Letters to the editor
Israel comes out on top
To quote David Suissa, a Huffington Post contributor, “Israel’s Never Looked So Good.”
This week, the peoples of the Middle East erupted into social and political chaos.
Starting about two weeks ago, nearly one million people in Egypt protested their government, hoping the president would quit. According to the Wall Street Journal, around 150 were killed and more than 600 were wounded.
Just days ago, Jordan’s king fired his entire government and the Syrians planned a mass protest .
The Tunisians and Yemenis also protested their political leaders.
The Middle Eastern countries, besides Israel, finally got the message. Tyranny is out, and democracy is in. But the method of getting there is hostile and barbaric.
Today, the media is featuring the Mideast for its extreme immorality and turmoil. But what about most other days when those countries aren’t in the news? Even when the cameras aren’t rolling, these Arab countries’ leaders violate basic human rights on a daily basis.
These Arab countries strip gay people of their basic human right to peacefully live. Residents are stripped of religious freedom, and women are considered second-class citizens.
“While self-righteous Israel bashers have scrutinized every flaw in Israel’s democracy they kept their big mouths shut about the oppression of millions of Arabs throughout the Middle East,” Suissa wrote in his column.
Israel hosts the largest gay pride parade in the Middle East; it allows members of minority groups to serve as high-ranking members in the government, and residents from all over the world with diverse backgrounds and religions call Israel their home.
The world that for so long condemned Israel for being inhumane and unjust finally sees, out in the open, that it’s the surrounding Arab countries that have the problem with corruption and immorality.
So now like the rest of the Israel supporters, I bet you’re thinking, “Israel’s Never Looked So Good.”
Danielle Nisimov
Junior, Public Relations
Which is why they call themselves a “Jewish State.” It is a theocracy, not a democracy…Many of Israel’s laws are based on interpretations of religious laws and doctrines. The leading political parties in Israel are religiously affiliated. You cannot call a country led by religious groups a “democracy.” It’s not. It is a theocracy.
Nope they are a democracy and they call themselves the Jewish state because it’s the homeland of the Jewish people for thousands of years and because Jews deserve a right like all other people to be safe and have a home for themselves. That doesn’t mean that other minorities or any less though. A theocracy by definition is one in which religious law is the law of the land, which is not the case in Israel. Israel has a liberal constitution and equality for all minorities. It even has affirmative action for minorities. I think we’re all smart enough to realize that the 20 Muslim countries in the Middle East are actually theocracies and Israel, the only Jewish state, is not.
I now remember why I usually don’t read the DT. They publish bullshit like this…
The revolution in Egypt has been mostly peaceful–violence only broke out when pro-Mubarak thugs began launching violent attacks against the pro-democracy demonstrators. The Tunisian revolution was a “white revolution,” meaning there was little or no blood shed in the process. The protests in Yemen have not been violent either, and the changes in Jordan and Syria are not new, unique, or “barbaric.”
What IS barbaric is the fact that Israel continued to try to support Mubarak, even when millions of Egyptians wanted him out. Israel continued to support Mubarak, even when he carried out Israel and US-backed torture programs, when he abolished human rights in Egypt, when he allowed his people to starve and the country to fall into a state of poverty. ISRAEL SUPPORTED HIM. And Israel continues to support him. THAT is barbaric and absolutely disgusting.
Israel’s treatment of human trafficking victims within its borders is barbaric and horrendous. Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians is barbaric and internationally condemned. Israel’s use of torture and abuse of human rights is barbaric and again internationally condemned. Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes and communities and way of life is barbaric.
Israel is not a democracy, despite the rhetoric you employ. And if this is the best Israel can look, it is a sad commentary on the reality of just how barbaric and awful their government is.
Hey genius the author was talking about violence on the part of the governments, not the people. Learn to read a little more carefully. And Israel is not supporting Mubarak, all it has said is that it wants the peace treaty to be honored no matter what happens. It has a right to be worried that Islamist fundamentalists will take over, but it’s not supporting Mubarak at all. The only way Israel has “supported” Mubarak is to cooperate and have peace. If you want to talk about countries that have “supported” Mubarak, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Britain, Russia, and the UAE all come way before Israel. So I don’t understand this anger, except that I get the feeling you hate Israel so much you can’t contain and blame everything on the tiny little Jewish nation.
On top of that, it’s really really funny that you call Israel barbaric when it treats its citizens, Arabs and Muslims included, better than Arab and Muslim countries treat their own people. Talk about irony! If you had to rank the most barbaric countries in the Middle East, Israel would no doubt be dead last. Actually, it wouldn’t even be on the list. Funny what hateful propaganda does to people….
The only way for the people of the Middle East (all of Islam for that matter) to experience true democracy is to free themselves from the shackles of Islam.
Islam and democracy are incompatible and anyone who says Indonesia is an example they are simply showing just how dire Islamic democracies are.
Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Oman, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Mauritania, Niger, Algeria, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kirgizstan, etc…
Name one country from this or any list of Islamic dominated countries where one can freely criticize Islam, convert from Islam, proselytize for any other religion, draw pictures of Mohammed, criticize Saudi Arabia, openly practice homosexuality or Judaism, be a free woman with all this implies.
So please don’t blame Egypt’s problems on America. I would bet money that if America could foster true democracy in any Muslim country it would, just as it fostered freedoms and democracy in Germany and Japan after WWII.
Quit blaming their problems on anyone but them and their backwards-looking religion.
Finally, let me say, Mohammed was Islam’s first political leader. He refused to acknowledge a separation of mosque and state as Jesus did (Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…). Mohammed was a theocratic despot who killed, raped, enslaved and pillaged his way to power and wealth.
This is who Muslims look to for direction, no? Not to America, but to Mohammed and therein lies the tale of the tape.
All revolutions are hostile and somewhat barbaric by nature. Think the American revolution.
Let’s let the Egyptian people decide what they want and not Israel or America.
What a pile…..
Isreal is one of the worst violators of human rights in the world. period.
What delusional world do you live in?
Great letter, and so true!