Israel/Palestine
Related: About this forumObama and Israel's self-victimization extravaganza
When President Barack Obama visits Israel later this month he will be treated to Jerusalem's full-dress victim show, a modern Via Dolorosa. Can't we offer our closest ally more than war memorials, nuclear nightmares and the Holocaust.
By Uri Misga | Mar.05, 2013 | 4:23 AM
Seven years ago an obscure young United States senator visited the Holy Land. Over the course of five intensive days he covered nearly every inch of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He took tours, heard explanations, held meetings and asked questions. He always carried a pen and a large notebook. His hosts were impressed by his energy, his likability and his insistence on arriving at his own conclusions.
Among other activities, the studious senator took the opportunity to hover over the states narrow waistline in an air force helicopter, to tour the northern border, to view a bombarded building in Kiryat Shmona and the computers in the community center of the Christian-Arab village of Fassuta, to meet the foreign minister, take in a variety of sites in Jerusalem, including in the Old City, to confer in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to speak with Palestinian university students.
At Ben-Gurion International Airport, while waiting for his return flight, the senator even recorded his regular weekly radio broadcast to constituents. His conclusion: "This is an extraordinarily complicated place."
This month the visitor will return, not as a senator but as the president of the United States who recently began his second term. Judging by the itinerary planned for him by his hosts, when it comes to organized tours, it seems the conditions have worsened: Instead of an extraordinarily complicated land, this time he will see a flat, one-dimensional place.
remainder: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/obama-and-israel-s-self-victimization-extravaganza.premium-1.507226
oberliner
(58,724 posts)"I do not fast on Yom Kippur for the same reason that I do not adhere to any religious mitzvah: I do not believe in God. I am not secular, because this is a narrow definition referring to lifestyle alone, and Im not infidel either. Im an atheist. "
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Enjoy, oberliner and thanks for the kick.
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Anything but that!
R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)of the article while passing over what was written.
It's even more completely awesome in its awesomenicity that you have pointed out on a few occasions whether or not the writers of aforementioned articles are practicing the Jewish faith at all.
LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)And though I don't think it's all that relevant in this particular case that the writer is an atheist, there are certainly cases where the writer of the article is relevant.
For example, I will generally point out and object to right-wing sources, whether pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian or neither.
LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)A fairly large number of Israelis are atheists; probably a considerably higher proportion than for Americans. It's not that difficult to get non-kosher food in Israel, for example.
I have 3rd generation atheist relatives in Israel. I also have ultra-Orthodox relatives in Israel.
Israeli
(4,151 posts)we can offer him this :
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)In solidarity and welcome to DU, Israeli.