Opinion
Learn from Israel
Talal Salman
Published: 01.02.13, 12:27
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47 Talkbacks for this article
1. Salman
Matityahu ,   Slovenia   (02.01.13)
Opinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one. The reason Israel is more successful than Lebanon (and other arab countries) is that the Jews don't act like animals to each other for the most part. Salman, you talk about racism; how exactly is your excuse for a country treating palestinians in camps? You are a laughing stock.
2. the glue that bonds
Rafael ,   USA   (02.01.13)
Israel is like many nations there are many conficting groups. Left vs right, religous vs secular, Jews from Europe ve Jews from Arab countries, Jewish Israelis vs Arab Israelis etc. It is ironic, that one of the glues that bonds them, is their common enemy. A rocket or a bus bomb cares not who it kills. Neither do the people who send them.
3. Assassination
Robert Haymond ,   Tekoa, Israel   (02.01.13)
Mr. Salman's opinion piece in the midst of an Arab country (Lebanon) is powerful and distasteful (to the ruling elite and their minions) enough to get him eliminated through violence.
4. thank you for the complinents!
(02.01.13)
The correct observation would be that Israelis live according to the principle of the non-violence to each other and to others. The violence against Israel plotted by the Arab, Iranian and many Muslim leaders has been the great crime of the past 100-150 years. The revolution of Arab Spring should be centered on ending the violence internally and externally. Then, the people could have a decent life here on earth.
5. wrong salmon
sayep   (02.01.13)
salmon, you are unaware that the land of israel is h istoric and belongs to israeli sovereignty according to league of nations san remo. palestinains- there is nohistory or antiquity of such a people as it is a roman term. arabs in israel have it better than arabs in arab countries but because of their disloyal leadership, they do not have the full trust of the jews. There are 22 arab countries. Israel has 20% arabs who have more democratic rights than you have in lebanon where nasrollah runs the country from a shiite bunker so don't give me your crap about racist israel as it is certainely not. I want to open your eyes to the arab reality. Morsi is an educated man, a ph.d professor in materials science san diego state university. And yet in egypt he comes out with barbaric lies and falsehoods that an ape would not say. ZWhy? An educated man no less. he is like you. you are shackled by your stultifying arab culture. Come visit israle and you would be reborn in truth, not the lies that you are fed hand to mouth.
6. Let me return to you in the same style as you wrote to us
Jacob E ,   Holon, Israel   (02.01.13)
Your writing style is elequent, it is very different that the majority of people who write to us. But you're an idiot. You speak in a way that tries to appear that you are not racist but an intelligent person can see you are just trying to mask it. You provide well thought out opinions regarding the situation in Egypt but of course do not bother to write about how they got to that point, not to mention that the entire souther half of your country is controled by in internationally funded private army. The arab nations cannot provide a melting pot environment because they don't have anything to mix... and still you divide yourselves up, persecute the little minorities you have and disrespect women. But you do have good hummus.... sorry couldn't think of anything good to add to that long tirade of insults. You claim victory in every batlte with the State of Israel for the most ridiculous reasons, because you cannot face the idea that you have lost to this tiny state of Jews from all over the world. So your first step is to drop your racism, realize this is Israeli land, not Palestinian land, then stop mistreating your minorities, palestinians and women in your own countries as every person has something to offer the country they choose to call home, and thendeal with the problems of your own countries before you worry about us. That will cause the middle east to bloom, and then you might last for a decade or two without a humiliating military defeat that you can lie about and call a victory.
7. Why is this garbage published in Ynet?
Esteban ,   Argentina Swiss   (02.01.13)
8. To No. 1
Bertram ,   London, UK   (02.01.13)
As long as Israel continues to proclaim its moral superiority and condemns other countries for their backwardness it will make a helpful contribution to mutual understanding and progress. Smugness is a precious attribute - take care of it.
9. racist & aggressive
tiki ,   belgium   (02.01.13)
but.... Democratic, which contradict & nullifies the former two. Only someone living on cloud nine with a soul poisoned with hate & jealousy can write this crap .....and believe it!
10. Talal Salman
Anna ,   Montreal, Canada   (02.01.13)
More and more often we read about Arabs from the neighboring countries trying to talk positive about Israel. It's not easy. And for that I salute you. On the other hand, when you talk about racist Israel, I want to ask you: What happened to the Lebanese's Jews?
11. Who will return my 2´ wasted reading this?
Arad ,   Arad   (02.01.13)
This is a worthless article, " It is also true that it is racist - in its path, principles and political structure". Sure, it "so racist" that there are arab parties in the Knesset, there are druze, arab muslim, beduins and chistians in the IDF, there are Judges from all racial and religious background and so on... I can´t belive the wasted bandwith for this op-ed
12. To #8
Matityahu ,   Slovenia   (02.01.13)
Israel, though far from being perfect, is not only morally superior to the arab counties. It's lightning years ahead in technology, civilization and society, just like many successful western countries. And there's no one that would know the meaning of smugness better than Britain, taking pride in conquering "inferrior" cultures throughout the history, ey?
13. Schisofrenic arabs
Istvan ,   BUDAPEST HUNGARY   (02.01.13)
They hate Israel and want to destroy it, but also admire and trying to copy its achievements.
14. # 8 and this coming from London
Miriam ,   Miami, USA   (02.01.13)
Moral superiority, who caused all these problems in the Middle East - it came from the Brits, who's ruled the area from the time Major Alenby marched into Israel Chopped up the middle east without any thought, it it was a piece of cheese. You Brits, are responsible for most of the middle east problems. Read History, your history in the middle east. I forgot to add, the French also messed things up over here.
15. #8, Who was it that wrote about "the white man's burden"?
Jake   (02.01.13)
Was it an Israeli writer? Or was it a British Nobel laureate and one of the most celebrated writers in British history? I seem to forget now.
16. This article is complete BS, no comment..
Beary White ,   Norway   (02.01.13)
17. Racism and Enemy
EmmaNation ,   Tel Aviv   (02.01.13)
The Arab world should learn to be a little bit less racist than the Jewish State towards their "non muslim"-"non arab" populations. Israel is your enemy because you tautologically define us as your enemy. We are not your enemy, you set us enemy state, then you convince yourself that there cannot be peace with us. This is the arab-muslim tragedy that instead of cooperating with us, your population and leadership hate us as a Pawlov reflex.
18. What arabs need is a federal system
zionist forever   (02.01.13)
Each tribe or ethnic group makes up their own local laws and then there is a federal government who they answer to. A system like that creates local stability and responsibility and the leaders of the tribes / ethnic groups work together with federal issues. Some issues they all answer to but most the time the politics is local which mean more stability and it limits the power groups like Hezbollah control because they are jut 1 branch of a federal system. It's probably the solution for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and possibly Afghanistan. Federalism isn't the ideal solution for all countries but in at least some of the arab states it is. It would probably solve the Syrian civil war with Assad and the Alawites in one area, Shia, Sunni and Christians.
19. #8 Bertram of UK. No one does SMUG better than YOU
NudNik69   (02.01.13)
What a pious prig. There's nothing to exceed the hypocrisy of the British. You are the VERY last to offer advice. Get off.
20. Salman
Ben ,   USA   (02.01.13)
While this article has some faults ie: Israel is racist--it also is a glimmer of hope with an attitude of respect for Israel. If all of the arab countries started with this thinking the end of wars in the middle east would be in view !!!
21. 8
(02.01.13)
the severe backwardness and illiteracy, violence, mysogeny, barbarism and unscientific abysmal state is ALL TRUE. the person from slovenya in number one dod not tell us a new thing. the entire world knows the abysmal situation arabs are in. number one's voice is not an opinion and neither a lie or a misconception. it is true. but the truth hurts and this is why you are reacting to it. arabs in general are ONLY LOYAL to their sect, their tribe, their personal interests, their family AND NOT TO THEIR COUNTRY. look at the suni shia strife all over the world. this is civil in nature. look at ,muslims killing muslims all over the world. this is religious and tribal in nature. AND THIS IS WHY ARABS CAN'T BE LOYAL TO ONE NATION, THEIR NATION. THIS IS WHAT THIS ARAB JOURNALIST IS TALKING ABOUT. racism exists everywhere around the world and, YES, IN AMERICA TOO! EACOSM AGAINST BLACKS, RACISM AGAINST THE HISPANIC POPULATION AND RACISM AGAINST THE JEWS. however, once in the usa, all of the above pledge alligience to the usa, not to their tribe, their family or their religious sect. the same happens in israel. yes, jews collected from all over the world. jews of different religious sects and different ways of life, BUT, THEY ARE ALL ONE, A JEWISH NATION. AND THIS IS WHY ISRAEL IS A SUCCESSFUL DEMOCRACY. they work for not only themselves but for the good of their country. hence lies the reason for their success. arab nations are not only killing each other and its citizens, but, they are abysmal in their human rights towards minorities, towards women that can be a huge force in the working environment, their jews and christians. IT IS A DIVIDED ARAB SOCIETY ALONG RELIGIOUS, SECTARIAN AND TRIBAL CONCEPTS. the big dream of nasser and pan arabists was to unite the arabs all over the world into one UMMA! one nation with one identity. this didn't succeed because of sects, tribes, etc... with different interests. to add to that, arab education is abysmal. it is mostly propaganda and nothing else. this is why arabs know nothing of the world outside their countries except for the elites and leaders who know only too well how abysmal their countries are compared to non islamic countries. there has been not a single scientific discovery, not a single medical discovery, pharmaceutical discovery and anything that can better the world discovered or produced in arab lands. the reason for the above is that they are living in the past, dreaming that saladin will conquer the world again and make it muslim and when they kill all of us infidels, they will turn on each other because islam and arabs live in perpetual war. racism, my ass. arabs practiced racism against the jews for millenia. however, despite that, jews thrived anywhere they settled and especially in israel. we jews and the world are not smug as you claim. we are honest. hence, the above explanation.
22. mr. arab journalist.
(02.01.13)
i have a question for you, as an israeli: you arabs foisted most wars on us and we responded. this is not called aggression. it is called self preservation and winning against YOU, THE AGRESSORS. another question is, please try to explain this: with all the terror and wars you arabs and muslims brought against the jews, HOW COME ISRAEL WAS STILL ABLE, UNDER THE ABOVE CONDITIONS, TO PROSPER, BECOME THE 17TH BEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD, ACCEPTED INTO THE OECD (NOT A SINGLE ARAB NATION BELONGS TO THAT BODY), HAVE A FIRST WORLD CLASS ECONOMY, HIGH TECH, MEDICINE, UNIVERSITIES, EDUCATION, PHARMACEUTICAL DISCOVERIES AND EVERYTHING FANTASTIC TECH WISE UNDER THE SUN? do you think israeli, so called racism against arabs stopped the arabs from advancing as israel did? and if you talk jewish racism, look in the mirror!!!!!!!!!!!! have you heard morsi call jews pigs and apes lately? have you see arab tv programs where the blood libel is still strong against the jews and the most vile things are said about jews? have you looked at your newspapers cartoon depicting jews? have you read op eds in your newspapers about jews? have you seen that the book mein kamf and the protocols of the elders of zion (an antisemitic forgery) are still the best sellers on the aran street? have you read your books by arab writes about jews and judaism? you do the above and come back to tell me who is the racist here. racism and antisemitism never stopped the jews from advancing and moving on. not even the holocaust! where are your arab advancements???? stop using racism as a reason. agree that you arabs are beyond the pale and look deep inside and in your mirror and solve your problems. israel is THE LEAST OF YOUR PROBLEMS.
23. Understanding the price of a compliment
Bill ,   New York, USA   (02.01.13)
We get it Salman, for you not to be killed, you have to pepper some insults in with your praise. So the price of praising democracy is attributing "racism" to Israel. Undoubtedly, if you then wanted to praise Israel's leadership in technology, you have to then make an accusation of war crimes and so forth. But if you wanted to praise Israel's restaurants, what is the appropriate insult to make? We want to know.
24. Racist?
Ed ,   Philadelphia, USA   (02.01.13)
The author keeps referring to Israel as being 'racist' towards Palestinians. This is news to me. Palestinians are now a RACE! Why haven't I heard this before?
25. Jacob E., Holon
Robert Haymond ,   Tekoa, Israel   (02.01.13)
You forgot to mention that Lebanon has not only excellent humus but beautiful women, the jewels of the East, as well.
26. To No. 12 & No. 14
Bertram ,   London, UK   (02.01.13)
Just so. Britain, France, the United States and many other imperialist and neo-imperialist nations have a history of suppressing other peoples and parading their so-called moral superiority. You want Israel to join this club?
27. Palestinian land!!
Geoff ,   London (UK)   (02.01.13)
The Jews did not re-establish their state on Palestinian land, but on land from which they had been exiled by the Romans. Prior to the Roman invasion, the Jews had their own sovereign state. Like all exiled peoples, they have a right of return.
28. Dear Author, there is no such thing as "Palestinian land"
Jake ,   USA   (02.01.13)
Palestine is the name of region, not a nation. The "nation of Palestine" was invented for the sole purpose of opposing legitimate Jewish nationalism. Arabs are the pawns of the worlds most evil forces who are seething with hatred toward the mighty Jewish nation. "Palestine" is the greatest hoax perpetrated on humanity.
29. Is it racist that America discriminates against communists?
Jake ,   USA   (02.01.13)
Of course not. The American ethos is antithetical to communism, therefore America may tolerate a citizen that espouses communist views, but America doesn't accept immigrants who are avowed communists or allow communist policy makers to infiltrate the government. Every nation has an ethos, and Israel is no different. A nation state for the Jewish people, by the Jewish people. Israel tolerates those that have no connection to Israel's mission, but they have absolutely no obligation to change the face of Israel to accommodate the treacherous desires of a hostile sector .
30. It´s all true! Israel's pluralism and democracy is...
Gunnar ,   Gothenburg, Sweden   (02.01.13)
...a shining light and a role model in the Middle East. That's why so many, including Israel's friends, are profoundly disappointed with the country's actions over the last couple of years.
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