re: #5 ProLifeLiberal

“…The temple mount is a good example. Why would I trust Likud to protect such the Dome of the Rock and Al-Asqa Mosque.”

You’ve got this entirely backwards.

The Temple Mount, including the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque is administered by the Waqf, not by the Israeli government. This has been the case since 1967. Muslims have access whereas Jews have very limited rights of visitation, and no authority over the property - the most holy site in the world for Jews.

Conversely, Jewish holy sites have been abused, desecrated and/or destroyed throughout the Arab world. Jewish holy places in East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule from 1948-67 - when Jews were expelled and prohibited from living there - were routinely defiled. Furthermore, Jews were not permitted any visitation rights to the Wailing Wall or any holy sites in the occupied (by Jordan) territory throughout this period.

I will note that Egypt (pre-Arab spring) recently restored an ancient Jewish synagogue as part of Egyptian national heritage. While a very nice gesture, it’s just a little too late - the Egyptian Jewish community is practically non-existent, just as it is in the rest of the Arab middle east. Where did they all go? Somewhere safer for them, I hope.

So don’t tell us about how you don’t trust the Likud government to protect Muslim holy sites. I can’t comment about the situation in India, but Israel’s record on protecting Muslim holy sites is demonstrably stellar. Quite the opposite for Jewish sites has been true throughout most of the Arab middle east.