“Why is it important there’d be Jews?” [Darleen Click]
FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST: A lot of Israeli-Arabs tell me that to describe Israel as a Jewish state essentially renders them invisible. And they are, you know, 20 percent of the population by some counts. Israelis have a state, Palestinians have a state. Why is it important there’d be Jews?
MICHAEL OREN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO UNITED STATES: Well, because the Jews are a people, and we have a right to self-determination. There are about 193 states in the world, Fareed. Most of them arenation states. The Bulgarians, the Hungarians, the Germans.
ZAKARIA: But those are not religious categories. Those are national categories.
OREN: The Jew is also a national category, and unlike countries like Denmark, that have a national church, unlike Great Britain that has a national church, we don’t have an official religion. We are a people and we are a nation state like most of those nation states in the world. And many of those nation states if not most of them have ethnic minorities that are loyal minorities, whose rights are respected. Some of them have an ethnic affiliation with another state. It’s very common, certainly in Europe and there’s nothing anomalous, nothing unusual about the arrangement we’re seeking.
Evidently, it is important to Zakaria there be no Jews in Israel. Wonder how he feels about Jews in the rest of the world?
Is there some competition going on for the Helen Thomas chair?
23 Comments
Ernst Schreiber
I’d cut Zakaria a little slack.That strikes me as an obviously hanging curve ball that Oren crushed.
leigh
I agree.That was a rhetorical question and a chance to do some educational outreach by Oren.
Darleen
IMHO Zakaria was not engaged in rhetorical question … I encounter this “Jews=religion=Israel is icky, oppressive theocracy” crap too often that it is merely a matter of ignorance.
SBP
OT: Los Angeles watch dealer kills armed robbers again. This makes his score 5 killed, 1 wounded since 1989. You’d think they’d start picking a different shop.
Maybe he should have some replica trophy heads made and mount them on the wall, as in one of Heinlein’s books.
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-02-21/local/me-2663_1_watch-shop-owner
Ernst Schreiber
I don’t doubt that Darleen. I just don’t happen to think Zakaria is one of those ignorant ugly Americans clinging to their designer totes and irreligion.
Unless he followed it up with a question about khazars and European Jewry.
leigh
That’s possible, Dar.In which case, he got schooled but good.
leigh
Spies, Mr. Thomas ought to open a firearms shop if he hasn’t already reached his bag limit.
sdferr
Why we remain Jews.
ps: I’ve a rough transcript of part I available to e-mail upon request.
geoffb
Bulgaria is 75% Bulgarian Orthodox Church and 10% Sunni Muslim most of whom don’t pray and don’t veil.
Israel is 75% Jewish, 55% are traditional and 20% secular. And 20% of Israelis are Arab, 16% Muslim and the rest Druze or Christian.
BigBangHunter
– 2000 years later, and a lot of the world is still pissed about that “choosen people” thing.
Merovign
Given Zakaria’s history of comments, I’m not inclined to give any slack.
BigBangHunter
– Speaking of money hungery Heebs, Noam channels him some Adolph.
– If theres one thing the Left hates more than conservatives, its Jooooosss.
leigh
Them Jooooos are mighty.There’s nothing they don’t control, man.
LBascom
Meanwhile, here in America, race relations take a surreal turn…
Ernst Schreiber
If you say so.I’m unfamiliar with that history myself.
newrouter
MSNBC’s Goldie Taylor: CNN’s Don Lemon a ‘Turn Coat Mofo’ for Agreeing With O’Reilly on Race
Pablo
He got just about enough ugly to pull it off.
happyfeet
he really is hard to look at
and you don’t even get any college credit for it
sdferr
and you don’t even get any college credit for it
So it’s kind of like releasing terrorist mass murderers from captivity prior to holding (doomed, sham) “peace” talks, as an arm twisted inducement for no “peace” attaining purpose whatsoever, but for the purpose of buffing the “seriousness” credential of a moronic Secretary of State?
Slartibartfast
Why is it important that there be Armenians?
Slartibartfast
Why was Skolnik saying that black kids are the ones doing drugs?What a racist.
Slartibartfast
I understand shortening “motherfucker” to “mofo” if you’re running up against your character limit, but not otherwise.Goldie has become a 1970s TV stereotype.
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