Yes, Dave, I am saying that most European Jews are descendants of converts to Judaism, going back to the conversion of a king to Judaism, and through him, his whole nation. That nation was called the Kazars, and they were located in southern Russia. They were not Semites. The nation converted en masse to the Jewish faith because the king did. That's how it worked in those days. The Kazars were later scattered by one of the periodic invasions of Mongols, and they scattered into many European nations, and became the source of the modern European Jew...not a Semite at all.

In a rather similar fashion, the Roman nation converted en masse to Christianity when their emperor Constantine became a Christian, for example. That sort of thing happened in ancient times, when religion was tied in directly with political authority.

robomatic - I regard your explanation of my position as spurious and completely beside the point, but I suppose you had to come up with something, right? :-) I don't regard Bob Dylan as "powerless". Seems to me that he is more powerful musically at this point in history than any of us on this forum are. And he's way richer. Money is power, isn't it? I only object to people being in power when they badly misuse their power...as Sharon has done. I don't give a rat's ass whether or not people in power are Jewish...nor do I require "court Jews" to assauge my conscience. I treat Jews as I do other people...if I like a Jewish singer, it's because I like his MUSIC and the way he presents it! I would happily vote for a Jew as the political leader of my nation any old time if I liked his policies and philosophy well enough...not because he WAS a Jew, but because of what he stood for. But no political party would risk running a Jew for the top spot in the USA, would they? So who is prejudiced against Jews, robomatic?

I have trouble seeing anyone else as anything BUT an equal, robomatic, and that's why you and I don't agree on Israel. I want no subordinates. I want no superiors. I want no Master Race. I want no Promised Land set aside for a Chosen Few in their ancient holy book. I want no One True Faith and no One Messiah. I want no one God that categorically denies the Gods of other people. I want equality and tolerance of cultural differences, sharing of cultural understandings, celebration of differences, in fact. Our differences serve to show how much we really have in common.

I choose not to regard Israelis as more special, more valuable, or more martyred than any other people on Earth, and I do not regard their actions against Palestinians as being above criticism because of something the Nazis did to their parents or grandparents over 55 years ago! I think the policies of Israel are an absolute disgrace to freedom-loving Jews everywhere, and I am joined in that opinion by many Jews, including Jews in Israel. Those who can see beyond their own parochial community identity to a greater brotherhood of humanity will grasp what I am saying. Those who can't, may not.