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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (282979)	11/16/2015 7:31:16 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541851

I lived for awhile on a kibbutz where people lit candles and said blessings of thanks over wine and bread (sort of equivalent to "grace" for Christians) on Friday nights, but I assure you that the people on this kibbutz were thoroughly secular. I don't know where the numbers in that wiki article come from and I don't really care. Being Jewish is complicated. Or maybe better -- there are many many different ways of being/feeling Jewish and surveys can't capture what it means to individuals. Most of the people there are descended from Europeans (Western and Eastern Europe) or Russians and that remains the dominant culture.

To: epicure who wrote (282979)	11/16/2015 7:56:11 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541851

Reading more of that wiki piece, it is not to be trusted. Here is what they say about the Arab population in Israel: Many Arabs enjoy living in Israel because of the freedoms they have. In a survey taken, 77% of Arab Israelis would live in no country in the Middle East other than Israel. They are free under the law to vote, practice religion, be members of the Israeli parliament and can use the same Israeli education system as the rest of the country, although the education system is de facto mostly bifurcated into Jewish and non-Jewish schools (see Education in Israel). Many Arabs are a part of the Israeli government and politics. [23] Almost one 10th of the parliament are Arab and there is a mosque in the parliament building ( Knesset) for those who are Muslim. A supreme court justice and a minister of the Israeli cabinet are also Arab Muslims. Muslims, as well as other religious minorities, are not required to serve in the army, however. This is BS. I actually think some of it is true, but it paints way too rosy a picture. The article is just propaganda. The fact that they are in the top 10 is not surprising to me and would not be surprising to anyone who actually spent time there (outside of parts of Jerusalem and a few other places where "observant" Jews cluster).