I'm Israeli.

My family lives in Israel.

I visit every year.

So please listen, I have a pretty good understanding of the consensus over there.



As far as the quotes, I know I've said horrible things in anger, and may have even acted on some of those feelings if given the chance, that I regret.

When coffee shop, bus, mall, theatre suicide bombs go off in Israel (which is not uncommon), yes, people get angry.

Think back to 9/11, right here in the US, how many arabs and middle easterners were discriminated against?

its human nature I guess, to pick on people that are different from them. Sad, but true.



But the country is not about hate. Pride, maybe, but not hate.

And Pride they should have.

The Jews have been picked on throughout history, way before modern day wars. I'm talking way back to ancient times. I think we can agree on that.



Americans have pride too. Was 9/11 not an excuse to invade Iraq and Afghanistan because the people were blinded by pure revenge?

Now look at Iraq. If I, or you, were an Iraqi child that had a family member killed by a US soldier (and statistically every family in Iraq has had that happened to them) would you not also bear arms against them?



Israel has to put up with this on a constant basis. But they try and make it work. We can go into certain parts of Egypt and Jordan, but god forbid we go too far in where Israeli's are treated as a black man in some deep south part of the US. We gave Egypt back the Sinai. Hell, we even gave Gaza back. But like most civilians said even when that was going on, it was only a temporary fix, and obviously they were right.



When Israel was deciding whether or not to give Gaza back, supporters hung blue ribbons from their cars. If you walked around israel at that time, you would be amazed to see almost every car driving by with one of those blue ribbons, or tied on a backpack, or hung outside a home.

Israelis want peace!

Of course. Why would you want to be threatened with suicide bombings and terrorist organizations. In fact, its not just the terrorists they are dealing with, its the other governments as well.

Us getting angry over a few words said in anger is regrettable, and especially, I would assume, for you OP with your avatar of M.L.K.jr.



I've seen so many threads lately displaying graphic videos or pictures of the battles, with titles like "Israelis murdering innocents."

Come on guys.

Look up news articles of every suicide bomb that has taken the lives of countless Israeli men, women, and children. They are graphic too.

Hell, look at the videos and read the news articles of what US soldiers have done in Iraq.

Its all awful.

Read about a pair of Israeli teenagers who were close to a border country. How they were captured, tied up to the back of a truck, and dragged throughout a neighboring town until they were dead.



Believe me Israel wants peace.

It wasnt but last summer I was over there when Israel was negotiating with Hamas to release the bodies of 2 soldiers that were captured nearly 2 years prior and were killed by the group in exchange for a live prisoner Israel had captured of a man who was renowned for murdering entire families, including the women and children, in front of eachother. What a horrible trade for Israel. But was that not also to try and spread some peace?

I know that if I were over there, I would much rather be held in an Israeli jail than any other nation in the middle east.



The point is, evil begets evil.

Bad things happen, terrible things are said, on ALL sides.

Women and children get caught in the crossfire. Its awful.

And even worse, threads like these, only further that hate and discrimination.



If we are who we say we are, we wouldnt single out an entire nation, religion, race (and saying "not everyone" does not mean your not singling out).

Yes they news needs to be spread, but why in such horrible ways.

We know war is awful. I doubt anybody in a war wants to be there, in the middle of it, actually doing the dirty work.



anyway, I know its a long post, but I hope you read all of it.

Go outside. See these countries if you can. Talk to the people. No one wants this.