There is a big difference between being Jewish and Israeli ... The last statistic I heard was that there are more non Jews in Israel then Jews.. Please correct me if I'm wrong.....
Like many Jews I'm proud of my religion but I'm not a Zionist, so can everyone refer to it being Israelis fighting and not Jews...
The way so many people talk about the subject we might as well say all Catholics come from the Vatican... But we don't
Like the UK, Israel has no written constitution...instead it has what it calls Basic Laws, of which there are many.
When Israel declared itself an independent nation part of its declaration stated a written constitution would be in place by 1st October 1948. David Ben-Gurion, however, stated that a written constitution shouldn't be brought about until the bulk of the Jews around the world had returned to their homeland.
This "belief" has since been incorporated into one of the Basic Laws; the right for any Jew to settle in Israel. This, in many respects, confers "nationality" on a religion.
This is the basic problem at the root of the conflict... the fact that Israel sees any Jew as a potential citizen of Israel, based purely on religion and irrespective of the fact that very few Jews in the world have any link with the region!
Until this philosophy changes there will be conflict in the Middle East.
"But how to make Liverpool economically prosperous? If only there was some way for Liverpudlians to profit from going on and on about the past in a whiny voice."
You're right! Being jewish is a way of life, like being christian, muslim, jehovia's witness, rasta etc. Nationality is where you come from. We're so used to some things that it's natural but I think we mean well when we say "jew" or "jewish when we mean "Israeli".
Gettysburg (both sides) 51000 troops, 5000 horses
yes, some animals were harmed in the making of that war
Holocaust
everybody knows that one
Hiroshima/Nagasaki 140000
Normandy 425000 (both sides)
Stalingrad 647000 (both sides)
American Revolution
8000 (American)
1240 (British)
1200 (Germans)
over 6000 Black soldiers served
Vietnam
58000 (US)
South Vietnamese Army
500,000 to 1,000000
North Vietnamese Army 1,000000 to 2,000000
Korean War
Military KIA
33600 US
16000 UN/Allied
415000 South Korean
520000 North Korean
900000 Chinese
Congo War
direct and indirect military/civilian est.
4,000,000
Stalin Purges
6,000,000 to 13,000,000
Mao Purges
Early Years 1946-57: 3 to 6 million
Cultural Revolution: 2 to 7 million
Great Leap Forward: 20 to 43 million
Chinese Concentration Camps: 20 million
Total: 44,000,000 to 72,000,000
Question: I suppose if we're being 'utter picky' I could ask who found the oil in Saudi Arabia? Who showed them how to drill it, and who showed them how to pump/ship it overseas to become one of the richest nations on earth? I doubt their own scientists showed them where to dig: and I doubt their own engineers built the rigs to drill & pump the oil efficiently.
Answer: 'Standard Oil Company of California' found oil in Bahrain in 1932.
Saudi Arabia have the Americans to thank, for finding something worth trading, and the western world in general, for not becoming another 3rd world nation.
[i]I used to spend a lot of time criticizing Islam on here in the noughties - but things are much better now.[/i]
I was listening to a radio talk station here in chicago overnight and believe it or not (I don't think it's the majority) people are realizing that despite that the news is slanted (do to this administration) in Is-it-real's favor they believe it ain't ALL the muslims fault which is refreshing to hear considering the republicans seem to be controlling what news they want to get out by their comments like Condi-cending Rice agreeing that the blame is on Hezbolla. (Check that spelling for me please).
