The u.s looks after Israel because they are responsible for the designing and manufacturing of the majority of hi tech surveillance equipment in the world today.

john.g..that id a terrible statement. Israel does not feel that the world owes them anything..in fact I think.the Jewish experience of the worlds indifferance to their plightscand sufferings in the past showed them that they need to stand alone. Israel is a democracy..her Arab citizens have full rights and a large number serve in.the IDF with pride.

Israel is a secular democracy and not a “Jewish ” state. get your facts right..her Arab citizens have FULL rights

@Colm … It’s you that needs to get your facts straight. The Speaker of the Knesset who was in Dublin last week made it very clear that Israel was a “Jewish” state and that the main reason, for example, for lack of progress in peace talks was the refusal of the Palestinians to recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

Desmond O’Toole, While Islamist fundamentalists continue to take or increase control of so many countries setting up or reinforcing many “Islamic Republics”, complete with rules that should be anathema to any real liberal, and with very limited, sometimes no, tolerance for those that don’t conform, you take issue with a Jewish State, which is the most secular, tolerant, liberal, democratic State in a benighted region. Of course Israel is a Jewish State! A proud one. A tolerant one.

@Charles … Thanks for the response. Israel’s status as a democratic republic is being steadily eroded by its own government, a fact widely acknowledged both within and outside Israel. However, thank you for confirming my correction of an earlier commentator, that Israel is officially a “Jewish” state. This attempt to establish a religious identity for the State is a direct assault on Israel’s secular freedoms and contributes to the alarm that is felt about the repeated internal threats to Israeli democracy.

fotgot to.add..Israel accepted UN two state solution in 1947

@ Colm,
There is a travelogue, made by Chaim Yavin (Israels no 1 news anchor until his retirement), it’s called “Beyond The TV News: Arabs in Israel”.
Mr Yavin was under the impression that Arabs enjoyed equal rights in Israel too, until he went out and did a bit of investigation just before his retirement.
The travelogue details his look beyond the news he was reporting, to see the situation on the ground. He spoke not only to Palestinians who were losing their homes, but to the ones lining up at the wall hoping to secure a days work, the ones working in Israeli institutions and being paid much less for the same work. The Bedouins who fought on the side of Israel in the war that are now being forced from their land by the Israeli government and into unfinished estates with no land to farm and no jobs. All because the Israeli government didn’t like their numbers increasing..
He also spoke to Zionists, some came across fairly, others came across as very harsh, he got all sides.. And even he was appalled at the way his own country treats its neighbours and natives.

I suggest you give it a watch sometime..

Karl Marcks,I presume you include me in the “Zionist lobby”.Your allegation says a great deal about you.For the record I am indeed a Zionist but I am not part of any lobby, group, organisation or political party, pro-Israel or otherwise As far as I know I have never met or spoken to or had any contact with anyone who posts in support of Israel on Journal.ie.I shook hands with the Israeli ambassador many years ago. That is the only contact I have ever had with any representative of the State of Israel.I comment here on issues that interest me. I don’t care about thumbs ( speaking of which, the statistics tend to disprove your theory). So you can take your paranoid conspiracy theories and your Nazi/Israel comparisons and put them wherever you wish.When you take them out again they’ll still be vile.

charles,
ur the first ‘live’ self-proclaimed zionist that i’ve encountered.
do u mind saying what being a zionist means to u? thanks

Yeah thats not really telling us more is it? at the very least provide a reference to this theory of yours.

Dash, pick 3 letters from the alphabet, put them together, in any order you want. Bet there’ll be a financial institition’s name. There’s your answer. Democracy is on life support. Wakey wakey…

What is Israel supposed to do about the views an American Jew holds of it? If the editor of an Irish- American newspaper said the Queen of England should be killed should that be deemed to represent the “mindset” of Irish people? You seem to be blurring the lines to an extraordinary degree. But don’t worry, you have plenty of company here.

Blurring what line? Read my comment carefully. Your blurring a lot more here to an extraordinary degree than I am and your Irish-American hypothesis has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the small simple comment I was making.
Your under toned insinuation that all Israeli are Zionist, when we both know not to be the case is absurd in liking it to the Irish nation being in a similar situation. For this is what I can gather from your tone with me.

I’m only commenting on Alders own perception of Israel and what he believes could be an option for it. It’s not a very good one coming from a publisher of a Jewish paper. Theoretical as it was. That is all. Ok. One better left omitted giving the long history the States has with supporting Israel.
If I was to suggest a hypothetical assassination of the Israeli Govt leader to save thousands of lives, in any shape or form I’d be labeled more things than I can could count and you and many others would be having a field day.
What you are doing however, trying to insinuate otherwise or label me as something I’m sure you are dying to do is of no interest to me however.

You took this comment by an American Jew and used it to tar Zionists,Israel and Mossad so you can keep your wounde innocence.Read your first post again.

No one need to tar Mossad, their actions do that without my help just fine.
Are you telling me the ideals of Zionism would not be conflicted to carry out such an act or even have an issue with it?
Again, for everything the US does for Israel and how it supports it in the financial position it is in, for the author to suggest such a thing, that Israel could show contempt and so little respect to a friendly nation when in such a situation was my point with little regard for their history. Not that these are the actual facts or reality. It was a hypothetical scenario to begin with after all. A different 3rd alternative should have been proposed in his article.

It was a mistake on his part to publish it. If asked to a national of a different country, do you think that such a suggestion would be put forward? That, at the detrimental financial cost to a friendly nation to assist Israel, you see no problem with assassination their leader for someone more sympathetic and to put Israel in front of their own countries well being? And I’m the one tarring Israel in a bad light? Funny you are.

Yes I do believe that Mossad under the instruction of Govt. would carry out such an attack, as I hold them in very little regard also.
With my original comment, I see the word ‘suggests’ should have read ‘suggesting’. Other than the phone typos I stand by it.

Damhsa Dmf, I don’t know if you’re obfuscating deliberately or you actually believe what you’re saying? I suspect the latter, which puts you right in there with all the other red-thumbing haters on this despicable thread. You started out using a statement by an American Jew ( which I clearly condemned, see above) and extrapolated that it was evidence of “the lengths Israel would go using Mossad to kill a friendly nations president”. So a Jew says something and it’s evidence against Israel? Unbelievable. And you stand over it! Did you see where I made the very point ( in answer to the slippery Mr Pearse) that Israel is a diverse nation? You then make the same point as if I needed to be told! Are you not just the kind of person who sees “Israel” and gets posting without thinking? Except in this case the story wasn’t about Israel. It was about an American Jew who said something contemptible. And you and others made it all about Israel/Israelis/Zionists/Mossad. This is absolutely frightening, shocking.Maybe you didn’t intend to be so careless in how you expressed yourself? But if you stand over all you have said then I have no respect for you.

I’m not wasting any more time on this subject as your adamant view point is illogical at best and making connections and accusations that are not there seems to be the order of the day.
“So one Jew makes an outrageous statement and it’s proof that Israel is evil? That is pretty close to the line Sir.” Your assumption here, not mine.
Then this gem;
“an Irish- American newspaper said the Queen of England should be killed should that be deemed to represent the “mindset” of Irish people?”
A wild statement if I ever heard one – one Jewish author’s hypothetical suggestion in no way portray the mindset of a nation nor does it make them all Zionists. I never stated such but you extrapolate what I said to base your anti-semite defence position. You’ve managed to construe all this taking from partial sentences of what I said. Unbelievable!!!

From the start you were off on a tangent when I was merely highlighting the author’s mindset in even suggesting such a possibility in his scenario exercise. You took HALF a sentence and made it into an attack of your precious Israel when it was nothing of the sort.
I have not followed your vituperation on others comments’, this is enough for me, so the 2nd part of your last comment is again pulled from your arse.
Mentioning Israel is diverse to me as you say, meaning no doubt not all are Zionist, comes from where exactly? I never stated otherwise, again pulled from your arse.
I called his view one of a Zionist nature as I believe Zionists have little respect for anything other than the mother land and anything is on the table when called to her defence. Self preservation, from declaring the willingness of using nuclear weapons or you here lambasting me with accusations over my take on an author’s viewpoint. And my only tarring could be of his lapse in morals for showing such a mindset.

So fair well, respect has been lost on both sides it seems when I realise you can’t see the birds from the tree’s. Your notion that I’m calling Israel evil and tarring all your favourite things really paints you in a dimmer light than me. I’m as critical of Israel as I am of any country but debate can’t be held when you see what you want in a sentence and twisting it to fit your agenda.
So thanks for stopping by this despicable thread and wasting so much of my time.

I have read your comments several times.I have tried and tried but I genuinely don’t know what your point is? It does seem that like many others around here you seem not to like being challenged.Enough already! Take the last word if you want. I’ve had enough.

“The very fact it was written as a possibility and was published is more concern!” <<<< My point, after reading the original article.
Charles: There's being challenged and then there's me wasting so much time to explain my point when off the mark you didn't grasp it and dragged me into what ever you've had me try get across to you all week when we are coming from clearly different initial directions.