Israel strikes back at Palestine - closer to war?

[exploited]

[Ameriman]

[Nico]

[exploited]

Nico is right. One of the biggest concerns for Israel is the Palestinian right to return - if they let all those Arabs back in, it presents a "demographic problem," which is a nicer way of saying it offends Jewish racists.

[Boris Johnson]

[OGPhilly]

[Boris Johnson]

[OGPhilly]

Well I'm not going there as far as the topic of racism is concerned. I'll let others discuss that, but I do think that Israeli leadership views right of return, among other factors, as a threat to the demographics necessary to allow Israel to be both a democracy and a Jewish state.

[WizardfromOz]

[exploited]

There are lots of practical reasons why the Palestinian right to return just isn't feasible. I agree that it just won't work, and it isn't a reasonable demand to make prior to negotiations.

Ultimately, though, you can't avoid the "Jewish racism" question. If someone came up to me and said "I want to make a Christian state," I'd call them a lunatic, and that is essentially how I feel about the idea "OH NOES THE DEMOGRAPHICS!!!~~" that always comes up. Lots of good, practical reasons for not wanting the right to return, the only one that offends me is the idea that a nation state exists solely to pursue the best interests of a particular group of people. Which is what Israel is: a state built to pursue the best interests of a particular group of people. Either get over it and integrate into the region, or stop the bullshit about valuing certain Western concepts, such as equality, and just demolish Palestine.