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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chairI
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
1. I drove my Merc to pick up food stamps
When Darlene Cunha wrote about her experience of life on foodstamps, her story received as much criticism as it did praise. Here’s the original piece – what do you think?
(Washington Post, approx 8 minutes reading time, 1799 words)
I didn’t feel animosity coming from them, more wonderment, maybe a bit of resentment. The most embarrassing part was how I felt about myself.How I had so internalized the message of what poor people should or should not have that I felt ashamed to be there, with that car, getting food. As if I were not allowed the food because of the car. As if I were a bad person.
2. Giving my daughter my last name
[image alt="shutterstock_129290474 (1)" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2014/07/shutterstock_129290474-1-630x418.jpg" width="630" height="418" title="" class="alignnone" /end]
Molly Caro has always wanted to give her daughter her last name. So when she and her husband did just that, she was blown away by the response.
(The Hairpin, approx 8 minutes reading time, 1789 words)
We drove around her neighborhood and she showed me the street art she photographs. At some point, I told her about my baby’s last name. She lifted her hands off the steering wheel and yelled, “What?!” as if in prayer, as if the earth had shuddered.
3. I was captured by the Taliban
Filmmaker Sean Langan crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan illegally in order to secretly film Taliban and al-Qaeda training camps. But he was caught, and arrested. yet when he was eventually released, life got even tougher.
(The Australian, approx 14 minutes reading time, 2802 words)
My second mistake was agreeing to go on Richard & Judy [a TV chat show]. One minute I’m sitting in a dark room, waiting to have my head chopped off by the Taliban, and the next thing I know I’m sitting next to my fellow guest, Henry Winkler, who played the Fonz in Happy Days. Even before I opened my mouth, Judy’s eyes welled up and she started blubbing. Looking back, if you were to ask me to plot the development of my post-traumatic stress disorder on a chart, I would pinpoint that precise moment as the start.
Baseball has taken off hugely in Japan over the past few decades – so much so that some of the world’s best players come from the country. But is the regimented approach to learning actually harming some young men?
(Wall Street Journal, approx 26 minutes reading time, 5288 words)
Japanese pitcher Satoru Komiyama, who played for the New York Mets, believes that players like Shota should sacrifice for the team. That act of preservation is a major act of defiance. By refusing to take the mound at every opportunity, Shota is challenging the orthodoxy of Japanese high-school baseball, where sacrifice for the team, obedience to coaches, and endless throwing are sacrosanct.
Source: ©Arroyo-OConnor/AFF-USA.com
We've all heard the phrase 'manic pixie dream girl' - and seen it used in many movie reviews. But the man who invited the phrase in 2007, Nathan Rabin, regrets it - and says it's sexist.
(Salon, approx 8 minutes reading time, 1509 words)
It’s an archetype, I realized, that taps into a particular male fantasy: of being saved from depression and ennui by a fantasy woman who sweeps in like a glittery breeze to save you from yourself, then disappears once her work is done.
Artur Gasparyan (24), from Armenia, was recruited in Moscow in May to fight in eastern Ukraine. He spoke to Mumin Shakirov about what happened after he became a separatist fighter.
(Radio Free Europe, approx 15 minutes reading time, 3148 words)
They taught us to communicate using gestures and signs in order to recognize each other, to communicate silently at night, to give commands like back, forward, stop, get down, danger, and so on. Now I can speak with my hands like a deaf person. All this was taught by an instructor in civilian clothes.
....AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES...
David Foster Wallace died in 2011. John Jeremiah Sullivan looks at his final piece of work - the unfinished The Pale King - and considers his legacy.
(GQ, approx 36 minutes reading time, 7242 words)
Here's a thing that is hard to imagine: being so inventive a writer that when you die, the language is impoverished. That's what Wallace's suicide did, two and a half years ago. It wasn't just a sad thing, it was a blow.
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Israel ….know there’s a little up start of a country if ever there was one with slimey tentacles that reach all over the world
Now*
Credit where it’s Jew though!! They managed to create a thriving economy from a desert wasteland.
Israel now control Washington and run the US gov. Not criticizing the average citizen, just the extreme Zionist faction who run the show. It’s the criminal Neocon Zionist cabal. Philip Zelikow, Dov Zakheim, Michael Chertoff, Larry Silverstein, Jack Abramoff, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Douglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Mort Abramowitz, Eric Edelman, Alan Makovsky, Marc Grossman, Daniel Pipes, Martin Indyk, Elliot Abrams, Robert Kagan, William Kristol, RIchard Armitage, Mossad and their cowardly CIA and MI6 mates who are in on the corruption of humanity.
Rodigo, I’m sure the people who were kicked off that desert wasteland are looking on in wondrous awe at what the illegal settlers have done with their stolen land.
Unlike the “Palestinians” despite Arafat having been one of the richest heads of state in the world.
You mean they steal the water from their neighbours to create an economy and to hell with their neighbours water needs!
Re Rodrigo.
What they ‘managed’ to do was to carry out genocide on the Palestinian people when they implemented Plan D in full starting in 1948.
A terrorist regime if there ever was one.
Well they’ve also made wastelands out of thriving economies in the West Bank and Gaza.
When have Gaza and the West Bank ever being ‘thriving economies’?
Pat again maybe you should actually read, Almost all of Israel’s water is now coming from desalinated water. In the next few years, Israel will actually have a water surplus and not only that, Israel is one of the best recyclers of waste water in the world.
problem was in 1948 they were all called Arabs or Jordanians, mind you the Jordanians fell out with them big time “black september”
@ Seoirse, Genocide? they managed Genocide? I was under the impression that genocide against a people wipes them out, but I see millions of palestinians alive and well living in Gaza and the West bank today more than there was in 1948, and Arabs living in Israel with freedom and democratic rights that ALL Israelis have, so Israel failed as you put it to manage genocide” the only people I see wanting genocide is the palestinians and their Islamic murderous, world hating brothers in the arab world against all Jews and the annihilation of the state of Israel, and their ideology that when they finish there they will start on the rest of us. I do thank God for this though, that in their mental brain dead ideas they will attack Israel in the near future and Israel will wipe them out and gain more land. The greed and hatred of the arabs will be for their destruction, not that IS fact, and you can quote me on this when it happens. Have a nice day. :)
To see how deeply rooted Israel’s hatred is of anything non Jewish and Israeli ppl should watch the video about the attacks on and concentration camps for the Sudanese. Israel and the Jews of all people should be the last to act in such racist, violent ways. A disgusting country!
I love a good generalisation.
Plenty of deep rooted hatred all around Israel too…considering most of their neighbours want Israel eradicated. Hamas are the main problem with Gaza. They are more interested in firing rockets at Israel trying to stoke a response than trying to promote education, employment and equal rights for the people of Gaza.
And the Sudanese did what exactly to the Israelis? You can be thrown in prison for 3 years without any legal requirement for a trial just for being black. That’s what Israel, the country does, hardly a generalisation, it’s a legal and political reality ffs!
What a crock!
And you have incontrovertible proof of that claim? You can proof that they are people in jail in Israel for just being black? Israel is the only democratic country in that area, Israel offers voting rights to all of its citizens, Israel is gay friendly, woman friendly and allows industry to flourish. Unlike its enlightened neighbours, where Christians are persecuted, where gay people are stoned, where women cannot even show their faces. Yes, Israel must be a terrible place.
‘concentration camps for the Sudanese’ How clever.I see what you did there.Sure the next step is the gas chamber isn’t it?.
I wonder if Diarmaid has ever met even one is Israeli?Just one.Sounds like you get all your information from the lunatics in the IPSC Diarmuid.
Yes I do, I have video evidence, they have built special camps for them. Careful now what you say here as this is in irrefutable fact about their treatment of Sudanese “infiltrators” as they call them. I have a video of politicians calling them on a cancer on Israel.
Jason why are you bringing Israel’s neighbours into it? Where did I say the Palestinians were a great bunch? Quite the opposite to be honest!
Have a look at this for a start:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151915107113984
Re Diarmuid.
Thanks. If you have not viewed the DVD ‘Roadmap to Apartheid’ I suggest it.
Israel has a right to control it’s borders same as every other country .Israel has a far-right element,so does pretty much every European country.Israel has freedom of speech ,hence it’s far right element are able to air their views in public.It might be unsavoury but that’s the price of living in a democracy.
Yeah Diarmaid, thats why there are “blacks” arabs and even muslims, Christians and even GAYs in the IDF. God Israel must be a shit place to live. Mind you I don’t see many Israeli Arabs queuing up to live in Gaze.
There are over 130.000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel
Yes Al but it’s not all wine and roses is it? http://mag.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/hard-going-in-the-homeland.html
” Poverty is three times higher among Ethiopians than among other Jewish Israelis, and unemployment is twice as high. Ethiopian youngsters are much more likely to drop out of school and are vastly underrepresented at the country’s universities. One place they’re overrepresented is in jail: juvenile delinquency runs four times higher in the community than among Israelis overall.”
Education is there for those who wish to participate. Maybe less hanging around street corners would see their lot improve.
Thanks for the link Diarmuid. Everyone should watch that video.
What’s your point?Similar statistics apply to Black Carribeans in England and France or African Americans in the States.
You do know saying Israel imprisons people because they are black is LIES.
Israel has close to 100,000 Ethiopian citizens.
Israel has a couple of thousand African American Hebrews in Dimona.
Thousands of Indians , took in Vietnamese boat people
Sudanese refugees fled to Israel. why ? Because Arabs in Sudan were massacring them. Yet the left in Ireland are more interested in demonising Israel than defending human rights
+1
Jason, you can deflect the issue all you want, but the truth about human rights abuses, landgrabs, imprisonment of 12yr olds and the most incredible racism against non Jews and non white Jews will continue to spread, increasing the success of citizen fightback like BDS. Israel in its current form will not exist in the future because it is a failed entity, a failed theocracy.
Al shamen, except it doesn’t just control its own borders, it also controls Palestine’s which it currently occupies. In fact Israel is so land hungry it won’t even declare its own borders, because it believes it has a (Jewish) God-given right to Judea and Samaria. Talk about delusional.
So a video of a few racists is proof that Israel throws people in prison for just being black, eh Diarmaid? Thank God we don`t have racists in Ireland.
” Poverty is three times higher among Ethiopians than among other Jewish Israelis, and unemployment is twice as high.” As is usual for new immigrants to any country Brian.
The left in Ireland….curious post, does that mean you’re not posting from Ireland on an Irish story? I only ask because I read somewhere about Israeli people, students and such like who are paid to trawl global social media to defend Israel. Something else I came across last week was that Israeli anti-BDS diplomats are also being dispatched to embassies. Just asking.
So according to Orla if someone talks about the left in Ireland they can`t be in Ireland, wow!
You wouldn`t be posting on behalf of the IPSC would you Orla?
Why the obsession with the only democracy in the region Orla?BDS is a sham and any critical thinking person could see the anti-semitism that pervades through the movement calling for it’s implementation.
‘it has a (Jewish) God-given right to Judea and Samaria’
That’s why the Israelis blew up the Al Aqsa mosque that sits on the Temple Mount.(the holiest site in Judaism) because they have a God-give right to it.Oh yeah that’s right they have not laid a finger on it out of respect to Islam.In fact they have implemented their God-given rights to the holiest site in Judaism by actively banning Jews from setting foot on it.The Wailing wall is about as close as Jew can get to it
Hatred of Israel is never far below the surface in this country, typified by the anti jewish remarks against Alan Shatter here,it always amazes me how the tiny democratic country surrounded on all sides by enemies that have their complete distruction as their no 1 goal,has not only managed to survive against all the odds but has thrived industrially and economocally,a truly epic story of survival of a race against all the odds.
Diarmaid, You are sad individual.
The Sudanese fled through Egypt to get to Israel, Why ? Read about some of the stories of Sudanese in Egypt and the life they have.I know it is nothing major but the top 5 in the Israeli Xfactor is Sudanese,
Lets not forget Khartoum has been one of the largest instigators and supporters of attacks on Israel. Sudanese are technically citizens of an enemy state and Israel has a right like Ireland to control its borders.
We have people in refugee centres for years upon years and does anyone suggest Ireland of having concentration camps ? No.It’s the typical slur against Israel by using Nazi and Holocaust analogies and did you know doing that according to the EU is an expression of anti Semitism in itself.
Israel and South Sudan are now some of the best of friends,
Orla. SORRY you are wrong.
Israel in 1948 was willing to agree borders but who rejected the two state solution ? The Arabs.
Who has rejected the two state solution each time it was offered, from Camp David and other peace talks ? THe Palestinians. Even the Saudi’s blamed the Palestinians for walking away from peace talks and launching an intifada.
You want to talk about delusional. Lets discuss how Hamas believes that all the land that was under Islamic control must remain under Islamic control, They reject land being controlled by the “infidels”.Hamas charter openly calls for Israel’s destruction and the liberation of the land for Islam.
Brian Ward you may be right, Israel is not perfect, there are problems there, as well as any other country, but people who are pro Israel are not blind either. Ps we don’t have to go to Israel for stats like the ones you quoted!
Re Al Shamen and JaymilIreland.
What both of you have seemingly forgot to mention was Israel’s despicable sterilising campaign against Ethiopian women. Israel sterilised thousands upon thousands of Ethiopian women to prevent them having babies in Israel.
Israel is not a democracy as the state puts the preservation of its Jewishness above all other laws and norms.
Well Diarmaid I watched that video and that is one of the downsides of a democracy there are problems in Israel like anywhere else.
And on a slightly different note the population explosion and migration from Africa is very serious problem for the next 50 years
Here is an article from another thread for the “sisters” to get their knickers in a twist about, mind you I cant guarantee them a warm welcome on one of their fact finding adventures and not a Jew in sight.
The kingdom’s (Saudi) first major driving protest came in 1990 when some 50 women drove their cars. They were jailed for a day, had their passports confiscated and lost their jobs. In June 2011, about 40 women got behind the wheel in several cities in a protest sparked when a woman was arrested after posting a video of herself driving.
And all because they were born with a v****a
Cool , Orla Ní Néill, must ring and see if my cheque is in the post
I had to laugh at the line ” it was not their policy to facilitate visits ‘which will strengthen Hamas’.”. By carrying out this action the Israeli’s are the ones who look to be the bad guys. Imagine if we stopped some of their MP’s coming into Ireland, there would be blue murder!
Re Brian.
Yeah, so the Israeli’s are also against the idea of democracy. Hamas was democratically elected and it is social hub/life in Gaza.
To defeat Hamas you would have to kill the majority of Palestinians.
Israel is such a despicable regime.
Seoirse I never said that I had anything against the democratic election of Hamas. Perhaps if you read come of my other comments regarding Israel and it’s treatment of Palestinians you would see where I am coming from.
@Seoirse
Getting elected once and then banning elections as Hamas have done,does not make one a democrat.
One election then throw your opponents from them rooftops. Democracy Hamas style.
Seoirse ? Seriously when was the last election in the West Bank or Gaza ?
Hamas is a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and in typical Brotherhood fashion, they roar and ball about democracy and then once in that is it, No more elections!
They have clamped down on religious freedom, political freedom, executed suspected informers without trial. Pushed members of Fatah off roof buildings, Clamped down on journalist freedom.
So what exactly is democratic about Hamas ? Please explain. Democracy isn’t just about elections.
Re Brian.
No, no. You took me up wrong. I salute you.
Agracultultural and horticultural and economic advise is the glaring need in Palestine not more political pot stirring.
Agricultural etc advice would be lovely, if the Palestinians had a) sufficient land to cultivate, b) land that hadn’t been poisoned and destroyed deliberately in attacks by Israel, and c) freedom to work the land near Israeli “borders” without being fired on.
Tom, why would they need agricultural advice when farmland is being stolen for illegal settlements and olive trees are being burned and ripped up daily by illegal settlers. You forget a large cohort of internationals who visit Palestine are Irish, coming back with first hand accounts. Are you hasbara too?
Funny you should accuse him of being hasbara when you are an IPSC shrill Orla.
My observations are from first hand. Do politics by all means but do practical things also.
I sorry but you probably don’t know, but when Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, they left for the Palestinian people the green houses they had build along with the food they had grown in them, they offered the Palestinians help to show them how to cultivate the land, grow food products, train them in making the arrid land bloom in Gaza as they had done to the desert in Israel, and what was the response of the Palestinians? the usual response, destroy, destroy, destroy, that all these people do, they ripped down the green houses, smashed up the houses that were left by the Israeli’s who were taken out of Gaza by the police and army, houses that the Palestinian people could have lived in, land prepared for them to grow crops, offers by the people, farmers of Israel to help them. No, these people would rather kill and destroy, thats their culture. The palestinians are given millions ever year in aid for the EU and the USA, do the put it into agriculture? no, do they put it into education, hospitals, structure? no, the buy weapons and pilfer it, they keep it from bettering their own people, they would rather try to destroy and murder the people of Israel than build up their own land and better the lives of the Palestinian people, who are more afraid of hamas then the israelis. Arafat was the same, more concerned in stealing the aid given from the nations of the world, more important for him to have his face on TV then give the Palestinian people the peace they were offered to him by Israel, he would rather start another intifada that killed thousands, many on both sides, him not even a Palestinian but and Egyptian. They can work their land, they either choose not to or are told by Hamas that they can’t because Hamas use that land to fire their rockets from. A people who choose terrorists as their leaders get what they deserve.
Orla in all fairness. The cut of ye….
Jane,
What about Israeli’s who can’t work near Gaza’s border without being shot at ?
What about Israeli’s who last week found a tunnel being dug from Gaza into Israel and under a school, what was the aim of that tunnel ? Most likely to kidnap a child.
As for lack of sufficient land ? Clearly you have never been to either Gaza or the West Bank, both have huge areas of uncultivated land.
In Gaza when Israel left all the settlements there in 2005 for peace it left behind irrigation units and greenhouses,What did the Palestinians do ? Did they use the equipment ? No they destroyed it.
So instead of using this facility that was left behind, they destroyed and now play the victim.
A site called ‘electronicintifada’ of course being the height of impartiality.That website is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood Jane.Do you support the implementation of Sharia law?
Paul Mcdonald and Jamireland none of the Jew Haters want to hear any of your comments hence the red thumbs, like many things in life, lots of people would rather “curse the darkness than light a candle”
Jane they have sufficient resources to build tunnels which Israeli farmers discovered explosive-laden underground tunnel leading from Hamas controlled Gaza to an Israeli nursery school. Now we know how our money goes, lets hope they don’t blow the tunnel while the fact finding is going on.
Orla Ní Néill is full of the material produced by all these animals and used as fertilizer
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (all figures 2010/2011 or 2011)
Cultivated Area of Horticulture Tree ……….659.9 (1000 m²)
Cultivated Area of Vegetables ………………..129.6 (1000 m²)
Cultivated Area of Field Crops ……………….245.4 (1000 m²)
Number of Cattle ……………………………………39,625
Number of Sheep …………………………………..732,399
Number of Goats ……………………………………240,136
Number of Broilers …………………………………6,993,767
Number of Layers …………………………………..1,352,985
Number of Beehives ……………………………….44,278
A bit of propaganda here I see… The surrounding people aim to destroy Israel.. Why should they assist? If Egypt does not allow entrance from their country..? Why don’t MEPs pick on Israel only…stop whining!
Why does she not just go through Egypt ?
There wouldn’t be a headline in that…
Re Andrew.
The new military dictatorship in Egypt has closed the border crossings with Palestinian on numerous occasions of late. It is unreliable.
She could go through one of the tunnels maybe she could visit some of the (shrinking) Christian and Jewish communities in islamic countries, no!, no photo op there either.. Anyway most muslims countries wouldn’t let a women into their bastions of democracy
A country that genuinely makes my stomach turn. Who are they to block access to a neighbouring country? What a disgusting place.
And Danny you have visited Israel how many time, to have your little tummy turned, like most anti Israel people here, you have probably never visited the place to see “how disgusting” it is.
I have been and it turns my stomach and anyone I know who has been there feels the same. I have not yet met one Irish UN peacekeeper who has spent time in Israel or Lebanon who does not have a similar analysis, albeit not as politicised as civilian visitors.
Really Orla, I have met quite a few with a completely different analysis. Maybe you should widen you circle so it doesn`t just include your friends in the IPSC.
Ive been and loved the place. Friendly locals, gorgeous weather. Id take motilium for your tummy though
Great country great people.Used to date an Israeli girl and had some fabulous times with her.
@ Orla, I have.
MEP does something but we haven’t heard from them for the past 4 years is it European elections coming up soon. Yeah it’s time to get there faces out there to fight to get on the European gravy train for another 5 years of doing feck all. Bull plop you can smell it a mile away. BOC
Well the generalisation that the Irish hate Israel could not be disputed if someone looked at the comments here. Their treatment of the people of gaza is a disgrace. That said If. I had to choose I would rather live in Israel than any of the other nub job Muslim countries that surround them
Ant thread to do with Israel gets hijacked by the Friends of Palestine or some such motley crew of Israeli hating, sharia supporting nutjobs.
Some of their studenty rants are comical.
Re Margaret.
Studently rants. You cannot answer the ghastly facts people are contributing Re Israel and you instead attack the character of the people.
It is you who is ranting.
Saoirse, the only “fact”I’ve seen on this thread so far is that Israel is the only democracy in the area.
Saoirse, here are some of the ghastly facts you accuse me of not answering. How do you answer these.
Israel is a disgusting place.
Israel throws blacks into prison for three years without charge.
A disgusting country.
A terrorist regime.
Carries out genocide.
Steals water from it’s neighbours.
Israel controls the US government.
An uptart if a country.
A despicable country.
Just a sample of the calibre of debate going on here.
Exactly Margaret.The whole region is a sea of hate and intolerance,yet some Irish people like to concentrate there hatred on the only functioning democracy in the region.
It’s only a democracy if all citizens are treated with equal rights. How many Jewish Israelis have been lifted and tortured by the Shin Bet? How many have been interned without trial? How many have been beaten and intimidated out of their own homes? Northern Ireland was a “Democracy” since it’s foundation just so long as you were of the right faith.
Israel controls Washington……. some people will swallow any shite.
LONG LIVE THE ONLY REAL FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ISRAEL
…and here’s a doozy. ” Israel makes my stomach turn”. How precious!
Margaret, I’m not a student and I don’t support Sharia. What’s my excuse? Surely not an interest in human rights.
Dunno Jane, I wrote that post before you contributed anything.
Once you start picking sides jane, you’ve lost.
This black and white simplistic view you have formed is a bit childish.
Are you trying to say there are no human rights violations carried out by Hamas?
Wake up. The whole area is filled with blind hatred. On both sides.
Margaret, I’m not a student, I’m a working mother who has been to Palestine and Israel and listened and read and talked about the current human rights abuses perpetrated against Palestinians. I don’t hate Israel, in fact I feel sorry for it, as it is a failed colonial theocracy which is not going to exist in its current form into the future. I believe it will eventually form a one-state democracy with Palestine as a whole, not a Jewish state. The trouble is how many people have to needlessly suffer at the hands of Israel’s human rights abuses before that happens.
Orla, now that you have figured out the future of Israel, perhaps you might make another field trip, …maybe to Syria, or perhaps Iran, or maybe Saudi. But remember unlike Israel, you’d better have a male relative to mind you and I sure hope you are not an open lesbian, as they are keen on that sort of thing, UNLIKE ISRAEL.
You might not be a student,but you certainly have the rhetoric of one.
‘failed colonial theocracy’ Israel is no theocracy.A cabal of Jewish Rabbis do not pass law as the Mullahs do in Iran.But don’t let facts get in the way of your anti-Israeli rant.Also a quick scan across the region would tell you there a plenty of failed states in that part of the world.Israel is certainly not one of them.
No surprises that a qucik scan of Orlas FB page reveals that she is an IPSC shrill.Being hassling any innocent Israeli students selling perfume lately Orla?
Taxi bill, the article is about Israel and Palestine, so perhaps we can talk about those other countries another day. As I’ve said deflecting the conversation won’t solve anything, except implement the hasbara tips.. I stayed with friends in West Jerusalem and they told me how they daren’t drive their car there on a Saturday for fear of being stoned. Not very dwmocratic, is it?
Al shamen, didn’t you know Israel is a Jewish state? Judaism is a religion hence a theocracy. Yes, there are lots of states that are failing and failed, Israel is too, but unlike some others, as a fundamentally undemocratic religious entity, by definition it will fail.
I passed through Dundalk on a bus and got stoned,this reveals nothing about the state of Ireland’s democracy.
Orla Neill, what is very amusing is knowing your views etc, the Israelis let you in and back out again ( don’t suppose you made the more risky crossing from Egypt) a nice comfortable flight to Tel Aviv and a quick bus, no being smuggle past not too sympathetic Egyptian police and soldiers across the Sinai desert ( you might end up like the other “Irish citizens” in Egypt) Not sure telling them you are a working Irish Mammy would help.
Maybe the Israelis are a bit dense I suppose, but sure that is democracy for you.
But as I pointed out before, next time when you are not being a ” working mother” you might pop over to Syria, Iran or Saudi and share on here you findings on minority, gay and women’s rights, we await your correspondents with baited breadth.
You obviously do not understand the meaning of the word theocracy.A theocracy is a state where priests or some other religious order write the law,in the name of God.Do Rabbis write the law in Israel Orla?
Turkey is a Muslim state yet it is also a democracy.Thailand is a Buddhist state yet is also a democracy.Israel is a Jewish State yet it is also a democracy.
+100
MOTS, I’m well aware that there are human rights atrocities on both sides; however, Israel outweighs Hamas many times over for barbaric treatment. Have you read the Goldstone Report?
Have you read the Hamas charter Jane?
‘The Day of Judgement will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, ‘O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews”
Orla Ni Neill, actually the article is about Israel and Gaza, the problem is you cant take that situation on its own because the Israeli Arab conflict takes in a much broader area. I would suspect that if there were complete normal relations between the Arabs and Jews that MOST of the problems would disappear overnight. A slight hint of the possibilities are that Israel handed back all the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for a normal relations. Egypt kept (for the most part) its part of the barging so did Israel. There were no further wars ( so far with Egypt , so far) Mind you President Sadat paid for that with his life)
As for :- I stayed with friends in West Jerusalem and they told me how they daren’t drive their car there on a Saturday for fear of being stoned. Not very democratic, is it?
Of course its not democratic, I personally think they are mad, but they have their beliefs about the Sabbath, as have the Muslims about segregating males and females in a mosque, which I also thing is bonkers.
and of course the rest of the country gets on with whatever people normally do, and thats democracy with all its warts and all for you. And the next time you visit they will probably let you in and out without much hassle ( besides all the security questions at the Airport)
Emer Costello might be an Irish MEP but she was not elected by the people of Ireland. He got this cushy, well paid job because she happens to be Joe Costello’s wife. That’s Joe who is touring Central America with former Labour Party man, President Michael D. Join the Labour Party and see the world?
Well said Prawn(burrito) sandwich socialists and nepotists to boot
Better off not going there.
Emer Costello should try leading a group to inner cities and towns of Ireland to see graphic scenes of of hardship and oppression. Shame on Labour who cannot see their constituents are Irish not Middle Eastern or South American.
Sure are a lot of Jew haters here. The old blood libel cancer is deep in psyche of the Irish people.
Nonsense. Israel does not equals the Jews. Israel is being judged solely on its actions.
I’ve lived in Israel, served in the IDF, studied in the university, and worked over there. I’ve had Arab flatmates, teachers, and students in University. There are Arab soldiers, policemen, judges, Knesset (parliament) members, government ministers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, etc. It is a true democracy- every citizen, whether Jew, Christian, Muslim, Druze, or other, straight or LGBTQ, male or female, Israelite, Arab, or other, etc. has the same voting and political rights. People are free to criticise any aspect of society or the government, unlike those in the neighbouring countries or areas under Palestinian Authority (PA) or Hamas occupation. Openly criticise the PA or Hamas in areas under their occupation or even “like” the wrong Facebook post and you can end up jailed, tortured, or murdered, but in Israel the government will leave you alone. Yes, Israel makes itself an easy target by being an open, transparent society, unlike PA and Hamas, where corruption and oppression rule.
I suggest that people like Enda Costello not waste Irish and EU taxpayer money on the PA or Hamas, but rather look to fixing Ireland’s domestic issues. The best thing anyone can do for the Palestinians is to stop helping the PA and Hamas, who steal aid money by the billions, oppress their innocent civilians, and spread hatred of Israel and the West.
Correction: Joe and Emer Costello.
Succinctly put Guy.
Couldn’t have said it better myself Guy
Why are they going there anyway ?? Better off if they got their own house in order first : the EU is in a shambles and they want to sort out Gaza ?? Stay away Hamas will do a better job and their terrorists,
“What are the doing their anyway?”!??!?
Would you have felt that way about the Red Cross visit to Theresinstadt concentration camp? Or the Swedish diplomats who liberated hundreds of Scandinavian Jews by negotiating with Himmler?
Jews would do well to look at their own history to see the parallels.
@Eamonn
Or maybe you should stop searching history for parallels that are not there.
Good on the Israelites, get up in the morning.
Cobblers, Eamonn, no other country, gets the same crap from the great unwashed, North Korea, Zimbabwe Pakistan, Syria, for example who between them have destroyed their countries and butchered hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of their own people.
Perhaps if the Palestinian “governments” don’t spend the precious resources building tunnels and launching rockets, teaching their children to hate the Jews and misappropriating hundreds of millions of EU taxpayers money. they would be far better off.
It’s very simple. The jailers permit or deny access to the prisoners at their own whim.
It’s an obscene state of affairs that one country is holding another country prisoner, lock stock and barrel.
It’s anything but simple. If you can’t grasp that, don’t bother contributing.
No Jane, North Korea is obscene, Syria is obscene, nearly 200,000 dead in a few years, but as Basil Fawlty said “don’t mention the War”
MOTS, I’m being deliberately disingenuous to make a point. Sorry if it went over your head.
No you were not. You are now being deliberately dishonest though.
They should enter through the tunnels anyway.
What’s Israel going to do about it.
A lot of those tunnels have been shut down recently.
When will the Israeli regime recognise it cannot dictate to the Palestinians who should be their leaders? Islamism is the norm in Arab govts and as much as we may not approve, we have no right to impose our ideas of governance on them.
Israel paints itself a “the only democracy in the region”. Yet it supported the Egyptian military coup and rejects election results in Palestine that it doesn’t like. it expels Arabs from their homes and brings in settlers from New York and Moscow to take their homes, like wwhat the Germans did in Warsaw to Polish and Jewish homes/businesses in WW2. The victim had become the oppressor.
Imports settlers from Moscow and New York ? That is not true, the vast majority of Israeli’s are born Sabra’s. aka born within the country. The current Israeli Ambassador to Ireland is I think he said an 8th generation Jerusalemite.
Israel is not a regime. It is a country that in fact was legally agreed by international decree ,which the Arabs rejected and started a war , a war which they have continued to this day. They opposed the two state solution in 1948 what makes anyone think the Arabs are any different now ?
Emer, u have been grounded for interfering…..
Why do we in the west feel a continuous need to interfere in other parts of the world. Let them all get on with it !!
I love this notion that Israel is a “Democracy”. http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.553351
“Supreme Court asked to rethink ruling that nationality may not be changed from ‘Jewish’ to ‘Israeli’”
Imagine the same case in Ireland where a citizens nationality is “Catholic” as opposed to “Irish”. I wonder if Mossad got it right when they stole our passports!
Brian Ward, your article, “Supreme Court asked to rethink ruling that nationality may not be changed from ‘Jewish’ to ‘Israeli’” proves that Israel is a functioning democracy, because they HAVE as supreme court, that people can petition and guess what like here some petitions are approved and some are not.
One wonders if a petition to recognise Israel was suggested to the “democratically elected Hamas Parliament” I would not fancy my chances the same goes for many Islamic countries.
Going by the comments on Israel and Palestine it’s the same as talking about SF or the IRA in Ireland.
Thanks to everyone who has tried to expose the real humanitarian face of Israel and counter the lies of some of those posting here.
Particular thanks to JaymiIreland Taxi Bill and Guy Serbin
some of the outrageous claims and allegations in this thread are beyond belief and clearly the views of people who have never visited the area or whovisited it with their eyes and ears closed
Why let the truth get in the way of bigotted and inaccurate bias
Bravo Paul McDonald for exposing the truth about what happened in Gaza when ISRAEL PULLED OUT in the misguided belief that it could be a move towards peace.
The misuse of international funding the corruption the deliberate perpetuating of Palestinians as ‘refugees” as political pawns, the missed opportunities to make peace, all point to the fact that the Palestinian leadershio have no real interest in peace with Israel
Wake up world in general and the EU, the UN and the Human Rights Council (joke) and realrael who has any interest in negotiatinge peace
A disgusting country! What gives them the right to block access to Gaza? A terrorist regime for sure!!
A disgusting country ? Really?
This being the country that was the first to offer help to Haiti, that sent medical teams to Fuakashimo in Japan to help those who were infected with nuclear radiation. A country that treats Syrian refugees.A country that continues to allow Palestinians free health care within the country despite attempts by Hamas to send suicide bombers into Israel inside Ambulances.
There is another border with Gaza. Why couldn’t Emer go that way ? Why didn’t she. She didn’t because there is an election and she needs the publicity.
I would like to thank the “sisters” and the “brothers” a lot for awakening an interest In me for that part of the world, I and some of my friends now look for Israeli produce in supermarkets and question why Israel should be singled out for different boycotts.
It was only last week that we learnt how Hamas had used reinforced concrete to build a massive underground tunnel into Israel in order to kidnap soldiers as it did with Gilead Shalit. Why should Israel possibly wish to co-operate with anyone wanting to visit Gaza, especially when they use their UNWRA Summer camps to instil hatred against our country
have your say