re: #183 marjoriemoon

I didn’t mean to say that God says we belong there. Well, I personally believe that, but you don’t have to to know that it’s the Jewish homeland.

Moses brought the Jews there in about 1500 BCE and we’ve had a presence in the land ever since, whether we’ve ruled it or not. It’s simple history.

I’d agree with all of that. To me the same (mostly) secular arguments used recently to justify an independent Kosovo also apply to Israel. To be honest, anywhere other than LGF I probably wouldn’t have even bothered to state my objections to the divine rationale. Too easy to get lumped in with the kooks. It’s really not a big deal to me why an individual decides Israel has a right to exist. My central reasoning on the issue is that the only way the jewish people will truly be able to defend themselves is by having their own independent nation state. I think we (the rest of the west) should support Israel because they’ve shown themselves to be stalwart allies. If Israel politics change and they decide they dislike the US/Canada, I wouldn’t support them but I’d still say they have the right to exist, in the same way I don’t support Iran but I still agree that the Iranian people have the right to an independent nation. It bothers me that it seems like some people’s support for the right of Israel to exist is closely tied to the politics of Israel. To me the entire issue transcends politics. Hope that all makes sense.