Genocide

For example....the genocides in Rwanda...

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Especially coming from a country like ours, who seem to enjoy sticking themselves where they have no business...but things like genocide are everyone's business..

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I've noticed a lot in class how while studying the Holocaust, they always fail to show us the anti-semitism on the U.S.'s part, since not only did we not help before millions died, but we also let in 4 times more of Irish immigrants than Jewish immigrants, and we wouldn't let in Jewish children because to quote the wife of I believe it was a leader of the Sons of America "20,000 cute German children grow up into 20,000 ugly German adults".

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everyone ignored the genocides in Rwanda....it was just disgusting


sally, you said "they always fail to show us the anti-semitism on the U.S.'s part, since not only did we not help before millions died,"

what exactly did you expect the US to.....BEFORE we were even at war? It was quite awhile before we even knew what was going on in the camps (Hell, most germans didn't even know what was going on at first)....and once we declared war, we fought the germans, and eventually liberated the camps.......

I will certainly not deny anti-semitism at that time in the US.......we were were also NOT going to enter the war....so the government felt it needed to act in a certain way (again not defending them)......

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That's why the US has been so willing to bend over backwards to help Israel even when they have been in the wrong. Our guilt from WWII is so strong we are willing to just about do anything Israel wants. That attitude seems to be abating though which is much more conducive to peace in the region, though Hamas controlling the Palestinian government is extremely troubling, but that's another thread for another day.

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Son, I think your assessment is an over simplification of the issues.

Israel has done many things I disagree with. But the US support for Israel is not just out of guilt from WWII, but because Israel is our only serious ally in the Middle East. And, they are the only government even within a spitting distance of a democracy in the Middle East. Israel at times has also done our bidding. This is not a one-way street.

Many of the Arabs have more freedoms in Israel than they do in other Arab countires. And, while I do not agree with or condone many of the policies of the Israeli government under Sharon, many of these practices have been a reaction (or over-reaction) to attacks by various groups intent on destroying Israrel.

There is also an underlying religious issue as to why many on the Christian right support Israel, which has nothing to do with guilt.

EDIT - Sally - I am not sure what your are saying. Israel is in fact a country that has deep religious meaning to all three major religions. That is the problem - the land is of more value to many of these people than the actual people.

Updated On: 2/19/06 at 10:24 PM

I will agree with you there - I feel sometimes that the Israels and Palestinians are like addicts, and they will have to hit bottom to recognize that there is no winning when the only way to resolve an issue is force. There is so much hate that the baby steps to integrate and expose each side to the other have been lost.

While you can point to both sides and say they did this, or they did that, it comes down to whether or not they can live together as neigbors. The election of Hamas greatly undermines this effort and will only further perpetuate the cycle, I fear.

I find the Arabs in this whole puzzle to be the most offensive. A two-state solution was proposed in 1949, but the Arab states rejected it, attacked Israel,and had no use for the Palestinians - they just wanted the Jews out of land that had been occupied by a variety of parties since the Britsh came in. The Arabs today only use the Palestinians as tools to harm and attack the Israelis, and still, other than paying the family of suicide bombers, do not support the infrastructure.

The Palestinian leadership has not served its people well. Hamas has a history of at least serving its people, while blowing up Israelis.

And, I am an American who happens to be a Jew - just so people know. I get into some lively discussions during dinners with my family, especially when my father was alive.

But, end of threadjack.

Back to Genocide.

IWantItWhen - I'm aware of that, I'm just quite certain that that's not the reason why we're there.

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