well, you are entitled to whatever view of history you like, but i will nonetheless point out that the opinion that the jews are to blame for our own historical misfortunes is a view shared only by those with the most simplistic view of sin and punishment and those who simply dislike jews and are interested in rationalising their prejudice. you, for example, seem to think that jewish dietary laws are a reason for racism. i hope this is not the case.
----------> the OP asked why some people hate the jewish people; l gave reasons why that may be so and why the jewish ways may have had a part to play in this; as you yourself keep stating it is not always one sided [or maybe it was Avi saying that], in any case l do feel you are coming across as though l personally hate Jews which is not the case, l purely gave reasons, as other folk here did, why that may be so. The only ones l know who say they 'don't like' Jews are lapsed Catholics who are prejudiced but even they 'get on' with Jews who are neighbours so its just a stereotypical thing; l have never been exposed to religious nor ethnic bigotry where l come from, mainly because of lack of other ethnicities here until the oil boom in the 70's; only chinese folk have been settled here earlier.
firstly, *everyone* stuck together in roman society, not just us. i don't notice you having a go at the greeks or the egpytians or the britons or the gauls. secondly, roman society was a highly unpleasant, violent, immoral place and frankly i don't think you'd have wanted to mix with them either. thirdly, we had our own country back then, so if living there is what you mean by sticking together, again, the same could be said of the other nations i mentioned above. not only that, but there was also a pretty pervasive class system. and fourthly, you seemed anxious to bring in "now", so i hardly think i can be blamed for pointing out the broadness of your dislike.
------------> why should l mention other tribes in a thread specifically asking about 'why some hate the Jewish people' which btw was not about any particular era or any domain, cultural or political, which l do not think can be separated so easily anyway. Then, now, the OP did not specify BB.
that is not in dispute. what you appear to be saying, however, is that we sought this separation (and, by direct implication continue to do so) from mediaeval christian and islamic society because of our own prejudices and thereby made ourselves unpopular. this is utter bilge. if you are not saying that, then please make it clear, but i fail to see how i could be misunderstanding you.
-----------> you seem to be thinking its everyone else's fault; wish life was that simple eh?
i am not disputing that. the question is whether they deserve it or not, or whether they deserve quite as much. that is a complex issue which raises enormous passions and not one which we can discuss in this kind of manner, particularly when your starting point appears to be "they are asking for it".
------------> yes it raises enormous passions, enough to make me not even participate in any discussion concerning a whiff of anything negative about judaism whatsover. My words were 'in a way they set themselves up for it'; why? because l know human behaviour and mob psychology and that side of human nature l can say l despise. And of course no one deserves to be treated inhumanely, hence my reasons for mentioning present day Israel and the overly populated and sub human conditions there in Gaza and the West Bank. l'm for the common man.
that would have only happened if the jewish people had been united, not fragmented as it was and is. call me mr cynical, but i think it is a bit much to expect an ideal society to emerge from persecuted refugees, genocide survivors, euro-chauvinist socialist utopians, capitalist entrepreneurs, atheists and the ultra-religious. and that is *without* the conflict situation! you sound like you're blaming the israelis for not being able to overcome the weight of their history whilst refusing to acknowledge the difficulties that they have faced from the beginning. and, more to the point, i think you could make the exact same point about the french, american and indeed cuban and chinese revolutions!
----------> no these are completely different, they did not return after being exiled, and they were sorting out things that were already interior. Israel has ousted many many common folk [not terrorists, not antisemiticbut certainly anti zionists if that means elitist and supremist and chucking you off your land that youve been on for more than 300 years and were probably jewish anyways before being 'forced' to convert to keep the land; cant you see the craziness of it all?
because we were talking about mediaeval europe. to bring israel into it is pure whataboutery.
-------> as previous, there was no boundries to this thread; l gave suggestions why then and now it may be so [just to participate]
--------> please, don't bring the US into this, haha
i am trying to address what i saw as frankly quite prejudiced comments about jews in the middle ages, which are now being justified by reference to modern israel, as if that's relevant. sad to say, some people will hide behind the situation in the middle east to cloak what are otherwise revealed to be unacceptable attitudes. want to have a go at jews? no problem, as long as you link it to israel, you can say what you like. well, if i think that might be happening, i'm going to call it. and you know, in the last six months, i've been right about it several times. look at this:
-----------> look, are you denying the atrocious behaviour that was meted out to the Jews historically? No? so why are you saying these comments are prejudiced? l was trying to give explanations
yes, because everyone knows that jews have lots of money, right? we'll just bail when the going gets tough, right? sheesh. can you even hear yourself?
--------> again you show your prejudices if you want to play that game; l mentioned that as compared to destitute palestinians that all
look, i am not trying to justify everything that went on but it didn't happen in a vacuum. could you live in sderot? is that right? there are decades of conflict here and this is simply the latest in a long series of bad calls leading to bloodshed.
----------> sometimes you come across as if you are justifying and that Jews are lily white innocents, get a grip..mine was an overall assumption according to death rates more than anything else.
the word is "aliyah" and financial support for it has been a prime concern of israel since before its inception - but aliyah was NOT designed to be used as a tool for displacing local populations. it is the settlement enterprise that has coopted it as it has coopted so many parts of the israeli body politic - but i hope and pray that this will soon come to an end. it is also interesting that you say "return to their homeland" but then call the palestinians "local indigenous" - what of the jews? are we not indigenous to the region? what about the more than 50% of the israeli population that is not from europe, but from the islamic world? are they "indigenous"? go and look at palestinian genetics and arabic dialect - you will find that the dividing line between us and them is pretty slim.
---------> exactly, why l posted that youtube vid. But the fact is it was used to displace and now we have this situation. Perhaps all the irish and scottish that were cleared off their crofts and sent off to Nova Scotia should be given back their ancestral home and chuck out the folk who have been there since the 1800's, nuts eh?
yes - and i hope you are including russia and china in that, you seem to recognise that it will also be necessary to take account of the regional superpowers of saudi arabia, egypt and iran.
--------> perhaps l should have emphasised that more BB then maybe l wouldn't have been at the end of your acidic wrath, as one youtube comment said 'Isarel is the US haemorrhoid in the Middle East' [don't shoot the messenger but l chuckled!].
the entire russian aliyah was not made up of neo-nazis, nativeastral. there were a couple of kids involved and the universal reaction was "how stupid would you have to be to do something like that in a country full of jews?". the "demographic timebomb" you mention (as it is referred to by some right-wing israelis) was the cause of sharon and others encouraging this aliyah - although, truth be told, russian jewry had been trying to get the hell out for decades. now, the thing is about the russians is that they are, well, quite russian in their attitudes - not at all religious, pretty racist and with the typical russian attitude to human rights ("is load of rubbish for pantywaist european that never have to queue for ticket for tractor factory open day"), which has given the right wing a shot in the arm as sharon intended. the thing is, it has kind of backfired on the settlement enterprise - not because the russians are more peaceloving, they're not - but because they aren't religious and therefore won't bend over backwards to accommodate the religious fanatics that run the settler lobby. there is far more likelihood for them to compromise than the "national-religious" camp. i despise lieberman - i think he's a corrupt, racist scumbag. however, he is far more likely to make a deal than the likes of effi eitam or benny begin would be.
---------> l did not imply that but can see why you may have thought that. The point l am making is changes will come within Israel perhaps not for the best either, do things happen for a reason? l just saw some irony there. And you are calling a nation racist? and you depise someone? tut tut, wash your mouth out!
there, you see - i've been sucked into talking about the peace process when we were really talking about something entirely different. bloody hellfire.
-----------> good for you

, perhaps you can start a new thread and enlighten us on the 'true facts' and why we should be more supportive towards Israel in its endeavours.
'shalom
bananabrain