You perfectly put into words my exact thoughts. This is the true history, of course, hidden from anything the Muslim country ever hear. This should be sent to every biased media outlet in the world, again and again, a million times over, until they too, get it!! Worldwide, it should be put into every history book in every school. Well done!!

The stroy written IS about him in the singular; HIS history; HIS origins: HIS beliefs. THAT is what an opinion piece is. YOU on the other hand generalize and prove the simple fact that anti-Zionism is simply a thinly veiled redefining of anti-Semitism! The Palestinians are fortunate. Had they continued hell-bent on murder and terrorism against any other people, they would have been annihilated. We have sufficient patience, and at times stupidity, to keep turning the other cheek in the hopes they would wake up to their own suicidal tendencies. There is no confusion:Zionism means the home of Jews and Judaism-get used to it while you sing Sieg Heil!

this article is thoughtful and gets to the point well. There is no need to defend ourselves from the talkbackers who claim that we are murderers and have no right to the land because they are the same ones who have been saying it for a thousand years and will continue to say it. Anti-zionism, anti-israel, and anti-semitism have always and will always be around. It is up to us as jews to remember these things and to stand by OUR country no matter what. There is no purpose in having a discussion with these people (as was evident with the storming out of the turkish prime minister) because they do not speak rationally and will use twisted or completely false historical and moral views to defend their ideas. As a proud Israeli and Jew I can say that no matter what any of these hateful people say I will not be moved to back up my country and my people at anytime. The fact that us as jews have always been persecuted only serves to bring us closer together. We are a unique and amazingly strong people and if history is any indication, we will never go away, SO GET USED TO IT.

Good to know that the Irish do not self-obsess, particularly by demanding that everyone be Irish in March, wear green and get drunk or by constantly reminding everyone of the nasty Oliver Cromwell, the resurrection of Gaelic, the books Irish monks preserved or prominent Irish-Americans. Now, reread Joyce's Ulysses and call us in the morning.

AMEN !!!!!

HIS WORDS SPOKE TO MY HEART. ALL YOU IGNORANT HATERS NEED TO BRUSH UP ON YOUR HISTORY.

Bravo...i will give it to my son....no pathos ,no ideologie...no racism ...just simple idea that yes ..we are zionist for all those very facts...and it is worth fighting for.

(1) As a % of GNP Ireland is one of the most generous aid doners in the world - far ahead of Israel. Ireland ranks 5th in the world, the US ranks 17th, and Israel doesn't rank in the top countries. See: http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/_non_flash/ (2) Israel didn't take in 50,000 Vietamese refugees - it took in 300. Ireland, in contrast, took in over twice that, and takes refugees from many parts of the world, including Palistine. You should seriously examine your respect for the truth and for facts, as you appear to be living in a delusion.

Pat it would do you a service to be informed about the Jewish narrative. Zionism comes from the word Zion. Zion is not just the headquarters of humanity in the movie " the matrix", it is the ancient, 3,000+ year old word about Jerusalem, sometimes reffered to in Psalms (written by Jewish King, King David of whose stock it is claimed that Jesus comes from, and that the Messiah will come from), written thousands of years ago. Zionism, the love for Zion aka Israel aka Jersualem is only mentioned 8 times a day at a minimum because of the 3 prayer periods for Jews, and if one has eaten bread at a meal, and if one recits the prayer before going to bed. Multiply that times the 365 days of a year times the 4,000 years of the Jewish narrative and you will become instantly more informed about Judaism and the eternal homeland of the Jews, Zion.

Thank you so much for this. We people of Israel will live on.

THERE ARE MANY JEWS IN THE ARAB COUNTRIES MORE THAN YOUR POPULATION IN ISRAEL AND NO BODY HURT THEM OR KILL THEM AND THEM SELF REFUSE YOUR WAY OF CITIZINSHIP >> PEACE

Arabs only live here because they threw the Jews out 1300 years ago. Now the Jews are back. The Arabs are lucky that this country belongs to the Jews; no one else would tolerate their violent behaviour. They've been trying to get rid of the Jews for 1300 years. Why don't they give up and try learning from the Jews to be tolerant and to live in peace with the Jews.

Thank you for saying so succinctly exactly what I and many Jews throughout the world say all the time.

Arabs should accept that just as Ire-Land is the Land of the Irish and Eng-Land the Land of the English and Fin-Land the Land of the Finns, the name Eretz Yisrael means the Land of the Israelis. The identity of the land is the same as the identity of the nation residing in it; therefore, the Nation of Israel, the Jews, cannot be an occupier of the Land of Israel. The Crusaders named the land “Kingdom of Jerusalem.” The Arab occupation did not have a name for the land; it was referred to merely as “southern Syria.” For 1,300 years, the land had no identity in the absence of the Biblical Jewish nation that identified itself with it. No one claimed ownership but our nation. This is the entire story. The Arabs demand that Ehud Olmert transfer the land free and clear of Jews. As long as there are Jews in Judea, that place cannot not be called by its false name – “Palestine.” The only thing that stops the cadre of traitors from transferring our land to the enemy, already at our gates, is their inability to uproot the settlements. Those communities halt the wheels of destruction as explained at : http://xrl.us/bi9g8

Even if the Arabs will get an additional state,a "Palestinian state", that part of the Land of Israel will still remain the Land of the Jews - robbed by the Arabs. The entirety of Jerusalem as the entirety of the Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the entirety of the Jewish people. It belongs to our generation as well as to the future generations to come, and no one has the right and/or the legitimacy to cede even one single square cm. of the city or the land. Agreements as a result of blackmail and pressure are not valid and will not change historical truth and International Legitimacy (The San Remo agreements). Mistakes done by Israeli government(s) in Anapolis or before should not be respected and should be put right immediately. Arabs have no case as to the Land of Israel, we should return to the original legitimity as described at : http://xrl.us/bjch4

"The people who were persecuted for no reason throughout history " Dont' say you don't know. The reason is in your own Bible, unfortunately you don't acknowledge. The warnings are there very clearly. Please go and read Deutronomy Chapter 28. Also remember what your forefathers asked for. Mathew 27:25 Acknowledge the Messiah Lord Jesus.

Jesus was a Jew in blood from Abraham's lineage; Too bad that you do not accept him since now you cannot prove the lineage of anyone else who claims to be the Messiah. he said it: "your house is abandoned to you"

As you say, Zionists have a lot to be proud of, and no need to apologize for it.

where is the torah? where is HaShem? it is this kind of zionism that neglects our spiritual foundation that ultimately leads us into problems. you mentioned neither of these all through your piece. there is only one reason israel exists and that the jewish people exists (or anything else) and that is Hashem yitborach. period. you don't have to be religious. but to neglect that neglects the whole thing. not one mention of HaShem, of torah and not even one pasuk. it is this neglectful mentality that makes it hard for us. are you aware that the secular zionsits intended to separate, G-d forbid, religion/torah/G-d from 'zionism' because they wanted to make israel like the nations. big mistake. i'm not saying that you don't believe in H' or torah, but you don't mention it, even once. devarim 4:39 "you shall know this day and take to your heart that HaShem is the G-d-- in heaven above and on earth below--there is none other." as the breslovers sing: yesh rak Ha Kodesh Baruch Hu there is only the Holy One Blessed be He. if you want true zionism, the tziyon that is yerushalayim, the land of israel, the children of israel... then you and all of us, am yisrael, must be meaningfully connected to the torah of Hashem. i'm not telling you how to do it. but i am telling you the essential point. torah is our life. to truly say "ani tzioni".. means a deep, abiding devotion and or intention of deovotion to am yisrael, eretz yisrael and torah yisrael. this is why the world was created, for the sake of israel. we know this. and all of us, all of am yisrael needs to act accordingly. by showing ahavat yisrael, strengthening each other in torah, mitzvos, gmilut chasadim tovim, etc. our keeping the land is contingent on this. i think, deep in your soul you understand well and agree with all that i wrote. bring it out! we have to help awaken each others souls. that's why we're here!!!!! January 30, 2009 8:39 PM

Your #'s are rather strange. You have taken them from the wrong source.

You have distorted the facts The site only included 22 rich countries. One of which is Ireland. Isreal was not included in the study because it is not a "rich" country.

Israel did only accept 300. I confused the number with another group. By the way you should learn how to read a graph Ireland ranked 5 of 22 nations studied not in the world. My how we distort. I corrected my mistake . WILL YOU?

my feelings exactly as well.

Im not a Zionist/Jew and im not a Palestinian, im just a simple guy from Europe....and if i were any of the mentioned i would feel definitely ashamed because of the situation here in this region

Land of Israel promised to the Jews in the quran (sura 5;21). Prophet Mohammad advised"seek knowledge and do not be swept into fanaticism".Arab refugees should be absorbed by Arab nations, but they were deliberately left in refugee camps to claim a land that does not belong to them.

It's very bad when you think, that you are in the same group than Einstein, Marx, Herzl and so on! Every human is equal and the religion and nation doesn't matter! it's the same extremism like the religious extremism from the muslims! how should I fight against anti-semitism when I see that a lot of jews are extremists? and karl marx was against religions, so he wasn't proud to be a jew!

but i also think about the conflict that we have with the palestinians and the arabs generally. So, Yair, if you wanted for your nicely written article to be more strong and convincing - you should have mentioned something about the conflict at least with the arabs of palestine. you should have explained why for example we, the jewish population have the right not to let the refugees back to 1948 borders... but you don't mention this even in a single word. therefore, although all your positive things about israel are convincing - your ignoring of the conflict weakens your position significantly! the article seems as arrogantly written, disconnected from reality, as if you live in a peaceful island...

Dear Yair! You are a better Zionist than many of those who claim to be "the biggest Zionists" just because they went to live to Hevron or Ariel. You are a democrat, and your nationalism is healthy. Zionism is not a fascist ideology but a democratic nationalism founded upon the ideals related to equality between religious and seculars people, between Jews and minorities, and based upon human values like the respect of others. This is written also in our Torah, and you are a good Jew (even if you may not eat kosher each day while other similarly respectful Jews do). In my eyes you are a respectful man like your father z"l was. I had a fortune to make him a question at one of his latest seminars at the Central European University in Budapest. He spoke like a proud Zionist and defended Israel's rights to defend itself. The seminar was shortly before his death. I remember, he spoke also about increasing anti-Semitism in Hungary which is alarming in our days. He had a big respect amoung Hungarian Jews and also amoung not-Jewish democrats. I live in Budapest from where your father managed to escape, but this is also the city of Herzl, the ideological father of Zionism, of Hana Senesh (Szenes), and of many other famous Jews. The center of Zionism is in Israel. I think you are a very good Israeli and a very good Zionist. I decided to make aliyha at the end of this year. In the maintime I hope to read more about your patriotic feelings on Ynet. G_d bless you! Gavriel

He says that jewish people have the right to this land because God says so... What if God does not exist?