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modrepub

(3,494 posts)
21. Point Taken
Tue Nov 29, 2022, 11:04 AM
Nov 2022

I should trend very lightly here. Apologies up front. Not trying to stir up a hornets nest. Hoping for a safe spot for discussion.

You are correct in saying there is a wide spectrum of opinion among Jews both here in the US, those abroad and those in Israel proper. And personally, I don't have a horse in the race. While I would like to see those in the Middle East provide a tolerant environment for all of their neighbors, I realize it might be impossible given the fanatics in the neighborhood. I don't have to live with folks trying to blow themselves up to maximum impact a stones throw away from me, though an argument can be made Americans suffer the same type of consequences via mass shootings.

From what I've seen, Middle East bedfellows over the last decade are strange indeed. You see (some) Israeli politicians aligning themselves with the house of Saud (and their ultra conservative Wahhabi Sunni clerics) against the Iranian Ayatollah (Shiites). Similarly I see some (of the more politically active) evangelicals giving free hand to Israel to do as they wish in hopes that this will start Armageddon and the Rapture.

The coalitions are all backwards and double stabbing. To think the Wahhabi (Sunni) would coexist with a Jewish state is crazy; they are only interested in supporting Israel because they attack a common enemy, Iran (Shiites). Israeli politicians like the Republican hands off policy to handle their internal and external affairs with minimum interference even though some evangelicals seem to think supporting Israel will get them one step closer to the second coming (and the destruction of world). They also seem to conveniently ignore the overt applied anti semitism often expressed by their Republican supporters (I guess they think that's something that only affects American Jews).

And I haven't even scratched the surface in regards to the sects within the Jewish faith (Reform, Conservative et al) that undoubtedly shape the opinions within the Jewish community and play heavily in Israeli politics.

Peace (hopefully).

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