Israel A Beacon for Religious Tolerance, Not its Serial Abuser

[shira]

A recent editorial published in the Toronto Star, Canada’s most read daily newspaper, listed religiously tolerant Israel alongside China and Saudi Arabia, countries that use state-sanctioned discriminatory laws and institutions to persecute their ethnic minorities and stymie their religious freedoms.

Contrary to this editorial, the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2011 lauded Israel for its respect of freedom of religion. The report noted that: “While there is no formal constitution, laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty protects religious freedom. The Basic Law describes the country as a ‘Jewish and democratic state’ and references the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, which promises religious freedom and full social and political equality, regardless of religious affiliation.”

Israel has been praised for its efforts to safeguard the right to free practice of religion, conscience, and belief for all faiths; and has preserved, restored, and funded Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites and places of worship. Israel recognizes five religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Druze and Bahá’í and all adherents have full rights under the law. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims enjoy Ramadan in Jerusalem. Every Christmas, close to 100,000 pilgrims visit the Holy Land. It’s no wonder that Israel is the only place in the region where its Christian population is growing. In sharp contrast, Coptic Christians in Egypt suffer from persecution, discrimination, and are fearful of the rise of Muslim Brotherhood, while over a hundred thousand Christians have fled the civil war in Syria.

Israel is a safe haven for religiously persecuted minorities from surrounding countries that restrict open practice of religion and who target those considered heretical or apostates. Faced with Iranian persecution, The Bahá’í World Centre, the spiritual and administrative heart of the Bahá’í community, is located in the twin cities of ‘Akká and Haifa in northern Israel. This month, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs produced a must-read backgrounder on various countries in which religious persecution is particularly egregious.....

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/israel-a-beacon-for-religious-tolerance-not-its-serial-abuser/

[Tempest]

1. "U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report"

Written by AIPAC no doubt.

[Lionessa]

2. So one of Israel's best buddies says it is tolerant, and that is somehow legit????

Compared to Canada that seems to have relatively limited ties through AIPAC, et al., any US report where our folks are heavily influenced by AIPAC, et al. that contradicts Canada's would seem to be beyond bogus in it's potential integrity. Besides, you and the Times of Israel seem to be suggesting we should believe what your opinions are versus what we see, read, and hear with our own senses.

[shira]

3. You're confusing Israel with a future Jew-free Palestine

PLO ambassador says Palestinian state should be free of Jews
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2011-09-13/palestinian-israeli-jews-future-state-israel-PLO/50394882/1

[Lionessa]

4. No, I'm absolutely not, and if I'd been treated as PLO has been, I'd

be writing the same as the PLO. Israel deserves that perspective these days, imo.

[shira]

5. So the PLO, Arafat, etc... are poor victims? Hamas too?

There's no reason for a Jew free Palestine.

That's totally racist apartheid...

[Lionessa]

7. Absolutely they are and have been for decades.

Yes, Israel strikes me as an entirely apartheid racist country.

[shira]

10. I think you confuse Hamas with the people....

Not all Palestinians are Hamas. Ask the women and gays oppressed by Hamas and they'll tell you Hamas sucks. Same WRT the PLO and Arafat. Not all Palestinians are one with their oppressive leadership. Most are victims of that leadership.

And a Jew-free Palestine would be apartheid. No liberal should be for that.

[cali]

12. yes. The Palestinians have been and are victims of an occupation

duh. And screw the red herrings. No one is advocating for a Jew free Palestine.

[shira]

14. And that's why you see all criticism of Hamas as bigoted....

You equate the Palestinians with their Hamas oppressors.

I couldn't disagree more.

Here's what Maryam Namazie writes about this:

It is an anti-colonial movement whose perspectives coincide with that of the ruling classes in the so-called Third World. This grouping is on the side of the ‘colonies’ no matter what goes on there. And their understanding of the ‘colonies’ is Eurocentric, patronising and even racist. In the world according to them, the people in these countries are one and the same with the regimes they are struggling against just as the ‘Muslim community’ here is one and the same with reactionary Islamic organisations, Sharia councils, and parasitical imams. Which is why at Stop the War Coalition demonstrations, they carry banners saying ‘We are all Hezbollah;’ at meetings they segregate men and women and urge unveiled women to veil out of ‘solidarity’ and ‘respect’.

This type of politics denies universalism, sees rights as ‘western,’ justifies the suppression of rights, freedoms and equality under the guise of respect for other ‘cultures’ implying that people want to live the way they are forced to and imputing on innumerable people the most reactionary elements of culture and religion, which is that of the ruling class.

In this type of politics, the oppressor is victim and any criticism racist…

[cali]

17. I don't see all criticism of Hamas as bigoted. You know that.

I've criticized Hamas here before. I have no hesitation doing so. Quit the bullshit. You know damned well I don't support Hamas.

[shira]

20. You answered yes to whether Hamas and the PLO are victims...

Hamas and people like Arafat (who was Egyptian) are not victims in any way. They victimize others as that's pretty much all they do and all they're about.

[cali]

24. I did not. Honesty is not a shining star for you.

Your, er, antipathy for Palestinians warps you. But, btw, and do try and get a few brain cells firing over this: One can be both a victim and a perpetrator. Is that too complex for you to grasp? Try.

Israel oppresses and mistreats Palestinians on an Institutional basis. And no, I don't hate Israel. In quite a few ways, I admire it, though present leadership is appalling.

[shira]

25. Your answer in #12 to my question in #5 was Yes.

And by stating people can be both victims and perpetrators, who the heck are you talking about? Hamas, the PLO, or other Palestinians in general?

I agree Palestinians are victims of Israel, but they're also victims of the PLO and Hamas. If it weren't for the PLO and Hamas, the Palestinians would already have their state, free of occupation, settlements, etc.

[azurnoir]

8. more

an interview of Salam Fayyad Prime Minister of the PA by Tom Segev

Q:You once stated that Israeli settlers can be Palestinian citizens. Do you still believe that?

A:Yes, as equal citizens with equal rights.

Q:But you know [the settlers] won’t agree to it.

A:The Palestinian state will be open and based on full nondiscrimination on any basis whatsoever, whether religious, gender, ethnic, or whatever, respectful of the rights, aspirations, and concerns of others, where there is democracy and the rights of minorities are protected by a constitution.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/12/22/salam-fayyad-palestine-s-pm-on-building-a-state.html

at best the information is conflicting but the PA or Palestinian Authority is in charge of domestic issue domestic

[Mosby]

15. abbas wants a Jew free Palestine

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3929819,00.html

[azurnoir]

16. lol what took so long that's a favorite of the ProIsraeli...........

as I said it is conflicting at best disingenuous at worst but I am sure we can take the authors word for it he is Jonathan Dahoah Halevi a senior researcher and fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and Director of Research at the Orient Research Group

here is what was really said

Note: Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency published on July 28 its version of Abbas’ briefing to the Egyptian media, quoting him as saying: “I'm willing to agree to a third party that would supervise the agreement, such as NATO forces, but I would not agree to having Jews among the NATO forces, or that there will live among us even a single Israeli on Palestinian land”. This version was reprinted by Palestinian newspapers al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida on July 30 and by other Arab newspapers.

A few days later Wafa published a new version of Abbas’ interview to the Egyptian media, where he was quoted as saying: “We have no objection to the presence of a third party after the (Palestinian) state is established, and we don’t oppose that the third party will be NATO or any other force. However, I will not agree that an Israeli, even if he is a Muslim, will be present on my land, but I’ll agree only (to the presence) of a third party. The reason for that is stemmed in the fact that the Israeli is the heir of the occupation, while the presence of the third party is temporary as are the Multinational Forces in your country (Egypt) and UNIFIL in Lebanon.”

[Scootaloo]

26. Mosby and Shira can't keep "Israel" straight from "Jew"

Neither can most skinheads.

[2naSalit]

6. "...Israel A Beacon for Religious Tolerance..."

Sorry but...

[azurnoir]

9. why almost any Palestinian Muslim (over 45 or 50) can worship at al Aqsa

Muslim residents of Israel and Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are normally allowed to enter and pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque without restrictions.[76] Israel occasionally prevents certain groups of Muslims from reaching al-Aqsa; the restrictions vary from time to time. At times restrictions have prevented all men under 50 and women under 45 from entering, but married men over 45 are allowed. Sometimes the restrictions are enforced on the occasion of Friday prayers,[77] other times they are over an extended period of time.[77][78][79] Restrictions are most severe for Gazans, followed by restrictions on those from West Bank. Israel states that the restrictions are in place for security reasons.[76]


This page was last modified on 11 March 2013 at 17:00.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque

[cali]

11. From YOUR source, The Times of Israel, today's edition: The racism in our midst

Five vicious cases of hate crimes were recorded during the past two weeks alone. Hana Amtir, a pregnant Palestinian-Jerusalemite, was attacked by young girls while waiting for her husband at the light-rail station in town just because she wore a hijab. Not far away, two teachers – Suha Abu-Zmiru and Revital Wolkov – were assaulted as they came to pay a shiva call at the home of their principal. Hassan Osroof, a municipal worker, was battered by a gang of drunken youth while cleaning the streets of Tel-Aviv when he admitted that he was an Arab. And the Sharqawi couple met the same fate on the shores of the Kinneret. Violence against the other is fast becoming a plague which, like the hoards of locusts that are invading the fields of the Negev, threatens to consume every fertile corner of Israeli society unless aggressively eradicated.

<snip>

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-racism-in-our-midst/

[shira]

13. That happens here in America too. It doesn't mean the USA sucks....

....regarding religious tolerance.

[cali]

18. It happens far more there.

[shira]

21. How do you know? n/t

[azurnoir]

19. when Israel elects an Israeli Palestinian as PM get back to us okay? n/t

[shira]

22. What would that prove? Obama is POTUS....

...so does that mean racism is over and done with here in America?

[azurnoir]

23. Nope but it does say something doesn't it?

The US population has come to the point where this is possible not once but twice

[shira]

28. There's a difference, however, between I/P and Whites/Blacks....

Never did Blacks or their leadership threaten to annihilate the whites or even attempt to do so. And they have a far better reason based on hundreds of years of slavery than the Palestinians do WRT Israelis.

[azurnoir]

29. so Palestinians have no reason to dislike Israeli's or not

enough reason, fascinating

[shira]

30. What was the reason leading to the 1948 civil war?

You want the Grand Mufti's reasoning for not liking Israelis?

[azurnoir]

31. when did the Grand Mufti die? but you continue to trott him out

any time it's convenient, he seems to be one of your favorites
Didn't Avigdor Lieberman sponsor handing out flyers on him or some such?

[shira]

32. The Mufti died in the 1970's. He was the Palestinian leader pre-1948.

So what did the Jews do pre-1948 to make the Mufti hate them so much?

[azurnoir]

33. obtained the Balfour Declaration i whiich the British Empire

gave away land that did not belong to it in the first place

[shira]

34. So Balfour was a good reason for Palestinians to hate Jews pre-1948? n/t

[azurnoir]

35. there was relatively little problem prior to the signing of that on November 2 1917 n/t

[shira]

36. You're legitimizing hatred and bigotry. n/t

[azurnoir]

37. I am pointing out fact n/t

[OregonBlue]

27. I read the headline and thought it was the Onion.

[oberliner]

38. What does that indicate to you?

Perhaps more education about Israel is needed?