I don't mean to sound flippant, but unless you plan daily anti-government rallies I can't see why you couldn't be comfortable living and working in a dictatorship. Its not like Western governments haven't silenced individuals or trounced personal freedoms and liberties because it suited some nefarious agenda.

You should try it sometime - why wait ?

It's a family tradition, going back at least 3 generations-I'm the dumb one who tends to slack off.

<bump>
I need some light relief

That is just simply mean to go there and take a house:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/wo...ideast.html?hp

I think the words "Court Order" and "lengthy legal battle in the High Court and lower district and magistrates courts. " answer your question.

Also - the Sheik Jarrah/Shimon Hatza'dik/Shake'n'Bake neigbourhood was discussed earlier in the thread.

On a positive note: No Minartes were harmed

Reminds me of this song by Bob Dylan about the black boxer, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter


No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.

Hurricaine, 1975

Check out the histroy of Israeli court rulings - Arabs won many cases.

Another Dylan song comes to mind:

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

I totally agree Israel's Nuclear arsenal is a terrible thing. Where did they test that new fog bomb shield -sounds awful.

"Court Order" and "lengthy legal yada yada" doesn't make it any less meaner, does it?

What's mean ? Had they paid their rent they would still live in the same place.

Under Israeli law - if a renter stays in the same property for many years he becomes a "protected renter". It's very hard for the landlord to evict him - unless he stops paying rent , becomes violent etc.

The renters chose not to pay - and played into their opponents hand.

The process wasn't arbitrary, like you said, nor was it cruel.

Compared to Jewish owned property in Arab (or even European) countries - The Arabs got a much better deal.

Alright, I don't know anything about that case. You win.

Are we talking about past or present?

You are not alone - the media tends to focus on the emotional side. A family thrown out of a house sells newspapers. municipal court proceedings don't.

Probably future too.

Come on Pashosh, I'm intrigued now. Where is this persecution in Europe, and which Arab country has policies hostile to its native Jews? If anything countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt practice positive discrimination (harsher sentences for abusing Jews and immediate police protection when needed).

Several years back I actually met a Tunisian Jew who worked as a tour guide out of our hotel (I actually thought he was a Christian, until he corrected me). His impression of Israel was that it was a nation of troublemakers who made life for him and his family unecesserily difficult. I asked if he would ever consider living in Israel and his response was unequivocal, "Tunisia is my country, not Israel".

Europe: Property owned by Jews before WW2 which was confiscated, or whose owners were murdered or forced to flee wasn't returned/compensated in most cases (especially in communist/ post communist countries).

Arab countries : Jews were forced to flee most Arab countries. their property was confiscated. P.s: Jews lived in Arab countries before they were Arab.

Jewish refugees did not stay in refugee camps, did not pass multiple U.N resolutions - but rather rebuilt their lives.

Jew currently living in Arab countries - openly supporting Israel would be like openly supporting the west in North Korea. Arab countries are anything but tolerant.

We are talking about a country that wanted to send its Arab citizens to jail for remembering the Nakba (Expulsion of Palestinians from their lands)??

That was proposed by a hardline politician and never put into effect.

Give me the name of one person who went to Jail for "remembering" the Nakba.

Jewish victims of Arab intolerance are sadly many...

btw - the arabs were not passive victims in 1948. They had an advantage in menpower, weapons & land. yet they lost.

It was significantly watered down, but the anti-nakba law was quietly passed. No organization which receives government funding is allowed to hold memorial events for the remembrance of the Palestinian tragedy. It may seem logical to you that Arabs living in Israel should not be allowed to feel solidarity with their families on the other side of the fence, but it is nevertheless a serious contravention of their rights as Israeli citizens.