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What I found in my ten-day tour of Israel was the most racist society I had ever encountered. The secular yuppies of Tel Aviv were the worst, while the most compassionate people opposed to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza tended to be very religious, which was an unexpected revelation for me. The most sensible person I met on that trip was a religious man who was in the Israeli military for the wars of both 1967 and 1973. It was after 1973 that he had an awakening, and came to recognize the brutal reality of the Israeli occupation.

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Israel was the most racist society I had ever encountered

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Originally posted by Michelle:
The most racist society he's ever encountered. Not the most racist society on the face of the earth.

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Originally posted by quelar:

I'm no fan of the illegal occupation, but the MOST racist society? I think there's some very hard competition for that spot and I'm not sure Israel is the one I'd pick for that.

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All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings

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Eliyahu's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, who is chief rabbi of Safed, said his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers. Rather, he advocated carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.

"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

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Jerusalem Post

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Originally posted by Michelle:
The most racist society he's ever encountered. Not the most racist society on the face of the earth.

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Originally posted by rasmus:

Is there another apartheid state today?

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[ 07 June 2007: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Originally posted by Coyote:
Interesting. What specific laws in Yemen or Saudi Arabia do you consider to be akin to the laws and policies of apartheid South Africa?

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Originally posted by rasmus:

Is there another apartheid state today?

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I was thinking Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Saudi Arabia, and there's a few more. They all have their groups being targeted.

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Originally posted by unionist:
Applying the word "apartheid" to any nasty anti-people regime does tend to deprive it of all meaning.

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Originally posted by 500_Apples:

So what are your criteria?

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Satan is no longer to be found only in Tehran --- he is alive and kicking here in our midst. Israel is being inundated by a murky stream of little blue-and-white Ahmadinejads: If the president of Iran proposes to destroy Israel, they, who are smaller than he, are proposing only to "eradicate" villages, "flatten" them, starve entire populations and in fact to kill them.

There is no difference, in principle or morally, between the Iranian original and his Israeli imitators. The racist and bullying philosophy of Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman and his ilk has unleashed its malignant tentacles into the heart of society.

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Little Ahmadinejads

[ 11 June 2007: Message edited by: Frustrated Mess ]

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Originally posted by unionist:
Haven't thought it out in detail, but I would think that it involves a legislative framework which privileges one ethnic or religious group over others in terms of significant citizenship, franchise, and civil rights issues, as well as legislatively encouraging separate residence and development and inhibiting voluntary assimilation.

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Israel is closing off sections of the territories with concrete walls, sure. But skilled Palestinian workers are allowed in and work among and for Israelis. But like the S. African townships, I suppose the Palestinians have to go home everyday to segregated living conditions. So that's not a positive difference.

Shortages of water and resources in general are a problem I think. I believe the Israelis have developed expertise in the area of desalinization of water. That would benefit millions of people around the world if it can be perfected.

I think it's small groups of extremists and war mongers on both sides fueling the conflict. I think there are profiteers, power-hungry leaders and influential religious groups all contributing to it. The people don't want what's happening. They want social democracy, just like the rest of working class slobs around the world. Israel and the territories are a relatively small area with lots of people. I think countries like Canada should offer to resettle the ones willing to relocate to other countries. We have lots of resources and land.

[ 11 June 2007: Message edited by: Fidel ]