Bethsmum wrote:Yes Bora I agree with many of your points. The thing with the muslims is that they throw their religion in your face 24/7. I'm afraid my sympathies will always lie with the Isreali Jews.
So, your views towards Muslims is coloured by your experience that Muslims throw their religion in your face, 24/7.
That would probably explain your reaction to what I wrote in this thread - had I written the same things under the name 'Steve' and said I was an atheist, you may have read them differently, perhaps?
No where in my replies did I mention religion (either my own, the perpetrators or the victims) - but I was commenting on your statement about Muslims in general being biased. You may wish to reflect on this fact.
Have you ever been on the end of a rocket attack, BB, or in a cafe with your family when a suicide bomber walks in? I don't expect it's a pleasant experience. Do you wonder why they protect their borders so closely?
You do know that suicide bombing started in the 90s as a response to a Jewish Religious terrorist shooting worshippers in a mosque in Hebron (occupied Palestine, not Israel) because he wanted to stop the peace process? His name was Baruch Goldstein and there is a thread about him in the religion forum. (Suicide bombing, and terrorism in all forms is inexcusable - but still we should not blindly believe that Palestinians value lives less than other people etc)
However, your point is well made - we should indeed feel sympathy for those who are living under the threat of being killed by explosives. That is exactly why non-Muslims who look at both sides of the argument, look at international law and, above all, look at the body counts - have equal sympathy for Palestinian victims as they do for Israeli victims.
But we seem to be discussing two different issues - you're talking about defending a border, ensuring security within Israel etc. The original post was about an arrest in occupied territory of a man accused of stealing water. I have absolutely no objection to secure Israeli borders - on that I agree with you.
Cheers,
Shafique
Cheers,
Shafique