The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #69772   Message #1187372
Posted By: GUEST,C-Watch
17-May-04 - 03:05 PM
Thread Name: BS: Arafat: Terrorize your enemy.
Subject: RE: BS: Arafat: Terrorize your enemy.
From what I've been reading from Arabic Jews, it appears that many of them think of themselves as being just as much Arabic as Jewish. They are saying that prior to the time when the Zionists showed up in their communities, they had a good life. They were an integral part of the fabric of the society in which they lived, and had been for hundreds of years. They say that these circumstances didn't change until the Zionists showed up and started promoting their agenda among the people of the region.

I don't know, or really care, what CarolC has been, or claims to have been, reading (websites, no doubt).

I have been to Israel many times. I know many Israelis -- including any number of Jews from Arab lands -- and I am in daily contact with several.

Like anyone who knows anything about the strains of political thought and the demography of public opinion distribution within Israel, I am well aware that immigrants, and their second and third generation descendants, who came from the various Arab countries, are *generally* among the most right wing and hawkish of all Israelis. Support for a Palestinian state among this community is very weak.
The Likud Party, and several of the religious parties in Sharon's coalition, are overwhelmingly supported by this community. You'd be hard pressed to find significant numbers, if any, from this community who "think of themselves as being just as much Arabic as Jewish."

BTW, support for the Labor Party, and other secular centrist and left wing parties comes primarily from the Ashkenazic (European) community. Support for a Palestinian state among this community is very strong.