Israel (now broader Mid East discussion)
You do know that any attempt to communicate with another is diminished if it begins with "you do know that"???
My second thought was who the heck were you addressing. It wasn't me.
Yes, I was addressing you and I was explaining why the long, disturbed history and evil, irrational bigotry of antisemitism or anti-Jewish mindsets, groups, and individuals over the course of two millennia caused the rise of international Jewish Zionist groups in late 19th century. Also, many early Zionist leaders weren’t particularly religious, more “culturally Jewish”. Some were even atheists or agnostics, many held far-left political viewpoints or were originally radicalized Eastern/Central European Jews who became socialists, Communists, Trotskyites, a few even were anarchists.
Sam, since I have a lot of respect for you, I’ll put it to you on a meaningful, reasonable level: if you were a part of a long, unfairly discriminated and irrationally hated minority that is always being demonized for hundreds of reasons, be it religious, socio-economic, political or racial nationalist reasons. You get expelled from country to country, region to region, for centuries and your ancestors keep trying to fit in, keep to themselves, not cause any trouble, try to be good neighbors and community leaders, and maybe it’s works for a while but then someone invents or re-interprets new reasons to despise and loath Jews. You fight for God-given rights for equality, civility, freedom and somehow, you’re never quite seem to be viewed as truly equal and fully assimilated. You’re always at the mercy whenever some depression comes along or civil or political unrest comes along and some in the ruling class need a scapegoat, Jews aren’t too far down the list.
You try and try, your ancestors keep trying and trying to fit in but somehow, someway despite the best of intentions, you’re always seen with suspicion, prejudice or downright hatred from the majority population. At some point, there’s going to be someone who’ll say that’s it pointless, idiotic and shameful to think that after 2,000 years, one day, Jews worldwide won’t have to stop worrying about their personal safety, well-being, or happiness from would-be authoritarian/totalitarian leaders or idealogues, or Islamic fundamentalist leaders.