Israel - The Jewish Homland

[Gromit]

// David Cameron will arrive in Israel on Wednesday under pressure to acknowledge the country as the Jewish homeland.
Groups representing some British Jews hope Mr Cameron will acknowledge Israel’s status as the world’s only Jewish state on his first visit to the country in office. //

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10691157/British-voters-hope-Cameron-acknowledges-Jewish-state-on-Israel-trip.html

1. Haven't we already done this?
2. Didn't the UN mandate, which Britain agreed to, acknowledge the State of Isreal?
3. Isn't this a bit humiliating. Smacks of making us jump throuh hoops.
4. Should Israel first apologise for the deaths of British personel when it took up an armed conflict against us?
5. Is this some kind of trap to make an agreement withe the Palestinians even harder to accomplish? Are they asking us to do this, to take sides in that conflict?

[Clanad]

Overlooked, conveniently, I might add, is the fact that Israel is largely a secular State today. Naomi asks "...If the Jews did not claim to be God's chosen but were simply the descendants of people who once inhabited the area formerly known as Palestine, would you still unswervingly support their right to be there?" Problem is the basis for the question is self-directed… that is, nothing in any of the documents (including the Balfour Declaration) that formed the basis of Israel's formation in 1948 referenced any Biblical basis.

So… simply stated, no, I (nor anyone else) support the Jews return to "Palestine" if that were the only basis for support… however, it's easily demonstrated to all but the highly biased that the '[i]Raison d'être[i]' re: Israel's existence has little to do with religion, but everything to do with nearly universal persecution.

Jomfil's twisted logic only reveals his ignorance of Old Testament Scripture concerning the history of the Hebrew people prior to their return from Egypt, after one of the many exiles they experienced.

Apologies for referencing Balfour as an 'Englishman'… fact is he headed a "British" delegation to the League of Nations as Foreign Secretary having previously been Prime Minister. Equally coincidental though, is the fact he previously knew Chaim Weizmann, who literally saved the U.K.'s bacon in the First World War… "During World War I, Great Britain needed help. Since Germany (Britain's enemy during WWI) had cornered the production of acetone -- an important ingredient for arms production -- Great Britain may have lost the war if Chaim Weizmann had not invented a fermentation process that allowed the British to manufacture their own liquid acetone.
It was this fermentation process that brought Weizmann to the attention of David Lloyd George (minister of ammunitions) and Arthur James Balfour (previously the British prime minister but at this time the first lord of the admiralty). Chaim Weizmann was not just a scientist; he was also the leader of the Zionist movement…".

Tragically, as history concedes, Britain changed their mind on their previous position of support for the return of the Jews…"In 1939, Great Britain reneged on the Balfour Declaration by issuing the White Paper, which stated that creating a Jewish state was no longer a British policy. It was also Great Britain's change in policy toward Palestine, especially the White Paper, that prevented millions of European Jews to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe to Palestine." (Source: 20th Century History; Jennifer Rosenberg).

Other such documentary evidence concerning the actual history of the subject is available, but few choose to pursue facts alien to their own biased positions… in my humble opinion.

[jomifl]

/Jomfil's twisted logic only reveals his ignorance of Old Testament Scripture concerning the history of the Hebrew people prior to their return from Egypt, after one of the many exiles they experienced./
As I remember it, the Jews spent 40 years wandering around in the wilderness until they stumbled upon...their ancestral homeland! which they immediately recognised because it was so nice. What a coincidence.

[jomifl]

Since Mr. Weizmann was living in the UK at the time his efforts with acetone were the least he could do in my opinion. Some people gave their lives in the war with germany..

[naomi24]

Jom, Clanad means that the original promise was allegedly made to Abraham and confirmed intermittently down the line – but that’s nit-picking.

Clanad, I think you’ve scored a home goal. The persecution of the Jews is directly related to religion and therefore Israel’s existence has everything to do with religion. Clearly you’re spot on in saying that “few choose to pursue facts alien to their own biased positions”.

[jomifl]

Naomi, I'm a bit puzzled here who exactly had the deeds to 'Israel' that they were abe to promise it to the Jews. I wasn't who I think it was, was it?

[jomifl]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews

[naomi24]

Jom, the deeds were written in stone in those days ....