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Originally Posted by fugazifan
im not arguing that. im just not in agreement that it is strictly a terrorist state.
would you define the US as one?
its a fucked up situation, and we are far from right and its embarassing to live here at times, but i still dont think that israel is a terrorist state
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Whilst not defending Israel entirely, there's an important fact that several of its neighbours, and its neighbours benefactors, refuse to recognise Israel as a state at all. This in no way defends the recent military activities (bombing the shit out of Lebanon in return for a handful of dead), but I do get the sense that it is in no way a simple case of 'Isreal is a terrorist towards its neighbours' because of the various state- or culturally-endorsed terrorist organisations in surrounding countries. Some of these are state-franchised (Hamas), some of these are merely symptoms of a troubled government (Hezbollah) and some of whom operate as covert endorsers of pan-Islamic state denial of Israel (the revolutionary guards).
Again: I do not seek to exonerate Israel, by any means. However, it is divisive and idiotic to suggest (as a great many wet liberals will do) that Israel is some monolithic evil in that territory. How many of the countries surrounding Israel have had some bloody revolution in the last century?
I'd be interested to know what Mr Fugazifan makes of the following: from my perspective as a British person, I find it very difficult to talk about Israel without recourse to a concern over the racial element of Israel as predominantly semitic (although I understand there is a fair proportion of Arab and other races there); there's a further problem that I personally (as a non-Jew) do not believe that Judaism is equatable with Zionism; neither do I see the existence of Israel on the grounds of Zionism as a validating factor. However, I'm sure we all know why Israel was 'created', and that validates its existence well enough for me. Essentially, I'm saying there are at least three major convoluted (in a benign sense) factors to consider when talking about Israel, and that's before you get to the (tired and simplistic) 'America's puppets' argument or the 'attacked by its neighbours' bit.
It's all a bit fucked really, innit?