Quote:Yeah, I'm referring mostly to the Crusades. I think that their influence on the modern conflict is extremely, incredibly limited, but it does serve as historical context for the "west vs. Middle East" conflict that extends beyond religious lines over the span of centuries.


It seems like every time the Israel topic comes up, I find myself fighting a losing battle. Lately, it seems that harboring an unpopular opinion about Israel's effect on modern affairs makes me anti-semitic, so I'll just say that, imo, the modern Middle Eastern conflict dates back to the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire--which was primarily England's screw-up--with later events making the US into the poster child for unnecessary, one-sided intervention in the region.


*Edit: Maybe I should clarify Israel even further. My issue with Israel is that we chose a group of people and favored them over millions and millions of other people who were there first. I would hold that opinion regardless of the predominant faith of the people of Israel. I can't emphasize that enough: it's not about who we chose. It's that we chose someone.

I don't find you anti-Semitic at all. You seem like a reasonable, rational, intelligent person. I think you are wrong about Israel, however. We aren't talking about just politics and picking winners here. We are talking about the eradication of the Jews if they lose. The Jews are outnumbered 100 to 1 and if they lose, the majority of what's left of the world's population of Jews will be massacred. The Jewish population worldwide hasn't even recovered to pre WWII levels yet. So yeah, we chose a winner.

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