Wednesday 4 May 2016

Bright future

Is it just me, or is it all going wrong again?

It looks as though Trump has made it as the Republican Presidential candidate, despite the overt hostility from half the members of his own party. Everyone says that he stands no chance against Hilary Clinton, but they said he stood no chance in the last competition. HELP!

As the debate about covert anti-Semitism in the UK Labour Party starts to boil over, things are hotting up in Israel again. There is at least one generation on both sides who have been brought up to hate each other, and no prospect of peace talks in the foreseeable future.

The Israelis are under an increasing and constant threat of being knifed or bombed by Arab civilians, and the ordinary Palestinians are feeling very nervous as well, saying that they only have to reach in their pocket for a mobile phone in order to be shot by another civilian who is - in turn - in fear of his/her life, or the lives of his/her children.

I have an Israeli friend who had a knock on the door one day, and answered it to find an IDF officer who came to deliver an assault rifle with ammunition to the household. My friend said he didn't want it, but the officer said he could not refuse it by law. Everyone had to play their part in the defence of the nation.

My friend had arrived in Israel too old to do his National Service, so thought he could get away with living as peacefully as possible, without the need to use a gun. It took weeks of letter-writing before the government excused him from having to keep a gun which he had no idea how to use, but they made it clear that he was behaving in a very unpatriotic manner.

Arabs and Jews used to live alongside each other in harmony not that long ago,  and both use the word 'peace' as a greeting. No side can win this pointless conflict, and - as always - it is the children who suffer the most.

53 comments:

  1. It is too complicated for a comment, the Arabs and the Jews, stuck in the past that all I can say and I blame Abraham. I would look at Arafat more but that might be wrong.

    As for wars and hate in the Middle East go I believe oil will end it one day, when we stop wanting oil they will all be broke and the order will change.

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    1. I blame Balfour, not that blame matters or achieves anything.

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    2. I side with both of you, but historical references are now useless. The present day situation has to be dealt with - the children do not know the history, or what they do know varies depending who has taught them it.

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  2. Isn't it the Swiss who have all householders with rifles? And I believe they all are supposed to be able to use them.

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    1. No. The Swiss are all issued with penknives....and special tools for removing boy scouts from horses hooves...

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    2. ... and special dispensation to practice landing Hercules transport planes on autobahns...

      Guns in Switzerland are only any use for bank robberies, but no Swiss banks have cash any more.

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    3. The Swiss have a bicycle regiment... seriously!

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    4. Oh yes, I seem to remember that. I can understand the Dutch having a bicycle regiment, but the Swiss?

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  3. Yes.....it.'s all going wrong again!

    My hens are hiding their eggs!

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  4. And here's another thought I heard recently: in the 20th century we had, for the time it existed, the only middle class in history. Basically the 1% has always been in charge. And so it goes.

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    1. We here in England have never had a true meritocracy. The American meritocracy was based on wealth. It takes us ten years to catch up with US trends, by which time everything has changed.

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    2. P.S. - A good aristocracy is based on honour.

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  5. A lot of Republicans this morning are vowing not to vote for Trump. It remains to be seen whether Hillary will move to the right in order to secure these votes. If she does, the Sanders progressives will threaten to stay home and vote for no one, which is the same as voting for Trump. This is a depressing scenario no matter how you look at it.
    I have an Israeli friend who keeps asking Why now? regarding the recent acknowledgement of anti-Semitism in the Labour party. It's been there all along, he maintains, so why is it only coming up now? Anti-Semitism among the left is not new; just look at Stalinist Russia.
    These are not fun times.

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    1. I'm a huge supporter of Sanders, but I will OF COURSE vote for Hillary Clinton against Trump. I mean, how can any reasonable person do otherwise?

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    2. Anti-Semitism has been around for a lot longer than democracy has. The little market town of Marlborough witnessed the massacre of a few hundred Jews before even York. I said 'market town'. The Jews were not allowed to deal in sheep or other stuff, so they went straight into commerce. What else could they do? If you are destined to be constantly on the move, then you want to be able to carry the fruits of your business easily, and so they did. The big mistake was their obvious choice of 'money-lending', as condemned by the Christian Bible. Any old excuse will do - I wish I could find one for my creditors.

      Now, suddenly give a load of desperate Jewish refugees some land and tell then it was promised to them 2000 years ago, and there will be big, big trouble. Us Brits dropped the consequences of this act of generosity years ago. Why? Because we hated Arabs after WW2 when they pretended to be neutral when siding with Germany.

      Alexandria - the playground of both Germans and the Brits during WW2 must have been a tense little array of nightclubs.

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  6. Home delivery of mandatory guns? And here I thought the U.S. was nuts.

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    1. This is under dispute, but I still don't think my Jewish friend would lie about it.

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  7. I've been stunned at the rise of Trump. If I didn't have to live here too I'd say to hell with his supporters, let them live with the consequences of their choices. Almost half of my fellow US citizens have gone stark raving mad.

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again....we're circling the drain.

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  8. You know that your Israeli freind told you some lies.No one is forced to have gun here.

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    1. This was about 20 years ago - was it like that then?

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    1. Well maybe I misunderstood what my Jewish friend told me about the gun, but I don't see why he would lie to me. Am I imagining it when I see photos of Rabbis with Uzis strung over their shoulders in public places? Is it just the occupied territory, and not just cities like Tel Aviv? These are serious questions, not some ravings from an anti-Semite

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    2. People are labelled anti-semite as soon as they criticize Israel for its crimes. There is no defence and so they always play the anti-semite card.

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    3. I wish i know better English so i can say more about youe unfair comment Gwil.

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    4. Tom, i don't know about the Rabbis,but no one here is forced to have a gun, I know that you are not anti-semite.

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    5. I am sorry about Gwil's language, Yael. Gwil, you are being very rude when you accuse the youth of Israel for crimes, and ignore the crimes committed by Hamas. You are not helping one bit by your emotive and prejudiced language on this friendly and open blog. If you have a crime to report that you know about, then report it to the police of whatever country committed it.

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    6. Re guns, I will have to accept what you say, Yael. I know that it is only worry and insecurity that make people want to carry guns. In the Middle East, there may be more reason to worry than in the heartlands of the USA, where it is everyone's right to bear arms.

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    7. My sister thinks we are Jewish anyway!

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  10. About 6 months ago the mayor of Jerusalem said residents should carry guns. I think it fluctuates according to the zeitgeist. There does seem to be a shoot first and asks questions afterwards mentality abroad in the world.

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    1. Hammas has also said that everyone should deny the right of Israel to be a Sovereign State - even exist. I was trying to keep this a balanced sort of consideration, bearing in mind that there are at least 3 Israeli born generations living there who have never known what it is like to be stateless - to not be allowed to farm or even own land on which they may make their 'fortune' with hard, manual work. Why has the average Jew been a 'wanderer' for 2000 years? It has nothing to do with red-hot nails. You must not believe everything - every legend made up by Crusaders - about Jews and Moslems.

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    2. Don't get me wrong, though - for years, my heart has gone out to innocent Palestinians, and I have viewed them as Davids against Goliaths, but then world politics took over. It is now too late to take sides - for the sake of humanity.

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    3. It is good that you are thinking and asking quastions ,most people have the wrong answers like the comments above.

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    4. Now that the grip of USA politics is becoming loose, and the revenues from oil are not as great, everyone is talking about anti-Semitism in Europe as if it went away and has only just come back.

      You know it never went away, but in times of hardship everyone looks for a scapegoat. Until 1947 or something, European Jews could not own land, and the aristocracy of Europe were land-owners. All of this time, other tribes existed side by side in the Middle East, quietly tending animals and crops, without expecting to become rich land-owners. Then the British imposed the notion of territorial property in the region, because of guilt and shame to do with the Holocaust, and - more importantly - we didn't want a massive influx of refugees invading our little island! We still don't! Neither does the USA!

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    5. I wish i should not take so personaly every stupid and bad comment about Israel,but i can't.
      You do know a lot about the world Tom, not that it makes your life easy. Sometimes the brain-washed people have better life because they have the answers without asking the questions.

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    6. Ignorance is not always bliss, but knowledge is often hell - especially if it is first-hand.

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    7. Maybe if the lands that were grabbed in the '67? war were returned, peace could be achieved; someone in the center needs to come out with some new ideas. Zealots, whether Arab or Jew or any other nationality, should be kept in check not encouraged. People can only be poked in the eye so many times before they start to fight back. Ban on cocoa for the Palestinians? How small, but just one of a many pokes.

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  11. With 'Lucifer' and Kasich out it's just Drumpf at the top of the shit-heap. I'm stunned, but not surprised.

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    1. According to Trump, it's down to who has the bigger cock. My money's on Hillary.

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    2. Oh Tom that was the funnies comment.

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    3. Hahaha!!! I'm betting on Hillary too.

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    4. She has more balls, in any case.

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    5. And the eyes of a reptile.....
      I still like her

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    6. I find that level of ambition in anyone a real turn-off.

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    7. In Hillary's case is isn't ambition. It is a calling. Why would anyone normal subject themselves to that race, but for an ingrained need to help her country and fellow man. Trump on the other hand, is the lowest of the low.

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  12. Surely Semitic is a language group rather than an Ethnic or Racial group ?

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    1. Maybe, but everyone knows what you are saying when you say 'anti-Semitic' these days. It sounds so much more polite than 'Jew-hater'.

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  13. As to the guns in Israel, I was once on a holiday there and we wondered why so many young people were walking around with guns slung over their shoulders. Our tour guide explained that anybody who is currently doing military service either had to have their gun on them or sign them in at a police station. Maybe this has something to do with it.

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    1. I'm sure it has something to do with it. I wonder about the older ones, though.

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