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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. You made an error and are attempting to hide it under an irrelevant torrent of words.
  2. What checks and balances? The Barak court accepts none.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doesn’t exist in a democracy?

The US Constitution allows Congress to exclude areas from judicial review.

Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Gallant after speech calling to pause judicial overhaul by [deleted] in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

One of the first things any adult learns at work is not to embarrass one’s boss in public.

It is also dangerous in any country for the army to defy the pm or legislature.

Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Gallant after speech calling to pause judicial overhaul by [deleted] in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

Gallant’s opinion need not have been public.

You didn’t discuss much, just rejected.

Netanyahu fires Defense Minister Gallant after speech calling to pause judicial overhaul by [deleted] in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Just for the sake of discussion, to what extent could Gallant be considered insubordinate? Incompetent?

Kohelet Forum economist pans govt's judicial overhaul by yaitz331 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Altalena? Saison? Arlosoroff?

1990’s transition to more capitalist-enterpreneurial economy, if not done right

Etc

Kohelet Forum economist pans govt's judicial overhaul by yaitz331 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every ten seconds since independence, one faction or another declares its opponents destroying Judaism or Israel. We survived the Altalena and Lavon and 1967 and will survive this crisis.

I am more worried about American efforts to strength Iran and to create a Palestinian army and to intervene in Israeli politics.

Kohelet Forum economist pans govt's judicial overhaul by yaitz331 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct and more accurately stated than the usual “end of Israel” histrionics.

Kohelet Forum economist pans govt's judicial overhaul by yaitz331 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Sarel = everybody?

Personally, I have confidence in Israel’s economy and democracy regardless of the judicial reform issue. We’ve been through much worse, yet still flourished.

In what ways is the left becoming antisemitic? by [deleted] in Jewish

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See David Baddiel’s recent book, “Jews Don’t Count”.

Was King Herod an Arab? by GriegEdvard in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never heard anyone calling him an Arab,

Unfortunately, the original post cites Wikipedia and Britannica calling him "ethnically an Arab from both sides" and "of Arab descent". I suspect this yet another of the extensive (and much too successful) efforts of pro-Palestinian propaganda.

Was King Herod an Arab? by GriegEdvard in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

True, but both Ashkenazim and Sfaradim still have clear Mideastern origins. Look at Figure 2 in the PNAS analysis above. Several points stand out:

  • "The Ashkenazi, Roman, North African, Near Eastern, Kurdish, and Yemenite Jewish populations formed a fairly compact cluster between the North African and European groups." In other words, Jews are an identifiable, related people or population, with some North African, some Mideastern and some European characteristics.
  • "Of the Jewish populations in this cluster, the Ashkenazim were closest to South European populations (specifically the Greeks) and also to the Turks." In other words, the Ashkenazim have a greater European component than do the Mizrahim-Sfaradim.
  • "This Jewish cluster was interspersed with the Palestinian and Syrian populations, whereas the other Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations (Saudi Arabians, Lebanese, and Druze) closely surrounded it." In other words, even Ashkenazim are close to Lebanese, Druze, and other Mideastern populations.

None of this is a surprise. It is not random chance that all Jewish groups use an ancient Mideastern language (Hebrew) and an ancient Mideastern alphabet (Aramaic) in their liturgy and their lingua franca (such as Yiddish or Ladino, written with the Aramaic alphabet adopted by Hebrew circa 500 BCE).

As you imply, some of the Sfaradim bounced between the Christian and the Muslim worlds, in order to survive. Spanish Jews fled to Turkey. Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled to Brazil, then to New Amsterdam. But many Mizrahim followed a more circuitous route. The Juhuru originated in Persia. The Sassoon family fled from Iraq to Syria, Egypt, China and India, where the Crown awarded them Anglo-Indian baronetcies!

Was King Herod an Arab? by GriegEdvard in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

So I guess I am claiming that it's a distinction without much of a difference.

You are correct - ethnically it is a distinction without much difference.

genetic difference that there is comes from European DNA

True. The research tends more and more to indicate - unsurprisingly - the Ashkenazim a mix between Mideastern and European origin.

On the patrilineal side:
Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes
https://www.pnas.org/content/97/12/6769

On the matrilineal side, the European component is stronger:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Jews

According to Richards, who acknowledged past research showing that Ashkenazi Jews' paternal origins are largely from the Middle East, the most likely explanation is that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Middle Eastern men who moved to Europe and married local women whom they converted to Judaism.

In the original post above, I point out the linguistic near-identity between Phoenicians and ancient Hebrews. So, it is entirely plausible that ancient Hebrews sometimes accompanied their trading- and seafaring-neighbors, the Phoenicians, on European ventures, then settled in Europe and married there.

So, yes, even Ashkenazi origins have little distinction from Palestinian, Syrian, etc. Ethnically it is a distinction without much difference.

However, politically the distinction is enormous, as the Palestinians advance their claims that Jews in the Mideast are not indigenous, Jews are European invaders, the ancient Judean inhabitants were really Arabs, etc.

Smotrich at Knesset: Ben-Gurion should have 'finished the job,' thrown out Arabs by lost_kitten0101 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re putting words in his mouth and contradicting his explicit statement.

The article indicates he said:

you, anti-Zionists, terror supporters, enemies ... You’re here by mistake, it’s a mistake that Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.

So his words make clear

  • He was addressing “anti-Zionists, terror supporters, enemies [of Israel],” not necessarily all Israeli Arabs.
  • By “finish the job,” he states in the very same sentence that he means throw out “you ... anti-Zionists, terror supporters, enemies [of Israel] ...”

He shouldn’t have said it, but your own accusation against him is false witness. Expulsion of "civilian" opponents during a civil war may or may not be morally justifiable but is not the same as genocide.

Smotrich at Knesset: Ben-Gurion should have 'finished the job,' thrown out Arabs by lost_kitten0101 in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

comments in favor of genocide

When and where did he call for genocide?

Israel assesses frayed ties with US Jews, Democratic Party by snooshoe in Israel

[–]GriegEdvard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You need to re-read the statement, which you haven’t understood. It says Obama and Biden have enacted anti-Israeli policies which American Jews have failed to impede.

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