coming from a country that is using every mean to export the american way of life and fought wars like vietnam ,a country that helped the most terrible dictators in south america(pinochet,peron....) ,a country that can destabalize a region because the regimes in place is not pro american ! a country that kill every day in irak and afganistan hundreds of innocent civilians ! i think you should look to invistigate in your own country ! having say that i consider that USA is our best ally but between friend we can disagree that's what your president said about us no ?

that the Arabs have tried to wipe Israel of the face of the map as it still is stated in the Palestinian charter. He/she also forgot that the Pals have been offered a state 8 times the most recent by Olmert . They always miss the opportunity for statehood and peace.

Thanks for the reply Mohammad. True individuals are complicated creatures however I would argue that when individuals create or join a collective moment with a strong ideology (eg; a cult, popular social party) their internal moral compass is realigned to reflect the ideologies of that collective group. For example in Nazi Germany thousands upon thousands of Germans were swept up in the Nazi ideology. Or the members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult who took part in the Sarin gas attack. In both cases without a collective social ideology these individuals would not have committed (on an individual level) such horrific acts. ‘Mob mentality’ would be another way to describe it. The same is true of Zionism (which can best be described as a racist ideology), without this ideological foundation Jews would not have come to Palestine en masse with the intent of ‘reclaiming a land without people for a people without land’. To sum up; I would argue that Zionism as an ideology was born out of the collective oppression of the Jewish people and once swept up with this ideology Jewish people as a collective were capable of committing inhumane acts (eg; the removal of Palestinian people from their land). Obviously I am being very simplistic here as there are many other factors to consider but I think I’ve touched on the main point. Cheers for the recommendation of the two BBC documentaries BTW. I would like to think so myself but alas this has not proven to be the case, as a whole the Israeli psyche doesn’t seem willing to apply this to non-Jews. I agree however I don’t think the rabid, racist, rightwing elements with Israel should be enabled to continue their inhumane policies.

Hope we see you more often on Ynet. Cheers

Just ignore Matty Groves. It is an unrepentant apologist for terrorists and it refuses to acknowledge history. Moreover, it rarely bothers to documents its rambling jeremiads. It fancies itself an expert on Israeli politics and society despite having demonstrated that it has no knowledge of either. Just ignore it.

nor are they to the point! more like prejudicepoint or onesidedpoint is where you are from.

Your argument and the topic itself is so interesting so i spent some time thinking about it. Consequently, there is something that i kindly request you to explain: "To sum up; I would argue that Zionism as an ideology was born out of the collective oppression of the Jewish people and once swept up with this ideology Jewish people as a collective were capable of committing inhumane acts" According to your argument )as i understand it) Zionism is a natural and an expected outcome of what you called "collective opperssion" which makes it "deterministic". At the same time you hold the Zionists resposible of committing inhumane acts. Can you see the paradox? moral responsiblity requires complete free well. However, if Zionism was born out of the collective opperssion, then the Zionists are not resposible for their crimes as they had no choice but to be Zionists (because of the collective opperssion)!

Two racists that ignore the facts. Big deal. As for the facts about the various wars inflicted upon us. I state that each and every one was started by the Arabs. We responded to thousands of attacks. The Arab countries all have state their manifesto of genocides and ethnic cleansing. Yet we are the ones accused of it. Every single Arab regime practise extreme forms of apartheid that puts anything that South Africa ever did to shame. Those are indisputable facts.

Do you even realize how silly you sound? "Now we have Matty and Mohammad supporting each other" is this the best your mind can come up with? is this how you see reality, us against them?!!!! "Those are indisputable facts" This is exactly how ignorants and bigots think. However, for well educated, liberals and smart people "there are no facts, only interpretations" Trust me, i really feel sorry for you and many others on this website, i am not being sarcastic by the way. I could have easily ignored you, but i really hope you get better.

as far as i know fairport is a town of the state of new york !

Glad to expand further if I can and thank you as that is a very good question as it does pose a paradox. I probably won't use the terms 'natural' and 'expected' in the strict sense of the words. Determinism in my opinion does not automatically lead to Fatalism/Predestiny. I believe in Free Will and understand that this 'Free Will' is also very much governed by such elements as religious belief, social and economic factors, etc. Or to put it another way: an individuals free will is curtailed and influenced by a persons upbringing and what that person has been exposed to ie: a given ideology/culture/etc. Zionism could well have sought to achieve its goal in a slow and protracted manner eg: long negotiations with Arab/Muslim countries and local leaders, the purchase of land over many, many decades. However WWII and the Holocaust put speed to the necessity of a Jewish homeland thus implying some form of Fatalism. I think this may be crux of the matter. Fatalism/Determinism/etc (regardless it any of these ism's have any merit) do not absolve any actual moral wrongdoing. This is like saying that a murderer, because his free will was influenced by a violent upbringing, was predestined to kill. This may be the case but this does not pardon the crime. I would say that individual (or group) moral responsibility (based on semi-free will) is accountable to collective society/humanity. Without such a safeguard/peer-checking/rule of law etc mankind would run amok/anarchy. To sum up: Actions based on causality, perceived after the fact, does not, in my mind, pre-exclude moral onus.

Matty, If anti-semitic, hateful people would have left us alone, more Jewish people would have survived and not become victims of genocide. If you could rewrite history, many things might be different. The Stern Gang was outlawed over 60 years ago by the government of Israel. Do you have any more current examples to cut and paste? What have the Palestinians accomplished by using violence? Palestinians weren't forced from their homes. Another Matty myth. Calling suicide bombers savages is an apt description having nothing to do with race. The Jews living in the West Bank are not illegal settlers. Precisely on what date were these "thousands of Palestinian olive trees" destroyed? Which "innocent Palestinian civilians" are you referring to? The ones Hamas hid behind during the War in Gaza? The ones planting bombs along the security fence? Matty, you've swollowed the 'darker side' of your own propaganda.

Thanks for your explanation. Please keep on sharing your pearls of wisdom with us.

Yep. Nothing like casting "pearls" (LOL!) before swine .....

The Obama Administration seems to be playing a double game. Apparently it cooperated with Israel in the Intelligence work on identifying the weapons- ship. But there was so far as I know no American public announcement condemning Iran. The United States also has said little publicly to encourage opponents of the regime in Tehran. It is acting for the moment as if it will do everything it possibly can to avoid direct confrontation with Iran. Does this mean it is doing this so as to satisfy future critics should it have to act? Perhaps. But perhaps too it really is an Administration of appeasement of enemies, and undermining of friends.