Comments on: Arabs are good. When far away.

By: Danny the Admin

Danny the Admin — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 13:53:01 +0000

I don’t believe Jews should be more moral than every other nation which displaced the natives to build a state of its own.

By: Raffaele

Raffaele — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:26:40 +0000

you analize a very complicated issue in this article

I witnessed this problem in Bosnia : muslim-croatian-serbs
it seems you are right and mostly on long term analysis and in numbers but I feel the duty to look also for a better solution such as for example :
1-very big compensation for expulsion in order to make it nice and easy for the expelled (historically we had very bad example of expulsion that turned into genocides like the Armenians and Jews…)
2-ghettoization (in the sense of building different omogeneus communities, separated in the same territory). The old form of ghetto was not nice and there are consistent proofs of it.
3-…………..

What I really find difficult is to force somebody against his will to leave the land he was born in.
I think you need more strong arguments and dialectic to convince me, if not, you are a bad rabbi.

By: Danny the Admin

Danny the Admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:24:35 +0000

And what exactly is the Land of Israel, what are its borders and why?

By: Ray Bright

Ray Bright — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:52:05 +0000

It is really simple. The land of Israel is of central importance to Jewish PEOPLE. (Not just Jewish religion.) We *are* a people, a nation.

This is the only place on Earth that has such significance for Jews. For Arabs it is just one of thousand places they could be. Damascus is more important for Arabs, many cities in the Islamic world are more important to Muslims than Jerusalem: Many mosques are more important that the al Aqsa: In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and of course Saudi Arabia.
*
For Jews there is only the Land of Israel, and Jerusalem. You don’t need any god to get that.
*
To Danny: If Arabs were good citizens, they would become Jews, because Jews are Judeans.

By: HappyMinyan

HappyMinyan — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:45:57 +0000

If one doesn’t accept the G-d-given rationale for Jewish citizenship in Israel, why SHOULDN’T Arabs pose a danger to Israelis? Have Jews no more a mandate to Israel than French citizens have to French soil? I would ask Ray what rationale the Jews have to entitlement to Israel without the Torah—the covenant? On what basis does he care one way or the other?

This argument is an old one both here and elsewhere so I won’t rehash it. I can only say that I hope one day, maybe when the Moshiach comes, Jews and Arabs could live together. I’ve long been taken with Arab culture— after all, it too is semitic. But for now, G-d’s orders are explicit.

By: Danny the Admin

Danny the Admin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:18:09 +0000

But what if, imagine for a moment, Arabs are not dangerous?

By: Ray Bright

Ray Bright — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:18:16 +0000

Obadiah,

You offer two reasons for expelling Arabs from Israel:
First – God’s commandment.
Second – Rational considerations.
*
God’s commandments are very unconvincing to myself. I simply don’t believe that commandments in Torah are the “word of God”.
*
On the other hand, the rational reason is very clear, if Arabs, and Muslims stay in Israel, they will most certainly present a danger to the Jews.
In large numbers, Muslims anywhere are dangerous: e.g. France.
*
Also, Obadiah has a very good point that masses don’t behave like individuals. Masses riot, and commit atrocities, masses have no heart, a human mob is worth than a pack of wolves.