Israel is the only beacon of democracy in the Middle East.

The only country where you can be gay without fear of being thrown off a roof in the Middle East.

The only country where there is religious freedom in the Middle East.

He only country with a free press in the Middle East.

Good for Israel.

"That was fun and to round off the day, I am off to steal a charity collection box and then desecrate a place of worship.” - Smokey, The Selhurst Arms, 26/02/02

Yep, here! here! Israel should be banned from FIFA.

That "Israel beacon of democracy in the middle east" slogan is PR nonsense.

Iran was a democracy in '52 before the USA overthrew it and installed a dictatorship. There have been several democratically elected governments in the middle east that have come under attack by the USA and Israel - HAMAS won a democratic election after all. It is not that Israel is the only democracy it is that it is the only democracy that the west allows.

Israel does not allow Palestinians democracy and runs an Apartheid system. It has the same selective and racist approach to democracy as the state of Mississippi in the 1960s.

You cannot build a democracy in a land stolen from its inhabitants while you hold them prisoner in pockets of the same land.

If you think Israel has religious freedom while it ethnically cleanses its land of Muslims you have a poor understanding of religious freedom.

Edited by Bert the Head (06 Jun 2018 10.37pm)

Bert have a word. You have fallen for PR nonsense with an acute lack of history.

Israeli Arabs vote in Israeli elections. There are Israeli Arab political parties. I don’t get your ‘apartheid’ comment.

There are elections in Palestinian Territories.

And the ‘stolen land’ argument is disputable.

You could argue that the land was stolen from the Jews before being taken back.

PS. Instead ofgetting all your political opinion from the Owen Jones column in the Guardian, why don’t you go to Tel Aviv and see how the Israelis and Arabs actually live. They are quite integrated.

Edited by matt_himself (07 Jun 2018 6.28am)

"That was fun and to round off the day, I am off to steal a charity collection box and then desecrate a place of worship.” - Smokey, The Selhurst Arms, 26/02/02

I'm not a massive fan of Israel but there's a line at which some pushback is justified, in my view.

Yes it was wrong and the US has apologised for the historical interference. The US backed one group over another and did change the regimes for its own and western self interest.....which ultimately was probably a worse decision long term.

However the 'sins of the fathers' argument placed onto present generations is also not valid.

Also are you seriously suggesting that these democracies were democratic in the western model? I highly question that suggestion. As for your example of Hamas....yeah they won an election and then promptly banned elections in Gaza....You know who else banned elections after getting elected?

Errrr.....Israel is only Israel if they ensure that Jews are the majority in the country. So this is an illogical expectation. Also Israel have plenty of non Jews living within its country. Far more, as a percent, for example than the anti semitic countries surrounding it.

Actually, yes you can. It's somewhat amusing to hear the western hating communist rage upon what is and isn't an acceptable democracy.

I have mixed feelings about the war Israel pursues against the Palestinians. It isn't fairness, however fairness went out of the window a long time ago. This is a managed disaster.

However, your statement is heavily disfigured.....firstly to the hypocrisy of the lands surrounding Israel which are highly antisemitic and prosecute Jews.... these lands have basically cleansed their lands of anything other than Islam. So they are far worse than Israel in this regard.

Where is your criticism of these countries for cleansing its lands of non Muslims? Any Jew there is risking their lives and aren't allowed to reach high status.

Secondly I point out the fact that 20 percent of Israel is Arab, of which 70 percent are Muslims.

[Link]

Which Arab nation has the same statistics for Jews?

Edited by Stirlingsays (07 Jun 2018 8.50am)

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