Palestinians

Alright, this is really annoying me. I was reading an article in Haaretz about the rabbi who asked Helen Thomas about Israel, whereupon she said that the Israelis should go home. First of all, the rabbi has been receiving a lot of hate mail, and death threats, neither of which I condone. But he mentioned something that I've been reading about more often lately:

According to Nesenoff, he no longer sees a difference between anti-Semitic and anti-Israel behavior, saying that Israel was "a legitimate state and if there's any criticism it must be specific. But people keep returning to the question: Why are the Jews living there? They took over that country.' It is a re-writing of history while ignoring the centuries-long Jewish presence in Israel. Those are statements against Jews, with anti-Israel sentiment being only a part of it."

It is NOT a re-writing of history. Yes, there were Jews living in "Israel" for centuries. But only a handful, compared to the number of Muslims and Christians. Mass immigration of Jews to Israel did not start until the early part of the twentieth century. And it is NOT anti-Semitic to say that! It's simply the truth.

For anyone looking for more information, I would suggest that they read Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Charles Smith. I believe it is in the 7th edition now. Dr. Smith is considered one of the experts on the situation (by Middle East Studies professionals), and his book is considered fair and unbiased. By unbiased, I mean factual - of course, nowadays, factual may mean anti-Semitic.