Four Fingers

Reading the comments posted in this thread (Titty Board), I realized there is a huge misconception regarding Israel's culture.

Here are a few facts about Israel you probably didn't know:

* Israel's parlament (the Knesset) is dominated by atheists. There are two Jewish-orthodox parties, which together constitute about 15%. Since its founding, Israel was never ruled by a religous leader. I have nothing against religion, but people seem to think that Israel is a religious entity like Iran. In reality, Israel's institutes are almost completely devoid of any religious influence. America is more religious than Israel.

* Israel is fucking liberal. More liberal than America. More liberal than Britain. More liberal than France. There are no school uniforms. Most girls have sex before they reach 18. There are Gay parades in mid-Jerusalem. Personally, I don't think this is good. But, again, people always assume that Israel is a conservative country. Not at all!

* There are Arabs in the Parlament. Israeli Arabs are allowed to vote and elect their own leaders. They have the same rights as Jewish citizens. Further more, Israeli Universities favour Arabs as part of an affirmative action plan! Being libertarian I am against this last part, but realize that Israel is far from being an apartheid racist country. Even the Palestinians in the occupied territories were treated well before the Intifida.

* Israel is not a desert. Various researchers have shown that Israel's climate-zone was never meant to be a desert. During the period in which Arab nomads occupied this area (beginning in the 7th century AD), they fed their animals on every puny green shrub that grew here, and thus dried the area and turned it into a desert. When the Jews took over, they planted lots of trees and transformed the land from swamps and sands into blossoming grasslands. Take a look at this sattelite image. Notice the strange artificial line on the right? Well that's the Sinai border. The green part belongs to Israel. The other one belongs to Egypt.

* There are practically no camels in Israel, and the ones that are still here belong to Beduins. Israelis drive in fancy cars imported from East Asia, Europe, and America.


Don't believe me? Visit Israel! It's cheap, and it's really not as dangerous as the media seems to claim. As a matter of fact, you're more likely to die in a car accident than in a bombing! Israel is a safer place than New York... or Madrid.

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"Always do right - this will gratify some and astonish the rest."

Craven Morehead

Quick trivia question - when (modern day) Israel was formed, who was asked to be the country's first president?

I won't be back on for a few hours so if anyone answers and some one knows that to be the correct answer, confirm it. thanks

feelgood

I have no beef against Israel but what is the fuck up with the shits between Israel and the Palenist-what-its-name?

Honestly, I've always watched the news with all those suicidcal bombing and since it's always been like that, the news never bother telling anybody why the hell it's happening!

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Looking out the window, that's an act of war. Staring at my shoes, that's an act of war. Committing an act of war? Oh you better believe that's an act of war

User Name

Albert Einstein. But the president in Israel is nothing more than a ceremonial position, like the queen in England.

Craven Morehead

And you're correct!

Lokus

Is it also true that military service isn't compulsory for non-Jews in general?

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The black wind howls...

raeanna74

I'm really rusty on my history but I think part of this is that the UN designated the strip of land that Isreal now inhabits for the Jews who returning to their "homeland" after the holocaust. Since most of them had no home then and there was a big movement to move back to the "promised land". I even forget what the movement was called. In the view of the Palestinians the land was "stolen" from them as they lived there already while the Jews had been living in Germany and the rest of Europe. It's also a bit more fertile land than the rest of the palestinian area if I remember right. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on this but it's what I remember from my history lessons YEARS ago.

I think the fact that it runs along the water and Palestine doesn't have as much access to water for commercial purposes there is some geographical elements that play into the situation.

Also the Jews believe that one of the Islamic Mosques is built in the ground where their temple once was built. They cannot rebuild their temple anywhere else as their god determined that it be specifically in that spot. They believe that their nation will not be fully restored until they can build their temple and they would like to destroy the mosque that is there. They cannot though or that would start a major war bigger than anything that is going on in that country currently.

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"Always learn the rules so that you can break them properly." Dalai Lama
My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

anleja

Is this the Temple Mount? I'm a bit hazy on what the details are, but I think the current fighting in Israel which started in Sept 2000 was sparked when Ariel Sharon did something at the Temple Mount. Can anyone clarify this for me, while we're on this topic?

By the way, I read in a magazine article a few years ago that Israel has a large rave culture among it's youths. I mean, like, raving in the streets.