1. Tamar said:

We should have pressed for constitutional reforms, and a voice in our government long ago...before it came to this.

We live in very dangerous times.

2. Tamar said:

Divide & Conquer?

No wonder we were never taught much about the Founders of the USA!

"We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Benjamin Franklin ~ At the Signing of The Declaration of Independence!

3. Tiburon said:

Joseph, you said: - "... I am not an Israeli citizen and I feel that offering unsolicited advice from the bleachers on an issue such as this is inappropriate."

I can't agree. Your bonafides regards support for Zion are established. Israel is said 'destined' to become "A Light Unto the Nations", and of these you are, and have to my thinking, eminent right to speak and opine, certainly when the GOI and it's citizens do not fulfill "their mandate". - For Israel's existence, hard fought and won, places us all at the center of battle.
Was it Hillel who said, "In a place where there is no man, be a man". Solicited or not, your advice is required.

4. BobW said:

A well-thought out position, Joseph. Some comments;

Unsolicited advice can assist if offered in good faith and properly toned. Israel is now loaded with people without an Atlantic Alliance background, ther typical Ruskie Oleg and Ruskia olay. Discussing constitutions and basic laws invokes completely different views than to others. The comments can help.

The Holocoast SHOULD be regarded as unique. Stateside, it is not. The cause for this can be directly traced to its exploitation. The reverence has since ben lost. Plus, there is a new stateside definition of "Holocoast" generated by the exploitation.

The several Holocoast museums started this. Currently, "Holocoast" in the States now means any genocide. Because certain Jewish groups obtained public funds for their museums, other non-Jewish groups now do this also. The Cambodia Killing fields has a museum program. There are some others. Again, in stateside diaspora, "Holocoast" no longer refers exclusively to the Nazi mass murders. Note that as recently as 3 years ago, America's largest and richest minority population segments were blacks and Jews, respectively. This has since changed. Now the largest and richest minority groups are Mexican-Americans and overseas Chinese, respectively. Political power flows accordingly.

Gaza, along with the rest of Yesha and parts of Jerusalem are already fait accompli just awaiting the finishing touches. I only deal in the political realm and not the illegal/criminal hints showing up in the diaspora Jewish and Israeli web sites.

Kol tuv,
BobW

5. Mashiach said:

The Jewish claim to the land of Israel which I fully support essentially lies on possibly the oldest "land deed" in existence. The Bible. Or as some refer to it the Old Testament. Regardless of its religious significance, or even validity, what it tells us is that the Jews were settled on that land and returned to it time and again despite millennia of persecution and near annihilation.

What it also tells us is that the Gaza strip as it is now known has never been under Jewish sovereignty. Even back then we were fighting the "Plishtim" (Palestinians) who occupied that stretch of land. This surely indicates that by our own claims we have no right to the Gaza strip.

Judea and Samaria are another matter. Arguably, before the reunification there existed two separate Jewish states. The State of Israel and the State of Judea. Maybe it is time for Devolution again. But that's a whole other discussion.

6. Tiburon said:

BobW - uhuh. Might add, (because yes, there are 'issues' with "exploitation" of the Shoah - in some sectors it's become a convenient vehicle for 'exculpation of current sins') that albeit shaking the foundations of reality in surrealistic horror and scale - it's not unique in Jewish History. The basis of Pesah, after all - was a Holocaust (Pharonic Egyptian) of similar character, and similar demographical scale, w/subsequent march to 'national rebirth', of course. Viewed through this perspex, Jewish History is a river of blood, of which the Shoah 'merely' the latest and greatest.

I thought PE had the right question: - Give us another 'symbol' other than an 'orange star' to convey the 'targeting of Believing Jews'. Waiting...

7. Tiburon said:

"Mashiach". It's nice you 'validate' our pass to the Land. Back to the books though, my friend, for your statement "by our own claims we have no right to the Gaza strip" is simply uninformed...and completely incorrect.

8. BobW said:

Shalom Tiburon,

Yes, Prof Eidelberg has well-developed plans to establish a Jewish oriented government. He wants to avoid the orange Star of David because of the invoked memories.

In common denominator terms, PE is allowing sunlight to act as a disinfectant to the Jewish-Yevsetkzia fissure. If the healing is not started now, Israel will join South Vietnam, East Pakistan and the Hapsburg Empire.

Shabbat Shalom,
BobW