What is the Free Republic Position on Israel?

[Publius6961]

I understand now that the Free Repulic is a forum for ideas.

Welcome then.
Here we also fill in the gap between reality and the news. A full time job.

So feel free to help us to contribute facts and to deflate propaganda. Also a full time job.

[stands2reason]

Thought you might find this one interesting...

[stands2reason]

Yonif, I'd say the majority of posters here know the difference between an ally and an enemy, though we Freepers are hardly in lockstep on this issue. You may find a variety of opinions here (with the exception of socialist and communist ones, of course), but none of them will be thoughtless.

Hang around, and be prepared to learn a lot. I certainly have--and I'm almost twice your age. (Gad, you don't know how hard it was to type that. )

[Revolutionary]

We have a strong religious connection with Isreal, but even more important is the defense of freedom and democracies around the world. We take it forgranted, but freedom is actually in short supply around the world. If you really understand the Middle East, you will realize that religion is just a tool of the leaders. The conflict is over freedom and democracy. The dictators in the region fear the spread of democracy more than cancer. They indoctrinate the people with hate and religious furver against those that represent freedom to prevent the spred of democracy to their countries. Life is the pits in their country, they must shift the blame from themselves to those that represent freedom or loose power.

[Willie Green]

I had been "pro-Israel" for much of my life, probably reflective of U.S. policy during the Cold War. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, pro-Israel zealots appear to have shifted their attention to demand and extort "reparations" and "apologies" from the rest of the world, and label anybody who disagrees with them on any issue as Nazis. These "Holocaust Pimps" have left a putrid taste in my mouth, and I've changed my views to that of distant neutrality.
Other than intellectual curiousity toward the ancient, archaeological sites and artifacts, I have no particular interest in any of the countries of the Middle East.

[Undertow]

To yonif and anybody who cares: As I am currently writing my master's thesis on Israel's energy diplomacy, I thought I'd take a moment to put in my "2 cents" on this topic.

As we all know, the Middle East is the most unstable region of the world. Within every country in the region there are internal disputes and within the internal disputes there are even more internal disputes. Clearly it is an area that needs to be stabilized in any form possible. One of the most common forms proposed for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "economic integration." The premise being that two people who are in such proximity and share a common ancestry could live in peace if they are dependent upon one another. That all seems simple but upon further study it is quite improbable.

In my thesis I am addressing this topic. Relying on international law, Israeli law and past examples of similar countries, I am theorizing that the use of economics to bring about peace will only lead to further hostilities (if they can get any worse). Among the variables that I am considering are the "right of return" doctrine, the law of abandoned property and past examples from Syria and Saudi Arabia to demonstrate migration and demographics.

I will definitely let everybody know when my thesis is finished and hopefully published.

I thought that I would post this because I feel there is a need to look beyond the present and into the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. If you would like to have a conversation about the fascinating topic of Israeli energy diplomacy please give me an e-mail.

[yonif]

It will be on from 3AM - 6AM (we get a crappy time slot cause we are rookies).
On early Tueday mornings.

You could listen to it here, I am not sure how reliable this is:
http://wcni.conncoll.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/live.rm

[yonif]

I agree with your assumption, but will need to read more of your thesis to be fully supportive in your conclusions :)

[yonif]

Oh yeah, its eastern time.

[MatthewViti]

I agree with you 100%, btw are you from the Rye area of NY?

[Mr. Mojo]

Nah, I just like rye whiskey.

[solmar_israel]

Fine. We won't go down that road.

What's the expression?... "don't confuse me with the truth..."

[ladyinred]

The poster started the thread by saying he/she is a strong supporter of Israel. I am too, and it appears most of us are. We do seem to have some here who are not, and they will make themselves and their views known any minute now if they haven't already! :-)

[Dec31,1999]

Have you seen this? What do you think about it?

StopIslam.com

I'll be expecting a 500 word reaction paper in the morning. ;)

[yonif]

It speaks of the truth. Furthermore one should also have a seperate page, if they don't have so, showing the correlation between islamic fundamentalism and dictatorships around the world.