re: #92 JohnCarroll

No, my original complaint (at the top) was with insisting that Palestinians call Israel - a land they consider to be taken to them - a Jewish homeland. That’s not the way to start a negotiation.

What do you feel Israel — the Jewish state — should be called?

As for religion associated with the state, a key reason the Iranian government is so alien is that it is a theocracy.

…

but still something Americans aren’t instinctively in favor of. Like I said, Americans do tend to prefer secular government, even if a loud minority do not.

Israel is a secular country, not a theocracy, and certainly not like the Islamic Republic of Iran. I also don’t see what American views on government have to do with anything…look at all the business/diplomacy we do with other “theocracies” (using your definition) like Saudi Arabia (a real theocracy), Bangladesh, Egypt, UAE, Malaysia, etc.

I wouldn’t say “no one else.” You gave one example of ethnic germans from eastern bloc nations. It’s generally enshrined as UN policy that diaspora populations have a right to return. Given that Israel was created (originally) as a UN fabrication, I should think that should have particular resonance for Israelis.

Lol! Czech Republic, Belarus, Belize, South Sudan, North Korea, South Korea, any number of countries…name one that isn’t a UN “fabrication”.

That wasn’t me, that was Etaoin Shrdlu, btw.

You’re right, practically speaking, it isn’t something that will be negotiated away.

But the practical matter is the starting place, not the place one wishes or prefers to start.