That would be like justifying Israeli mistreatment of Arabs in Israel because of the hostile policies of the other Arab countries. Or perhaps you would justify Israeli attitudes towards Arabs on those grounds. Somehow I doubt it. More phony English moral posturing and hypocrisy.

Syrian Jews under Assad voiced similar feelings to the statements made by "Efrayim" in Lebanon, but when Assad finally "let my people go" (for lack of a better phrase), very, very few actually decided to stay in Syria. "Efrayim"'s statements were given under duress- please take them with a grain of salt...

Judaism is a religion, yes. The Jews are a people/ ethnicity/ nationality, not simply followers of a religion, as I am sure you are well aware. And yes, Israel is the Jewish homeland. The number of Jews remaining in Lebanon is less than 50, mostly elderly. The comments that were made by some individuals regarding Israel were made out of fear of reprisals and, if you had even bothered to read the article, on condition of anonymity. The fact that 1.3 million Arab citizens live in peace and security in Israel, while less than 50 Jews live in Lebanon without a rabbi or synagogue and in constant fear of the suspicions of their neighbors, is a major major indictment of the Arab world, not of Israel.

...where the majority of these 22,000 lebanese jews left to if not to Israel? Obviously YNET would not include such details, but maybe someone else here knows? I had no idea there were that many Lebanese Jews at any time, let alone so recently.

If you had a gun to your head i think you would say worse thing about Israel. They are living in a war zone that hates Israel they said what they had to. Why are people so fast to jump and attack?

Quote :"The truth belies .. this AFP article ". Reading your TB, I come to the conclusion that the journalists and editors of AFP are really DISHONEST people. TO the journalists and editors of AFP : how come you have DEGRADED yourselves to such a LOW level ?!? I would like to say to the journalists and editors of AFP -- your DUTY is to report CORRECT information ; and NOT to indulge in creating History, in making-up History !!! TO the journalists and editors of AFP : you SHOULD know that History can NOT be changed -- NO matter how much you try to DISTORT it !!! SO, AFP, stop FOOLING yourself and your readers !!!

You say :".. to have a better life ..". Finally, someone speaking COMMON SENSE. Just like they have in America this famous phrase :'It is the economy, stupid !' (Kim, 'stupid' doesn't refer to you.)

lets get to the facts. Zionism has been the cause in uprooting flourished jewish communities throughout the Arab world. It has eleminated jewish presence in many places in the world. Jewish musicians were on top it all in counties like Iraq, Kwait, Morrocco. It is all gone now. too bad. My gandmother used to speak yaddish with her Jewish neighbours at Albocharia neighbourhood. Now Jews and Arabs are enemies. why? it is zionim.

Smells like these people need to be rescued from Lebanon. Of course they're not going to be free to say what how they really feel about Israel. They likely face great risk at even speaking with the reporter in the first place.

Based on your comment, I presume that "Albocharia neighborhood" is in one of the Arab countries, since you didn't indicate which one. If that's the case, I doubt very much your grandmother spoke Yiddish to her Jewish neighbors because Jews who lived in Arab countries don't speak Yiddish. In fact, it's unlikely that many of them would have understood a word of it.

Your grandmother used to speak Yiddish with Arab Jews? They don't speak Yiddish. As far as good relations between Arabs and Jews before Zionism, only Arabs have that generally opinion .

... instead of widly spraying this talkback section with their medieval racism and despotism. We're in the 21st century guys... wake up.

Either you don't understand English or you cannot read. You have cmopletely misunderstood my comments. Try re-reading it, luvvy.

Many of the remaining Jews in Lebanon are poor and must stay. In order to survive in a country run by fanatic Hezbollah and Iran, they have to insult Israel. Fight for survival.

Judaism is a religio nation meaning one can only be fully Jewish and keep all of the commandments only in Israel. A catholic can be a perfectly good catholic outside of rome. A muslim can be a perfectly good muslim outside of mecca. A Jew can not be a perfectly good Jew outside of Israel.

Quote :".. in Arab countries (they) don't speak Yiddish ". Arab Muslims are lying EVEN about language -- that means they must be people with almost NO self-esteem. IF one has to lie EVEN about language -- how LOW-minded one MUST be. I think, Arab Muslims are a SHAMELESS lot. SO, Arab Muslims, wake up ; do something about your low-class behaviour. BTW you won't achieve that by firing rockets into Israel, or by other terrorist attacks on Israelis !!

You say :"A Jew can't be a perfectly good Jew outside of Israel ". Yehuda, you are wrong. A Jew can be a perfectly good Jew ANYWHERE on planet Earth. WHY ? Because YAHWEH, the Supreme Lord, is present ANYWHERE on planet Earth. You say :"A Muslim can be a perfectly good Muslim outside of Mecca ". Outside of Mecca -- you mean like flying airplanes into high-rise buildings in New York. Those are NOT good Muslims -- they ARE rascal Muslims.

"Israel means nothing to us": Without a connection to Israel, these Lebanese Jews don't understand that they are no more Jewish than Osama bin Laden. One must wonder if privately, they think otherwise. It can't be too safe to voice your true opinions with Hezbollah breathing down your neck!

One of the comments above said Israeli soldiers abused Lebanese Jews in 1982. Gee, how can anyone believe that, what with all the verbal scorn and abuse being heaped on them by Israelis here? Israel probably didn't make a lot of friends in Lebanon by bombing it in 2006 anyway. Some of those bombs had to have fallen pretty close to Wadi Abu Jamil.

Yehuda is right, there are many, many commandments (Misvot) that a Jew can only perform within the defined boundaries of Eres Israel (The Land of Israel). Seeing that we Jews are obligated by haShem to fulfill all Misvot to the best of our ability, our presence in the land is necessary to fulfill our duty to the Creator. From what I understand, the only geography-bound obligation required of Muslims is al-Hajj, which they are only required to perform once in their lifetime. To put things in perspective, imagine all male Muslims being obligated to perform Hajj three times per year, but there being a church built over the Ka'aba and the Christians in control of the site of the Ka'aba refusing to allow Muslims to access the site of the Ka'aba. Wouldn't this be absolutely infuriating? This is the situation of Judaism today.

"One of the comments above said Israeli soldiers abused Lebanese Jews in 1982" Yes, indeed. That comment was made by one "Ahmed-Rico", a Lebanese Shi'ite, whose every statement was incorrect. The exodus of Jews from Lebanon began during the 1958 Civil War, not 1982. When the PLO occupied Beirut, they extorted from the Jewish community and occupied their synagogue. During the 1980's, 11 prominent Lebanese Jews were kidnapped by Shi'ite groups affiliated with Hizbullah and murdered in cold blood. Today, there are a handful of Jews in Lebanon,mostly elderly and poor, with no rabbi and no synagogue, and these suposed statements were made under duress and on condition off anonymity. What Ahmed-Rico doesn't tell you is the number of Lebanese Jews who immigrated to Israel and elsewhere, and that the Jewish community that used to live in Lebanon may not have been quick to immigrate to Israel despite incentives, but nevertheless held Israel in high regard.

You can deduce the truth of what one person claims happened in 1982 by what people outside Israel have written on a non-related subject in 2008? Impressive. Can you make a squared circle too?

Let them stay there and let the devil take them.

I am in Brooklyn, NY, home to thousands of Lebanese Jews. These Lebanese people are thriving, with beautiful synagogues, many kosher stores and butchers, numerous schools teaching children the Torah in the proper manner, and endless classes for men, even taught in Arabic-every day. The Lebanese Jews that arrived in America several decades ago came with nothing but survived and thrived. They were part of the up to one million that had been displaced from Arab countries since 1948 who had everything taken from them. Shelomo Alfassa US Director Justice for Jews from Arab Countries www.justiceforjews.com

No, I'm deducing that it's clownish to heap abuse on Lebanese Jews and then say Ahmed made that whole thing up.

a) lets define the term "Zionist" as a person who wishes to live in the "land of his Hebrew forefathers as a non-dhimmi citizen. b) the northern boundary of the Land promised to Abraham lies well north of Lebanon, and west to the Euphrates, c) therfore a Jew wishing to live in Beirut, or Allepo and wishes to live as a normal citizen, is a Zionist

You say :".., our presence in Eretz Israel is necessary to fulfill our duty to the Creator ". Yes. One should not stop performing ritualistic duties. We should just wait and see how YAHWEH, the Supreme Lord, will arrange for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. AT the present moment the ONLY thing we can do -- is just pray to YAHWEH, the Supreme Lord. ONE thing we should NOT forget and that is that YAHWEH is VERY, VERY powerful ; He is the MOST powerful ; He is MORE powerful then any one of us combined. We should have NO DOUBT about that -- not even a pinch.

May haShem bless you for your faith. As for the Beit haMiqdash (may it be speedily rebuilt), it is partially G-d's problem and partially ours. Faith is key, but ultimately the will of G-d will prevail regardless of our faith (or lack thereof).

u really need to wake up very early to udnerstand what this "samuel" is saying. BTW just for your ignorence southern Lebanon is part of the Biblical Israel. Zevulun is burried there, i forgot: u r an ashkenazi u probably never heard of zevulun...