I hadn’t known he was that off the planet. What I find interesting is to see how deeply entrenched antisemitism is . There are plenty who think they are tolerant but whose understanding of history is so slim - in the process they trot out beliefs that have their basis in Millenia of Jew hating. It has permeated Christian life and thus the minds of anyone brought up in that tradition. It has not been helped by the imposition of limitations and laws that restricted Jewish life or I guess the dress of the ultra orthodox or sone of the practices that others do not understand.
but despite these restrictions and progroms and in many cases the fact that it might have been hard to even know who was a Jew in many communities across the world some of these beliefs remain entrenched and are coming out now.
many of them have no idea what happens in Israel and the sort of life that is created there. Or that many Arabs are perfectly happy living there. Or that there are decent, intelligent, kind and talented people living there doing what people do while their government does whatever. Who live in fear of their unpredictable and vengeful neighbours and yet still just try to get on with it , understanding that those others are just ordinary people as well.
The nutters who believe in conspiracies I get but those who think they are rational and balanced has unnerved me.
further I find it fascinating that people don’t understand that disapproval of some of Israeli actions (which I feel) cannot be accompanied by understanding what has led to this. It seems in this black and white world there are no shades of grey
I was brought up with debate. It’s not always comfortable and can lead to misunderstandings. But that is only a problem if you assign emotion to what is really an inquiry for truth. He used to tell us all that it was part of our traditions. But maybe others don’t cope as well with that
in this war that is engulfing the Middle East and the worlds attention there are more shades of grey than existed in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Korea or any of the other numerous wars and battles of recent times.
I am also quite certain that one day many may well reflect on where they put their sympathies and wonder why they didn’t see …..
