Can someone give me a five minute breakdown on Israel/Gaza? Not kleinbl00's; his takes substantially longer than five minutes.
The Jews got blown out of the Middle East back in Biblical times and Europe back in the 1940s. As a consequence they headed back to the Middle East, which had been destabilized and colonized by European nations. While Europe drank deep of Arab oil the Arabs decided the Jews were offensive and thus pursued a policy of mutual annihilation. The Jews want to survive more than the Arabs want to kill them, though, so it's taken a long damn time to settle. You should also know that there are: - 6.2 million jews in Israel (75% of the population) - 5.4 million Jews in the United States (1.8% of the population) - 1.1 million Jews in all of Europe (0.22% of the population) - 1.1 million Jews in the entire rest of the world Which is why Europe and the US never see eye-to-eye on Israel. There were 9.5 million Jews in Europe in 1933 but Germany, Austria, Poland and Russia killed 6 million of them. And, it should be noted, did not give them back their stolen land, money, possessions or jobs when the war was over. As a consequence, the whole "you're taking their land" argument against Israel from Europe (or the United States, for that matter) doesn't come from a position of moral authority. The fact that the money and weapons for both sides of the conflict come from Europe and the United States doesn't help either.
I don't think it can legitimately come from any nation on the planet at this point, depending on how far back you take your history. The US and European just happen to be the most recent and recently egregious examples. Any thoughts on how this is going to all play out? last I heard Israel had taken their troops and gone home, but was still shooting rockets into Gaza. As a consequence, the whole "you're taking their land" argument against Israel from Europe (or the United States, for that matter) doesn't come from a position of moral authority.
But in the grand scheme of things does that matter? Israel has been slowly, progressively securing the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean for 70 years now. They'll eventually have more of it but it'll never matter in the long run. It's going to play out with interfaith violence, terrorism, historical and biblical justification and the wholesale death of innocents. I have Right of Return. I could get that piece of the West Bank or whatever. And I would no more live in Israel than I would in Serbia, Lebanon, Burma or Nigeria. There are spots of the world where killing each other is just part of the culture. Israel is an intractable problem. There's no happy ending. It is a concentrated touchstone for all the evil that went into the Holocaust, all the evil that went into the Crusades. It will never play out, it will just ebb and flow in an endless tide of blood.Any thoughts on how this is going to all play out? last I heard Israel had taken their troops and gone home, but was still shooting rockets into Gaza.
And just to add to what you said about Jews not getting their land back, many of them were killed when they returned to their native lands (not by Germans). Imagine being liberated after the living hell of auswitz only to have poles murder your family. The reality is many nations hated the Germans, but didn't really mind the deportations. It's a fact that history has tried to obscure for the sake of repair.
It should be noted that 'Biblical times' is actually a bit of an understatement.