passover

[The Comrade]

you absolutely cannot ignore the jewish orthodox lobby in israeli politics. they have an undue amount of influence which is growing as their demographic percentage does.

[exploited]

[Philly]

Yes there are religious Jews in Israel. Just pointing that out isn't enough to conclude that religion is a driving force behind Israel's violence toward Palestinians. Maybe you're right and religion plays a major role. Show me some evidence though, because right now you're just showing me Zionism as a religious concept and voting demographics for the Israeli parliament.

[eynon81]

the line gets blurred because Jewish is a (quasi) ethnic identity as well. Politics and national-identity muck it up too.

kinda like in Northern Ireland, in the US we said it was Catholics vs Protestants. However there it's pretty clearly Republicans (those who want to join the Republic of Ireland) vs Unionists (those who want to stay part of the UK). Having befriended some sinn fein in my time I can tell you they couldn't care less that I was protestant. The movement itself, like the early PLO, was primarily secular.

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

In the US there are two clear political positions that you can choose from. In a lot of other countries, not so much.

[eynon81]

[exploited]

[Philly]

[exploited]