Israel

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Israel

The "State of Israel" sometimes referred to as the Zionist State in Palestine is a political entity which has existed in Palestine since 1948, located on the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. It has borders with Lebanon in the north, Syria and Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are partially administrated by the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas respectively, are also adjacent. The country had a population in 2022 of 9,090,113[1] the majority of whom are today Jews, almost all 20th century immigrants or descendants of them.

Jews base their claims on what is today known as Israel upon ancient settlements by twelve Jewish tribes who had immigrated into Palestine in biblical times. During antiquity and long afterwards, there was no Jewish influence on science and non-religious philosophy. It has been stated that the so-called Jewish homeland, Judea, etc., "has throughout history only been the seat of an independent national state for a few centuries in all. No great material discovery was ever made there; no characteristic form of art was ever developed within its borders, and, except in the realms of politics and religion, its thought has been neglible".[2]

It is also home to the original indigenous Arab population including Christians, Druze, and Muslims as well as other religious and ethnic minority groups, who until the mid-20th century constituted the majority population and who have been largely murdered, expelled and displaced by immigrant Jews. (Obviously the Islamic religion was only adopted from the 7th century AD onwards, so is quite 'new'.) In October 2023 a new bloody conflict arose between the Palestinians and Israel. The far-off British Government, who for decades during the Palestine Mandate had been the victims of Jewish terrorist groups, now told the Israelis "We stand with you and want you to win!"[3]

Israel is held by many to be the primary trouble-making state in the Middle East, as a proxy state and with the full support of the U.S.A. who have stated that "Israel has no greater friend than the United States".[4]

History

See Palestine
Flag
Palestinian loss of land 1946 to 2010

During The Great War the British Government, desperate for war loans from American banks dominated by Jews, agreed that if they drove the Turks from Palestine that a provision would be made in those territories for a "national home for the Jewish people". This is commonly called the Balfour Declaration, but is in fact a personal letter of Nov 1917 by Arthur Balfour, M.P., to the Head of the Zionists, Lionel, Lord Rothschild, a banker, close friend of Chaim Weizmann and a Member of Parliament from 1899-1910. In particular, Liberal Party (UK) Members of Parliament played a significant role in this blackmail: Rufus Daniel Isaacs, later 1st Marquess of Reading, was crucially President of the Anglo-French Loan Mission to U.S.A. in 1917 and U.K. Special Ambassador to the U.S.A., in 1918. In addition, Herbert Samuel, Liberal Party (UK) M.P., and a cabinet minister, a Zionist, was, astoundingly, appointed High Commissioner for Palestine 1920-25.[1] [5]

Following World War II the Americans, with their powerful Jewish Lobby, having removed the League of Nations from Geneva to New York and renamed it the United Nations, called for the ending of the British Mandate and approved the partition of Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one Arab. (The Arab League naturally rejected the plan.) Ignoring all protests from the indigenous population, on May 14, 1948, Israel, confidant of USA support, declared itself to be independent. Using the murderous terror tactics they had employed against the outgoing British Administration, Israel was able to continually expand its borders beyond those prescribed in the UN Partition Plan. Since then, Israel has been in conflict with the native Arab population and all of the neighboring Arab countries, resulting in several major wars and decades of violence. Throughout the conflict, the Zionist's boundaries have been subject to dispute.

Just as the United States had been instrumental in the destruction of Old Europe in 1919, now they set forth to destroy the Middle East.

Criticisms of Israel and anti-Semitism

Well, it's a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticizing Israel, then we bring up the Holocaust. When in this country people are criticizing Israel, then they are anti-Semitic. And the organization is strong, and has a lot of money, and the ties between Israel and the American Jewish establishment are very strong and they are strong in this country, as you know. And they have power, which is OK. They are talented people and they have power and money, and the media and other things, and their attitude is "Israel, my country right or wrong", the identification. And they are not ready to hear criticism. And it's very easy to blame people who criticize certain acts of the Israeli government as anti-Semitic, and to bring up the Holocaust, and the suffering of the Jewish people, and that is justify everything we do to the Palestinians.
—Shulamit Aloni, a former Israeli Knesset and cabinet member.[6]

Criticisms of the treatment of Palestinians

There are numerous criticisms of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. This even appears in some leftist media, especially some far-left media, as long as topics such as race are avoided. However, the criticisms in the "mainstream" Western media are often severely limited, due to Jewish influence. (See BBC)

Israel lobby and general Jewish influence in Western countries

A less politically correct topic is the influence of the Israeli lobby in many western countries and Jewish influence more generally which may support Israeli interests in various ways. One effect of the Israel lobby is United States giving massive amounts of foreign aid the Israel as well as various other privileges. Wars by the United States and other countries against various countries who happen to be hostile to Israel have been supported by the Israel lobby. Israel is part of several conspiracy theories involving Jews such as alleged false flag attacks in order to start wars between enemies of Israel and Western countries.

Jewish supremacism

There are various criticisms of argued Jewish supremacism in relation to Israel such as non-Jews in Israel being considered second-class citizens.

Mixed marriages

Israel prohibits marriage between Jews and non-Jews, between individuals of only partial Jewish ancestry and Jews with "full" Jewish ancestry, between converts to Judaism and Jews with Jewish ancestry, and same-sex marriages.[7][8]

Avoiding this, by marrying abroad, for instance, has caused large scale protests, such as when more than 200 Israeli protesters demonstrated against a marriage between Jewish woman and Muslim man as they shouted “death to the Arabs” and “May your village burn down.”[9]

Chinese worker at a company in Israel had to sign contracts stating that they will not have sex with or marry Israelis.[10]

Consensual sex with a Jewish woman caused an Arab man to be sentenced to 18 months in jail as "rape by deception" as it was alleged he told her that he was Jewish.[11]

In 2015, the Israeli Education Ministry banned a book as threatening "the identity and the heritage of students in every sector" because it portrayed a love story between an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Muslim. Those identities, the ministry insisted, are best kept "separate". "Young people of an adolescent age don’t have the systemic view that includes considerations involving maintaining the national-ethnic identity of the people and the significance of miscegenation", the ministry said in a statement.[12]

Israeli and Jewish organizations spend a great deal of money and effort trying to prevent Jews outside of Israel from intermarrying with non-Jews.[13][14]

Immigration and repatriation

Argued example of Jewish hypocrisy on ethno-nationalism in Israel versus other countries.[15]

Israel will grant citizenship to any Jew from anywhere in the world, even if they have had no ancestors living in Palestine for thousands of years, but forbids the return of Palestinian refugees who were born within what is now Israel, and who may have had ancestors living there for thousands of years and long before Islam arrived.

Another aspect is Israel taking in very few refugees despite being very closely located to many of the areas having many refugees and many of these refugees originating from wars supported by the Israel lobby since they were seen as weakening enemies of Israel. Israel is also very restrictive on non-Jewish immigration. Large number of non-Jewish African migrants/refugees have been repatriated/deported or are planned to be.

Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated in 2016 on non-Jewish migrants/refugees from Africa that "this element of migrants who come here and who want to stay here - undoubtedly because this is a rich and prosperous country - then it could become also a challenge to our identity here in Israel" and ""it's about the potential. Because those people tell their friends and families back home - 'Look, this is a very nice place. Do come over.'"[16]

A 2017 article stated on repatriation of migrants that "Netanyahu has called the migrants' presence a threat to Israel's social fabric and Jewish character, and one government minister has referred to them as "a cancer". [...] In his remarks, Netanyahu cited the large presence of African migrants in Tel Aviv's poorer neighbourhoods, where he said "veteran residents" - a reference to Israelis - no longer feel safe. "So today, we are keeping our promise to restore calm, a sense of personal security and law and order to the residents of south Tel Aviv and those in many other neighbourhoods," he said."[17]

However, pro-Israel Jewish lobbying organizations in other countries are instead often prominent and important supporters of high immigration to these countries.

See also Jews and immigration.

Secular democracy and religious fundamentalists

A common defense of Israel is that it is a secular democracy and therefore better than its neighbors which are often religiously fundamentalist autocracies.

However, internal Israeli demographic changes with Jewish religious fundamentalists having many more children than other Jews have been argued to imply that Israel will in the future turn into a religiously fundamentalist theocracy (armed with nuclear weapons) and that Jewish religious fundamentalists already have a large and increasing political influence.[18][19]

In 2016, increasing religious influence was one cause for concern regarding a new civics textbook for the supposedly secular school system. The book makes repeated mentions to God as being behind the founding of Israel in 1948 and cites Bible passages as justification. The book openly describes Israel’s status as a "Jewish nation state" and praises Jewish nationalism. The Holocaust is repeatedly mentioned as justification. Non-Jewish minorities receive only one chapter which concentrates on the Druze insisting that they are loyal to Israel and do not identify as Arabs. Israel’s huge Muslim minority gets two sentences in the entire book, one of which accuses them of “oppressing women”. The book makes no mention of the debate regarding the treatment of women in orthodox Judaism.[20] The mainstream Western media has ignored the less politically correct textbook.

In 2017, "Israel’s far-right coalition continues to grapple with different variations of a new draft bill that seeks to give Israel’s status as a Jewish nation-state primacy over all other legal concerns, including potential conflicts with being a democracy. The latest revision defines Israel as “a Jewish and Democratic state,” but makes clear the first part is more important than the second part, explicitly ordering the Israeli High Court to favor Israel’s Jewish character over its democracy when the two issues conflict. This is a particularly important issue for parts of the far-right coalition that complain the High Court often overrules some of the more overtly anti-democratic moves they try to make, usually involving hasty attempts to ban all Arab parties from participating in elections."[21]

In 2018, "Israel’s parliament has passed a controversial law characterising the country as principally a Jewish state, fuelling anger among its Arab minority. The “nation state” law says Jews have a unique right to national self-determination there and puts Hebrew above Arabic as the official language. Arab MPs reacted furiously in parliament, with one waving a black flag and others ripping up the bill. Israel’s prime minister praised the bill’s passage as a “defining moment”. “A hundred and twenty-two years after [the founder of modern Zionism Theodore] Herzl made his vision known, with this law we determined the founding principle of our existence,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people, and respects the rights of all of its citizens.” [...] it describes Israel as “the national home of the Jewish people” and says the right to exercise national self-determination there is “unique to the Jewish people”."[22]

Judaism

Many aspects of Judaism are linked to Israel which may be increasingly important as religious fundamentalists gain increasing influence. One criticism is that some aspects support Jewish supremacism. Several very important religious leaders have made very controversial statements.

Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world; only to serve the People of Israel...Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat...Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant. That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.
Ovadia Yosef, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, 2010.[23]
According to Jewish law, it’s forbidden for a non-Jew to live in the Land of Israel – unless he has accepted the seven Noahide laws.
Yitzhak Yosef, Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, 2016.[24]

Hasbara

Hasbara refers to certain very large scale pro-Israel propaganda efforts (or similar propaganda efforts promoting Jewish interests more generally).

Sayanim

A sayanim is a Jew living outside Israel who volunteers to provide assistance to Israel and/or the Israeli Mossad utilising the capacity of their own nationality to procure assistance. This assistance includes facilitating medical care, money, logistics, and even overt intelligence gathering.

Such individuals have been argued to have played very important parts in, for example, Hasbara propaganda and the Israeli nuclear weapons program.

Samson Option

The Samson Option or Sampson Option is a claimed threat by Israel to massively use nuclear weapons to destroy its enemies if Israel should be destroyed. It is also a claimed blackmail strategy in order to receive outside aid if Israel should be threatened. Alleged threats have mentioned not only Muslim countries but also Western countries.

See also

External links

Article archives

References

  1. https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/israel-population
  2. Robinson, Professor Theodore, H., D.D., et al., Palestine in General History, published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1929, p.3.
  3. The Daily Telegraph newspaper, London, 20 October 2023.
  4. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-israel/
  5. Black, A & C., Who's Who 1927, 79th edition, London, p.2605.
  6. Former Israeli MP: The Anti-Semitism/Holocaust "Trick" http://vfpdissident.blogspot.de/2012/05/former-israeli-mp-anti.html. Citing Democracy Now, Israel’s First Lady of Human Rights: A Conversation with Shulamit Aloni, http://www.democracynow.org/2002/8/14/israels_first_lady_of_human_rights
  7. Israel’s “Jews-Only” Marriage Laws Explained http://davidduke.com/israels-jews-only-marriage-laws-explained/
  8. Israeli Newspaper Spells Out Laws Prohibiting Mixed and Same Sex Marriages in Israel http://davidduke.com/israeli-newspaper-spells-jewish-supremacist-laws-make-mixed-sex-marriages-illegal-israel/
  9. Marriage of Jew, Muslim draws protesters http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/marriage-of-jew-muslim-draws-protesters-1736911#.U_Iko57rfgI
  10. Chinese workers in Israel sign no-sex contract http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/24/israel1
  11. Israel releases Arab man convicted of 'rape by deception' from house arrest: Court orders delay in deciding jail term for Saber Kushour, who had consensual sex with woman who thought he was Jewish http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/aug/04/saber-kushour-rape-deception-release
  12. In Israel, a love considered "treason" http://jewishjournal.com/opinion/danielle_berrin/219168/israel-love-considered-treason/
  13. Israeli Government to Fund Multi-Billion Dollar Worldwide Campaign to Stop Jews Mixing with Non-Jews http://davidduke.com/israeli-government-fund-multi-billion-dollar-worldwide-campaign-stop-jews-mixing-non-jews/
  14. Israel’s new Jewish identity campaign fuzzy on details http://web.archive.org/web/20140701223752/http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/71826/israels-new-jewish-identity-campaign-fuzzy-on-details/
  15. Jewish hypocrisy on ethnonationalism in Israel versus the Diaspora: A picture is worth a thousand words http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2012/05/jewish-hypocrisy-on-ethnonationalism-in-israel-versus-the-diaspora-a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words/
  16. Israel's unwanted African migrants http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35475403
  17. Israel offers to pay African migrants to leave, threatens jail http://news.trust.org/item/20180103115805-egc1s
  18. Israel's Internal Demographics Disaster http://www.nationalinterest.org/feature/israels-internal-demographics-disaster-13501
  19. What Kind of State Will Israel Be? https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/04/what-kind-of-state-will-israel-be-reuven-rivlin-speech-identity/
  20. Israeli Civics Text Credits God for Creation of State, Barely Mentions Arabs http://news.antiwar.com/2016/05/09/israeli-civics-text-credits-god-for-creation-of-state-barely-mentions-arabs/
  21. Israel Bill Would Order Courts to Give Priority to Jewishness Over Democracy http://news.antiwar.com/2017/07/11/israel-bill-would-order-courts-to-give-priority-to-jewishness-over-democracy/
  22. Jewish Nation State: Israel Approves Controverisal Bill https://www.amren.com/news/2018/07/jewish-nation-state-israel-approves-controverisal-bill/
  23. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (23 December 2010). "Sephardi leader Yosef: Non-Jews exist to serve Jews". 
  24. Non-Jews in Israel must keep Noahide laws, chief rabbi says The Jerusalem Post, March 28, 2016