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	<title>Comments on: The Israel Situation Explained</title>
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	<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/</link>
	<description>by Hemant Mehta</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:01:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>By: Jacob</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-652777</link>
		<dc:creator>Jacob</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:39:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-652777</guid>
		<description>Just so, Atheist4Israel. Folks also ignore the fact that the Arab nations were unwilling to let Palestinian Jews have self-rule in the territory designated for them in UN 181. And that since 1948, Israel has absorbed most of native middle-eastern Jewry; about half of Jews in Israel are from the former Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Yemen, etc -- not of European descent. Often they were forced out of their home countries and left with nothing (lots of these Jews also came to the US, though). Israel is more diverse religiously than nearly all of the nations that surround it -- nearly 20% minority religions (mostly Muslims). Lebanon is the big exception, but it doesn&#039;t look good for Christians there now, either.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just so, Atheist4Israel. Folks also ignore the fact that the Arab nations were unwilling to let Palestinian Jews have self-rule in the territory designated for them in UN 181. And that since 1948, Israel has absorbed most of native middle-eastern Jewry; about half of Jews in Israel are from the former Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Yemen, etc &#8212; not of European descent. Often they were forced out of their home countries and left with nothing (lots of these Jews also came to the US, though). Israel is more diverse religiously than nearly all of the nations that surround it &#8212; nearly 20% minority religions (mostly Muslims). Lebanon is the big exception, but it doesn&#8217;t look good for Christians there now, either.</p>
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		<title>By: Athesit4Israel</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-577593</link>
		<dc:creator>Athesit4Israel</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:26:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-577593</guid>
		<description>Key things people keep missing is that Israel was a Jewish land conquered by various other religions. Islam only was interested in Jerusalem because in Muhammads day he knew it was an important city to Jews and pretended Allah magically flew him to Jerusalem one night so he could meet with Jesus, Moses and other prophets. This was obviously due to seeing Jews and Christians as competition to his new cult and lay claim for Islams superiority.

If we want to look at religions role how can you ignore the Christian and Islamic conquests of Israel?

When people want to discuss Jewish demographics of Israel pre-1948 they convientley omit that Jews were massacred by Romans, Christians and Muslims at different points in Israel. You might as well look at the current population and land ownership of Native Americans and use to deny their ties to America.

Out of the Abrahamic religions Judaism while as untrue as other religions. Is the only one that DIDN&#039;T engage in colonialism, mass forced conversion, claims of innate personal superiority, oppression of other religions or designs on world-wide conquest. Funny how it is the one consistently accused of these types of things. If we examine I think the claims are mostly from religions that view Jews as competition in a giant religious gang-war for money, territory and numbers. One that Jews don&#039;t even seem to want to be a part of. In all this I think Jews just want to be left alone by the nutcases all around them.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Key things people keep missing is that Israel was a Jewish land conquered by various other religions. Islam only was interested in Jerusalem because in Muhammads day he knew it was an important city to Jews and pretended Allah magically flew him to Jerusalem one night so he could meet with Jesus, Moses and other prophets. This was obviously due to seeing Jews and Christians as competition to his new cult and lay claim for Islams superiority.</p>
<p>If we want to look at religions role how can you ignore the Christian and Islamic conquests of Israel?</p>
<p>When people want to discuss Jewish demographics of Israel pre-1948 they convientley omit that Jews were massacred by Romans, Christians and Muslims at different points in Israel. You might as well look at the current population and land ownership of Native Americans and use to deny their ties to America.</p>
<p>Out of the Abrahamic religions Judaism while as untrue as other religions. Is the only one that DIDN&#8217;T engage in colonialism, mass forced conversion, claims of innate personal superiority, oppression of other religions or designs on world-wide conquest. Funny how it is the one consistently accused of these types of things. If we examine I think the claims are mostly from religions that view Jews as competition in a giant religious gang-war for money, territory and numbers. One that Jews don&#8217;t even seem to want to be a part of. In all this I think Jews just want to be left alone by the nutcases all around them.</p>
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		<title>By: todd m</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-258279</link>
		<dc:creator>todd m</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:49:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-258279</guid>
		<description>I agree the land isn&#039;t the jewish. But understand this..... either you live in peace or fight it out. I quote the godfather &quot;If history has taught us anything, its that you can kill anyone&quot;. these two have fought for so long there&#039;s no such thing as a truce, no such thing as a permanent cease-fire, no such thing as peace, no such thing as harmony. What my point is, is that you can not have a cease fire and say &quot;oh, lets talk it out&quot; the same thing will keep happening. If you fire a rocket in my community on the most religious holiday I cherish around my children, I&#039;m going to kill you. If you take my land, I&#039;m going to kill you. Don&#039;t you see....... nobody is right here. If you say someone is right you are ignorant. This never stops, and it&#039;s not over until everyone is dead. Thats the cold hard facts whether you&#039;re a liberal, a conservative, a Jew, or a Muslim.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I agree the land isn&#8217;t the jewish. But understand this&#8230;.. either you live in peace or fight it out. I quote the godfather &#8220;If history has taught us anything, its that you can kill anyone&#8221;. these two have fought for so long there&#8217;s no such thing as a truce, no such thing as a permanent cease-fire, no such thing as peace, no such thing as harmony. What my point is, is that you can not have a cease fire and say &#8220;oh, lets talk it out&#8221; the same thing will keep happening. If you fire a rocket in my community on the most religious holiday I cherish around my children, I&#8217;m going to kill you. If you take my land, I&#8217;m going to kill you. Don&#8217;t you see&#8230;&#8230;. nobody is right here. If you say someone is right you are ignorant. This never stops, and it&#8217;s not over until everyone is dead. Thats the cold hard facts whether you&#8217;re a liberal, a conservative, a Jew, or a Muslim.</p>
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		<title>By: TrickyBuddha Studios &#124; Israel</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-257280</link>
		<dc:creator>TrickyBuddha Studios &#124; Israel</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:01:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-257280</guid>
		<description>[...] a site I frequent posted a link to a Rachel Maddow piece on Israel - suggesting it as perfect starter material for [...]</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>[...] a site I frequent posted a link to a Rachel Maddow piece on Israel &#8211; suggesting it as perfect starter material for [...]</p>
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		<title>By: MAZZ</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256837</link>
		<dc:creator>MAZZ</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:53:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256837</guid>
		<description>Excellent analogy Tao. I&#039;ve just recently decided to look further into the conflict between Israel and their neighbors (including the history of Israel). To the people who, like me, have mostly just gone on whats been said on the TV I&#039;d suggest starting at the &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Israel &lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia page and going from there. Very informative.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Excellent analogy Tao. I&#8217;ve just recently decided to look further into the conflict between Israel and their neighbors (including the history of Israel). To the people who, like me, have mostly just gone on whats been said on the TV I&#8217;d suggest starting at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel" rel="nofollow">Israel </a> Wikipedia page and going from there. Very informative.</p>
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		<title>By: Tao Jones</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256708</link>
		<dc:creator>Tao Jones</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:58:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256708</guid>
		<description>Alan said:
&lt;blockquote&gt;Imagine, if you will, a terrorist group in a zone within Mexico. The citizen of that area have elected a government bent on destroying the United States.&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Really bad analogy.  Here, I&#039;ll fix it for you.

After centuries of persecution, atheists were recently the target of attempted genocide in some militant country in the Middle East.  A group of militant atheists decide they want to form their own country so they could have their own homeland where they can escape persecution.  They unilaterally declare independence and claim the land from Boston, MA to New York.  The next day, Americans invade to protect their interest.  The atheists receive aid from Russia and China including vast sums of money and some very high tech equipment.  The atheists fend off the American &quot;invaders&quot; and push deeper west and south to create a buffer zone for protection should the Americans decide to attack again.  Atheists went as far as Maryland and even declared Washington, DC the capital city of Atheistland even though the UN explicitly forbade them from doing so numerous times.  Atheists claim, of course, that Jefferson was an atheist so they have a rightful and historic claim to the city as their capital.  For the next 50 years, atheists and Americans have fought a few more wars with the atheists prevailing each time due to massive support from Russia and China.  Naturally, Americans are furious over the Russian and Chinese support and they are eventually also seen as the enemy as well.  Each war, the Atheistlanders took more and more land and despite the UN&#039;s objections, have continued to build illegal settlements in occupied territories.

The atheists systematically removed Americans and other non-atheists from their houses and deported them into bordering states or sending them to live in ghettos.  In the many negotiations that have taken place, the Atheistland government has always objected to the idea of reparations for those removed from their homes or their right to return.  

In addition to the handful of declared wars, a number of militias have formed with the goal of restoring the land to Americans.  Some of these militias are more militant than others.  Some take up arms against their occupiers.  They feel they are justified because they are merely defending their land.  Compared to the Atheistland military, these militias are poorly equipped and funded so they resort to tactics of asynchronous warfare.  Atheistlanders (and the Russians and Chinese) call these militias terrorist while Americans call them patriots.  

Over in Russia and China, the governments are very supportive of the Atheistland government.  However the people are increasingly becoming disillusioned as the Internet is being used to get alternative viewpoints out of America and Atheistland.  Anyone who speaks out against the actions of the government of Atheistland are typically labelled Anti-atheists which is about the worst thing you can call someone.  People can&#039;t seem to see the difference between being anti atheism and being against the actions of the state of Atheistland.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Alan said:</p>
<blockquote><p>Imagine, if you will, a terrorist group in a zone within Mexico. The citizen of that area have elected a government bent on destroying the United States.</p></blockquote>
<p>Really bad analogy.  Here, I&#8217;ll fix it for you.</p>
<p>After centuries of persecution, atheists were recently the target of attempted genocide in some militant country in the Middle East.  A group of militant atheists decide they want to form their own country so they could have their own homeland where they can escape persecution.  They unilaterally declare independence and claim the land from Boston, MA to New York.  The next day, Americans invade to protect their interest.  The atheists receive aid from Russia and China including vast sums of money and some very high tech equipment.  The atheists fend off the American &#8220;invaders&#8221; and push deeper west and south to create a buffer zone for protection should the Americans decide to attack again.  Atheists went as far as Maryland and even declared Washington, DC the capital city of Atheistland even though the UN explicitly forbade them from doing so numerous times.  Atheists claim, of course, that Jefferson was an atheist so they have a rightful and historic claim to the city as their capital.  For the next 50 years, atheists and Americans have fought a few more wars with the atheists prevailing each time due to massive support from Russia and China.  Naturally, Americans are furious over the Russian and Chinese support and they are eventually also seen as the enemy as well.  Each war, the Atheistlanders took more and more land and despite the UN&#8217;s objections, have continued to build illegal settlements in occupied territories.</p>
<p>The atheists systematically removed Americans and other non-atheists from their houses and deported them into bordering states or sending them to live in ghettos.  In the many negotiations that have taken place, the Atheistland government has always objected to the idea of reparations for those removed from their homes or their right to return.  </p>
<p>In addition to the handful of declared wars, a number of militias have formed with the goal of restoring the land to Americans.  Some of these militias are more militant than others.  Some take up arms against their occupiers.  They feel they are justified because they are merely defending their land.  Compared to the Atheistland military, these militias are poorly equipped and funded so they resort to tactics of asynchronous warfare.  Atheistlanders (and the Russians and Chinese) call these militias terrorist while Americans call them patriots.  </p>
<p>Over in Russia and China, the governments are very supportive of the Atheistland government.  However the people are increasingly becoming disillusioned as the Internet is being used to get alternative viewpoints out of America and Atheistland.  Anyone who speaks out against the actions of the government of Atheistland are typically labelled Anti-atheists which is about the worst thing you can call someone.  People can&#8217;t seem to see the difference between being anti atheism and being against the actions of the state of Atheistland.</p>
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		<title>By: aventine09</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256682</link>
		<dc:creator>aventine09</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:03:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256682</guid>
		<description>I should be suggested that the person who posted the video go and read a few books on the issue rather than relying on the US media.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I should be suggested that the person who posted the video go and read a few books on the issue rather than relying on the US media.</p>
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		<title>By: Aj</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256597</link>
		<dc:creator>Aj</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:49:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256597</guid>
		<description>If another family moved into your family&#039;s house, I wonder what you would do. Would you fight them? After they had won and pushed your family into the attic and basement, I wonder whether you&#039;d be as happy with that as with the land rights of others.

Are all the Palestinians getting killed guilty of firing rockets, supporting Hamas? I don&#039;t think so, but these people are treated like Jews would be by Israel. They&#039;re treating as sub-human, they&#039;re not factored into the equation.

No other state is given the &quot;right to exist&quot;, that right is not a normal right. Israel is &lt;strong&gt;expanding&lt;/strong&gt; its settlements in the West Bank to this day. Israel has never been within the borders of the 1947 UN resolution, and it&#039;s never going to be.

writerdd,

&lt;blockquote&gt;If there was no such thing as religion, would this fighting still exist?&lt;/blockquote&gt;

Would Israel have been created in Palestine?
Would there be claims to land, settlements in Gaza (&lt;em&gt;forcibly&lt;/em&gt; removed) and the West Bank?
Would there be support for Hamas from Iran and Hezbollah?
Would Rabin have been killed?

How much does religion influence recruitment to terrorist groups?
Is religious text affectively used to justify violence?
Do people claim rights to the land from God?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If another family moved into your family&#8217;s house, I wonder what you would do. Would you fight them? After they had won and pushed your family into the attic and basement, I wonder whether you&#8217;d be as happy with that as with the land rights of others.</p>
<p>Are all the Palestinians getting killed guilty of firing rockets, supporting Hamas? I don&#8217;t think so, but these people are treated like Jews would be by Israel. They&#8217;re treating as sub-human, they&#8217;re not factored into the equation.</p>
<p>No other state is given the &#8220;right to exist&#8221;, that right is not a normal right. Israel is <strong>expanding</strong> its settlements in the West Bank to this day. Israel has never been within the borders of the 1947 UN resolution, and it&#8217;s never going to be.</p>
<p>writerdd,</p>
<blockquote><p>If there was no such thing as religion, would this fighting still exist?</p></blockquote>
<p>Would Israel have been created in Palestine?<br />
Would there be claims to land, settlements in Gaza (<em>forcibly</em> removed) and the West Bank?<br />
Would there be support for Hamas from Iran and Hezbollah?<br />
Would Rabin have been killed?</p>
<p>How much does religion influence recruitment to terrorist groups?<br />
Is religious text affectively used to justify violence?<br />
Do people claim rights to the land from God?</p>
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		<title>By: GullWatcher</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256595</link>
		<dc:creator>GullWatcher</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:40:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256595</guid>
		<description>@ Atheist Jew &lt;blockquote&gt;Israel isn’t on anyone’s land. Demographics change everywhere for numerous reasons&lt;/blockquote&gt; Excuse me?  Doesn&#039;t this whole mess exist because Jews bitched, moaned, whined and complained for a couple thousand years or so about losing their homeland, until someone gave it back to them?  Some of the Palestinians who were kicked out and had their land stolen are still alive. That&#039;s a far more legitimate claim than the Jews now living there have.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@ Atheist Jew<br />
<blockquote>Israel isn’t on anyone’s land. Demographics change everywhere for numerous reasons</p></blockquote>
<p> Excuse me?  Doesn&#8217;t this whole mess exist because Jews bitched, moaned, whined and complained for a couple thousand years or so about losing their homeland, until someone gave it back to them?  Some of the Palestinians who were kicked out and had their land stolen are still alive. That&#8217;s a far more legitimate claim than the Jews now living there have.</p>
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		<title>By: Escualidus Arrechus</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2008/12/31/the-israel-situation-explained/#comment-256590</link>
		<dc:creator>Escualidus Arrechus</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:52:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=7295#comment-256590</guid>
		<description>writerdd,

I think the answer, sadly, would be &quot;yes&quot;. Megalomania needs no religion. There will always be politico-military &quot;messiahs&quot;, and there will always be masses ready to follow them into (figurative) hell.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>writerdd,</p>
<p>I think the answer, sadly, would be &#8220;yes&#8221;. Megalomania needs no religion. There will always be politico-military &#8220;messiahs&#8221;, and there will always be masses ready to follow them into (figurative) hell.</p>
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