But: Israel also has a thriving democracy that subjects its government officials to constant, withering criticism and investigation. We have a court system that isn't afraid to punish government officials. (We just sent a former president to prison for rape, and a former prime minister is being tried for corruption.) We have a free press, with newspapers and blogs that raise every possible political idea you can imagine. We have mass rallies and protests. We allow our citizens to travel abroad wherever they want, whenever they want, and encourage them to speak with people from other countries. We invite people to come from other countries into Israel, and to travel more or less wherever they want, without government supervision.
(And yes, many of these privileges are unavailable to Palestinians. Believe me, many of us in Israel realize this, and both vote and act accordingly.)
I can understand and respect someone who says, "I'll only do business with liberal democracies like those in North America and Western Europe." That's a reasonable and consistent approach to things.
But to single Israel out for attention and boycott, when many countries have worse human-rights records and none of the positive democratic attributes I mentioned above? That seems both unfair, disingenuous, and lacking in perspective.
by and large we know what's wrong with north korea, libya under gaddafi, etc.
we need to pay particular attention to a country that can almost pass as western and still perpetrate atrocious human rights violations, because it's more plausible that we could end up like that.
You know, there's a term for holding Jews to moral standards no other nation on earth is subjected to.
And as far as 'extreme human rights issues' are concerned - in the Palestinian National Authority, the freedom to criticize the government is a sham, journalists are regularly killed by governmental authorities, selling land to Jews is a crime punishable by death, there's regular violence against non-Muslims, honor killings take place regularly and are considered acceptable, homosexuality is illegal, and women have to wear a headscarf to enter a government building. And you're not doing business with Israel?
People like you confound me. I can't tell if you're anti-Semitic or just completely brainwashed and blind to the facts on the ground.
That is wrong, plain and simple.
It doesn't matter what you said is wrong with Arabs, running a two tiered system of rights is very wrong.
Israel occupied the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights after winning the Six-Day War. When Egypt - twelve years and another war later - negotiated a peace treaty with Israel, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to them, and it once again became Egyptian.
Syria hasn't shown much interest in negotiating peace with Israel, and that's why the Golan Heights are not Syrian at the moment - and the way things are going, likely never will be.
The Palestinians also haven't shown much interest in peace. The Israelis have made many generous offers over the years - the Palestinians could've easily negotiated peace and established a state at the Oslo Accords or the Camp David Accords. They declined to do so. When they eventually decide that they do want peace, then 'their land' will be what they negotiate - but until then, they've got they same status as Germans or Japanese in the immediate aftermath of WWII.
Considering Israel's historical and religious ties to the land, and considering that there's been over forty years to sort out peace, they've been incredibly tolerant by not annexing the entire West Bank outright. (Which they've quite plausibly got the right to do - Israel may have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention, but the West Bank wasn't claimed by another sovereign state at the time of its occupation.) European countries aren't nearly as generous when they win wars - which is why Gdańsk is Polish, Bolzano is Italian, Kaliningrad is Russian, and Hungary is a whole lot smaller than it used to be.
Again, I have to question why people want to hold the world's only Jewish state to a standard followed by no other country.
Actually real annexation is desirable. Annexing the West Bank and incorporating its Arab residents into Israel proper (the Jewish settler residents of the West Bank are already considered Israeli) would be a just solution to the issue.
Then everyone would be equal under the law and the Palestinians would have a say over the future. Many of them would like to return to their homes that they left 1948:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus
I think that either there is a two-state solution or a one-state solution (which can be annexation if you like) is okay. But the dual system of rights where Jewish settlers are privileged and non-Jewish Palestinian Arabs are under military rule is not something a modern Western state should be justifying to itself or others, and it something that people like yourself shouldn't have to wrap themselves in knots trying to "explain".
Because they'd like to return to their homes one day?
Not doing business with Israelis because you disagree with policies of their government seems nonsensical to me.
In South Africa, the minority ruled OVER the majority. THAT is the definition of apartheid. In Israel, the Majority rules the minority. Which is the definition of democracy.
Also, there is a reason they are called "Arabs" and not "Israeli", its because they are originally from Arabia, not Israel. They have no roots in Israel.
Israel is a democracy, China isn't. Israel has free speech, China doesn't.
The two can hardly be compared.
Israel is a democracy for those that it wants in its democracy and it is military rule for those that wants excluded.
You'r contradicting yourself.
If ever, the UN and all of the Western World is the douche - why do they let it go on?
Did you ever ask yourself why the US and Europe got involved with Lybia's violent protests, and still remain completely silent about whatever is going on in Syria and Egypt?
This is hypocrisy at its best (worst?).