"happily sold their land'I don’t like the political debate but feel obligated to weigh in with some balance. Prior to leaving Ireland and having close Israeli and Palestinian friends, I would have identified with a lot of the rhetoric.
Israeli-Palestine relations are extraordinarily complicated, the Irish media portrayal of the conflict is the most one sided view that I’ve observed. Forgotten is the recurrent persecution of the Jewish people, the “valid” claims on both sides, the fact that many Palestinians (nomadic by nature at that time) happily sold their land to settling Jews too in the late 19th early 20th century so there was a strong “legal” Jewish presence. And by far and away, the average Israeli Jewish person wants peace, are happy for a two state solution but unfortunately Palestine have no control over Hamas (whose main objective is to destroy Israel) leading to zero trust on the Israeli part. Yes, Israel have a lot of strong financial support, but without this Israel would have ceased to exist years ago. Should they not have a right to secure their country? Obviously they’ve completed over reacted at times, but is it okay for them just to permissibly stand by while Hamas attach and rely purely on their defense system?
The Irish history of English oppression naturally lend itself to the Irish people supporting the underdog but the level of biased reporting is remarkable in the Irish media. Suffice to say it is complicated, there are clear wrongs on BOTH side, and there is no easy end in sight exacerbated with current Israeli hardline government and uncontrolled Hamas.
I don’t think this forum is the appropriate place for a debate on the Middle East conflict, it would be nice to move on. I wish Robbie well, and have no qualms with him taking the Tel Aviv job from a profesional standpoint. The fact that so many Irish seem to have an issue is pretty sad in my book
Reminds me of the time we happily sold our land during the plantations
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