I think you’re all wrong. You’re also all right. @ragingloli There is no doubt in my mind that the Israeli government does some pretty awful things, but this was a fairly typical diplomatic encounter, and I think you are blowing it out of proportion. @pdworkin I don’t really see what’s offensive about @mammal‘s post. He never said his “sympathies lie with the surrounding oppressive theocracies”. They may, I don’t know, but criticizing Israel doesn’t mean one likes Jordan, or Hamas, or Syria, or Saudi Arabia. The terrorists who attack Israel are wrong. But Israel is wrong to respond disproportionately, to maintain a blockade of the Gaza strip that creates awful conditions for everyone there, and it is wrong to wall off sections of the West Bank and treat Arabs as they do. I won’t go into the more sensitive issues of settlements and whether Israel should have been created in the first place, but the point is that Israel has a lot to answer for, but that doesn’t mean that other nations don’t also (including the U.S.). Those of us who are Americans, however, have a particular right to criticize Israel, given the enormous amount of U.S. financial and military assistance they receive. We have every right to question what is done with our tax dollars. It is wrong to assume that all criticism of Israel is anti-semitism, and it is wrong to assume that all critics of Israel are supporter of Hamas or anyone else in the region. It is also wrong to blow insignificant issues out of proportion when there are so many legitimate issues to criticize Israel for.
And if the Israelis really want to piss off Turkey, all they have to do is take a stand on the Armenian Genocide.