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Comment by cup | Hacker News Reader

From past experience I know HN folks don't like to discuss the Palestinian Israeli issue but I wonder how you feel about the growing public discomfort with the Israeli states actions. Do you think it may cast a negative light on your start up? Particularly with respect to a growing call to boycott Israel as was sone in South Africa, regardless of whether you agree with such calls or not.

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You've used the word "growing" twice in your comment where it's probably more wishful thinking than an accurate description of reality.

You might be correct, thats an interesting point you've picked up. I might re-read my comments to see what else can be extrapolated and what biases I'm susceptible to.

In my opinion it's because 1) generally speaking, politics is not considered a good topic on HN, 2) people often bring up the Palestinian-Israeli conflict even when it has little or no relevance to the article in question, 3) it usually comes with an anti-Israeli slant, and often descends to comparisons with the South African apartheid, Nazi Germany, North Korea, etc.

In short, it's rarely relevant and it easily leads to flamewars.

Imagine that every time we had a story about a startup located in the US, someone would mention the large number of black people the US imprisons every year. Or the number of civilian casualties in the Iraq war, which dwarves the total number of casualties in the whole history of Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

For me I think this will be one of the more interesting aspects of the move. I know very little about the culture and the conflict - bar what I have read briefly on wikipedia and what gets fed through the news channels.

I hope to learn a lot more in the time there.

hmm, that's interesting, I believe we aren't bothered by the conflict at all, I don't believe it's something we will have to deal with.

With all the misinformation that's out there about the conflict, living in Tel Aviv will give you an opportunity to see the reality of the situation. An yes, you should be safe in Tel Aviv unless Hamas or Fatah decide to start suicide bombings again (but they haven't in many years). If you travel to the south, you should learn what Tseva Adom means.

60 minutes has an interesting take on the current situation in tel aviv:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409182n

Surely if he wanted to see the reality of the situation he should visit the occupied territories. I wonder whether one could even succesfully manage a start up in occupied Palestine.

Sometimes I wonder whether the hacker spirit is best exemplified in people under opressive circumstances who have to adapt and hack to survive.

No one who isn't a member of an oppressed minority ever has to 'deal with' policies of oppression. You can still contribute to the effectiveness and reach of those policies though - glad for your sake you're able to distance yourself.

There is too little consciousness of the economic and social context of the work technical people do.

While you're not "dealing" with the conflict, I hope you take a look over the giant wall that Israel has built--not only between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories--but around every single Palestinian city.

In order to get in and out of every city, Palestinians need to get permission from 20-year-old Israeli soldiers. Every single Palestinian is treated like a terrorist--children, old people, families. When the soldiers decide to close the gates, no one gets in or out.

I was there for three weeks. It's the world's largest prison. And it's funded by U.S. tax dollars and people who invest in the "Jewish" state. The expansion of Israeli settlements continue as more and more Palestinian land is confiscated for this technical reason or that.

Israel should be treated as a pariah until they end the occupation and give one person one vote instead of treating an entire population like prisoners.

You've probably set some kind of record for the number of incorrect things you've managed to pack into a single post. I wonder if you believe them all or if you are a troll.

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