I do think the fact that Israel is held to a different standard to other countries is legitimate and

[Monty91]

justified in the sense that it comes from a perspective that as a self-proclaimed progressive democracy it should know better than its Arab neighbours still entrenched in a value system from a bygone age.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Harry Balls]

Turn on a light, or use the cooker for 25hrs per week, and the male demographic from within them who thank god they were not born a woman in there morning prayers and seperate men and women into different room at weddings?

[Berni]

(Small Jewish country surrounded by larger Arab and Muslim nations who would like to see the end of it). To Europeans watching them kick the **** out of a bunch of rat-poor Palestinians with the arses hanging out of their trousers every few years, on the other hand, they look like vicious bullies.

Both perspectives are valid to some extent and an attempt by both sides to appreciate the other's perspective might be a good idea.

[Monty91]

country in the region.

[Harry Balls]

[Monty91]

Israel will vouch for the average Israeli's arrogance. This would not be a problem if it did not creep into their political image, too. The IDF spokesman they put up on Newsnight to explain the latest bombing of a Gaza school or hospital comes across as particularly self-satisified and punchable.

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

How else do you explain the gaza and west bank ghettos?

[Luis Anaconda]

Indian dwarves as well - that kinda makes them even cuter

[Billy Goat Sverige]

[Berni]

Which it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to understand, if you think about it.

[Classic Jorge]

[Hillary]

[Harry Balls]

And wouldnt a bit of family planning help? 50% of the population is under 18. Recipe for disaster, unless it is being encouraged to exeserbate the problem and make those ghetto conditions worse?

[Classic Jorge]

[Monty91]

[Berni]

And to assume people are out to get you until such time as they prove otherwise.

In fairness, two millennia of persecution and the industrialised attempt to eradicate your entire race less than a century ago is going to do some pretty odd things to your weltanschauung.

[Harry Balls]

[Monty91]

[Harry Balls]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

[Luis Anaconda]

If that isn't an inappropriate term here

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Classic Jorge]

Have you ever been to Palestine? By which I mean the bits still governed by Palestinians

[Luis Anaconda]

[Harry Balls]

Never been to Gaza, mind. Just the West Bank and pre-2000 Intifada.

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

the casual contempt for them as human beings we've come to expect from the pro-Israel lobby, I don't really give a flying f**k, tbh.

[Harry Balls]

Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan (not just Petra), West Bank, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

You can imagine the attention El Al security gave me after eeing the stamps in my passport.

[Harry Balls]

[Luis Anaconda]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

It's a good job the pro-Hamas lobby treats life with such sanctity.

[Luis Anaconda]

it's f**k all to do with me. I quite like Jerusalem though - I'd like to go back there. And the Dead Sea - that was ace

[Harry Balls]

No lije redgunsmo who worked with the UN in the middle east for years, but I was based out of Cape Town, Tel Aviv, and then Oman for a number of years in the software industry. I was in Tel Aviv, when I first found AWIMB. So, Israel is responsible. Or at least a Brit diving instructor who was working in Sharm El Sheik and coming up to Tel Aviv for the FA Cup final.

[Harry Balls]

[Luis Anaconda]

I was in Oman about 6 weeks ago. Very nice country I thought. Much friendlier place than the UAE. I liked Jordan as well. Been to Jerusalem but not really ventured elsewhere in that area

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Plus some c**t might blow me up.

[Harry Balls]

I even bought a couple of matresses from Nablus, as well as my pita bread during Passover. All before 2000, of course.

[Harry Balls]

Jericho is nice, lot of Christain hostory and Judaica there. Hopefully, still.

[Harry Balls]

[Classic Jorge]

[Harry Balls]

Bus load of smin-diseased frog pensioners got of a bus, stripped to the buff and surrounded us in the dead sea. Too many codgers periscopes poming out of the water, as you can pretty much only float on your back in that salty gunk.

[eastgermanautos]

israel is it.

[eastgermanautos]