Today is the day when I suffer one disappointment after another. I just read this horrible article on Israel where vicious animals who have the gall of calling themselves Jewish men spit and throw stones at women for daring to exist, harass underage girls, exercise physical violence against women with small babies, impose their barbaric clothing standards, and force women to live in an atmosphere of daily terror. And the supposedly secular authorities are siding with the maniacs on an increasingly frequent basis:
Bowing to pressure from politically influential Haredi rabbis, secular male authorities have also acceded to bans on women’s faces on billboards in some ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, gender-separated office hours in government- funded medical clinics, and de facto gender segregation on publicly subsidized buses. Women have been discouraged, and at times even prohibited, from participating in some official ceremonies. In short, restrictions that once affected only Haredi women are spilling into public spaces, affecting all women.
The reason why the Israeli authorities are standing by impotently while this is happening is that Israel has become all about the racist ideal of ethnic purity. Human rights are easily sacrificed to the goal of making the ethnically Jewish population grow. Since women who are not completely beaten down will not be popping out little Jews every year, the authorities are doing nothing to prevent fanatics from assaulting women who see themselves as human beings and not as breeding machines on legs. And just think about it: wouldn’t the entire conflict with Palestine be resolved by now if the racist belief that it is crucial to have a mono-ethnic nation were abandoned?
Many years ago, I witnessed the Israeli organization Sochnut bring its disgustingly racist messages to the FSU countries. According to these freaks, the greatest threat to Jews that existed on the planet was. . . no, not neo-Nazism. It was me. The existence of people like me was the greatest tragedy the Jews were experiencing because we were the result of Jews choosing to have children with non-Jews. This was told to my own face on several occasions by people I had known forever and who had been brainwashed by Sochnut. I thought these were just deluded, stupid fanatics but now I’m seeing that the racist ideas of the disgusting Sochnut are being picked up by the government of Israel. Maybe they were there all along, and I was simply refusing to notice.
People who have been reading this blog for a while know that I was always biased in favor of Israel. But after I read this most recent in the series of articles on Israel’s descent into religious fanaticism, I can say that even I have had it with Israel. The only remaining reason we are being offered to keep supporting Israel is that it supposedly is the bulwark of secularism and respect for human rights in the face of the growing religious fanaticism of the surrounding countries. But that’s not even true any more.
Any country where women are bullied into wearing “modest clothing” and covering their heads and the authorities do not immediately bring a stop to this form of degradation accompanied by massive public protesting should be told to stuff it. And when all of this is done for the sake of racism, it should be told to stuff it many times over.
Already, many fear that efforts like Nili Philipp’s to stop ultra-Orthodox encroachment are doomed, simply because Haredim, nearly all of whom have more than five children and some of whom procreate in the double digits, are reproducing rapidly. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics projects that, at current growth rates, Israel could well be 40 percent Haredi by 2059.
Clarissa's Blog 
Crap, I saw this behavior 30 years ago with Montreal Hasidic Jews. Women kerchiefed with heads shaved typically obedient to their men. Not surprising the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel ramp it up a notch.
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In the meanwhile, the sex-starved husbands of these obedient idiots harass normal women in the streets. And the Jewish hospital in Montreal is filled with the wives of these losers who have every STD known to humanity.
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This is quite awesome!
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/montreal-candidate-aims-to-bridge-divide-in-citys-hasidic-heartland/article14099022/?service=mobile
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// And the Jewish hospital in Montreal is filled with the wives of these losers who have every STD known to humanity.
Is it true? One wouldn’t think the Haredi would go to prostitutes all the time.
Today read in an Israeli newspaper something interesting, here a partial English translation:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/public-but-no-longer-primary/
Summer vacation ends in three weeks but the Israeli press is looking well past that, all the way to the year 2019. There’s a new report that shows that by that time over half of the nation’s first graders will be in a non-state school.
The report, which takes center stage on Yedioth Ahronoth’s front page, states that in 2019 over half of Israel’s first graders will be enrolled in either ultra-Orthodox or Arab schools (both systems are allowed to operate outside the state-sanctioned curriculum). The paper points out that in state schools pupils study basic subjects like math, literature and science, while also taking internationally recognized tests.
The state curriculum also teaches that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state.
The Arab school system teaches the basic subjects, only without the Zionism track, while the ultra-Orthodox don’t teach the state’s curriculum and don’t take part in international testing. In 2019, these two school systems are expected to make up about 45% of the country’s first graders, compared to 42% in nonreligious state schools. The main point Yedioth drives home is that in a few years almost half the country’s students won’t be learning that Israel is a Jewish state and a democracy.
Haaretz finds a bright side of this in the fact that projections point to a slowdown in population growth. The paper shows that despite the expected increase in the ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations, they aren’t growing as fast as they used to: growth in the Israeli Arab sector is expected to fall from 3.4% per year to 1.3%, and in the ultra-Orthodox sector from 4.7% per year to 3.6%.
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“Is it true? One wouldn’t think the Haredi would go to prostitutes all the time.”
– Why not? They are absolutely entitled to do that if the prostitutes are not Jewish. My sister and I still remember one who decided we were prostitutes and who followed us down the street making obscene offers.
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Presumably they don’t get the STDs from prostitutes either. After all, sex is a job for prostitutes, so I can’t imagine them endangering their health (and their earning potential) for it the way someone who has sex for pleasure does.
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Depends on the prostitute. If one goes for the cheapest service, probably with drug addict, everything is possible.
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// wouldn’t the entire conflict with Palestine be resolved by now if the racist belief that it is crucial to have a mono-ethnic nation were abandoned?
Do you refer to one state solution? You know Palestinians don’t want it either.
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// Since women who are not completely beaten down will not be popping out little Jews every year, the authorities are doing nothing to prevent fanatics from assaulting women who see themselves as human beings and not as breeding machines on legs.
I think the biggest reason is, as the article says:
“As their numbers have increased, so has their sway over political and civil life. Ultra-Orthodox parties have been the fulcrum of every single government coalition from 2006 until early 2013. Major parties competed with each other to make deals with the Haredim, often ceding authority over a number of domestic and economic issues to Haredi leaders in exchange for support on various foreign policy and security goals.”
Haredi parties are easy to have in government, as long as they get money. The political systen in Israel gives disproportional power to those relatively small parties, which only increases as they grow bigger because of growing Haredi population.
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Rolling over like this for the paltry 10%? There has to be a reason.
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It isn’t really 10% in practice. It’s having or not having a stable coalition. Likud (with Netanyahu) and Yesh Atid (with Yair Lapid) can’t have Arab or Left parties in coalition, so what is left is religious parties, see? Don’t want to count mandates now, but it can be done.
Btw, the head of the Labor party won’t agree to be in a coalition herself because of government’s capitalist economic policies. I think that given free reign, she would hurt Israeli economy, leave it in much worse condition than currently under Likud.
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If you are trying to convince me that this is not about getting women to breed all day long, I have to say that this is a losing proposition. 🙂
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// When religious soldiers walked out on official Israeli Defense Forces ceremonies because women were singing, a Facebook campaign inspired hundreds of women to hold sing-along protests in public squares, influencing army brass to clarify that such walkouts would not be tolerated.
I am feminist and atheist, however, this case wasn’t handled correctly. Big parts of Haredi community wait for any excuse not to serve, tell how army will cause them break Torah’s laws and this stupid reaction simply plays into their propaganda efforts. Haredi soldiers who do serve often suffer from insults, seeing posters against them in their neighborhoods, sometimes are even attacked. I want to support them, not to force them to hear women singing, if their religion forbids it. Hearing singing isn’t a part of army service, it’s their right to follow their religion (as long as it doesn’t interfere with service).
I am for gender equality, but don’t think forcing them to hear singing is it. Also, when they don’t serve and leave dying only to non-Haredi, the injustice is greater than not having women soldiers singing on some army events.
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It’s your right to believe this but, as I said many times, I’m feminist first, second, and one thousand fifteenth. Every other identification comes after that. These creatures you described here are – from my point of view – vicious insects. I have no other words for them.
In what concerns religion, I – not an atheist, by the way – believe that one has the right to practice whatever as long as it in no way involves other people or spills out of one’s house or place of worship. The second one’s religious practice appears in the public space in any form of manner, that is a barbarity that I find absolutely nauseating.
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What would you do with those soldiers in practice? Force them to stay near singing? Put them in jail? Tell the entire Haredi community “your soldiers will hear women singing, eat not kasher food (*) and so on” and get 0% of Haredi soldiers?
(*) Food also “spills out” since army has to take pains to prepare it in especially kosher way.
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“Put them in jail? ”
– Soldiers who do not follow orders are normally court-martialed. These freaks committed a hate crime and insubordination while on duty. So yes, of course, they go to jail. In the army, much much smaller infractions are punished severely. What these soldiers did is an insult to the army. Seriously, who has seen a soldier who just walks around wherever he likes because he has been visited by some medieval delusion?
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The majority coalition prefers staying in power to serving the female half of its constituency. The power of the ultra-orthodox parties is magnified in the parliamentary system.
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“The majority coalition prefers staying in power to serving the female half of its constituency.”
– And this is precisely what I’m ranting against. If the respect for human rights in Israel becomes limited to the respect only to the rights of Jewish, male, religious, ultra-conservative humans, then that is a profanation of the whole concept of human rights.
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// If you are trying to convince me that this is not about getting women to breed all day long, I have to say that this is a losing proposition. 🙂
I am not trying to convince, I am explaining how Israeli politics work. Don’t underestimate the power of short term, inner political interests.
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In the post, I shared how this racist message was promoted by Israel in Ukraine 20 years ago. Given how short the country’s history is, that is hardly short-term.
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// I thought these were just deluded, stupid fanatics but now I’m seeing that the racist ideas of the disgusting Sochnut are being picked up by the government of Israel.
Are being picked up? Sometimes you say the strangest things. Who pays to Sochnut to have those programs, in your opinion?
A Google-translation from Hebrew:
Million transferred prevent assimilation
Although cuts and decrees, the Israeli government, particularly the Ministry of Religious Services – continue to transfer funds abroad campaigns and projects, whose aim is to prevent assimilation. Which projects funded overseas taxpayer’s money? And whether they are necessary precisely in this period?
Cumulative amounts to tens of millions of shekels
Ministry of Religious Affairs is not the only one he gave large sums to the World Seen: Earlier this year, the Ministry for Jerusalem and Diaspora Federation passed a total of 4.5 million for the same purpose, and after four months longer 3.8 million to strengthen Jewish identity. In addition, the Prime Minister gave 200,000 dollars to benefit both conferences, Israel and the United States, aimed at “deepening the Zionist identity among Jewish communities in the world.” Or as he put it briefly: “deepening Jewish identity.”
General summary, Zionist, not including underneath the Settlement Division, receives a number of government agencies amount ranging from 35 to 40 million. If computers all organizations that work to strengthen Jewish identity, the amount received is half a billion dollars, a government gives to the subject a year.
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“Are being picked up? Sometimes you say the strangest things. Who pays to Sochnut to have those programs, in your opinion?”
– I so didn’t want to believe this. Everybody was saying this, but I just refused to see it.
“Although cuts and decrees, the Israeli government, particularly the Ministry of Religious Services – continue to transfer funds abroad campaigns and projects, whose aim is to prevent assimilation.”
– Oh my God. This made my blood run cold.
Maybe I should step away from the computer as this seems to be the day of bad news and shocking revelations for me.
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I have friends in Montreal and New York who have plenty of “Haredi horror stories”. Not rock throwing, but yelling, harassing them and asking them if they are selling sex, trying to touch them without permission, etc etc. They bring the concept of entitlement to a whole new galaxy with the way they treat the bodies of women both in and out of their community.
Then there was that controversy at the Humans of New York page, which is a lovely photography page that shows different types of people in the city, where the photographer snapped a picture of a Sudanese woman chatting with an ultra-orthodox man, thinking it was a lovely moment with two strangers meeting and being friendly. But the woman told the photographer that the man had been harassing her and offering her money for sex, which she refused. The photo and caption are back up, but apparently it was originally taken down for a while, after the Orthodox community went foaming-at-the-mouth mad, out of “respect” to that harasser’s family. How is a photo more disrespectful to anybody than his actions?
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“The photo and caption are back up, but apparently it was originally taken down for a while, after the Orthodox community went foaming-at-the-mouth mad, out of “respect” to that harasser’s family. How is a photo more disrespectful to anybody than his actions?”
– A horrible double standard. 😦
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Imagine a world where people didn’t bend over backwards to accommodate the egos and entitlement of freaks like that!
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// These freaks committed a hate crime and insubordination while on duty.
On duty in this case was during a party / show / etc, not serving in practice.
// In the post, I shared how this racist message was promoted by Israel in Ukraine 20 years ago. Given how short the country’s history is, that is hardly short-term.
I heard that Ben Gurion himself chose to include Haredi parties, while believing Haredi will die out in modern Israel as a group, so one can’t accuse him of thinking it will encourage Haredi women to reproduce. Haredi parties were convenient for him too, and Israeli political system was created to depend on small parties from the beginning. Now there are talks of changing that, but any changes will be too small to be effective.
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// According to these freaks, the greatest threat to Jews that existed on the planet was. . . no, not neo-Nazism. It was me.
My father wasn’t Jewish and I would marry non-Jew too. Having said that, if the goal is to have in X years maximum number of people self-defined as Jews (w/o connection to personal happiness) — they are right. Had my family stayed in Ukraine, my children wouldn’t consider themselves Jews and even wouldn’t “flaunt” their mother being half-Jewish. The young generation of men in my family, who don’t live in Israel, will marry not Jewish women and have in practice completely non-Jewish children.
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“Having said that, if the goal is to have in X years maximum number of people self-defined as Jews (w/o connection to personal happiness) — they are right. ”
– Yes, if one is a racist, then one will do racist things. Just substitute “white people” for “Jews” and you’ll see.
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There is also a difference: US black people aren’t of a different religion or culture than white US, and whites aren’t a minority.
I read in comments Israeli Jews believing that Jews abroad help Israel a lot and are necessary for the country. I don’t see them as being so important. If US decides to be Israel’s ally – it will, if decides otherwise – it won’t, without any connection to the relatively small US Jewish population. Ditto about other countries. Iran has Jews, has it become a friend yet? 🙂
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“There is also a difference: US black people aren’t of a different religion or culture than white US, and whites aren’t a minority.”
– What does religion have to do with any of this? The people recruited by Sokhnut in the FSU hadn’t practiced Judaism for generations. And I don’t think I have to tell you what their culture was like. We are talking exclusively about an ethnic group.
By 2050, the majority of people in the US will be non-white. Is it OK to invest money into, say, preventing inter-racial marriages in the US under that pretext? Will it become OK in 2050?
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RE being racist: I exclude religious people from that, if by racism we mean only “not marrying a member of another religion.” All religions forbid that.
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Have you deleted a post or is it my computer?
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I think it’s WordPress because this post keeps appearing and disappearing on my computer too. Try pressing CTR F5.
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It isn’t there. May be, you can try to repost it?
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What about now?
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Seeing it!
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Cool! Thanks for letting me know it was malfunctioning.
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I don’t think that the views and beliefs of an ultra religious group need to be projected on the rest of Israel or other Jews in the world. My office is in outremont – the area in Montreal that is home to the majority of Orthodox Jews in the city. I certainly don’t relate to them, but I have never observed any disrespective behaviour either. My problem with criticism of Israel in particular is that I feel that it is not necessary to slam a country (people) already discriminated against, targeted and attacked enough as it is.
It is one thing to organized religion in general, but singling out the Jews does not seem right on many levels.
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Here is what the quote I was responding to says:
This is not about a religious group. This is about the entire country.
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I read the quote. And what I also read was that women are successfully fighting the ultra religious groups. Condemning the whole country seems unnecessary.
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I’m condemning the authorities that have not conducted a single arrest.
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“RE being racist: I exclude religious people from that, if by racism we mean only “not marrying a member of another religion.” All religions forbid that.”
You seem to be eternally confused. All religions may forbid that (they don’t) but we’re talking about government here. The government of Israel, whose official policy is to prevent miscegenation. Ah, the shining secular beacon in the middle of all the barbaric religious muslim states.
Love your country’s treatment of Ethiopian jews too.
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“The government of Israel, whose official policy is to prevent miscegenation.”
– This is precisely what is causing me so much horror now that I discovered it. We are all miscegenated over and over again in my family. And the suggestion that this is somehow not good is unlikely to find a positive response in me.
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“Having said that, if the goal is to have in X years maximum number of people self-defined as Jews (w/o connection to personal happiness) — they are right. ”
This is not the first time you’ve used this line of reasoning. Let me show you why it doesn’t work.
‘Having said that, if the thief’s goal was to get a thousand dollars before the end of the week, he was right in mugging tourists on Times Square’
You can make your own scenarios! Plug and play!!
‘Having said that, if the goal was [morally reprehensible idea] then they are right in doing [morally reprehensible thing] to achieve their goal.’
Hope that helps!
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“If the goal is to have in X years the minimal number of people self-defined as Jews (w/o connection to personal happiness) — they are right to. . .”
We can all fill in the blanks.
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For such a tiny country it sure does get a shit load of attention.:)
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Have you seen England on a map? And now consider its importance to world history given that it managed to export its culture and language all over the world.
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Yep, you are correct. The difference though, they were a world power. Israel, not so much. Though from an economic perspective that could be disputed, lol. 🙂
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It took England how long since the moment it came into existence to become a world power? Surely it was more than 60 years, right?
From the point of view of the economy, Israel has no power or it wouldn’t depend so heavily on handouts from the US.
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“I’m condemning the authorities that have not conducted a single arrest.”
I obviously agree with that.
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“Though from an economic perspective that could be disputed, lol.”
You are such an ignorant fool.
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Hey Sis
Define ignorant? And as far as economics go do you honestly think the good ole US of A supports Israel because they like Jews? Money, follow the money.
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So US supports Israel because US gives it money? Yes, that’s very profound.
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How about you define what you meant by “economic perspective”. The actual country of Israel?
This is precisely why I cringe every time I read an article or a post criticizing Israel. Although I understand the validity of Clarissa’s points, writing anything negative about either Israel or the Jewish people inevitably leads to dumb ass comments that make my blood boil.
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You need to pay more attention to how the world works! The people who lobby the government have vested interests in Israel as a nation. This comes from both the evangelical right and of course many very rich Jewish people. Anytime the States show interest in any region its not because of their overwhelming sense of empathy for the people. Ignorant, good word.
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Sis
The demography of Israel is monitored by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. The State of Israel has a population of approximately 8,012,400 inhabitants as of 31 March 2013.[2] 75.4 percent of them are Jewish (about 6,037,700 individuals), 20.6 percent are Arabs (about 1,656,600 individuals), while the remaining 4 percent (about 318,100 individuals) are defined as “others” (family members of Jewish immigrants who are not registered at the Ministry of Interior as Jews, non-Arab Christians, non-Arab Muslims and residents who do not have an ethnic or religious classification).
Just for fun, ask yourself why a world power such as the United States of America would support both economically and militarily such a tiny nation? Im sure you can come up with a well thought out intelligent answer.
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“Just for fun, ask yourself why a world power such as the United States of America would support both economically and militarily such a tiny nation? ”
– This issue only looks mysterious to you. Everybody else here knows the answer. 🙂
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Lol, nice try Clarissa. 🙂
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Israel is a world power from the economic standpoint. Hurray to the rich Jews everywhere and the US in particular for making it happen. What can one even say to that? @titfortat, go hang out with your best friend Wikipedia some more.
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Sis
Of course, the response I expected.
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Then why did you make a useless comment?
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Typical Clarissa, if you don’t agree with something its either useless or the person is stupid, pathetic, moron. You go girl.
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Agree with what? You never express any opinion on anything. All we get from you are completely meaningless cliches. When you are asked to explain what your point if view actually is, you never do.
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and here you go with the absolutes. I never express anything but cliches. And youre a bully. How’s that for a cliche.
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“And youre a bully. How’s that for a cliche.”
– Finally, you managed to express an opinion and then immediately confused it with a cliche. 🙂
You also don’t know the meaning of the word “absolutes”, it seems.
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Nope, I was just looking for the bully to give me a lesson. 🙂
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A little test: If you seek out bullies in hopes of being bullied, what is the name of that compulsion?
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Scrapper.
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No. Keep trying. I know you can do it.
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“he reason why the Israeli authorities are standing by impotently while this is happening is that Israel has become all about the racist ideal of ethnic purity. ”
Women will always suffer under the current global orthodoxy of biologism
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All the evidence I’ve heard is that the Haredim in Israel are a major burden on mainstream l Israeli society (which loathes them).
They under contribute to anything beyond obscure religious studies, that is they’re underrepresented in secular education, productive economic work and military service and at the same time are first in line for every possible kind of government handout and wield disproportionate political power .
I’m reminded of Gypsies in Europe, a parasitic subculture that needs a host culture to leech off of in order to survive.
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What they contribute is babies. Tons and tons of babies. And when the entire national idea is to get the population back to the pre-Holocaust levels, this becomes a valuable contribution. They are like the queen mother in an ant colony. Everybody works and she just sits there like a big fat centerpiece.
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But in terms of babies quality is just as important as quantity. Haredim can survive or even thrive when they are a small minority, a Haredim society that has only itself to build an economy from will collapse quickly (and probably violently) into grinding, neverending poverty because there are too many necessary things and too many necessary jobs that they simply won’t do (again, like european gypsies).
If the babies produced had any realistic chance of disengaging from Haredim society and getting secular education and living a normal lifestyle not based on a ‘hate everyone who isn’t us’ ideology then wonderful, but I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.
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I think you are absolutely right and I hoped that the Israeli government saw this too. But at this point, I don’t think it’s happening. The rich Jewish communities abroad self-police into sending enormous amounts of money to Israel to assuage the guilt of not going back, so Israel doesn’t have to worry about internal productivity as much. This model can be sustained for a while, I guess.
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This post perfectly exemplifies what happens when Titfortat tries to ‘debate’. Please observe the quality of this discussion pre-Titfortat and post-Titfortat.
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I know. I keep hoping that he will see that what he does is spamming the thread but it never works.
I put up with this very good-naturedly but then I’m called a bully.
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Ok stringer, I will let you and the educated get back to your quality debate.
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I love how you keep using ‘educated’ like it’s a sly dig or something. It’s very telling.
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Quite similar to your digs I would imagine. Very telling for sure.
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