[Ifroham4]

From news article:
You are a progressive, and you have been arrested and are being expelled from your country. You are brought to the airport, and given just one minute to decide upon your destination, your country of exile. There is a catch, however. You must choose from one of the following five Middle Eastern nations: Egypt (at least before the ongoing upheaval), Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Israel.

You have only this one minute to make up your mind.

Perhaps you are not only progressive, but also gay. Or a woman. Or both. Maybe you are an atheist. Or a liberal Christian. Or a Jewish progressive.

Your time is almost up.

What do you choose?

Progressives ought to come to terms with this juxtaposition. They ought to question, within progressive circles, the almost unconsciously reflexive singling out of Israel for condemnation, the efforts to delegitimize its existence in a way not applied to any other nation in the world. When progressives -- and I count myself as a progressive -- can get to such a point, when we can analyze Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an international context, then we might be able to engage in constructive criticism instead of demonization. And then we can all take part in a serious conversation of what it will take to bring peace -- and full international recognition at the United Nations -- for both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

[9mm_fan]

It is something more on a psychological level.

We always demand concessions from the more reasonable party involved. The good one must show kindness before the bad one ever does. We don't care who is right or wrong, we just don't want to be affected by it in terms of politics, economics, rumours of war ect. If only the good party would show kindness the bad party will come around eventually and peace will reign. No in-depth knowledge of the situation is needed because it does not concern us. Only when it might affect our lives (wars, crisis, terrorism, etc) we will urge towards a quick solution for our troubles. So the good party must make peace asap, how? Don't care. If they don't then the good party is just as bad as the bad ones and need to be blamed until they cave in. After that we will be indifferent again.

Basicly it is about hidden selfishness and cowardice, things that don't give a reflection in the mirror.

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

Dear formerjew2,
As an Israeli I can tell you that nearly every Jew in Israel is too busy thinking about Pessach/Passover and what to do with their kids during their school break and watching the news just isn't a priority. Even the muslims living in Israel are too busy buying out BBQ supplies. We'll have to deal with stress only in September when the UN votes the Palestinians a state. That's a long time from now and who knows with any luck some major earthquake will take out Iran and kill a few million of them. Trust me, as bleak as things look now, there have been rougher times. No one said having a Jewish state was going to be easy - it's just too good a thing not to be a part of.