until after WWII. Then they took the Temple Mount back as spoils of war when they were attacked by several ME countries in 1967 in what's called "The Six Day War."

This Jewish temple was there during the life of Jesus and there is a multitude of reasons that the site is holy to the Jews as well as the Muslims.

Wikipedia, Temple Mount

[ABCer]

Moses, Jesus or Mohammed - nobody cares except those who need a pretext to go to war.

The "Palestinian Great Leader" Abbas was quick to declare the temporary closure - "the declaration of war".

Even if so - this was the shortest war in the history of man. Abbas must be unhappy again...

[tartempion]

Religious nutters everywhere.

[pkspeaker]

Yea the key word you used is equality..

equality means:

Palestnians have freedom of movement, keep in mind most west bank arabs are banned from jerusalem.

Palestinians are represented in government, they are allowed to live in any neighborhood and use currently 'jewsih only roads'

Israel-Palestine is no longer a 'jewish state', it is secular and has equal rights laws, like in america.

Israel is NOT an equality state, and the 'peace' they offer never includes this 'equality' you mentioned.. israel is not a 'western democracy' it is an obvious aphartheid state. if it becomes an equality state or 2 state(s) then i'm sure the muslims will behave themselves.

So this started because of a bunch of Israelis want to be allowed to pray at Temple Mount. And they call thereselves the temple mount heritage foundation.

This is a great fraud. I’m sure there are some Jews who really only want to be allowed to pray on the Mount without having any intention of bothering the Muslims and their holy places, who genuinely want religious coexistence up there. But they are incidental to the movement. The Temple Mount movement is and always has been a movement not for religious equality, but for Jewish religious domination and contempt for Muslims and Islam. Any one who thinks these Arab-bashers in the Knesset who want to let Jews pray freely on the Temple Mount are looking for peaceful coexistence, dream on.

I’m sure there are Jews who honestly just want to be allowed to pray on the Mount, nothing more, and who see this as an issue of religious equality. I would ask them if they favor introducing the same sort of religious equality for Muslims at the Western Wall, which Muslims worship as the Buraq Wall, the site where Mohammed mounted his winged horse Buraq and ascended to heaven. I think we know what the answer is to this.

Glick did not deserve to be shot. From all reports, he is not a man of violence at all; he could be described as the friendly face of the Temple Mount movement. But he works alongside men of the most violent possible intent. He is the window-dressing of a movement with a psychotic, apocalyptic goal, one that goes back to the Six Day War conquest of the Mount.

Edited November 1, 2014 by pkspeaker

[Jingthing]

Yea the key word you used is equality..

equality means:

Palestnians have freedom of movement, keep in mind most west bank arabs are banned from jerusalem.

Palestinians are represented in government, they are allowed to live in any neighborhood and use currently 'jewsih only roads'

Israel-Palestine is no longer a 'jewish state', it is secular and has equal rights laws, like in america.

Israel is NOT an equality state, and the 'peace' they offer never includes this 'equality' you mentioned.. israel is not a 'western democracy' it is an obvious aphartheid state. if it becomes an equality state or 2 state(s) then i'm sure the muslims will behave themselves.

He's sure the Muslim extremists will behave themselves.

Can we have that in writing?

[shariq607]

Interesting that the article doesn't bother to mention that there was one, and probably two large Jewish temples on that very site long before this current Muslim temple was built.

The first Jewish temple is disputed, but not the second one. It was built in 516 BC and destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Jews were run off and didn't get the land back until after WWII. Then they took the Temple Mount back as spoils of war when they were attacked by several ME countries in 1967 in what's called "The Six Day War."

This Jewish temple was there during the life of Jesus and there is a multitude of reasons that the site is holy to the Jews as well as the Muslims.

Wikipedia, Temple Mount

The previous temples are also claimed by muslims as they also believe in the same Biblical prophets David, Solomon, Elijah , jesus

Also Before mecca, Early Muslims used to face temple mount when praying.

[Jingthing]

Interesting that the article doesn't bother to mention that there was one, and probably two large Jewish temples on that very site long before this current Muslim temple was built.

The first Jewish temple is disputed, but not the second one. It was built in 516 BC and destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. The Jews were run off and didn't get the land back until after WWII. Then they took the Temple Mount back as spoils of war when they were attacked by several ME countries in 1967 in what's called "The Six Day War."

This Jewish temple was there during the life of Jesus and there is a multitude of reasons that the site is holy to the Jews as well as the Muslims.

Wikipedia, Temple Mount

The previous temples are also claimed by muslims as they also believe in the same Biblical prophets David, Solomon, Elijah , jesus

Also Before mecca, Early Muslims used to face temple mount when praying.

Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my Lenovo S820_ROW using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ABCer]

Either a PK or a SPEAKER.

Take your pick, but you cannot be both.

You are right. Israel is a Democratic state but in Middle East, not in America.

Your geography knowledge is good. Every other of your beliefs just sucks.

Please give one example of a place where Muslims "behave". I mean well behaved. And what did you mean?

[pkspeaker]

I think their pretty well 'behaved' in the west bank, considering all the restrictions placed on them and the constant attacks by jewish settlers on olive trees and palestinian villages, the takeover of palestinian houses in east jerusalem.. there have been very few terrorist attacks from the west bank since the end of the 2nd intefada, this thing over the holy site and other provocations by israel results small scale rioting, stone throwing..

despite the west bank palestinians giving terrorism a rest, the israeli's have not done anything to give them more freedom and they have continued seizing lans for jewish settlements but what's worse is the netanyahu govt. has made it clear to the palestinians that they will never have anything that could be called a state or freedom, NO access or capital in east jerusalem, NO jordan valley, NO hebron, NO quiting massive settlement blocks, the only thing they get is being hemmed into less than 10% of the country with no freedom of movement.. i think their pretty well behaved considering all that..

[Jingthing]

Yes, terror attacks from the West Bank have been greatly reduced. The reason: THE FENCES. They weren't put up for fun. They were put up because of terrorist attacks/suicide bombers from Palestinians. The Israel demonizers always complain about the fences though ... it's not their problem of being blown up down at the shopping center or on the bus ... they are happy to invite Jews to be blown up though.

[pkspeaker]

That's not true because i have seen video where palestinians sneak over the wall on a daily basis to look for work in israel, there is no way to hermetically seal an area that large..especially since the walls/fences run thru built up area's, so any one of those people could be a suicide bomber if hamas was still using that as a tactic, during the 2nd intefada a few of the suicide bombers came from gaza, during the last war with gaza, palestinians dug tunnels from gaza into israel proper and ambushed the israeli military. so there are no suicide bombing now because hamas has stopped using that as a tactic. the purpose of the wall is to punish the palestinians for resisting israeli domination.

Edited November 2, 2014 by pkspeaker

[Jingthing]

That's not true because i have seen video where palestinians sneak over the wall on a daily basis to look for work in israel, there is no way to hermetically seal an area that large..especially since the walls/fences run thru built up area's, so any one of those people could be a suicide bomber if hamas was still using that as a tactic, during the 2nd intefada a few of the suicide bombers came from gaza, during the last war with gaza, palestinians dug tunnels from gaza into israel proper and ambushed the israeli military. so there are no suicide bombing now because hamas has stopped using that as a tactic. the purpose of the wall is to punish the palestinians for resisting israeli domination.

I'm sure for your POV any justification by Israel done to save Jewish lives is not true. Dude, these issues are complex, there are multiple narratives and enough blame to be spread ALL AROUND. You want to make this simple: Jews evil greedy fascists / Arabs romantic lovely innocents. It does not wash. The vast majority of Palestinians truly want Israel to end. What's Israel supposed to do ... just give it up? Would you? Again, I'll say it again ... anyone who tries to paint this conflict as having only one side with one side all good and one side all bad is not to be taken seriously.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Jingthing

[pkspeaker]

I expect israel to just give up the west bank, all of it (not '92%', not 'most of it', not keeping settlement blocks in it under israel sovergnty nothing like that), and east jerusalem, and create some kind of corridor between gaza and the west bank.. that's it, that's what every country in the world has been asking israel to do for 30 years.. I expect them to divide jerusalem because that would be the only way to keep Palestinians from entering israel proper w/o a permit.

i consider israel's 'security position'; the position supported by WashingtonDC, the position that a country has the right to use aphartheid to defend itself to be bogus.. The PLO is no longer using terrorism to fight israel, hamas has said it will not attack israel, even a little bit, if they withdraw to the 67 lines.. lets say israel pulled out of the territory and the palestinians were so outrageous to launch terror attacks anyways..it would take israel about 1 day to re-occupy the entire territory-which will have negligible miltary assets and is surrounded by israel .. I would expect israel to quit the west bank even w/o agreement , just to take the high road..

as far as the 500,000 settlers that are living there, i would expect that if they are going to stay in the west bank, that they would be palestinian citizens and not israeli citizens if they stayed, or that they would have to deal with the palestinian government in regards to their status, i would expect the israeli government or some foreign donor to compensate them since they were moved their by their government, i would expect the militant kahanest zionists in the west bank to be removed ..

Israel would not be faced with extinction, just because it gave up 22% of that country (the former British-Palestine) and consolidated their jewish population in the other 78%. it has all the power, the onus is on that government there that has all this power to treat the people under it's rule fairly, its not on the people that have no power to fix the situation.

[Jingthing]

Wow. The settlers would be Palestinian citizens, would they? Where do the Israel demonizers get these fictions? The Palestinians have been really clear, they don't want ANY Jewish citizens. People accuse Israelis of being racist, and some indeed are but 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Arab so the "apartheid" demonization argument is a total crock.

BTW, HAMAS, yes the terror organization Hamas, with their thousands of rockets, and their anti-Jewish genocidal charter is the most popular Palestinian party in BOTH Gaza and West Bank.

I am really sick of the one sided lies coming from the Israel demonizers. NO, it is not only up to the Israeli side to help make peace. These demonizers must think Israelis are total fools and can't see the real intent of the Palestinian political movement ... the end of Israel. Israel isn't being paranoid ... it is LISTENING to the words and actions of the Palestinians.

Yes, both sides need to take big risks to move a peaceful solution forward ... and that hasn't happened, but to blame only Israel for this when the Palestinians clearly don't accept the existence of Israel is quite obviously a big lie. Even if you believe it is totally reasonable for the Palestinians to not accept the existence of Israel, that doesn't change the reality of the ground, millions of Israeli Jews mostly born there who insist on their existence.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Jingthing

[Ulysses G.]

It is THE big lie as propagated by anti-Semites for decades.

[chuckd]

I expect israel to just give up the west bank, all of it (not '92%', not 'most of it', not keeping settlement blocks in it under israel sovergnty nothing like that), and east jerusalem, and create some kind of corridor between gaza and the west bank.. that's it, that's what every country in the world has been asking israel to do for 30 years.. I expect them to divide jerusalem because that would be the only way to keep Palestinians from entering israel proper w/o a permit.

i consider israel's 'security position'; the position supported by WashingtonDC, the position that a country has the right to use aphartheid to defend itself to be bogus.. The PLO is no longer using terrorism to fight israel, hamas has said it will not attack israel, even a little bit, if they withdraw to the 67 lines.. lets say israel pulled out of the territory and the palestinians were so outrageous to launch terror attacks anyways..it would take israel about 1 day to re-occupy the entire territory-which will have negligible miltary assets and is surrounded by israel .. I would expect israel to quit the west bank even w/o agreement , just to take the high road..

as far as the 500,000 settlers that are living there, i would expect that if they are going to stay in the west bank, that they would be palestinian citizens and not israeli citizens if they stayed, or that they would have to deal with the palestinian government in regards to their status, i would expect the israeli government or some foreign donor to compensate them since they were moved their by their government, i would expect the militant kahanest zionists in the west bank to be removed ..

Israel would not be faced with extinction, just because it gave up 22% of that country (the former British-Palestine) and consolidated their jewish population in the other 78%. it has all the power, the onus is on that government there that has all this power to treat the people under it's rule fairly, its not on the people that have no power to fix the situation.

And what, exactly, would you expect the various Palestinian factions to give up to meet Israel on the "high road"?

[Jingthing]

I expect israel to just give up the west bank, all of it (not '92%', not 'most of it', not keeping settlement blocks in it under israel sovergnty nothing like that), and east jerusalem, and create some kind of corridor between gaza and the west bank.. that's it, that's what every country in the world has been asking israel to do for 30 years.. I expect them to divide jerusalem because that would be the only way to keep Palestinians from entering israel proper w/o a permit.

i consider israel's 'security position'; the position supported by WashingtonDC, the position that a country has the right to use aphartheid to defend itself to be bogus.. The PLO is no longer using terrorism to fight israel, hamas has said it will not attack israel, even a little bit, if they withdraw to the 67 lines.. lets say israel pulled out of the territory and the palestinians were so outrageous to launch terror attacks anyways..it would take israel about 1 day to re-occupy the entire territory-which will have negligible miltary assets and is surrounded by israel .. I would expect israel to quit the west bank even w/o agreement , just to take the high road..

as far as the 500,000 settlers that are living there, i would expect that if they are going to stay in the west bank, that they would be palestinian citizens and not israeli citizens if they stayed, or that they would have to deal with the palestinian government in regards to their status, i would expect the israeli government or some foreign donor to compensate them since they were moved their by their government, i would expect the militant kahanest zionists in the west bank to be removed ..

Israel would not be faced with extinction, just because it gave up 22% of that country (the former British-Palestine) and consolidated their jewish population in the other 78%. it has all the power, the onus is on that government there that has all this power to treat the people under it's rule fairly, its not on the people that have no power to fix the situation.

And what, exactly, would you expect the various Palestinian factions to give up to meet Israel on the "high road"?

Great question. For one thing, Fatah (the "moderate" Palestinian party) really needs to change their logo.

It doesn't exactly scream: We want peace.

Note the MAP.

[Ulysses G.]

Fatah cheered the murder of 3 innocent Israeli teenagers on their Facebook page just a few months ago. They are only marginally more sane than Hamas.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Ulysses G.

[Lissos]

......so there are no suicide bombing now because hamas has stopped using that as a tactic.

the purpose of the wall is to punish the palestinians for resisting israeli domination.

Consider that the wall is a culmination. Punishment? Perhaps yes, but maybe punishment for the stance towards Israel.

I believe the highest amount of suicide bombings were from 2001-2005, although bombings on buses carired out by various militant organisations had been going on in since the late 80s, and bomb attacks and hijackings for decades before that. It is said that the barrier concept was first floated in the mid to late 90s. Hamas made a formal announcement to quit suicide bombings in 2006, but let's not forget that Hamas is not the sole player.

Israel also has to (and had to) contend with suicide bombings and bus / mall bombings by al Quds Brigade of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees (all this reminds me of a scene in the Life of Brian) and possibilities of lone wolves, etc.

Hamas' change of heart (change of 'belief', they claimed) kind of mirrors the semi comical situation where al Qaeda have made announcements condemining militias like Nusra Front and Islamic State, for going too far with actions like slaughtering captives in a gruesome manner on camera, leading people to comment (in so many words) - "Crikey, if even AQ can be found commenting publically that NF and IS have crossed the line, then you know the future is grim". Hamas is no longer the most hardcore player on the block, just as Fatah ended up looking 'reasonably' straight.

From an 'Israeli' point of view, the security wall and various measures make perfect practical sense to them, as they are a very practical people. In their minds, yes it is an unsightly, rather grim but ultimate fruition of the Arab (and wider Ummah's) declared attitude towards Israel.

Consider that it also means Israelis gaze out onto fences and walls on their vistas, making them feel penned into a fortress. Both sides experience the wall, albeit from different angles and a different context. Everyone makes their bed and now they have to lay in it. Israel knows that it made its bed, has to lay in it and my experience of them is that they take responsibility for their choices and just get on with it all. I know myself from travel in Israel that I was quite willing to roll with long delays at airports caused by uber scrutiny of passengers and baggage, quite willing to roll with when the entire upper floor of Jerusalem bus station was shut down for about 30 minutes one day because of a suspected bomb threat, quite willing to roll with how nearly every bus journey has a bunch of soldiers on the move to somewhere all armed and ready for action at a moment's notice should something kick off when least unexpected (when Fusilier Lee Rigby was slaughtered on a British street by those two orks with all the time in the world to even attempt to sever his head with a knife, Israelis commented to me that were perplexed why service personell were not allowed to be armed for self protection and of others, even if not on duty at the time), and I also rolled with the rather time consuming security procedure outside the entrances to settlements with the phone call, CCTV and thick metal sliding gates so that cars can't just drive in. I don't know if it is true that parts of the security barrier (it should be noted that various sections are fence, high wall, or a mixture) are compromised and that people cross over on a daily basis for work, but I find it hard to believe (except in areas perhaps where it is not fully completed yet). It is easy to take some footage and claim anything, especially by rights organisations / organisations masquerading as rights organisations, who may be trying to delegitimize the wall.

[pkspeaker]

jing..You have said this before, and i will say this again, the '20%' figure does not include the 4 million palestinians in the west bank and gaza those are the ones hemmed into bantustans with jewish only settlements and roads trapping them in a bizarre type of vast open air prison.. i think you know this by now so why waste time as space making that '20%' argument.. the notion that israel isn't an aphartheid state is ridiculous beyond words.. Desmond tutu the long time anti-aphartheid activist from south africa has said that the aphartheid regime in then south africa "never dreamed of making the aphartheid in that country as bad as it is in israel, i'll take his word over yours.

consider this, we have had terrorism in this country sometimes every day in the south for years in a separtist war, living in bangkok or in any other part of Thailand you would never know that because the guerilla fighters down there keep their bombs in the south.

First of all this is a separtist war, the Thai governmet is not telling it's muslim population that they won't enjoy equal rights and social benefits if they stay in the union, they (thailand) have not responded to the terrorism by expelling muslims from their land and homes in the south, they have not created 'buddhist only roads' and fences that confine the muslims into bantustans or forced them into refugee camps.. they just take the bombings against their soldiers down there and continue to try to win over the population.. there are many disaffected groups in the word that have insurgencies.. If thailand responded to the insurgency like the israeli's do, how hard woud it be for the terrorists to blowup a bus in bangkok? When the government takes extreme measures against an ethnic group, they will get an extreme response.

also what you said "The Palestinians have been really clear, they don't want ANY Jewish citizens. " It depends on the circumstance, my point is if the 500,000 israeli's in the west bank are left there, in a democracy they don't get 2 votes, they would have to be Palestinians.. that would increase the % of arab citizens in israel..AND these israeli's would loose their status as being in the richer developed country and would now be in this tiny palestine, l;ike every other palestinian they would need a permit to get into israel - most of them are not going to want this so they'll need to move over a few kilometers back to israel. The israeli's want them to stay there, under israeli sovereignty.. and thats the same aphartheid the palestinians have now.. this is why the palestinians want them out, because israel would never agree to a fair arrangement if they stay ..

one thing lissos said 'both sides experience the wall', yea the difference is the israeli's experience haveing the run of more than 90% of the country while the palestinians experience being trapped into the less than 10%, no israeli would want to travel into gaza for a job or for any other reason, it's a mess there compared to what they got.

also consider that in any other similar situation to palestine, fiji, sri lanka, etc. THE WORLD would just insist on bi-nationalism or just a normal country with equal rights.. the former south africa regime wanted a multiple states solution so that whites could be a majority in some parts of it , Europe and the US said NO-that would not end the crippling sanctions places on that country, so when you talk about these palestinian 'charters' - that's the way they look at it, everyone else gets equal rights why dont we? But the 'charters' are different from the militants actions and their ultimatums.. Hamas and PLO have both said they would cease fire for an extended times, at least 'decades' if the israeli's quit the west bank..alot of countries eg. India/Pakistan do not have 'peace' but they manage to co-exist under ceasefires and to discuss the issues later, they dont have to agree to everything to have a non-violent arrangement.

Edited November 2, 2014 by pkspeaker

[Ulysses G.]

the notion that israel isn't an aphartheid state is ridiculous beyond words..

The notion that Israel is an "Apartheid State" is just plain stupid, no matter how many times the Israel haters repeat it. It has been pointed out many times how silly that is and Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza are not citizens of Israel. They have chosen to be enemies of Israel. They don't count.

Yes, I know that Jews are involved with this website. I don't care. The facts are beyond dispute.

Not one single apartheid practice applies to Israel. Israel is by far the most racially mixed and tolerant nation in the entire Muslim Middle East. Arabs, who are about 20% of Israel’s population, enjoy, without any exception, the same rights and opportunities in all fields as their Jewish fellow citizens. The total equality of all Israelis is assured in Israel’s founding document.

http://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_121.html

Edited November 2, 2014 by Ulysses G.

[Jingthing]

Yes of course the 20 percent figure refers to Arab citizens of Israel generally not living in the west bank and gaza. I don't think anybody here has ever tried to suggest differently.

If Israel absorbed all the Arabs living in west bank and gaza into Israeli citizenship (if they were interested, which is very doubtful as the majority there wants it all to be Palestine and the Jews gone) then of course Israel would be no longer be a Jewish majority state and there would no longer be one on earth. Which of course would please many enemies of the Jews very much.

No, BOCA RATON does not count!

Edited November 2, 2014 by Jingthing

[Johpa]

Israel is NOT an equality state, and the 'peace' they offer never includes this 'equality' you mentioned.. israel is not a 'western democracy' it is an obvious aphartheid state. if it becomes an equality state or 2 state(s) then i'm sure the muslims will behave themselves.

There are many valid reasons to be critical of Israel, number one being the settlements issue. But what Israel is not is an apartheid state if you use apartheid South Africa as your model of apartheid. Israel is indeed a western style democracy as seen in its predilection to elect numbskulls to positions of power. At the same time it does allows the election of smaller parties, including representatives from the Isreali-Arab population. And most Muslims are well behaved people at all times, but there remains that 20% of orthodox believers whose beliefs and actions will never be accepted as well behaved by any western norms.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Johpa

[Jingthing]

Food for thought: