When I was 15, my parents and I went on a tour of the middle east, with the bulk of our time spent in Egypt and Israel.

We travelled there before the term 'terrorism' had the resonance it has today, though we were there during the aftermath of the massacre of tourists at the temple of Queen Hapshetsut (the culprits were labelled rebels at the time) - due to this, there were very few visitors to the area, and we witnessed the desperation of the tourist merchants.

While in Israel, I saw first hand the attitude you describe. On a bus tour of Jerusalem, the jewish guide took us past a series of hovels.
He said to us "this is where palestinians live - in filth, like animals".
Less than half an hour later, we passed by an almost identical series of hovels, though this time they were inhabited by Jews. Apparently these people had chosen to live a life without luxury to better understand god.
At the time, I assumed I was ignorant and couldn't see the difference, though as time passed I became aware that there really was no difference.
What scares me was the fact that the tour guide couldn't even see his hypocrisy. He was totally unaware of it.

That being said, I can't help but feel that this article, whilst entirely accurate, is somewhat one sided and in a way it is guilty of the same prejudice. The thing is, both sides are utterly racist. Yes the jews view themselves as superior - but so too do the Arab states.

This collective self delusion of the jews as victim has its most amusing element in the view of their place in medieval europe. They were supposed to be the outcast and despised but at least they were free.

All through that time the only obligation of an aristocrat to his serfs was that he could not maim or kill them, everything else was fair game. All through that time the serfs were tied to the lands of others with no escape other than death. They were locked in a prison defined by the number of grains on an ear of wheat.

This may sound odd but Fernand Braudel pointed out that each ear of wheat only had five grains. And from this one grain had to be kept for seed next year, one grain went to the "Kings fifth", another went to the lord of the manor, and the remaining two were left to be fought over between the family, the rats and the church.

So my response to this Jewish littany of victimisation, as one who's line has only comparatively recently emerged from a millenium of serfdom via penal servitude is, so what! At least you were free. And not only were you allowed to earn interest from lending, you even managed to hang onto enough money to be able to lend it.

My ancestors? Well some of them actually thought Haggis was a special treat. They used to say choko and parrot soup wasn't much but it sure beat plain choko soup. So don't give me this BS, buster, we were there too, remember?

Firstly I want to make it clear that I neither support the Israeli nor the Arab cause. On one hand the Arabs were robbed of land and double crossed by the west with the Balfour Declaration. On the other the Israelis are subjected to mindless attacks and fanatacism those of us in Australia can only have nightmares about.

I have travelled to Lebanon and Israel. Israelis I found to be very stand offish-perhaps not surprising given their country has been laid seige to since its conception. However I found the poorer Lebanese to be a beautiful people who nonetheless espoused a hatred of both the west and Syria. My opinion was that they were all sick of being caught in the middle! It is a complete misconception that Hizbollah came from the rubble of Palestinian refugee camps- it is a radical militia funded by Iran. That sunnis now join it is merely a sign of desperation.

Israel most definitely has a right to defend itself. I admire its forces and personnel. However it has in this most recent instance attacked the wrong country. The Assad administration in Syria should be wiped from the face of the earth- what it has done in Lebanon is dispicable. It is openly pursuing a programme of destabilisation and Iran is enjoying every bit of it. Unlike Iraq, a smoking gun in Syria is not hard to find!

Unfortunately in Syria and Iran I see two states openly seeking to establish a sphere of radical Islamic influence from Somalia to Turkey and across to Pakistan. While the costs of war with Syria and Iran are likely to be terrible, the costs of no war are likely to be worse.

Mireille

You make the error of comparing Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews with Israeli's treatment of Arabs. There is no comparison for anyone who knows a little history. Many countries have oppressed minorities (including Australia) but the Nazi's factory killing of millions is something else.

The unintended result of someone on the far left condemning Israel's latest (admittedly) excessive use of force, is that the far right is encouraged to return to anti-Semitism like maggots to a corpse.

Perseus

The Jews were not "free" in medieval times. They were actively prevented from owning the most valuable commodity of the age - which was land. Without land they had noone to protect them.

Now they are protecting themselves.

Having no state of their own Jews were conveniently used by European and British nobles and royals as temporary financiers who could be disposed of.

It frequently happened that once royals became heavily indebted to Jews they heavily taxed the Jews on a racial basis. This either forced Jews to "writeoff the debt" or bankrupted them.

Jews could be, and frequently were, forcibly driven out of countries, because they had no land and rulers owed them money. These Jews often died (especially the weak, especially the children) before they reached the next temporary sanctuary that would have them.

No land meant the Jews had to lend money to survive. This reality won them no solid favours until 1948.

I'm not Jewish but comparison of Nazis with Israelis makes me want to choose sides in the current conflict.

The extreme Left's attempt to compare Israel with Nazi Germany only weakens the Arab cause.

Pete
http://spyingbadthings.blogspot.com

Comparing present Israeli actions in Lebanon with the Nazi regime can take two (and probably more) forms. In terms of morality and the extent of the killing, there is a great difference -- the Nazi regime was clearly more brutal and, indeed, sadistic. However, in terms of the attitudes (lack of empathy, feelings of victimisation, desire for vengeance), the gap is not so wide.
Consider the views of Gustave Gilbert:
http://www.jeffschubert.com/index.php?id=23
And the views of George Victor:
http://www.jeffschubert.com/index.php?id=24

"...the world keeps watching in wonder at the might and determination of the Israeli military"

Not true, Mirielle. Most observers are simply aghast at the inhumanity.