I often wonder when I read the bile that some people post in Online on the subject of Israel, whether they realise that Israel is less that a third of the size of Tasmania, has a population of less than six million and is the only Middle Eastern state which has a democratic government, an independent judiciary and allows freedom of speech etc?

Seneca,Israel has an enormous nuclear arsenal and thus no country threatens them..It is about time both Israel and USA stopped interferring within the politics and economies of oil rich nations.Let them have real democracy.

Arjay noone is stopping Middle Eastern countries from developing effective forms of government. We see the lack of suitable models right now as evidenced by Egypt. Even you couldn't support an argument that the USA and or Israel have hampered development of effective governance in Egypt. Note in particular how the ruling families are fleeing with their billions of dollars while a large per centage of the population lives in poverty. But I suppose that's all the fault of the Israelis,too.