Thomas Jefferson

Duplicate.

You can look like a middle eastern Hebrew and not look like an Arab. There is a difference. If he really had problems, it was more likely due to which denomination of Judaism he was brought up in. Anything less than an Orthodox conversion for an adopted child and they would not be classed as Jewish.

Your dad has or had every right to distance himself from a Jewish identity. Individual liberty trumps all else in my books. All this identity stuff only became an issue in modern times. Historically, someone who left Judaism would simply leave the Jewish community and that was that.

What rubbish. You can't be Jewish by roots. It's exactly this kind of brain washing which is holding humanity back. You're born a free human being. It matters not what form of mind control or belief system your parents have, you aren't born with them, you acquire them. My grandmother was born from Jewish parents, my grandad wasn't. My father wasn't the least bit interested in religion and neither am I. However some idiot would have you believe that my dad was Jewish because his mum was. What absolute tripe. Never mind.

Oh, I do believe you. I did not say it was a small minority. It may even be a majority. I guess that gives me as a Manx person something in common with the African/Asian Jews -- we're all second class citizens in our own homeland.

There are idiots and racists in every group.

It's quite possible that they're right. See my previous post. Jews entered India as far back as the 722 BC exile by the Assyrians. Like the Jews of the Roman Empire, the Jews of India no doubt intermarried with non-Jews who converted and thereby became amalgamated into the Jewish people. I see no reason why the same wouldn't have happened in India, which would explain why they look Indian and why Jews in the west can look western. Jews can't be put into a singular category like "religion" or "race" or "nation"; they're all three at the same time. It's why they're so diverse. Jews do not claim a racial purity; they're a nation who follow a religion, Judaism, and it's the religion which forms the basis of that identity.

That's true. The twelve tribes is a biblical tradition. However, outside of the Bible, it is generally held that the early Israelites were a confederation of various migratory tribes from the vicinity. Even based on the biblical accounts, the Israelites who left Egypt were clearly not just the descendants of the Israelites who had originally entered it. Also, the Israelites who did, according to the Bible, leave Egypt were accompanied by a sizeable number of Egyptians who converted to their religion and were amalgamated into the tribes during the course of their history. Also, during the Roman period, the Pharisees were active proselytisers who sought converts to Judaism, who were then accepted into the tribe, basically being adopted into the tribe of Judah, and then they intermarried with the existing Israelites. And then when the Romans began persecuting Jews, it stopped, and when Christianity became the official religion of the Empire it became illegal. But, that being said, the semitic Israelites would have married the converts and so after two millenia they will all have semitic ancestry.

That in and of itself sounds racist against people like the Kurds and the Basques who are deprived of their national self-determination and kept within the borders of other peoples' countries.

Allegedly. What is alleged?

Forgive me for not falling for the romance. Reality, not romance.

Enlighten me how being 'Jewish' can be classed as a 'race.' Where's the genetic common ancestry? Judaism is a belief system, same as Christianity. It's a religion. You're right, it isn't a race; it's a people / nation [1]/ commonwealth, with a singular religion (Judaism), although it is primarily a semitic nation. [1] In the tribal sense, not in the modern nation-state sense. It is a commonwealth of twelve tribes which together constitute the people of Israel.

Jews have had a homeland for 4,000 + years and it will continue to be their homeland whether there is a Jewish state there or not.

SMUJ, it would cease to be a Jewish state due to the demographics.

SMUJ, it would cease to be a Jewish state due to the demographics.

Noam Chomsky chimes in: I don't agree with him but it's always good to hear from him.

You seem bitter about Israel having a strong military. Israel has been forced into having a strong military. Things could have gone very differently in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Defeat for Israel in any of these wars would not have been just a territorial or tactical loss; it would have been the complete annihilation of their nation -- genocide. The men and women who serve in the IDF are the first and last line of defence against another Holocaust.

I can't stand politicians who cynically trump up their ethnicity and gender as a way to gain votes. "Oh look at me, I'm a woman and a Pakistani, so vote for me." Good riddence.

But that's the point, isn't it? Israel and the Palestinian Territories are surrounded by Arab countries. They are just a tiny little area in a region which is majority Arab. Meanwhile, the Israelis are universally despised by anti-semites everywhere.

Ludicruous. The "Palestinians" are Arabs, and they are not outnumbered or isolated -- they have at least 24 countries and there are hundreds of millions of them. Israel is the isolated and outnumbered one. As for Israel and nukes, we don't know if they have them or not (it could be a bluff) and they're of no practical defence use except as a deterrent.

Mark, you're the sockpuppet. What does the H stand for -- Hitler? Lol

Malarkey

NBC News Report Takes You Inside Hamas Tunnels To Witness Israelis’ Fear First-Hand

Pretty ridiculous for someone to come on here and condemn people who say "Israel did this" or "Hamas did that", telling us it will simply lead to more people dying, and to then go into a big rant blaming everything on Israel. Hahahaha.

So Israel is automatically the bad guy because they're better equipped and have provided their civilians with bomb shelters? If they closed their bomb shelters, put away all their better equipment, and resorted to the same technological level as Hamas, thus incurring a significantly higher civilian death toll, would they be alright in your books? FFS. Yes, I'm sure it does look like "genocide" from the comfort of your middle class home, while you mindlessly watch the anti-Israel propaganda on Channel 4, Granada Tonight, and BBC News.